Document and Forget

****Important Blog Info****

Next Tuesday is the closing date for my Wisconsin house. The closing is in the morning and then we start the long drive with four people, three vehicles, two trailers, two rabbits, one dog, a dozen house plants, and our essential belongings through most of the Eastern US until we reach North Carolina. 

This means that it will literally be impossible for me to blog next week on Tuesday. 

Sorry in advance, guys. Thanks for understanding. 

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With that established, let's get down to business today. 

A few weeks ago my cell phone contract came up for renewal. I went to the cell phone store, waited almost three hours, paid out an entire pay check worth of funds, and finally left with a new phone. This upgrade was a massive switch for me. I was going from an Android Razar to the iPhone 5S. 

It took me awhile to get used to the new graphics, the new home screen, and, of course, Safari. Heck, let's face it, I'm still not very comfortable with where everything is located, but I'm getting better at using it on a daily basis. 

The other day, I turned on my old Droid to sort through the thousands of Notes I stored on it. Because switching my old pictures onto my iPhone was easy, but Notes was a whole 'nother story. I started at the top, wading through vegan smoothie recipes concocted during three a.m. moments of clarity, ideas for new paintings, cool character names I read or heard, hundreds of notes on novels and stories in progress. full poems written during lunch breaks, pointless rants I wrote when I needed to vent about that rude customer or this horrible boss, and lists of old grocery needs. However, the most important notes I found were titled simply "STORY IDEA". There were three. I expected to type them into a Word Document on my laptop and file them away for a later time when I needed a break from a novel revision or couldn't get a new story idea brainstormed. The first two I transferred over with no problem. One was an interesting exchange of dialogue I overheard while making someone's pizza that had blossomed into a possible literary story. The other was a link to a scientific study on genes and a possible sci-fi story idea. 

But the third made me stop. It was a mere five word sentence - probably a news story I had heard while walking past a newscast on TV. It was so short, that, had I written it out on a piece of paper, I probably would have thrown it away thinking it was nothing. 

What the note contained was so inspirational, I abandoned my Droid transfer and started writing a story around that idea. 

The moral of this anecdote is that I had completely forgotten about the original event that sparked the STORY IDEA note. I had completely forgotten that a story idea like that had ever crossed my mind. If it weren't for that five word sentence, I would never have written the story I'm currently working on. 

So, while I'm moving cross-country, I want you to start a Notes file on your own cell phone (or, if you're more old school, feel free to keep a pad of paper and pen in your bag) - just make sure you have something with you so that, when you walk past the TODAY show story in the hospital lobby and hear a weird tidbit about a remote county in Ohio, or your overhear a strange conversation between two women also waiting for their lattes, you can write it down. You don't have to have a story idea right at that moment. Just write down anything that makes you really listen or take notice. Document and forget. 

Then, when you come back to it weeks, months, or years later, it will effect you. Because it will be the right time for your note to spark an idea. It will be the push you need to start something new or to take up your old writing hobby.

Notice everything.

Write it down. 

Keep it safe. 

Character Blueprints: Building Your Best Person (AKA the super-late post of June)

So here I thought I was right on track. Logged in early to get my blog post done.........and then I noticed that I completely missed posting last week.

WHOOPS!

Sorry gang. It seems that an entire week has passed without me even realizing. Where did that time go? How is it I'm moving in less than a month? Why is nothing feeling complete yet?

Anyway, I'm filing this post under the super-late category. But I don't want your patience and dedication to my blog to go unrewarded. That's why, this week, I want to talk about character blueprints.

You've probably heard of them before. Most writers and coaches call them "character sketches", but as an artist, I consider a "character sketch" to be a pen and paper drawing of a physical character. So, I call them "character blueprints".

I believe "blueprint" to be a better term because it is through your blueprint that you're truly realizing who and what your character is. For example, when you look at a blueprint of a house, you get to see the dimensions of the rooms, the layout, and the overall feel. It is by looking at the blueprint that you can begin planning which bedroom you'll sleep in, determining if your dining room table will fit, considering which walls to knock down, and figuring out just where in the dickens those bunny cages will go. The blueprint is where you start from. The blueprint causes you to plan out your entire home life from square foot number one.

Why is this important for your protagonist? Because it is only through the blueprint (whether you actually write it down or simply have it memorized in your head) that you categorize what your protagonist looks like, what their flaws and strengths are, what their innermost desire is, and the disconnect between who they think they are and who they truly live to be.

Since you've had to be extra patient with this post, I'm going to sweeten the deal. Not only will I tell you what a character blueprint is and convince you why it's important, I'll also offer a WORKSHEET so you can keep this blueprint at your side for any story you write, and I'll do a REAL-TIME blueprint with you for the story I'm working on currently.

Exciting, right?!?!?!? I'm excited!

Let's get down to business-



I wrote a sci-fi/fantasy short story a little over a year ago when the premise for the world popped into my head. The first draft flew onto the page, but I never touched it after that. I recently found it in my laptop's documents folder and remembered just how much I loved the world and the protagonist. But, upon reading through it, I knew it needed a major overhaul.

This is daunting to me, especially since the first draft didn't possess an outline, character blueprint, or even any real direction. I knew that one aspect of the story was going to turn out a certain way, but I didn't know how it'd get there. And it was apparent in my draft that I was writing this thing from the seat of my pants. Realizations come too quickly, the dialogue is wooden, no one is properly described. To be short - it's a mess.

Trying to revise it from it's current state with only the current information would be like trying to order furniture for a home by only seeing the realtor pictures online.

Impossible.

So, I've decided to write a character blueprint right here and now, on this blog, to help me navigate my short story.


CHARACTER BLUEPRINT

Name: Malena Cyder

Age: 31

Race/Ethnicity/Species: Human, Mixed-race

Location: Chicago, USA, Earth

Year: 4104

Physical Characteristics: Medium brown skin tone, dark eyes, straight hair, normal weight range, Scars (faded with laser surgery, but most prominent around the left eye) on left half of face.

Occupation: Co-Founder of [tech company], Advocate for inter-species peace

Family: Mother - alive, but left Earth for the Moon Colony when Malena was fourteen, sending her to boarding school, where she met other co-founders of [tech company]

Childhood: Malena was burned in a planetary invasion by unfriendly aliens when she was a preschooler, which thrust her onto a negative public service announcement towards aliens


Mental Image: Malena believes herself to be cordial to the alien species inhabiting Earth, though she doesn't particularly like or associate with any of them.

Greatest Fear: Becoming someone who runs from her problems/fears like her mother. [Note: On a nightmare level, being harmed by the invading aliens of her youth.]

True Mental State: Though Malena is an advocate for inter-species peace, her true motivation isn't fueled by the hope that all species can coexist, but by the fear that if they don't, she could be harmed again by another unfriendly species.

Innermost Desire: To live a life where she isn't constantly afraid she'll be recognized as the little girl from the announcement, and where she no longer fears the aliens living around her. AKA, no longer a prisoner to her past - free to move forward.



So that's it! Malena Cyder in a blueprint image. Notice that not all the information has to be known right at the time you fill out the blueprint. Can't think of a proper last name? Don't know the name of the company your protagonist works for? Not a problem. Simply place the info in brackets like I did above with [tech company].

Notice that the character blueprint doesn't reveal everything about the story world or the conflict of the story itself. It is meant only to describe and maintain consistency within your character. So, we know Malena's physical attributes like age, race, and uniquely identifying marks. We know where she lives and in what time period. We know about influential family members/connections in her life and about her childhood. We also know Malena's inner blueprint: how she views herself, what is truly going on in her mind, her greatest fear, and her innermost desire.

All the major conflict in the story world will now flow from this information.


Ready to try it for yourself? I'll post a blank worksheet at the end of this post for you to copy-and-paste and work on for your own story. Feel free to doctor some of the categories, especially is you're not writing sci-fi/fantasy and don't need to specify what species your protagonist is.

After you finish the blueprint for your protagonist, consider also filling one out for your main antagonist and any influential people in your protagonist's or antagonist's life (like, for me, Malena's mother).

Utilize your blueprint as often as you can, and remember to always keep it close. You can't possibly know where to install those bunny cages if you don't know where the walls are.


(Worksheet)
CHARACTER BLUEPRINT:

Name:

Age:

Race/Ethnicity/Species:

Location:

Year:

Physical Characteristics:

Occupation:

Family:

Childhood:


Mental Image:

Greatest Fear:

True Mental State:

Innermost Desire:

Moving House and Home

Sorry about the late post, and about the brevity this week. I do have good news to share, though...............my house is under contract and I will be moving!

This is exciting, frightening, and exhilarating. It is also throwing my writing routine for a serious loop. So I must ask that you bare with me through the next month or two as I pack up, move, and then resettle. I will post as much as I can and be as helpful as possible through this time.

In related writing news: I'm currently revising. Revising what you ask? Oh, it feels like everything. Poems, my YA novel, every short story I have, some work for children - the list goes on. In many ways, it feels as if those little contained worlds are reworking their homes as well. Some of them are simply remodeling or repainting and others are moving cross-country just like me.

I've revised some pieces so many times, the paper is thin and translucent from where I've erased and erased over new and better ideas.

Who knows, maybe I need to take my own advice and let it all sit in a cardboard box as I move. Then, when I unpack, not only will I be in a new creative space, I'll be in a new state of mind.

And then all the right diction and plot points will fall right into place.

In the meantime, write as often as you can, as unbridled as you can, and with as much love and joy as possible. Write because you can't stop. Write because it's who you are.

Make Sure Your Characters Are Wrong

That sounds a little oxymoronic, doesn't it? All the time we talk about how important proper characterization and detail is when it comes to believable characters. So why would I intentionally write my characters wrong?

Because it's the most believable thing in the world.

Let's face it, how many times per day are we wrong? You think the barista who has screwed up your order ten times before will screw it up again, until she presents you with a perfect coffee. You think for sure you'll be late to work because you left ten minutes late, but then you catch every green light. You think that amazing dish you had at the restaurant the other night will be just as good so you order it again, only to find that it tastes terrible the second time around.

As humans, we're wrong all the time.

So why, then, are all our characters hunches and thoughts absolutely on point? Isn't it more realistic for them to be flawed? They should have those ideas that something is going one way, only to have it be the opposite.

One major case-in-point: Harry Potter and Severus Snape. (WARNING: SPOILERS)

Harry thinks Snape is the one trying to steal the Socerer's Stone. Wrong.

Harry thinks Snape kills Dumbledore because Snape's a deatheater. Wrong.

Harry thinks Snape hates him and his family. Wrong.

It creates more tension when your characters pursue one avenue, only to find out that they've been sniffing down the wrong path the entire time. Also, it makes them flawed, believable people.

So, next time your protagonist has a theory, make them think they're right, only to show that they've been wrong the whole time.

Because the only time something is supposed to work out for them is right at the very very end, when the whole story is being wrapped up.