The Writer's Guide to Character Traits

One of the most valuable books on my writer’s bookshelf is The Writer’s Guide to Character Traits by Linda N. Edelstein, Ph.D. Lately, I use it so much that it’s just sitting by my writing couch. I don’t think it has been reshelved in a month now.

Yes, currently I have a writing couch. It is necessary for me to spend time with my feet up. I never thought I would write in this position and it did take time for me to get used to it but that’s life and you get used to these things.

I originally purchased this book when I was working on Mysteries. Sections such as its analysis of Psychological Disorders can keep you on track with that murderer.

Currently I am using it for the chapter titled Child and Adolescent Types. Child Development, by age, is particularly helpful for Book #1 and two books down in my series I will be using Crises of Adolescence. Not that I don’t remember enough of that time in my life to get me through. It never hurts to brush up though.

Edelstein covers Love and Marriage, Physical Disorders, Occult Practices, Career Traits, Group Influences, Communication (verbal and nonverbal) and other Character traits.

And, beside all of this, you can finally find out just what is wrong with that weird nephew of yours in the chapter on Psychological Disorders.

Help from a Stuffed Bear

I am drawing up a loose outline for each of the other books in my proposed five book series and I keep going back to the thought that something is missing from Book one. This is stalling progress, as I just cannot get my head around what is missing.

In the beginning, my family was a big part of my original idea and we did a lot of brainstorming. Okay, it was not exactly “a lot” of brainstorming. There was a week or so of that and then they lost interest, but they were always willing to answer my questions and give input, as they passed by. Teenage boys, who are now learning what it is like to have a normal life, are busy. We took these guys from their mother three years ago, due to extreme abuse and they have a lot of catching up to do.

So, lately, I have kept my book pretty close to me, but yesterday I just had to talk it out. My husband is disabled; he has been on disability for over eighteen years now and spends a lot of time sitting. He is quiet when I am writing on my book as this is an important occupation for me, but he is there, if I need him.

I had come in from watering the garden and doing some yelling (I don’t do it a lot but as things get tighter and tighter and break and can’t be fixed, it is happening more.). I was angry because we have water leaks everywhere, inside and out, and they are not getting fixed. Then, I apologize and tell him “I’m sorry; I’m just frustrated by the state of the economy.” And, he says he understands because he feels bad he is not contributing enough.

I go back to my writing and outlining, until I turn to him and began telling him my problem:

Me: “I feel like I’m missing a main point in Book one. I have this search for an Aetite.”

Husband opens mouth

I interrupt: “And then there is Phineus, (my Antagonist for book one) who gives him a tracker.”

Husband says, “Ah…..”

I interrupt again: “Oh, and I have to tell you that he has this little creature who is his guide, and becomes his friend and he gives him a gift of the tracker and ….”

Husband just stares.

I continue: “And, at the end … (no spoiler)”

There is a long pause in the conversation as I figure out that I do have what I was afraid I do not have and that is a thread throughout the story.

“See, you are contributing.” I tell him.

His reply: “You could have figured that out by talking to a stuffed bear.”

The fun of it!!!

I started revising, and doing my outline, with renewed enthusiasm last night.

Yes, it is late to start an outline, but I love Stephen King’s advice, just write. So, I let the story take me where it may and then I go back and outline, and edit, and edit, and edit.

Since this is envisioned as a five book series, I need to plunge in the water now and outline the other four books. It is the only way I can make sure this, the first book, ends in the way it should.

I’m just happy this is feeling like fun again and not drudge work. I love the discovery process. Told you, long ago, that I’m a day dreamer and I love making up stories. So, I’m off to it.

Good day writing to you all.

In the Nick of Time - Before the End

Writing is my life saver. It keeps me sane and maybe it keeps me from packing a bag with my camera, sketchpad and pencils and hitting the road too. So, when my writing is not going as planned, it is really nice to find the perfect answer to the current problem.

I have said before, you need to be “open” to ideas to learn from them and for one to strike just the right note. This has been achieved, yet again, in an article by Cheryl Klein, in her blog Brooklyn Arden and in a speech she gave at the Terminus 2008 Potter Conference in Chicago, Illinois. It is also posted on-line at A Few Things Writers Can Learn from Harry Potter and I thank, Ms. Klein, a thousand times over, for all of the help she has, unknowingly, given me over this past two year period.

Unlike other writing sites, which tell you that you MUST do this and you CANNOT do that, Ms. Klein tells you what is so fantastic about a multi-million dollar book and how to do it in your own way.

Then, she gives you approval, where all the other’s will tell what not to do, she tells you to write what you need to write. Do not write to the market. Write to please yourself first. You are a reader after all, or you would not be here.

So, if you want to know what is so good about a book opening, or how to make your reader fall in love with your characters, or why a YA novel can have an adult theme and how to do it, spend a day or, as I have, two years reading her advice.

I just needed a refresher, to remind me where I am going and what step I need to take now to get there. She puts theme and writer’s voice and plotting into perspective for me and so, now, I shall return to my writing.

I will take my first draft, with its multiple edits done already and I will outline the other four books of my proposed series, because how can I know how to end this book (my latest struggle) if I only have a vague idea of where this journey will take me?

ARRGGGrrrrgggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

That’s as close as I can get to last night’s primal scream. I think I just need to take a break from writing for a few days. I am also coming down with something and am headachy, body achy and feel as if a huffalump has inhabited my body. So, that is probably not helping.

But, my head is ready to explode, because every time I think I am nearing, not perfection, but a well written book, I read someone’s blog on writing and find four more things I need to change and edit for.

I now have four alternate beginnings, two of which fit Author! Author! Author! Author! » Blog Archive » The scariest Halloween ever: submitting your first page to a bunch of agents for critique. This is actually a very interesting and informative blog. But, only two of my openings fit this Blog definition of what a beginning should be. I had dismissed both of these early on for --- I have no idea why. Do I go with my gut?

Okay, in Version one, the reasons are:
1. My protagonist is upset. Yes, this makes him human but does it make him weak? Would boys even read it if there are tears in the eyes of this boy??? This is a middle grade novel.

2. A damaged fairy appears. Fairies play a small part in this book, so I could rewrite it to be another creature, but the fact that a fairy is damaged is important to the story. Would a boy read it if a fairy was in it? Even a damaged fairy?

I’ve just got to stop doing research about writing. It’s driving me nuts. I want this to be the very best it can be, but trying to follow all of everyone's rules is driving me nuts.

I know the revisions are getting better, because both of these two earlier versions may be sound plot and interest wise, but boy they are not written near as well as I thought at the time.

But, am I being too much of a slave to internet advice?

When is your edit done?

I changed the header of my blog to include a sentence Anthony Bourdain used on No Reservations. I know I have heard it before, but it is like a professor/friend of mine said to me one day when I was extolling a painting I had passed dozens of times but the brilliance of it struck me that particular day.

“You were just ready to see it.” He said.

As I treat my writing, this time, in a professional manner, it is the journey of writing that is so important to me. The internet opens that journey for all of us and I am so ready to see it.

When I began my Mystery, oh so long ago, I purchased some books and, having read Mysteries for years, felt I had the skills to write a Mystery. I had some minor publishing credits and have written for years. I then received an excellent critique, at Of Dark and Stormy Nights in Chicago, from a published author. But, I always felt the plotting was faulty and I put my nearly complete, but not edited, Mystery aside.

In Wyoming I belonged to an eclectic writing critique group. There were rhyming poets, free verse poets, a romance writer who was currently specializing in gay romance, and myself. I received some wonderful critiquing and grew in my writing. I miss all these fine writers.

On my own again, in Indiana, I turn to the internet. You can find it all, except maybe for endings, you just have to be open to what you find AND you have to know when to quit searching the internet and finish the blasted thing. I'm ready for that now.

But, when are you done? One of my first painting instructors, during a discussion on how to tell if someone is a professional quality artist or not, said, “A hobbyist is someone who completes their work, steps back and thinks to themselves ‘look what I did.’ A professional completes their work, steps back and says, ‘I can do better.’

Sometimes you just have to let go. I tend to work paintings to death. Now, I may be working this book to death. I do not want to work the life out of it. I wonder if there is a search to be had for “knowing when you are done?” Because, I am ready for it.

Jump to page 123 and read

I was reading some older posts on writermorphosis today and she reminded me of an exercise to do. Grab the nearest book, jump to page 123, count down five sentences and post the next three. It is a neat exercise to see what others are reading and also one to take out a bite of your own book and see if those three lines stack up.

Gaffer boy, our son who is studying to be a Gaffer, has given me Terry Pratchett's The Color of Magic to read. I would prefer to start a series with book one and I generally do not care for books with a ton of made up words. I have just started it, but he is quite a visual writer and I just love this line: "Through sea-sized eyes that are crusted with rheum and astroid dust."

p. 123, "Codice of Chimeria killed the last one two hundred years ago. I don't know what we're seeing, but they aren't dragons."
"But they carried us up in the air!"

Susan Choi, "A Person of Interest" is a mystery I have not started yet, but it sits here waiting.

p. 123, "And to his surprise, rather than feeling bereft, he fairly hummed with contentment. For the first time in recent memory, perhaps for the first time since meeting Aileen, he had purpose, and peace. He had always loved a university campus in summer, the mysterious abandonment of the medieval city, with just a skeleton crew of damned souls left to meet his few needs: a single heavy-eyed stamper of books, a single sleepwalking ladler of gruel in the one cafeteria."

That last sentence means I will be starting it tomorrow. What a great visual. "skeleton crew of damned souls...single sleepwalking ladler of gruel..."

And, then there is Three Brothers in a Yellowwood Tree, by S. A. VanVleck
p. 123 of my manuscript:

"The crescent moon created a host of shadows as he watched a deer forage. White tail up in alarm, the deer ran deeper into the woods. Alex squinted to see what had frightened the animal when another creature moved into his view."

I am going to have to think on that. Is it enough of a word picture?