The following posts are a series of writing lessons that NaNoWriMo has taught me. Like today’s, they are things that i have picked up because of the way NaNo is run. My Deadly Writing Sins are a few things i know that I do that might hinder my NaNo Progress. By getting them out in the open, airing the dirty laundry so to speak, i’m hoping to conquer them.
Characterization Pitfalls
One of the benefits of writing NaNoWriMo is that I have had months to stew and ponder over the novel I’m going to write. (Here is the link to the short synopsis teaser) and (here is my last post about stewing over the plot of this book.)
In doing so, it has allowed me to pick up potential problems before I write them. Yes I have spent months procrastinating (preparing) for NaNo, rather than writing, but for me this is a good thing. I haven’t written the ideas that didn’t work. Yes, stop pestering, I know that writing is about trying ideas and when they don’t work you try another. I know this is just practice. I do actually believe in the “Just Write” philosophy. But at the same time I really enjoy the fact that this book has been stewed. Rather than loosing excitement for it by waiting, I have a crystal clear idea of this book in my head. I can see the movie setting, see the clothes, see the characters that will play the main roles. This is what has lead me to this point.
I was reading James Scott Bell’s Plot & Structure last night, reviewing the LOCK principle and looking at the “gateways” that I have in my book. “L” stands for Lead. You need a great lead. We need to be interested and care about the main character. You have to make the readers read the book desperate to know what is going to happen to him/her. Will they reach their goal, or will the fall into a fiery pit before they get there.
Then it it me.
My Main character will have interesting things happen to her, but she in herself is not that interesting!
duh.
Super embarrasing. The supporting characters have quirks a-plenty. they have their insane personalities and they are so much more developed. I mistook exciting things happening to my main character for my lead character being likable.
Now I’m really glad that I stewed this book and had the chance to pick this up now. Granted I could have easily gone back into the book and added the characterization later BUT now I have the chance to re-develop the most important character in the book. To make sure that I start with the best chance possible. As I have said before, I do have a perfectionist streak in me. If it starts out tooooo crappy then chances are i’ll throw it against the wall before i finish. Don’t get me wrong, I like editing and am good at editing, but I like to start with some thing that has a chance of working first.
Back to the drawing board
So for me it is back to the drawing board and i’m going to try and weave some magic into the main character. The supporting characters are full of exciting quirks to start off with but the MC. Bland Bland Bland.
NaNoWriMo Deadly Writing Sin – Identified and Rectified
Tip for other writers:
Make sure your main character is an exciting character, don’t think he/she is exciting just because exciting things happen to him/her. Add the characterisation layers and make that main character as memorable as you can.
By exciting I do NOT mean they need to swing around a gun, or swear at authority or anything, they just have to “Pop, Pop, Pop”
Today I will give away a free kindle copy of Sleepers by Megg Jensen to the first person than can tell me which movie the quote comes from in the above paragraph.
Note: you must have a kindle device, or someway to read the e-copy that i send you the link to
Happy NaNoWriMo everyone,
Sarah
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TODAY’S LINKS:
National Novel Writing Month Website
Buy James Scott Bell’s Plot and Structure - Buy from Amazon here (Kindle copy available)
Support an Author – Authorlove Website
My NaNo Story Premise - Steampunk YA
Kristen Lamb’s Website – Awesome info on writing topics. Check it out! – Post on Novel Structure
5 comments
Alexandra Shostak says:
October 7, 2011 at 3:35 am (UTC 0)
That uninteresting main character thing JUST happened to me! And I didn’t even see it right away because she had an interesting life, and interesting backstory, and made interesting CHOICES about the interesting things that happened to her. But the way I was writing her (she’s a bit stony when you first meet her, kind of misanthropic) was sucking all the interesting right out of her.
When I “stewed” my next novel (hah, that is such a great word for it) I actually thought about characterization more, and how I would write my main character, because I’d run into the problem before. I actually asked myself, what’s her personality like when she starts out, how does she end up, and what about her makes this a worthwhile emotional journey to read?
Great post!
admin says:
October 7, 2011 at 3:40 am (UTC 0)
Thanks for stopping by,
It’s funny how that happens. Terrible planning on my behalf, but still this is about learning. I have learnt something. I think the side characters are easier in some way because it is their character’s that stand out. Where the MC is so often in the heat of the action that we forget a bit about them. Not intentionally but it happens. I have read plenty of books recently and i think that is a main problem in many. They have developed the side-characters and forgotten the MC. Of course exciting things happen to her, but that isn’t enough for a stand out character. How does she react? What are her quirks? What makes her tick? What will make her explode?
I talk about this enough, how silly i didn’t see this before.
Like i said. Stewing over the book for NaNo is teaching me a lot.
Thanks for the comment and good luck with your writing!
Sarah
Alexandra Shostak says:
October 7, 2011 at 5:31 pm (UTC 0)
Yes–I see it a lot in books, too! Where even after reading 3/4 of a book and seeing all this interesting stuff happen to the MC, I still can’t get a read on what kind of person she is or what she’s likely to do.
Isis Rushdan says:
October 7, 2011 at 2:44 pm (UTC 0)
I “stew” for a while before I start writing. With my first book, I noticed the characterization was off in the beginning, but later she really blossomed. I had to scratch the first 3-4 chapters and start over once I had fully connected with the character by the end.
Good thing you caught what needed to be reworked or developed more early
.
Michael Offutt says:
October 7, 2011 at 9:24 pm (UTC 0)
I think my main character is very interesting. He’s really smart and good looking and on top of that, he’s a great athlete. He also has a lot of inner anger and some really fascinating secrets. But I hear what you are saying. Of course…I may be too close to my character but meh. That is the thing with us writers, right?