Two
posts in one year. Wow! I'm on a roll.
This
is what's happening--as I said previously, my Riddle in Stone series is coming to an end. It looks like the final book in the series, Blood in Snow, will be released in March
or April (I'll keep you posted as information comes in from the publisher.). So now
I have to start writing a new book with completely new characters.
I
had entertained the idea of writing something other than fantasy. In fact, I
had begun a satire about higher education and got a good hundred pages in, but
my agent strongly suggested that I stay with the same genre since I'm slowly
building a readership.
So
I'm back to square one...a blank computer screen laughing at me. LAUGHING AT
ME, I SAY!!!! Damn computer screen. So smug and arrogant.
Anyhow,
this actually lend itself to the question I'm often asked: "How do you start writing a book?"
Well,
I begin with a character in mind. I
think about him or her and daydream about what he or she would do in various
situations. (Alright. I really hate this
he/she, his/her thing. So I'm just going
to use "she/her" as a way to refer to characters of an unspecified
gender. Sorry. I'm a hack. Leave me alone.)
I
know this probably sounds crazy, but I actually "talk" to the character
in my head. I have to feel as though I know
the character before I write. Otherwise,
I stare at my computer, wondering what to have her do next. If I know the character, I just let her do
whatever she wants and I sit back and record what I see.
So
the first step is getting to know the character prior to writing. That's really
important for me.
The
problem is...you have to have the "right" character for a book to
work. For example, I came up with a male
character who I really liked and knew. I
even wrote 75 pages about him. However, as I
pulled back a little and examined what I had written, I realized that the main
character was a cliché. He was
a young, streetwise, punk of a kid with a good heart deep down. Sound familiar? It's basically the formula for every
second-rate fantasy story out there.
Ugh!!!
So
I had to make a decision...go on or start over.
I
started over. I didn't want to get four
hundred pages into a manuscript only to realize that, while the writing might have
been good, the character was as stale as three month old bread--or anything on
television.
So
now I'm back to square one again. Damn blank computer screen!! I'LL SHOW YOU!!!!
Now
I have to come up with not just a character I know, but also a character who is
original. This is harder than it
sounds.
Not
to sound like an ass or anything, but I'm pretty proud of Edmund, my character
in Riddle in Stone. He's a fat, middle
age, librarian who stutters. Pretty
unique, eh? I thought so...at least for
fantasy books that are dominated by big, manly men with bulging muscles and perpetually
torn shirts.
The
problem I'm having is, every time I come up with a character who I feel is unique,
I suddenly realize that she's just a version of Edmund. "Oh, I know! I'll write about a skinny,
middle age accountant with a hearing impairment! Wait! That seems vaguely
familiar... Hmmm."
So
I need to come up with something novel.
But
the character has to also be gripping and relatable. I HATE characters who are tall, good-looking,
smart, rich, and great at absolutely everything they do. I can't stand them. To me, they just aren't real. They're also assholes...like the popular kids
in high school. ASSHOLES!!
You
might be asking: "What about the
story or plot? Where does that come in?"
My
answer is, I don't really do that. Once
I have a character, I just let things happen.
For example, with Edmund, I started writing with no idea what was going
to happen. I literally had Edmund walking down a road. Where he was going and what his life would be
like, I hadn't a clue. It all developed
from him.
So
that's what's happening now. I'm trying
to write, but need a good character to show me her story first. Meanwhile, the computer mocks me. MOCKS ME!!!!
Okay. That's it for now. I have some thinking to do.
I
hope you are all well and warm.
