Writerly Ways

To me, a believable character is important. When I ran that poll a week or so ago about the detective who was so dyslexic he couldn't read reports or even road signs (a necessity for a street cop) and hadn't reported this disability to anyone, half of you agreed you couldn't buy into the other character and several of you who said you could suspend belief added in caveats that the novel didn't provide.

I always worry about believability and I do work hard to try to make the character as authentic as possible. I do a lot of research if its something I have not done myself. I've been rereading my Buffy/Angel crossover Hyperion's Son after rahirah's comments about not wanting to have a huge story left undone (I will finish this. I swear) and I was surprised at how much work I did on researching monsters, heroin culture etc. It was far more readable than I expected and I got sucked into my own story (sounds arrogant but true).

So how do you get to that believability once you've done the research. Let me tell you a story about a novel I was writing in the 90's (long gone in a computer crash AND the floppy disc corrupted. remember that issue? The only one that would corrupt would be the one with the file the hard drive just lost). The main character was based on my time in college. And someone in my writers group (it's the bad one you hear me refer to every so often) blasted me into smithereens for writing a Mary Sue (well I don't think he called it that. I'm not sure if that term predates the internet, I think it does, but it wasn't until fandom moved online that I remember hearing it). NO ONE could possibly do as much as my character did. I pointed out that I did everything that was in the story and then some. He called me a liar. I handed him a list of friends he could write and offered to photocopy pages out of my college year book (or maybe I did put them in the paper zine. I don't remember. I was in my 20's and lacking a certain level of maturity...just what you want in your medical doctor).

So what do you do when reality seems unbelievable? I wish I knew, especially as I listen to shows like Deadly Women and get ideas for villains. Some of them seem impossible too, like the background I'm giving the homeless gay teen in the would-be charity story. I worry about Aneurin being labeled a Larry Stu because he's wealthy, handsome and smart but the way the story is set up only the wealthiest could afford a Toy, he's genetically engineered for physical perfection and intelligence so I hope that counterbalances it.

I do the research because I do not want to be the one who gets laughed at post-publication for being inaccurate. I read one story that nearly made me quit in chapter one because the detective wanted to send something in to ballistics, a shot gun shell. There IS no ballistics as shotguns don't have lands and grooves, rifles and pistols do. I did enjoy the novel but for that but mistakes like that can be a real issue.

If possible, I suggest finding someone who knows the thing you're writing about and see if they'll talk with you. For instance, if I do that YA in Florida, Mom and step-dad own a funeral home. I'm talking to someone in the biz to be sure I get things right. (Speaking of which, 0_mother_0, I just read something that claimed there couldn't be an open casket because of the autopsy and I've been part of the latter. I'm not sure it would preclude the former. Does Bear have thoughts?).

I wish I could find someone to talk to in Deadwood SD about police work and Pine Ridge for Lakota culture (I'm suspecting the first will be easier than the second). No, let me rephrase, I should get off my butt and try to find...

Get a beta reader(s) to be honest with you. Do they believe the characters? The good ones will tell you and tell you where you went off the rails

And with that in mind, anyone want to do a slow edit chapter at a time of the 1930's demon hunter story. I'm within 2 chapters of finishing and I would love to get this edited through and out of here by the end of the year. Alternatively waiting to read it all at once is possible (but I'd want to edit chapter by chapter myself). I'm willing to trade for the help so poor evil_little_dog doesn't have to do the work all herself.

Also, I retooled my idea for the homeless teen story. There's a new list of baddies to look thru click here if you want to help pick one.

yearly word count - I think I'm going to have to bump this up.

98788 / 125000
(79.03%)