Why I Take Long Showers

 

                I take long showers, guys. My family gives me grief for it, but I myself am at peace, for one very important reason.

A high, high percentage of my story-related epiphanies come to me while I’m in the shower. Or brushing my hair, or riding in the car, or anything routine where my mind can flutter where it wants…which is usually straight to my WIP.

                Still, sometimes just ‘waiting’ for ideas to land isn’t enough. So I’m going to share something only slightly embarrassing that I do. Often. Repeatedly.

                I interview myself.

                Under the premise that my current WIP has been published. Or optioned for the film rights. Or in some other way has been successful.

                I pretend I’m talking to a reporter/blogger, or taking questions at a book signing, or (perhaps most embarrassingly) telling the cast of the WIP movie exactly what they need to know about each character so they can play them the way I’d always imagined.

                … I swear this isn’t just to boost my ego, guys.

                It makes me think about my story.

                It makes me ask questions—ones that would potentially be asked by people who are not me.

                “Why did you write [THIS] the way you did, instead of this way?”

                “What purpose does [CHARACTER] serve in the story?”

                “What makes [SO-AND-SO] a good couple?”

                “What is your secret ship? If your MC wasn’t with [CHARACTER], who might they have ended up with?”

                Asking myself things about the story, and characters, and all the different connections taking place under the surface… It makes me search for answers.

Answers deeper than “Because I needed it to be this way.” or “Because it was the first thing I thought of.”

It gets me into character’s mindsets. It makes me think about what makes my characters who they are. And why they do things, and how we got to this point, and all the MOTIVATIONS that I love so much.

And okay. It might also be for my ego. A little.

But I’ll share my thoughts on that in the next post.

Am I the only one who does this? (Please say no) What would you ask yourself in an interview? Where do your best ideas come from?

Also, guys, I’m sure interviewing yourself could work just as well OUT of the shower—perhaps even better because then you can write down everything instead of trying to remember it by the time you get out. Just sayin’ what works for me. ;D

A Character's Class Schedule: History

History: Background Information

Think of a book that takes place in a different kind of world. Far-off fantasy lands, or far-off futures. Chronicles of Narnia or Hunger Games. Pretty much any dystopian novel you’ve ever read. Any fictional world that’s very different from our own.

Now what made them turn into such a different world?

What brought two countries to the brink of war? What events turned the world into a post-apocalyptic wasteland? Where did the Creature of Ultimate Darkness come from?

Most novels at least touch on the answers to questions like these. Some devote a whole book to the subject. (Want to know how the world of Narnia came to be? Just read The Magician’s Nephew!)

There are stories that played out before Chapter 1, nestled someplace between the front cover and the first sentence. Stories that shaped the world into a perfect setting for the rest of the story. The author can’t always go into these histories, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t present.

A word here. A sentence there. A battered old memorial in the square of a city called War-torn. All of these things and more can allude to the stories that came before, and show the reader those reasons that rest below the surface.

Cliché Example Time: Elves and Dwarves hate each other.

Why?

Long ago, elves tired of the dwarves chopping down forests to get the lumber they needed for tunnel supports and tool handles. The elves stole all the dwarves’ equipment (along with a wealth of jewels and precious metals that the dwarves kinda want back) and began to guard the forests.

To get revenge, the dwarves stormed the forests and burned them down out of spite. Then the elves collapsed the dwarves’ tunnels. With that, the two races launched into generations of retaliation, hatred, and revenge.

But in our story, all the readers need to know is that they hate each other and believe they have legitimate reasons for hating each other (nothing should be pointless, kiddies).

We can get this across simply by using the following:

In an argument, a dwarf calls an elf a greedy, selfish, wood-hoarder.

In retaliation, the elf calls the dwarf a murderous forest-torcher.

The argument comes to a peak when the dwarf demands the return of the Ancient Stolen Jewels of Power.

With just three lines of dialogue, we already start to get the impression that there’s been an extensive, continuing conflict between these two races. We did it more or less without infodumping, and it gives the reader a better reason for these prejudices than “Uh, um… Because I said so” or “Because I need it for my plot to work.”

How does this relate to characters?

Sometimes they need to learn their history, too, just as much as the reader. Many fictional characters have rather unorthodox educations, if they have any at all. Some have led pretty sheltered lives, some may be familiar with certain aspects of history but not everything, and some perhaps just didn’t care enough to learn.

Does everyone in our world know of the events that led up to the American Revolution? Does everyone know how the American Revolution effected governments in countries around the world, like France? (Vlogbrothers provides a handy explanation of the French Revolution. :) )

Whether you’re discussing the real world or a fictional world, events in the past shape events in the present, which is why it’s so important to remember the past. Not to mention the whole idea of history repeating itself.

A layered history can add so much depth to a story, and to a world, and to a character. I mean, hello, Darth Vader and Gollum, anybody?

It can even add to a character’s motivations. Which character is more likely to fight for her people? An elf who hates dwarves  ‘because she’s supposed to’? Or an elf who hates dwarves because she knows how much injustice and death and cruelty there’s been in the past?

And, just another little hint: If your main character’s motivations are strong, that might help your reader’s motivations to keep reading.

Homework Assignment: Think about the world (or character) of your novel and think about how it got the way it is at the time of your story. Then write a summary/short story/ballad/whatever about that history. :)

This concludes our first lesson in a Character’s Class Schedule. What did you think? Good, bad? Helpful or not? I welcome your feedback as I try to work out my blogging style. XD I’m also still looking for suggestions of other classes that characters seem to take often, or any other subjects you’d like me to cover during this series.

I also welcome your feedback on how I should schedule this kind of thing. I’m posting this a day after the announcement because the announcement wasn’t exactly a blog post, but what kind of interval should there be between the other three? Every other day? Two days in-between? Any suggestions you have there would be more than welcome. :)

Thanks for reading! ^^



How Heroes Are Made

Gah. I've had this post ready for nine days, and I'm just now getting around to posting it. T-T I fail.
Anyway... Here it is:

Part two of my ‘Musings from the School bus’ burst of inspiration. ;)


Alternatively titled: ‘The Writer’ thinks about Heroes. A lot.

Heroes are brave, and strong, and sure of themselves. Very rarely do they start out that way, though. The few that do are mostly stupid, and get themselves killed before they can do anything really impressive. Real heroes start out like everyone else: as screaming, squirming babies. And you can take that figuratively, OR literally! It works either way! :D

Often they’re small, and soft, and scared.

Or selfish, and mean, and refuse to help anyone but themselves.

They go quietly about their lives, caring for things and getting hurt by things, over and over again, their experiences laying down foundations for greatness. Dead/killed family, insults that can’t be overlooked, consequences for hasty actions… All of these things – and more – are triggers. All of our hero’s experiences up to the current point decide how he’ll react to something.

They are what decide whether a girl standing in front of a burning orphanage – the remnants of the best home she’s ever known – takes charge and leads the other survivors through bandit-infested hills to the safety of a city she’s never been to… Or if she breaks down and cries, and lets the girl standing next to her rise to the occasion instead.

Everything brings her to this point. EVERYTHING points her toward her transformation from a mousy, bullied girl into a leader. The string of rotten homes that made her so grateful to the orphanage for taking her in… The cruel sneers on the arsonists’ faces as they set her home ablaze – so similar to the cruel sneer on her step-brother’s face when he left her for dead on the side of a road. The kindness and gentleness of the nuns who sacrificed their own lives getting the children out of the fire. All of it spurs her on towards action.

Not just one event. ALL the events. Even the ones we never saw. They’re different than the events that turned the strong, bullying girl into a mouse in the face of danger (her parents killed by bandits, she herself caught in a forest fire she barely survived when she was young).

Hints of the mousy girl are still present in our hero, but out of necessity they get pushed to the side and the hero ignores them. Ignores everything that tells her, “YOU CAN’T DO THIS.”

The hero grows throughout the story, settling into the new skin they’ve been forced to take on. Slowly they become more confident, growing used to the new bravery, and the defiance, and the responsibility for the ones they care about.

As readers, we love to see our heroes grow into stronger people. We love to pick out the events that caused them to behave in such a way. The REASONS for what they do. The things that make their story one that can be told only by them, and them alone. The things that make them the single person in the entire world that’s fit for the job.

Unimpressive people don’t sit at the breakfast table and decide out of the blue that they’re going to save the world, any more than you could decide, spur of the moment, for no reason at all, to go out and track down a missing little girl and her kidnapper. You might do such a thing, but you would need something to spark the decision. Maybe the little girl was a close relative. Maybe your own child/sibling/friend was kidnapped once and found later, dead, and you don’t want anyone else to go through that. Maybe you see the girl, and she’s within your reach, if you just TRY to save her.

Maybe there’s a million dollar reward.

Why do people decide to be cops? Or firefighters? Or – in the case of a villain, which follows a similar pattern – a suicide bomber?

There are REASONS for these things. What are the reasons behind YOUR main character’s actions?

"Heroes are people who rise to the occasion and slip quietly away."

-- Tom Brokaw

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art31788.asp

^^ A site I stumbled across looking for the exact wording of my quote, full of good, heroic quotes.