Tag: Character development

Writing Exercise: Fancy That

Erin Penn Leave a comment

Photo by Alvin Mahmudov on Unsplash

“Clothes maketh the man.” is often quoted in books and film. A bit pretentious, but also very true. They give a person confidence, or allows them to hide. Fabric can provide protection or make life dangerous.

What does it bring to the table for your character? For this writing exercise, we will be exploring what your character wears.

WRITING EXERCISE: Define what your character wears in different circumstances. Describe three different outfits – a work day outfit, nighttime attire, and a special occasion for example.

Here are some questions to think about why developing your character’s wardrobe:

  1. What is the fanciest and/or most expensive thing your character has ever worn?
  2. What are their favorite colors for clothes and do they actually look good in those colors?
  3. What do they wear around the house?
  4. Do they wash their own clothes? Do they shop for their own clothes?
  5. Would they repair their clothes or buy new? Have they ever borrowed or bought used clothes?
  6. Do they were clothing to match society? Are they cutting edge or behind?
  7. How much does their clothes costs, and how often do they upgrade them?
  8. Do they wear anything for protection?
  9. What do their shoes look like, and do they own more than one pair?
  10. Accessories are life: Watches, hair ribbons, earrings, lapel pins, rings, gun handles, hats, etc. How much accessories does your character choose?
  11. How does your character’s wardrobe look beside their friends and associates?
  12. How well can your character fight in the outfit?

SELF-CARE EXERCISE: Dress up. No particular reason, just put on a nice outfit, comb out the hair. Just be fancy.

Comment below about how either exercise helped you.

Editing Rant: Why do they love them?

Erin Penn Leave a comment

Photo by Tyler Nix on Unsplash

Why?

Why would ANYONE love this person?

Let alone three different love interests?

The main POV runs over everyone. Plays the love interests against each other. Ignores what they are saying and does STUPID MC decisions just to contradict the advice of the love interests.

I get it. Really I do. Strong independent person.

But this isn’t that – this is toxic, manipulative, and unhealthy. If the love interests didn’t start of emotionally damaged, longing for this level of sadism, there is no way they would have lasted past their first encounter with their “true” love.

(Note that any gender may be applied to the romantic element – this editing rant is for an urban fantasy, but I have raised reacted this way for every genre in existence.)

Magical Words: If a character screams…

Erin Penn Leave a comment

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“If a character screams while off the page, does anyone hear them?” a Magical Words post by Kalayna Price from September 17, 2011 discusses secondary and tertiary characters offscreen lives. How much should a writer know about them? Are they leaving the room to pick up kids from school, from work, or burying a body and should you as a writer even care?

An interesting read, with fun comments like Lyn Nichols answering the title question: “Oh Lord, I hope not. I’d have to stop torturing them!” More useful was Daniel R. Davis saying “The rest of the world doesn’t stop because your characters do.” Which means, your character may be dealing with the craziness worthy of a novel, but people still go about their lives.

Again the URL is:

Writing Exercise: Secret, Wall, Loss, Desire

Erin Penn

Photo by Pete Willis on Unsplash

In a Magical Words post from December 5, 2011, David B. Coe postulates that “the most effective, memorable characters” have four attributes: Secret, Wall, Loss, Desire.

Secret – The character has something they are hiding from the world, or the world has hidden from them.

Wall – There is a barrier separating them from the world. (I think this attribute is necessary for main characters to give them the focal point of the story.)

Loss – The world has taken something from them in the past or present.

Desire – They have something they desire that drives them. (The loss puts the breaks on.)

He goes out to more specification, and then gives a number of examples of works being published in 2011.

WRITING EXERCISE: Examine your present work-in-progress (WIP). Does your main character have any of these traits?

My attempt: Robyn from Mom Eyes. Her secret is her powers, especially some aspects of her powers. Yes, as a child she is sharing the information, but maybe she really shouldn’t. Wall – her powers are creating a wall, but she already had a wall because of … Loss – losing her brother and her mother impacted her teen years. She will never forget to be kind because of it. Desire – not to be alone. To prevent others from experiencing her loss if possible.

Magical Words: Blind Trust

Erin Penn

Photo by Gun Kimm on Unsplash

On a starship, an engineer reports over the comm to the bridge. “Captain, we have a problem.” “What is it, Tools?” “I can’t describe, come down here.”

Really, what the ever-loving frig? The captain is on the bridge, that is where she should be, the center of command, gathering information from all parts of the ship. So she should drop everything and head to a DANGEROUS area by herself to eyewitness something the EXPERT in the matter cannot deal with? Every.sci-fi-TV.show.e.v.e.r.

Fantasy. Romance. Every single genre has the “no time to explain, just follow me.” Like parents telling children, “don’t ask questions, just do what I tell you.”

Misty Massey wrote a full blog (with the related responses from experienced published authors) on the subject for Magical Words on 10/18/2011 called “Blind Trust.”

I’m totally with her on this on how LAZY and UNREAL the lack of explanations is.  – the URL http://www.magicalwords.net/misty-massey/blind-trust/