Writerly Ways

[cornerofmadness]

You'd think I'd have more to say here. Ther were accomplishments. Mysterious SPirit got sent off to Dreamspinner's Games in the Dark anthology for consideration. Much fan fic was written. I've even made some headway on that space opera and got it up for the original fiction filter but it's not done. I'd hate to see it go to waste. (and it might, 25K is too long for most publishers which is the downside to Samhain's high word count requirements)

I was leafing through that gimicky Writer's Kit I got and found this card that I thought might be helpful to the other writers here.

Character Mannerisms
One of the ways to make characters more realistic is to give them mannerisms and habits that remain consistant throughout the text. These can be as subtle as someone always having his right hand in his pocket...make a list of mannerisms and habits for your characters that fall into the following categories: stressed, sad, happy, frustrated, tired etc. (i.e. how do they change with emotional states).

wrote another 3300+ words this week and according to the counter I'm three quarters of the way to my yearly goal. I guess that's something

75347 / 100000 words. 75% done!

Comments

[silvrethorn.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with that little piece of advice about giving characters mannerisms. The habitual behaviors are how you identify people, almost as important as facial recognition, and they really are a huge part of a person's (perceived) personality. If you have a fully-realized character, I think the personal quirks are so ingrained that they just pop out during the writing, like Toshiro scratching his nose when he thinks, or Maru tending to let his sentences trail off in ellipses... Either way, personal quirks give color and individuality to characters, and writing without those little sparks of color tends to be bland.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

i think my characters need more quirks or at least some of the newer ones.

I guess Ben has his love of the 80's even though he was like born in the 90's and Tarran has his psychotic breaks when things upset him

[silvrethorn.livejournal.com]

Yes, but it's Ben's stupid argyle socks and Tarran's habit of twisting his hair when he's tense that move the characters from plot puppets to living beings in a reader's mind. I think, behind that advice, is the idea of giving readers something about your characters that they can relate to. Psychotic breaks are a gross mannerism. It's the little points of identification that build a dimensional character.

Oh, and Makai and Echyon both need mannerisms. Especially Echyon. Echyon has powers and attributes, but his lack of personal traits is a large part of why he comes off so flat.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

i was hoping Makai HAD some mannerisms. I agree Echyon had none and he has never offered any up to me

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Good advice, that character mannerism thing. It's something I struggle with -- I have to write them down and refer back to them while writing my characters, to make sure I get it right.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

that reminds me this sunday I'll do the character sheet thing I was talking about...

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

yay!