Write Every Day: Day 19
Nov. 19th, 2020 12:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_siobhan
The good: I have a furnace! It works! My house is warm!
The bad: There are now some holes in drywall of Basement DJ's living room. I think we have the materials we need to patch them up, so that's going to be today's house project.
The ugly: I literally did not realize until it was too late that the workmen weren't wearing masks. It's like I have the protocol firmly entrenched in my head that masks for leaving the house so I was sitting there looking at this guy thinking, "What is wrong with this picture. What is it? Something is wrong? What is it?" for five minutes before I clicked. Ugh.
***
My writing update from yesterday is that I finished re-reading and making notes on the first section of the novel. (The novel is split into three sections - sections one and two deal with different groups of people and in section three they all come together.) There are a lot of notes. I forgot how much I hand-waved in the race to get to the final word count. It's a bit... daunting if I'm being honest.
One thing that that became very evident to me in the re-read is just how flat the characters are - I have a clear idea of who they are and how they got there in my head, but on paper they just aren't very well defined. So I have decided that's what I'm going to work on first. My plan is to write some new scenes that focus just on a single character at a time so I can get a better "picture" of them. I may or may not incorporate these new scenes into the final version, but I figure the exercise will help me refine how they would speak and act and make them more individual when I re-write their sections of the book.
So today's question is about characters. If you working with an original character, how do you create an individual from scratch? How much work do you put into their backstory? If you are writing about an existing character, what do you focus on to capture what makes them unique? How do you stay true to your characters?
Day 19 Tally:
china_shop, ysilme, shopfront, luzula, badly_knitted, sylvanwitch, alexseanchai, brainwane, silveradept, cornerofmadness, nafs, sakana17, yasaman, lferion, sanguinity, alexseanchai, phrenk, shadaras, auroracloud, iberiandoctorDay 18:
china_shop, alexseanchai, badly_knitted, luzula, sylvanwitch, shadaras, brainwane, marvelouscity, nafs, lferion, cornerofmadness, yasaman, sakana17, sanguinity, phrenk, firecat, ysilme, silveradept, auroracloud, iberiandoctorDay 17:
china_shop, badly_knitted, luzula, sylvanwitch, shadaras, alexseanchai, sanguinity, brainwane, nafs, cornerofmadness, sakana17, yasaman, lferion, marvelouscity, silveradept, phrenk, iberiandoctor, firecat, ysilme, auroracloudDay 16:
china_shop, badly_knitted, luzula, sylvanwitch, sanguinity, yasaman, brainwane, firecat, nafs, cornerofmadness, lferion, sakana17, phrenk, silveradept, iberiandoctor, shadaras, ysilme, auroracloudDay 15:
china_shop, alexseanchai, sylvanwitch, badly_knitted, trobadora, luzula, yasaman, sanguinity, shadaras, brainwane, nafs, sakana17, cornerofmadness, phrenk, lferion, silveradept, firecat, iberiandoctor, ysilme, auroracloudDay 14:
china_shop, ysilme, sylvanwitch, trobadora, badly_knitted, luzula, alexseanchai, shadaras, sanguinity, nafs, brainwane, cornerofmadness, yasaman, lferion, sakana17, phrenk, shopfront,silveradept, firecat, ysilme, auroracloudDay 13:
china_shop, shopfront, badly_knitted, luzula, shadaras, alexseanchai, sylvanwitch, nafs, cornerofmadness, lferion, yasaman, phrenk, sakana17, silveradept, ysilme, iberiandoctor, trobadora, sanguinity, auroracloudDay 12:
china_shop, sylvanwitch, shadaras, brainwane, silveradept, alexseanchai, thevetia, yasaman, zulu, sakana17, sanguinity, cornerofmadness, lferion, phrenk, badly_knitted, saki101, ysilme, iberiandoctor, trobadora, luzula, auroracloudDay 11:
china_shop, firecat, badly_knitted, luzula, sylvanwitch, shadaras, thevetia, sakana17, brainwane, sanguinity, yasaman, cornerofmadness, china_shop, nafs, lferion, saki101, alexseanchai, phrenk, firecat, shopfront, silveradept, zulu, trobadora, ysilme, iberiandoctor, auroracloudDay 10:
china_shop, badly_knitted, luzula, sylvanwitch, alexseanchai, shadaras, sanguinity, brainwane, nafs, firecat, yasaman, cornerofmadness, sakana17, saki101, lferion, phrenk, auroracloud, iberiandoctor, silveradept, thevetia, trobadora, ysilmeDay 9:
china_shop, shadaras, sylvanwitch, alexseanchai, sanguinity, saki101, nafs, yasaman, cornerofmadness, lferion, sakana17, phrenk, badly_knitted, ysilme, silveradept, solo, carenejeans, auroracloud, iberiandoctor, luzula, brainwane, trobadoraDay 8:
china_shop, sylvanwitch, badly_knitted, luzula, saki101, silveradept, sanguinity, shadaras, thevetia, brainwane, nafs, cornerofmadness, lferion, sakana17, yasaman, phrenk, alexseanchai, firecat, auroracloud, ysilme, solo, carenejeans, iberiandoctor, trobadoraDay 7:
china_shop, shopfront, falkner, badly_knitted, luzula, trobadora, sylvanwitch, shadaras, nafs, brainwane, sanguinity, lferion, yasaman, sakana17, phrenk, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, firecat, saki101, silveradept, auroracloud, ysilme, iberiandoctorDay 6:
china_shop, ysilme>, trobadora, luzula, badly_knitted, sylvanwitch, saki101, sanguinity, shadaras, brainwane, nafs, alexseanchai, cornerofmadness, yasaman, lferion, sakana17, phrenk, shopfront, silveradept, iberiandoctor, firecat, solo, carenejeans, auroracloudDay 5:
china_shop, badly_knitted, luzula, shadaras, sylvanwitch, nafs, sakana17, sanguinity, cornerofmadness, lferion, brainwane, saki101, phrenk, firecat, ysilme, shopfront, yasaman, carenejeans, houseof9cats, thevetia, robadora, silveradept, auroracloud, trobadoraDay 4:
china_shop, shopfront, luzulaalexseanchai, shadaras, badly_knitted, sylvanwitch, ysilme, sanguinity, saki101, silveradept, nafs, yasaman, thevetia, sakana17, cornerofmadness, lferion, phrenk, solo, iberiandoctor, firecat, brainwane, carenejeans, yasaman, auroracloud, trobadoraDay 3:
china_shop, alexseanchai, alexcat, sylvanwitch, sakana17, thevetia, nafs, lferion, cornerofmadness, phrenk, solo, badly_knitted, luzula, shadaras, yasaman, brainwane, trobadora, ysilme, sanguinity, silveradept, iberiandoctor, firecat, carenejeans, auroracloudDay 2:
china_shop, shadaras, falkner, luzula, badly_knitted, alexseanchai, trobadora, saki101, sylvanwitch, brainwane, thevetia, lferion, cornerofmadness, nafs, sakana17, yasaman, solo, phrenk, auroracloud, ysilme, sanguinity, silveradept, alexcat, iberiandoctor, firecat, carenejeansDay 1:
china_shop, sylvanwitch, luzula, badly_knitted, trobadora, falkner, alexseanchai, silveradept, shadaras, sanguinity, thevetia, nafs, cornerofmadness, lferion, sakana17, alexcat, marvelouscity, saki101, yasaman, solo, auroracloud, phrenk, shopfront, brainwane, dreamwriteremmy, ysilme, , iberiandoctor, firecat, carenejeansLet me know if I missed your name at any point. And participation is always open, so jump in with a comment any time.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-19 07:53 pm (UTC)Love that you're still doing this! Yeah, our renovation priority list did a total turnaround with COVID. Floors, carpet, windows can wait. Basic appliances and exterior/yard are looking great, though. Enjoy a Mai Tai next to your new furnace!
(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-20 03:45 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-19 08:19 pm (UTC)I hear you on the characters, too! As most of my characters are OCs - even if I use canon characters too little is known about them usually to work with, or I want my own take on a very well-known fanon interpretation - I face that problem regularly. I'm actually writing scenes or snippets with/for them very often just to develop or discover their backstory, get a feeling for them, get them well fleshed-out. Most of this doesn't make it into the story, or just in a remark or so, but it's important background work (and a good way to produce word count when I'm having difficulties writing as it doesn't matter if the writing of these scenes is good ;op ). I think about where they come from, what they like to do, food they enjoy, hobbies, pets, such things. When I'm totally stuck about a character, I either tell all about them to a writing buddy, or I write fictional letters from the POV of other characters in the story, talking about them.
I know some people make mood boards for their characters, and have them handy when writing the characters. I haven't done this before, but am thinking about it as something new to try and see what happens.
Also checking in for a couple of days, 14th to today (19th) to be exact. NaNo word count reached on most days, but just 1k on the 17th, and only about 100 alibi words today - I need a break after a few busy and migraine-y days. I'm also missing on the 10th and have a double entry on the 4th, 5th and 6th, ;o)
(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-20 03:59 am (UTC)I have no idea how I managed to do the double entries for you - I'll fix those and add you to the ones that are missing.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-19 09:29 pm (UTC)After a run of bad days, I have finally written again today with 5.4k of my nano. I am so behind, oh god, but determined to catch up. As far as characters, the amount of planning I do varies a lot but the backbone of what does work for me is focusing on fleshing out their emotional relationship with my POV character first and foremost. Even if nothing else gels in the first draft and I have to return and basically (re-)write everything else in later, I find it's that emotional tie to my POV that makes them feel 'real' to me.
If my POV character is also original, it tends to take a lot longer for me to really feel like I've got them nailed down. Once I've got a few orbiting characters around them though, then the POV character's end of each of those connections sort of layers up into a more realistic whole of a person. It's the little details, like observed body language or unexpected behaviours that are most important to me over backstory. As long as I know why I have them in there at all and what their ultimate role/goal is, I'm good otherwise.
I still haven't found a character planning approach that really works for me though, to be honest. I get stuck on the inventing stuff and backstory side of things frequently, especially to start off with. But that's how I make them feel like unique individuals I can distinguish from each other while I wrestle with the other stuff.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-20 04:03 am (UTC)Well done on getting some words happening today, and good luck on getting back on track!
(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-19 09:47 pm (UTC)Wordcount for 19th of November: 700
Total wordcount on poly fic: 41,400
(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-20 04:05 am (UTC)Well done on your words!
(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-19 10:37 pm (UTC)Nov 19th - 922 words, a 500 word ficlet, four Doctor Who drabbles, and a tiny bit of editing on a fic for posting.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-20 04:12 am (UTC)Well done on all your words!
(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-20 11:22 am (UTC)Thanks!
(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-20 02:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-20 04:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-20 02:37 am (UTC)anyway
also I'm starting to cross-post from AO3 to Dreamwidth, it having finally occurred to me that this is a thing I could do that would let my fic at an audience that can't access AO3, without my having to post the fic directly to Tumblr
(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-20 04:15 am (UTC)It occurs to me that I should do a post about exchanges and prompts so more people see them. I'll post the one you linked to tomorrow.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-20 03:32 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-20 04:16 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-20 03:51 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-20 04:17 am (UTC)Well done on words!
(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-20 03:59 am (UTC)Day 19 has resulted in a significant chunk added to the Grief and outstanding assignment work, which is nice to have.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-20 04:19 am (UTC)That genuinely made me laugh out loud. I have to say, one of my absolute favourite flavours of fanfic is the one that launches from a place of "how dare you."
Well done on your progress!
(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-20 03:18 pm (UTC)Many of the good spite fics I've written and read also come from a place of having been very well researched for the purpose of driving the knife in deeper.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-20 04:43 am (UTC)I made 1400 words today and was told tomorrow's the last face to face class so I'll be milling around here again
(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-20 05:18 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-21 05:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-20 05:03 am (UTC)I'm sorry that your workmen decided it was okay to come inside without a mask :(
I don't know that I have a conscious process when developing characters. I think I started off needing types, and then as they started talking (it's always dialogue with me) they'd come up with throwaway lines that suggested background. Sometimes names suggest cultural backgrounds, and sometimes the power dynamic going on in a scene needed a reason and backstory came from there too. They're not all fully developed yet either, but then the story's not finished. And like you described, there's a lot more going on with these characters in my head than is on the page so I expect each draft will involve different ways of making sure what readers get is closer to what's actually in my head.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-11-20 05:19 am (UTC)Well done on words!
(no subject)
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