Playing with dolls?

Usually, when I need to think through an idea or a plot point, I take a walk and "have a conversation" with my characters. I explore what they need to convey, what the consequences are, what a discussion might look like. Over the weekend, I was trying to decide what sibling rivalry among three grown sisters might look like, but because it was the weekend, my Dear Husband joined me, which meant I talked to HIM and not to my characters. So when I got home and sat at my computer, for whatever reason, Barbie dolls jumped into my head--as in "maybe I should act this out with my Barbies." (Except I don't have any Barbies anymore.)  

True confession time. When I was a kid, I loved playing with dolls.

Instead of resolving my plot point, my thoughts carried me away to all those people who ask me where I get my ideas from and how I find character names and traits and settings and plots and "How did you think of that?" in general. My pat answer is that I have a very active imagination--and I do. Playing with dolls might have been my first outlet. No, maybe it was the second. 

I was barely old enough to write the first time I knew I wanted to write books. I hand-wrote a story about a mother cat and her kittens (yes, I still remember!). Sent it off to Simon and Schuster (which means I must have been old enough to know how to address a letter). And boy were my parents surprised when I got that rejection letter back! But I digress...

Dolls. When you played dolls, didn't you make up a life for them? Things for them to do? Drive Ken and Barbie around in the Barbie Convertible? Dress them up for work? At the end of the day, that's what authors do. We decorate the Barbie house. We dress Barbie up for her day. We send her out with her friends. We make up things for her to do. 

I remember playing with dolls longer than some of my friends. Maybe, I still do.

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What happens when you don't like your characters?

One of the fun parts of writing is redeeming an unlikeable character, at least that has been true for me.

In the past, I have written some heroes who were too good to be true. They were fatally nice guys.

Then I met Cinda.

I had a hard time delving too deep into personalities, but with feedback on LIVING CANVAS, I decided to take on a challenge. An unlikeable character. She was so much fun to "redeem" that I took on another challenge, a faulted hero. He'd committed a serious relationship sin with one of my perfect characters, which required some serious consideration to repair. Yes, I grew as an author, and I discovered how much fun it could be to "fix" broken people rather than sigh over perfect people.

But what happens when characters are beyond help?

When I developed EPITAPH as a series, I meant to take each of the siblings of that couple and spin them into their own books. Three Bensons and three McCormicks. Each of those siblings presented themselves with unique personalities that I enjoyed developing, and there were family issues to take into consideration which affected them all differently. But I ran into a problem. One of the siblings just struck me as... how to put this politely... not too bright? So I figured I'd stop one book short and that particular sibling wouldn't get his spin-off.

As I'm writing the next installment, I reminded myself that I've redeemed characters who were beyond help before, so maybe if I paid attention to him in this story, I might be able to shore him up enough for his turn after all. The problem is I still don't like him. I have been trying to give him reasons and excuses and his own set of issues, but the guy is just a dim bulb. Can I write his story? That's a definite maybe. I've discovered some things about him that might have developed his personality, so he's got a 50/50 chance right now.

I met Mary Balogh at a conference once, a renowned romance writer, and she told a story of one of her books where she got about halfway into the story and it wasn't working for her. As she went over her work, trying to figure out what was wrong, she realized the hero and the heroine weren't meant for each other, so she threw out what she had and started over, finding a better match for her heroine. Our characters don't always respond the way we expect them to. They take on a life of their own.

As an author, I get to create the world I write in. I don't know how this character turned out to be so goofy (to use a less offensive term). I never intended for that to happen, but it seems he's not done talking to me yet.

The Time Warp Continuum

Call Captain Kirk.

Where are those darn standing stones when you need them?

Calling H.G. Wells.

One of the frequent issues I have while writing is continuity. Sometimes, it's a simple slip of the brain. Sometimes it's a major malfunction.

While writing THE ARCHITECT, I realized my time line wasn't clear, so I went back through and marked each day to make sure it was right. When I handed it in to my editor, she called me out, telling me I was missing days. But I wasn't! I'd checked! So I went back through and clarified which day was which because -- and this happens more often than not -- my timeline wasn't clear.

I'm about halfway through with the next EPITAPH installment, and as I'm going back through and checking for details that need to carry through the story, adding details that might be missing, I stumbled on a time warp. No surprises. So I started labeling the days at the chapter heads to keep them straight. I went from Saturday, to Friday, to Sunday, to Monday, to Friday. All these days in two chapters, which only encompassed the passage of two days. Wait. WHAT? Argh.....

Some people use Scrivener (a writing program) to help with such situations, and this is the first time I'd actually wished I'd written the darn book in the program instead of my normal meanderings in Word. So now, instead of writing "new words" to reach the end of the first draft, I'm rewriting chapters to correct the mistakes I've made.

How to avoid this in the future? One of my friends puts a date and setting stamp at the head of each chapter, which is probably the easiest way. Another option is to follow your outline. Some authors have plot points and chapters mapped out ahead of time, which is also a good way to stay on track. Some use sticky notes or whiteboards to keep their timeline straight. While I do outline to a certain degree, I'm largely a pantser (write by the seat of my pants), which is where I run into trouble.

How am I going to fix this? Adding author notes to what I've written/will write - for my reference - showing what day it is for every scene change. Unfortunately for me, that means a lot of extra work that I could have avoided had I been paying attention to what I was writing! Darn those characters for carrying me off!

Independence Day

I have such mixed emotions this Independence Day. We have had so many changes in the past couple of years that it boggles the mind. Some good, some bad, many disturbing.

I don't want to go into a political discourse. Instead, I'll stand

with our forefathers. I leave you with this thought today, the tenets of the United States of America which has withstood the test of time for more than 200 years:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Follow your bliss. Peace out.