Tag Archives: plotting

Recycling old ideas

I decided to start a series of new projects. I’m not going say exactly what those are, but you will know soon enough. Anyway, as with all projects you need to start with an idea. I could sit at my desk, plot out fresh, new thoughts, create brand spanking new characters, and think of wonderful new scenes to set them in. I could, but I won’t. Why? I get one day a week to myself to actually write, any other time is stolen during nap time, and only if there’s no house work that needs to be done.

So this is where my word hoarding comes in handy. With all the files and note pages I have kicking around I could easily write 4-8 projects, with storyline and characters already hashed out, and that’s without ever needing to go into the files of deleted scenes or re-worked stuff from published work.

Recycling these old ideas was something that I thought I might do one day, but was more concerned with simply saving so I could look back and go “wow, this is what *insert story* was in the beginning? My how it’s changed.” Yet here I am, going through all these bits and pieces, setting what I currently think are the gems and reference or outright using them in the stuff I’m working on. It’s probably good for the little creative environment that’s set somewhere in the back of my brain, which much like my hard drive probably holds every single idea I’ve ever tapped out on the keyboard for possible future usage. It may even help new ideas to grow and flourish when I finish these projects I’m working on (and/or when I get more time to write than in between dishes and diaper changes.)

Do you hold on to ideas? And if you do, could you ever recycle them?

Repeat People

Do you reuse characters? I’m not talking in a series, I mean do you take a character you used in a story and place them again in one that’s totally unrelated?

I attempted to do that in Unscripted Transformations, but wound up having it be a sort of sequel to Heart Pulled to Pieces. In a first draft for a story that has yet to be published (I’m still working out the kinks) I brought in a pair from An Altered Ending,  though since they don’t relate to the story I’ll probably hack them later on. But now I have an idea for a new tale, and I’m thinking of bringing in one of my characters that I love but who didn’t last long in the story they were in.

You see, I believe if a character is awesome they should have their story told. You know, if they haven’t already. Or maybe, like in Eddie’s case, the story that’s yet to be told. I’m also a big fan of when other authors do it. One that brings characters from their other books into their stories quite often is Emily Giffin, and it’s always a treat for me to read who she’s brought in from her other books. Maybe some people get annoyed by this, or think it’s cheating. Maybe it is, but who cares. I like the connection, the six degrees of separation that is so true to real life that doing it in story telling seems to make the world real.

What do you think? Do you love or hate seeing characters from previous books appear (either as major roles or supporting) in an authors other works?

Name calling: Repeat names in a fictional world

I once came across some article (or plotting device, I’m not sure) that stated I should get rid of any similar names among my characters. Strange, eh? Especially when, if you want a story to sound authentic, you’re bound to have some anomalies, right?

What got me thinking about this was my re-write project. I’ve tried not to have the same names run through my work as I go, for no real reason other than to just not repeat the name. Unless it’s a character cross over, which I love seeing in books as well as doing myself, I dodged repeats like an agile gym student. After writing so many modern based novels, though, common names start to run thin, and repeaters are popping up. Which got me thinking, wouldn’t that make it more authentic?

Writing fantasy allowed me to have some really fun, strange, and out-there names. I could call a character Dagmar because it means “glorious” and she was a glorious warrior (or stage performer). I could name them Lucasta, Artimus, Checks, or any number of things because it simply didn’t matter. They were in a fantasy world, ‘normal’ was a different state of mind.

Looking at the modern world is different, I think that repeat names would land more authenticity. Example? My graduating class contained 3 Megans (of various spelling), 4 Ashleys (Again, various) 4 Jeffs, and a multitude of other repeats. And that was one graduating class, the rest of the high school was littered with them. I’m sure you know more than one person of a same name, so why shouldn’t your characters?

No, seriously, why shouldn’t they?

I’d love to know your opinions on the topic, so please share them.

Appealing to the mind’s-eye.

Every time I start a book, and begin to create new characters, I think about how they would look. Normally the personality, especially that of my leading man (or men), are already front of mind and need the eye-candy coated shell to be wrapped around it. This whole idea came about after considering the post I made last week about crushing on your characters. It’s easy for the creator do so, but what about the ones who pick up the book? Naturally, as most authors do, I want my guy to appear attractive to the reader. It’s a hard task to do considering people find different things attractive.

Maybe you prefer blonde hair over brown, or maybe no hair at all. Tattoos: do you enjoy them, or are they a deal breaker? Same goes with piercings (and if you’re all for them, maybe you aren’t in all areas). How about eyes? Are you more drawn to blue eyes, brown, green? Are you attracted to ‘four eyes’ or would you rather they wear contacts? What about build, ripped to the point of cheese grater abs, or do you like a little meat on the bones? Baby faced or strong jawed? Not to mention that, once you form that pristine male specimen in your head, you have to clothe him. Okay, so maybe you don’t have to clothe him, but unless you’re writing erotica, they can’t very well run around naked all the time.

Creating a character you want your audience to truly fall in love with can be really pain staking. Age range alone will make what appeals different from one reader to the next. You may say “but you have to keep your target audience in mind.” True, but consider this: chick-lit, contemporary romance, and the likes usually have a target audience of women ranging in age from 25-50. And while there are some women in their forties who find, say, the stars of Twilight to be hunky-monkeys, they’re probably going to lean more towards the George Clooney’s and Brad Pitts. My age range is more on the Robert Pattinson, Daniel Radcliff end of things. However, as demonstrated by the image below, they are not what I would call my cup of tea (Truth be told, looking at my top 6, I’m not sure I have a type except older).

On the left: Men Considered Attractive by people in my age group. On the right: Men I considered attractive. I think there's a difference

So how do you do it? How do you create the guys who will not only capture your heroine’s heart, but also that of your cherished reader? And readers, what makes a character appeal to you (outside of personality, because THAT’s what truly matters-and is a topic for another day).