Wednesday 6 November 2013

IWSG - Character fears!


Welcome to the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Every first Wednesday of the month, writers from all over the blogosphere confess what's been troubling them in their writing over the past month. IWSG was set up by Alex J. Cavanaugh (you can check out his blog here!), and you can check out the awesome brand-new official IWSG website here!
(P.S. If anyone knows how I can add the IWSG button to my blog, please let me know! I'm really not tech-savvy and I have no idea how to do it!)

So this month, my IWSG post is focusing on, yup, you've guessed it – NaNoWriMo.

So far, I'm doing an okay job of turning off my inner editor, and refusing point blank to listen when that little voice pipes up saying 'hey, you know those last 2,000 words you've just written? It's utter crap! Why don't you just go back and tinker with it a bit....' So while learning to lock my inner editor away in a cage and throw away the key is proving to be a little difficult, that's not the aspect I want to focus on today. Today, I'm feeling insecure about my NaNoWriMo characters.

I know these 50,000 words are going to be crap. That's fine. But what I'm terrified of is that even when I come to edit this 50,000 word monster, readers are still going to hate my characters.

What if they can't relate to them at all? What if they think they're 'wooden'? How on earth do I inject life and soul into these characters, that are so alive in my own head, but aren't necessarily coming out well on paper??

I'm so scared that people will think my FMC is just completely cold and un-relatable - true, I intend for her to be cold hearted at the beginning of the book, and as I'm planning on writing a series, I don't want her transformation to be completely obvious by the end of the first book. Yes, I want her to grow and start to see the error of her ways, but I don't want her to change instantly – otherwise, how else can I develop her in the next two books?

What if people also think my MMC's motives are questionable too?? If all goes to plan, he's going to develop/change/grow a lot quicker than my FMC does, but what if people flat out don't like him? I'd be heartbroken! I love my MMC to bits – in fact, when I first thought up of my plot, it was originally going to be about my FMC's journey, but now, I think I want it to be more (or at least equally) about his journey too, as he's just as pivotal to the story.

So that's my neurotic rambling for this month! Sorry if the post is a bit long, but it feels good to get it all off my chest ;). I can't wait to visit everyone else and cheer them on today, whether or not they're doing NaNoWriMo!

Happy Writing!

24 comments:

  1. I don't know where this idea stems from that just because it's NaNo the words you are writing are crap. The words you are writing are the words you are writing, make them good! They probably already are good. Here's to your non crap writing, my dear. Cheers! ;)

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  2. Thanks Suz :)! That really has cheered me up! I think I think they're crap because the story is a bit all over the place at the minute and it's not flowing as smoothly as I would like. But hopefully when December rolls around and I can start editing, I'll be pleasantly surprised by my (hopefully) non crap writing hehe ;)!

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  3. Rachel, do you know how to save images to your desktop? that's what you do with the badge. Right click on it, save it to your desktop. Then when you're editing your IWSG post, up near the top is the image icon, click and upload a pic, choose your desktop and the badge, then add. After that you can resize it to fit your post. Hope that helps.

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    1. Ohh I see! Thank you so much Joylene :)! I definitely do that for next month!

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  4. Hey Rachel, welcome to IWSG! I was going to give you tips on adding the button, but Joylene beat me to it :) I basically did what she recommended.

    When I'm working on creating characters, I write these long, involved analyses of each one. Real, actual psychological profiles - I use Elizabeth George's method (with adaptations), which I rad about in her book "Write Away". Do you do anything like that? I find it really helps me create very three-dimensional people, and all of that work really does translate to the page.

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    1. Haha thanks Liz :)!
      That's interesting - I haven't heard of that book/method, but I'm definitely going to check it out! I think it'll help me a lot. I used to create 'profiles' for my characters, but they really weren't that detailed (i.e. there would only be a few headings, such as 'favourite food', 'favourite colour' etc, but that wouldn't tell me anything in-depth about the character), and they weren't that useful in the end! But I'm definitely going to look into maybe creating psychological profiles for my characters instead - thank you :)!

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  5. Characters naturally develop over time. The longer you're with them, the more you get to know them, and gradually come to feel emotional when they do. I've been with some of my characters for over 20 years, and we literally grew up together. If you're only intending to be with characters for one book or a few short books, though, you can still get to know them through writing character sketches, family trees, stories that happened before your book began, scenes you'll never use, etc.

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    1. Thanks Carrie-Anne! That's what I'm wondering at the moment - whether or not they'll take more shape as I keep writing about them. I know my MMC has definitely evolved in the short time I've been writing about him. But I love the thought of writing stories about my characters before the book begins/scenes I won't use but will be helpful in determining a character's background/motives. Thank you :)!

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  6. Nano is not for me, but I admire all of those writers out there giving it a chance. Follow your instincts regarding character development and plot, even if it means a major overhaul in your story. Welcome to IWSG.

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    1. Thank you for the pep talk Isis :)! I definitely will try to follow my instincts throughout the rest of November!

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  7. The "what ifs" are a dangerous thing. Stay away from them. As for the button...right click on it, save it to your desktop, click on pic to add it to your post.

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    1. Haha, very true - I should try and stop worrying so much and just write - hopefully it'll all come together in the end! Thank you!

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  8. I'm really struggling with NaNoWriMo, too. This is my first one, and I'm already so far behind. It's really disheartening. Thanks for letting me know I'm not alone.

    Found you through IWSG.

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    1. Hey Holli :)! Nice to meet you!
      I really wouldn't worry about being behind - I think the first week is the hardest! Saying that, if it makes you feel any better, I attempted my first NaNoWriMo last year and I gave up after a day - I only wrote 1,000 words...here's hoping that this year will be more successful for both of us :)!

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  9. I sat at this stage, just get the words down. Making things better is what the editing stage is for! Allow yourself a crappy first draft knowing you're going to make it better.

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    1. Thanks Quanie! That's definitely what I need to keep in mind - I think I need to apply this principle to my character development too - it may not be perfect in the first draft, but hopefully by the time I'm done, I'll enough of an idea about who they are and what they really want, that I can develop them more in the editing stage :).

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  10. I admire all you NaNoNites. I've never done NaNoWriMo. But I'm not ruling out the possibility that one day I may do one.
    Happy Writing!
    Writer In Transit
    November IWSG co-host.

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    1. Thanks for your support Michelle! And thank you for co-hosting IWSG this month :)!

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  11. I get that a bit, my MC is annoying the crap out of me! But, that may be a good thing, as I'm looking forward to seriously messing with her throughout the course of the book... Hee-hee (*evil writer's laugh*)

    Either way, I say you do with those fears the same exact thing you're doing with all the other fears- cram them back down your inner editor's throat, stick a ball gag in their mouth, throw them back in that cage, shove that cage into an active volcano and laugh manically!

    Just keep writing, that's all that matters right now.

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    1. Haha! That's the beauty of writing - ultimately WE decide what will happen to our characters - and we're allowed to have a little, ahem, 'fun' with them now and again ;).

      Loving the advice, Beverly! I'm going to try and do exactly that in time for the NaNo writing marathon this weekend!

      I'm definitely going to keep repeating to myself 'just keep writing, just keep writing', like Dory from Finding Nemo ;)

      Hope your NaNo is coming on well :)!

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  12. I agree with Carrie-Ann. Your characters develop as you write about them. NaNo is about writing a 1st draft all the way through. By the end, you'll know how you want them to appear and can layer in descriptions and emotions. Best wishes.

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    1. Thanks Diane :)! That's exactly what I need to remember - my novel isn't going to perfect first time round (though I wish it could be...), but once I finish, at least I know what direction my characters will be moving in for my second draft :).

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  13. Good luck with NaNo!
    I'm a firm believer that even crap can be edited.
    Don't judge it too harshly until many rounds of edits. It will be all right.

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  14. Your characters won't let you down, people grow and change and adjust their paths, they don't always have to make sense :)

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I love chatting and meeting new people :). Thanks for stopping by!

 
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