Things You Can Do Now

We’re talking about how to get back into your writing groove after the summer break, after the move, after the wedding (okay, not me, but a friend of mine – Hi Debbie!), after you’ve been not writing much for a while and want to get back into it.

I bought a couple of notebooks at the Chemist yesterday (yes, I am going to start using Aussie words now as I blog, LOL! The chemist is the pharmacy, like a tiny Walgreens). I specifically bought notebooks that have holes punched in them so you can tear the pages out and put them in a binder later. This way I can pour out my thoughts about my heroine and put her pages in the correct area of my binder, then pour out my thoughts about my hero and put his pages in his area.

This past weekend, I finished reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. I dog-eared almost as many pages as I didn’t. Why, when am I such a crazy person about keeping my books in excellent condition? Because I finally decided/realized/began to see that writing books are to be used. And now I can take five or twenty minutes whenever I have it and go to a dog-eared page and think about what she said there that I wanted to re-visit. Think or journal or dream or write notes on my book, whatever comes to me. I’m refilling my inspiration well.

The next book I started is Creating Unforgettable Characters by Linda Seger. One of the best parts of this book is that it has little exercises that help me think more deeply about my characters. I’m not usually a fan of exercises because too many of them don’t apply to what I’m writing now. I don’t want to come up with paradoxes for a fireman, I want to develop my characters. But we just spent four weeks this summer back home, and the exercise I read this morning gave me a mental “ah-ha!”

Quoting from page 34 of the book:

EXERCISE: Think through your own consistencies and paradoxes. What are the consistencies and paradoxes of your friends? Of your most favorite and least favorite relatives?

Suddenly all I wanted was a day off of furniture shopping (necessary when you move into an empty apartment!) to sit and write down all my gazillion thoughts about friends and family and why we are the way we are and why one person pushes my buttons and another person seems the exact same as the last time we talked three years ago, and why, oh why, do I not feel like a grown up around some people!! It occurred to me this morning that my heroine’s mother is a combination of three mothers I know. My heroine has a deep want that I also have. But my hero is already much like the person I want to be – uh-oh! Where is his growth then? But what if he’s like my friend’s brother? Ooo, more conflict! Etc., etc., etc.

When Linda said to bring in characteristics of people  you already know, after having spent so much time back home recently, it suddenly all came together! If you are trying to deepen your characters, think about all your friends and family and the people who are their friends and family that you’ve heard them talking about for years, and give some very specific traits to your characters. I think I’m going to create a chart. For instance, for my heroine’s mom I might say, “Makes you feel as guilty as Jennifer does, supportive but within her own fears of the world like Gladys, loving but still leaves you wanting more of her love like Marcia.” When I write about this character, I’ll be thinking of bits of these three real women I know and I think my writing about her will really resonate with emotion!

Whew! I’ve got a lot of work to do now! Woo-hooo!!