What my personal editor taught me

Here is a flower from my garden, this past summer. 'Tis the season to cover the garden at night, pick the seeds and run in to warm up. I ran in last night to a great email from my personal editor.

YIPPEE!! Last night I received a partial first chapter edit from Master’s Daughter. Gosh, what an eye opener.

FIRST: All my charts and trying to keep track: I am new to Word and never had a Word Processor before that had comments on it. As a legal secretary, I had long used WordPerfect, at work and home. The last few updates though have taken it down the tubes. It jams constantly. The charts I have been making are being, figuratively, burned and I am using comments to put in foreshadowing etc. It also helps my editor, daughter, know that yes, this is an important point to leave in. Honest girl, it will make sense some day.

This will really help me too as some things are mentioned because it is laying a bit of groundwork for book two or three, and even five, in this five book series.

SECOND: Oh, how long ago Jr High school was. I did teach art to Jr High students for three weeks a summer, for five years. JRockGuitarMan, one of my step-son/grandson/ward came to live with me and entered seventh grade, so I had a refresher. But, there are things I just need to keep in mind and I was not. While, I may not always act my age, I have forgotten some of how a Jr High student’s mind works and Master’s daughter teaches them every day, so she is catching those things.

Her comments include:

“Reader is now thinking …”
“Needs transition”
“Reader’s thought: Is ‘glint’ an object or a reflection?”
“This doesn’t seem to fit here; awkward.”
And more

I worked on her comments and am now ahead of her edit and hoping to send the rest of Chapter 1 and then chapter 2 in a few days. Somehow, I must have sent her a partial first chapter. We are going to work on this chapter by chapter. It will be so much easier to track things now with Words comments.

I feel like I am back on track, thanks to my own personal editor.

Make your Character Come Alive

I have charts for all my characters. Okay, not all of them yet, but the ones who live in my first book. I have five books planned for this story. I have three, CO-Protagonists. They are brothers. The youngest, Alexander, is the main protagonist for the first book and the series. His two brothers each take turns at playing a larger role in some of the books than others.

As always, I searched books and the internet for character development ideas. I started out with one idea after another s to a list of questions that needs to be answered. I have come to the conclusion that, as with most things, I must work with a chart/list that works for me. Each of my characters usually has several items in their chart that another character might not have. The reason is that I need something different from each one of them.

I have approximately forty character charts filled out for this book. Some are minor "one-line type of characters." The charts are in varying degrees of completeness and I was hoping to copy one into this post but the chart itself did not show up. Below, is basically my chart, sans chart, for a character named Cecil Wurtzel. He is a friend to my protagonist and takes a pivotal role in the series.

Italics are my comments to you

SD 3 CECIL WURTZEL == ASK Why Everything (This is a reminder to myself)

Cecil believes in his fear and self-consciousness. He is a good friend and a good person but he doesn’t realize it. He has no self-confidence. He stands by his friends, only finally accomplishing his tasks when a friend is in need.

Name: Cecil Wurtzel: Cecil=blind -- Wurtzel= beaten (I like word meanings)
JOB IN STORY= Kindness, gentleness, forgiving, vulnerable, Friend to Alexander and Emily
Favorite Saying =“Oh Man —!” usually when he spills his milk (This is a trait shared with my brother, who spilt his milk every single dinner.)
Appearance = Short of stature. He is self-conscious about the burns on his arms and scars on his chest. These add to his uncertainty of his worth.
Behavior = spills milk, tips chairs due to a nervousness about how he will be treated/received
Traits: = He is extremely intelligent and well read. This comes from his hiding in books.
He is also fearful, tense, feels worthless, embarrassed, and lacks confidence
How does he change? = He helps Alexander with knowledge and Alexander gives him confidence by showing him how easy it is to not be afraid of living. Not being afraid of jumping in water or climbing tall trees comes naturally to Alex. Book learning does not, but is easy for Cecil.

As their friendship develops, Cecil learns that you must give people a chance and that most of them will not hurt you.

What does he want = Not to be afraid
What or who is standing in his way? = His own fear.
How does this location affect him?= He is at home here, but has never forgotten the myth he has built up of his mother, nor the abuse by his father.
What shaped his view of world? = Mother died when he was three. Father turned to drink and began burning him with cigarettes and abusing him when drunk.

NOTE TO MYSELF: Ragged Red Fiber is what disease sounds like that causes people to appear or be clumsy - I'm not sure if I will use that in the book at all. But, if I need that information, I know where to find it.

There are a lot of really good character chart ideas on the net and in books. Look at all of them and start with what seems the most complete to you. Then you can pick what you need to develop your character. Just remember, he must have strengths and frailties. He has to have a past and a future. He has to become as real to your world as you are to this one.