Writerly Ways
Aug. 3rd, 2014 01:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cornerofmadnessWhat a way to wake up. Lighning strike so bright I could see it thru my eye lids then the power went out.
Anyhow, today I wanted to talk about believablity. We all talk about OOC ness in fanfic but can original characters be out of character? Certainly. This can certainly crop up in series fiction. For example, let's say Harry Dresden decides to willingly screw his friends for some idealized goal. Would we believe it? Probably not. If Hermonine got fed up with helping out Harry and takes off on him, we'd have been irritated.
Characters should have established personalties and things the reader expects of them. I always expected Xander to screw over Angel and/or Spike because of his dislike of vampires so it didn't surprise me when he did. I would be surprised if he did differently. Readers can be an unforgiving lot if their trust in a character is broken.
But believablity has broader implications. What a character does is very important. If the author doesn't know anything about what they want to write about, research is paramount (and fun!). I wrote about this in Jana's blog the other day. check it out here since it's longer than I want to retype. The upshot is, it was so unbelievable, I thought 'this was a twenty-five cent library sale book and it's not worth my time.' I got rid of the book unread. I'm also not even really trusting the author anymore.
One of my friends just reviewed one by Robin Cook where in the author used an actual city but did zero research on it and had it all wrong (and I dislike it when authors change the city to fit their story since reality doesn't work. Okay minor changes aren't so bad but major ones...)
This is pretty unexcusable in this day and age. Google Earth allows you to look at most cities and you can find things online about darned near anything. Prior to Google Earth, Fodor and Frommer guides were my best friend.
So if your character is going to be doing something wild and out of his/her established patterns, there had best be a good reason.
Yearly word count -
Editing - Soldiers of the Sun, finished all of ELD's edits for this.
Editing - Splinters of Silver - NOTHING
Beneath the torn Sky - wrote nothing
Blood Red Roulette- read a little of where I left off
Yule in Wales - sent it in.
Anyhow, today I wanted to talk about believablity. We all talk about OOC ness in fanfic but can original characters be out of character? Certainly. This can certainly crop up in series fiction. For example, let's say Harry Dresden decides to willingly screw his friends for some idealized goal. Would we believe it? Probably not. If Hermonine got fed up with helping out Harry and takes off on him, we'd have been irritated.
Characters should have established personalties and things the reader expects of them. I always expected Xander to screw over Angel and/or Spike because of his dislike of vampires so it didn't surprise me when he did. I would be surprised if he did differently. Readers can be an unforgiving lot if their trust in a character is broken.
But believablity has broader implications. What a character does is very important. If the author doesn't know anything about what they want to write about, research is paramount (and fun!). I wrote about this in Jana's blog the other day. check it out here since it's longer than I want to retype. The upshot is, it was so unbelievable, I thought 'this was a twenty-five cent library sale book and it's not worth my time.' I got rid of the book unread. I'm also not even really trusting the author anymore.
One of my friends just reviewed one by Robin Cook where in the author used an actual city but did zero research on it and had it all wrong (and I dislike it when authors change the city to fit their story since reality doesn't work. Okay minor changes aren't so bad but major ones...)
This is pretty unexcusable in this day and age. Google Earth allows you to look at most cities and you can find things online about darned near anything. Prior to Google Earth, Fodor and Frommer guides were my best friend.
So if your character is going to be doing something wild and out of his/her established patterns, there had best be a good reason.
Yearly word count -
Editing - Soldiers of the Sun, finished all of ELD's edits for this.
Editing - Splinters of Silver - NOTHING
Beneath the torn Sky - wrote nothing
Blood Red Roulette- read a little of where I left off
Yule in Wales - sent it in.
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Date: 2014-08-03 06:09 pm (UTC)I ordered your book on Friday - in paperback because I like books. I like my Nook as well but I spend more time reading paper books
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Date: 2014-08-03 10:34 pm (UTC)Oh thanks so very much. Link me up again to where I can find yours. I'm with you, I like the ereader but I love paper books more
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Date: 2014-08-03 11:26 pm (UTC)I wish I had a paperback version, but not yet. This one is my favorite but it is a short story
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009DPAY8Q
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Date: 2014-08-04 01:06 am (UTC)okay cool. thanks. I'll give it a look.