Last week many of us made New Year’s resolutions to focus on improving our writing in 2011, so I’m going to offer some help. For our winter giveaway, I chose an excellent new writing book, Elements of Fiction Writing: Characters & Viewpoint, by the award-winning science fiction writer, Orson Scott Card (Writer’s Digest Books, 2010). All who provide a comment to this post during the next four weeks (end date, February 6, 2011) will have a chance to win.
Creating life-like, memorable characters is one of the delicious challenges of fiction writing. Atticus Finch and Scarlett O’Hara didn’t just happen. Their authors used exceptional skill in imagining them and giving them life on the page. That type of skill may come naturally to some the first time around, but the rest of us would do well to study and practice the kinds of techniques they used.
In this book, Mr. Card offers the tools we all need, such as how to draw characters from a variety of sources, develop a character’s individual style, and have characters reveal themselves by what they do and say. It also includes advice on how to choose the best viewpoint for your story and decide how deeply you should delve into your characters’ thoughts, emotions, and attitudes.
I believe that by developing character, you also develop that sometimes elusive quality, voice. When a character takes over the telling of his or her story, the voice comes through on the page.
There are no shortcuts to good writing, in my opinion. It takes time and effort to learn how to tell a story well and to develop writing style. This year I’ve been working extra hard on character and voice, and I’m seeing the payoff in my manuscript.
What are your big writing challenges? Share them in a comment to this blog post, and I’ll enter you in the contest to win Elements of Fiction Writing: Characters & Viewpoint. I’ll choose a winner by random drawing and announce it in my post on February 6. Good luck!
Happy writing!
Jule
Hm. I'll comment for a chance to win that one. *waves to Heather, Linda, Karlene, & Jule* I came because this blog was linked on Twitter. I've stayed because I love what you ladies are doing here. Hope you all have a successful year with your writing in 2011.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for visiting and deciding to stay Annikka! I wish you a very successful 2011 as well!
ReplyDeleteHello Ladies,
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful giveaway.
Jule,
you are so right about bringing the character to life in our novels.
Heather,
Thank you so much for the kind words about my excerpt. It meant a great deal to me coming from you.
Karlene and Linda,
I haven't spoken to you in a while. I wish you both a wonderful and creative new year as I do all of us.
It's been a pleasure getting to know all of you and I look forward to another wonderful year of writing.
Michael
Great contest! I think one of my hardest things when I write is pacing-- organizing my plot so that things aren't too slow/too fast. It's really tough to find balance! Characters are tough too-- but that's just a given when you're basically trying to create a whole person in your book. :)
ReplyDeleteWow - thanks for the contest! I think my biggest challenge is emotions and really digging deep into my characters. I can get the plot and pacing perfect, but I always feel like there's still some distance between the reader and my MC's! I'm SO working on that this year :)
ReplyDeleteThis is an awesome giveaway!!
ReplyDeleteI think my biggest writing challenge thus far has been trying to stay true to my MC and not to what I necessarily want as a writer. I had all of these great ideas I wanted to incorporate but learned (the hard way!) that if they didn't directly impact my MC's journey in this book, it had to go.
Now that my MC and I took some time out to get to know each other, I can move forward with a clear direction! :)
Great book. I hope everyone who's interested signs up for a chance to win!
ReplyDeleteAnnikka, thank you so much!!! I'm glad you found us on twitter...but mostly you love what we're doing. Your words mean so much!
ReplyDeleteThank you Michael! I miss talking to you too. Craziness of the holidays and work schedules. Tis the time of year to cut back, simplify... but somehow I don't know how.
Wishing you all a wonderful New Year!
Good luck on winning the book. It's a great one! February Reading for me.
Annika, Michael, Shallee, Jamie, and M. McGriff, you are all entered, and thank you for commenting and sharing your writing challenges!
ReplyDeleteAnnika, glad you decided to stay with us. I hope you will have a great year, also!
Michael, so glad to hear from you. I appreciate how much you are doing for writers and glad you are staying in touch.
Shallee, you are so right - pacing is a delicate balance. Maxine Paetro, who is one of James Patterson's co-authors, once told me, "Pacing is everything," but I agree, there is a delicate balance.
Jamie, you and I are so in the same boat! I really have to work at digging deep into the emotional lives of my characters. One reason why I selected this book!
M., when it's hard to keep the MC from wandering in some new direction, it may mean that you have lots of stories to write. Your MC may become a series character! Thanks for sharing your writing challenge.
I hope everyone has a wonderful and successful year!
Jule