Orion (he/him)#WordWeavers March 1: What is your greatest fear about your characters?
That they're shallow, that they don't change enough over time, that they'll be boring.
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#WordWeavers March 2: Do you write scenes out of order?
Yes, very much so. I'm not convinced that's the best method for anything longer than a short story, though, so I might (holy shit! holy shit!) switch to detailed outlines for the next big project.
That said, the next big project is a sequel to a novella that's *very* episodic, and I want to keep that structure, so many be back to non-sequential writing.
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#WordWeavers 3 March: Introduce your MC without telling us their age, gender, job and who they are to others.
She's mostly quiet these days. She does her chores. She listens at dinner. She sits by herself a lot.
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#WordWeavers March 4. When was the last time your MC lied? Why?
She lived homeless for a little bit after leaving the cult. She used to engage people in conversation and then pick their pockets.
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#WordWeavers March 5: What's the most supportive/uplifting thing you heard related to writing?
"Dude, this short story *is a novel*. Write a novel."
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#WordWeavers March 6: If you have several stories, which one should a new reader start with? If 1/not yet published, what other works might your readers enjoy?
I have a short about a guy who's three-year-old is a superhero. It's really about covid and releasing your kid into a huge, dangerous world to be taken care of by people who are effectively strangers. That story tells you a lot about my sensibilities as a writer.
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#WordWeavers March 7: How do you define a “strong” character? How do you create one?
One that is defined and has depth. You have a "strong" sense of who they are, their values, the ways they tend to solve problems or react to challenges. They can also surprise you, though, because there's more than one way to react within them. It's a really fine balance, and that's a whole separate discussion from how they grow and change over the course of a story.
#WordWeavers How *I* create a strong character is to get a sense of their voice and body language, but it's 90% voice. If I know what they sound like, then I can improvise them through any situation. That's not the same as creating backstory, so instead, I generate backstory as I go. It's the groove that D&D left in my brain. :)
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#WordWeavers NB: This is *not* the same as "realistic" characters bc actual human beings are collections of contradictions. We're irrational and unpredictable. We do Weird Shit all the time.
Fictional characters are expected to be coherent and consistent. It's the mode of writing that surrounds us, it's hugely influenced by the early days of Freudian psychology--hence "psychological realism"--but it's not *real*. It's important we all recognize that.
#WordWeavers March 8: How do you approach stereotypes while creating characters?
Subvert them every time I get the chance.
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#WordWeavers March 9: If you need to share an important piece of history/lore, what’s your approach that avoids infodumping?
Dialogue. Get people talking about something. Avoid having one person directly explain if you can, but sometimes, that's just the most efficient option. I think readers are smart and can tell, "Aha, this is information I need," and they will judge whether I made it pleasant enough to read.
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#WordWeavers I should say, in my current project, my main character lapses into memories of her parents, so she'll remember something they told her as a way of communicating that to the reader. It's a feature of the text, and I justify/rationalize it as a reminder of how much she misses them and would rather not have been abducted into a paramilitary child-soldier cult in space. (It's the Jedi. She's a padawan.)
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#WordWeavers March 10: Antagonist POV: Imagine you achieved your goal. What's next?
Tea.
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#WordWeavers: March 11: Give an example of brilliant writing. What's special about it?
I don't have something to quote, but my go-to example is how Cat Valente's narrator voice is different in every piece. She tailors it to fit the story. She's so good!
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#WordWeavers March 12: How could someone who knows your MC well console them after the last time you made them suffer?
This isn't the *last* time she suffered, but it is a time when someone who cares about her managed to make her feel better.
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#WordWeavers March 13: Tell us about a quirk your SC has.
She *loves* weeding. Weeds are just plants that need a new home.
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#WordWeavers March 14: Is selling your work for money important to you when you write?
The actual money isn't super important to me. I am very lucky to be employed. But I would love to *be paid* at some point. Of course, the publishing industry is SCREWED right now, so I've essentially given up on that dream.
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#WordWeavers 15 March: If your SC came across a large crystal that was glowing from within, what, if anything, would they do with it?
Brant [standing back]: "Hey, we shouldn't. I mean."
River [looking from behind Brant's arms]: "It's so pretty! I wonder what it is?"
Sim [rushing forward]: "I bet it'll give me super powers if I lick it!"
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#WordWeavers March 16: Do you have any kind of ritual to get in the mood to sit down and write? If so, what is it?
Open the file. Read something. If I can will myself to do that, then my fingers are already on the keyboard making changes.
If I'm meant to write something new, I open a fresh file and write what's in my head.
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#WordWeavers March 17. Did you ever receive formal education in creative writing?
I took an online course at SFU's "adult learning centre." Funny story, I started writing a story abt a guy who's toddle is a superhero and how terrifying it is. Halfway through, the instructor said, "readers like to see characters make choices," and I was like, yeah, I should do that. So the story is literally about him being tortured by the choice of whether to take his kid's powers away.
#WordWeavers Mar 18: Tell us about a time when your MC failed.
"I killed her. I didn't want to. I couldn't stop myself. She's dead."
(NB: This was a fair fight between two women, both trained combatants.)
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DeepSkyStories💥🚀@orionkidder Hi, yes, it would be nice to receive some compensation now and then - and I have been, a bit, but that's the paradox of things these days. There are so many books being produced that the online library is an endless maze of sorts.
My suggestion is that you write some really fine-quality stories that you are excited about sharing and then market the crap out of them!😉😂 Also, be patient, be very patient. And then...be patient.
I'm still in that groove, but I'm also having fun learning new marketing techniques and I have the satisfaction of knowing that I've written a fun, original story (a classic?) that people will find, now and then, and will enjoy long after I'm gone.
Last of all, yes, I agree, don't quit your day-job.
Cheers!😎👍💙
@GFBrynn See, "marketing" is the thing I truly do not have time for, metaphorically and literally. I yearn for the (probably non-existent) old days when the writer's job was to write, and Someone Else did the marketing.
As it is, I've decided that what I can do is write for fun and earn a living doing something else (something I quite like, so it's a pretty happy story).
Pent Up Games 🔞@orionkidder This fits nicely with the definition of a weed as "a plant out of place".
@pentup Oh I like that!
Kagan MacTane (he/him)@orionkidder This is well put. Kudos.
@kagan Thank you. I reverse-engineered it from standard character analysis essay method:
- What does the character want?
- How do they go about obtaining it?
- How much do they change by the end of the story?