Character Challenges

Good morning all and Happy Friday!

Sorry it's been a while since my last post, but I've been hard at work on the latest manuscript and am happy to share that I'm over half-way through the first draft!  13 Chapters have been completed and there's at least 7-10 more to go.  The Galactic Dynasty series is getting more and more interesting as events continue to unfold and I'm loving where this latest book is taking the characters!

Speaking of characters... as you all know, I'm a huge character-driven reader.  If I can't connect with the characters, the story tends to lose my interest quickly.  Same goes for writing.  I've got to be totally into my characters or I rapidly lose my connection with them and therefore am unable to write their stories.  So, as a whole, I find it very easy to slip into the various mindsets of my different characters and love spending time in each of their individual heads.

With that said, I have encountered probably the most difficult character for me to write to date.  This character is in the Galactic Dynasty series and plays pivotal yet vague roles in the development of the story as well as being the supporting character to my main characters.  His name is Daemos and he is actually an it... he's Artificial Intelligence at its most refined and he's extremely complex.  This translates to him being very difficult to grasp in my mind in order for me to write him into various scenes.

On the one hand, he's a computer program.  He's logic and databanks and 1's and 0's.  On the other hand, he's an evolving program and he's beginning to simulate near flawlessly the various human interactions that he has observed and analyzed from the human characters he's encountered.  But he's still just a computer program at the core of it all and he does not actually feel the emotions he tries to simulate.

Anyway, he has been the most challenging character to write because I'm trying to get inside the mindset of a computer that is attempting to evolve to a more human-like state.  And sometimes I get ahead of myself and give him characteristics or actions that make him more human-like.  That's when my co-author has to step in and tone things down to where Daemos actually is in his development or evolution.  You should hear the heated discussions that take place when we're dealing with Daemos in particular and amazingly enough, Daemos is the only character that we tend to have heated discussions about.  And I'm sure it's because Daemos is the most difficult character for me to figure out and portray.

I love the challenge that Daemos continuously presents to me, though.  I feel that because of this challenge, I am able to develop more as an author.  It forces me to step outside my comfort zone and explore unique solutions in order to make Daemos as realistic an AI as possible without losing the fact that he is just a computer when you strip everything else away.  I think that he's actually preparing me for when I begin exploring the other alien species that my human characters have yet to meet in this series and hopefully when I reach that point, I'll be able to come up with some intriguing species that my readers have yet to encounter in other sci-fi/adventure novels.

So, as much as I sometimes want to bang my head against a wall where Daemos is concerned, he is rapidly becoming my favorite character out of all the ones taking up space in my head.  He's unique and fascinating and a complete enigma, even to his creator, and I really look forward to seeing just how far he'll go in his evolution.

For the writers out there, who has been your most challenging character to date?  And what made them so challenging for you?  I'd love to hear from you, so please leave a comment below and happy writing!

For the readers out there, who has been your favorite fictional character to date?  And what makes them your favorite?  I'd love to hear from you as well, so please leave a comment below and happy reading!

Writing a Difficult Perspective

So, I've been struggling for the last several weeks with one perspective in particular.  He's a vague little creature that doesn't like to cooperate with me as I'm trying to write his scenes and it's rather frustrating.  I have no idea how other authors handle difficult characters, but I've tried various methods with little results.

First I tried to sit down and write.  Yeah, that didn't work too well.  I ended up staring at a blinking cursor for thirty minutes before admitting defeat and escaping to the internet.

Then I tried re-reading the entire manuscript.  I thought if I had my brain in the mindset of the novel, you know, immerse myself in the scenes and characters and overall feel, just maybe something would come.  Instead, I ended up editing and re-writing other sections of the novel.  Those needed to be done, but that didn't help with the actual dilemma I was facing.

Next came writing down on paper what exactly I needed to have happen in this chapter.  You would think that would have been the first thing I'd tried, but my brain isn't normal.  So, yeah.  I managed to figure out what I wanted to have happen, but the character was remaining elusive and non-cooperative.

So, I went to my co-author and Muse next.  We batted around ideas and laid out how the chapter should flow.  He even gave me some great ideas that I wanted to make sure to incorporate into the chapter.  Real productive, right?  Nope, the darn character still wouldn't talk to me.

Finally, I sat down and just started writing crap.  Jumbled up chaos that incorporated some of the key points I wanted to get across in the chapter.  I needed something to happen... it had already been a month by this time and nothing to show for it.  Once I had written a few pages, I handed it over to the Muse and co-author and let him tear into it.  And believe me, the measly three pages I'd written were BLEEDING by the time he was done.

That's okay, though.  This morning, at the ungodly hour of 5, I finally managed to get into a groove of sorts and got the mess I'd written straightened out.  And I'm happy to report that the three pages have become four and I'm well on my way to getting this chapter written... FINALLY!  The character is still being stubborn, but I've got his number now and I'm not letting up until I get this darn chapter written!

I know I can't be the only author with non-cooperative, stubborn characters.  Any writer willing to admit it will tell you that it's really the characters that write these amazing novels... we're just the vehicle that gets the words out on paper or typed onto the screen.  So, when a character doesn't want to talk, it's the hardest thing to try and force them to in order to keep up with deadlines, whether the deadlines are self-imposed or put into place by an editor or some other outside entity.  My deadlines tend to be self-imposed, thank god, or I'd probably go insane.  I don't do well under pressure and my mind goes completely blank if I'm told I have to have something written by a certain date.

Anyway, this has been my plight for the last several weeks.  But, there is a light at the end of the tunnel and hopefully I can get this chapter done today.  Then I'll just have a few more chapters to go and Vagar will be done and ready for the final editing process.  Woohoo!  So, I'm off to write some more and hopefully I won't have to resort to anything drastic to get this character to cooperate so I can finish this thing!

Where Do The Voices Come From?

No, I'm not insane.  Although I do have some friends that might debate that with me!  But I had to title this post with something and I figured talking about voices could get someone's attention. :)

The voices I'm referring to are, of course, the characters that authors create to bring their stories to life.  Everything from the heroine/hero to the villain to the supporting characters have to come from somewhere in our brains.  So, even though it may seem at times we authors have a form of multiple personality disorder going on, really it's just the creative process feverishly at work to bring to life the characters our readers love to see.

I don't know how it works for other authors, but for me, I've always been a character-driven individual.  Most of my story ideas begin with a character first, some voice inside my head that has suddenly spoken up and wants to tell me something.  Er, have me tell the readers something.  So, I nod to myself, pull up a blank document in Word and begin writing.  Most of the time I have no idea where the character is taking me, but it's an itch that has to be scratched, so I go with the flow.

Most of my efforts end up being saved in my Stories folder on my desktop.  A lot of times, the voice will just pepper out after 50 or 100 pages and that story gets put away.  Sometimes, it gets revisited, sometimes not, but I've learned over the years never to delete anything that I've spent any significant amount of time on.  Never know when I might go back to it and really develop it out into the next novel or series!

To date, I probably have over a hundred different stories, all beginning the same way - that little voice in my head saying 'please pay attention to me and write what I tell you.'  The voices are always different, sometimes male, sometimes female, sometimes good, sometimes bad.  But I try and work with each one regardless.  Not all of the stories are complete, some not even a third of the way told.  But when a particular character suddenly bursts to the forefront of my mind, I pay attention and write until I no longer hear them speaking.

I've not loved all of my characters over the years and some I have loved deeply and hope to one day finish their stories to share with others.  They are all a part of me, although I really have no idea where most of them come from or where they go when they are done talking.  Doesn't matter.  I just want to be able to tell their stories in the best way I possibly can.

So, even though us authors may sometimes appear crazy, we're just in our creative process, trying to get to know the voices that inhabit our mind.  These voices are the characters that we lovingly bring to life on the page so that a story can be told and a reader can escape into a new world for a while.  We don't necessarily know where the voices come from, probably never will.  But it doesn't really matter as long as their stories get told in the end.

Now, I need to get off of here and get back to getting to know some of the newest characters who have spoken up inside my head.  They have things to share and I have words to convey!  Have a great week and enjoy getting to know the characters of the novels you are reading.  In a way, you are getting to know the author as well!

Writing Different Perspectives

Who am I today?

This is a question that I tend to ask myself a lot but don't always have the answer for.  In reality, I know who I am every day.  But in fiction, I write from a lot of different characters' perspectives.  So, sometimes it's hard to know which character's head I'm in that day.

I just finished writing the second chapter of Book 2 in the Galactic Dynasty series.  These first several chapters are probably the hardest for me because they are not only from different characters' perspectives, but they are also written from the perspective of a completely different species.  In Starward, the Muse and I introduced a race called Metrusians and this particular race will be playing a big part in all the books to follow.  And that includes many perspectives from these Metrusians.

Sometimes it's very easy for me to slip into a character and write for hours from their perspective.  But, that character usually tends to be human.  With the Metrusians, however, I am finding it very difficult to write even a couple of pages as I feel I have to think differently.  This race is a very logical one and has been around for a lot longer than humans have.  So, their outlook on the world and the universe is going to be much different than a human's outlook.

I love the challenge, though.  And I truly think that the Metrusians are a fascinating species to develop and understand (from a writer's perspective).  At the same time, I sometimes find myself dreading to write because I know it's going to be such a challenge to really get inside the minds of these aliens.  But they have a story to tell, too, and I want to tell that story.  So, after dragging my feet the last few weeks, I finally managed to get back into their mindset and get chapter 2 finished.

Something tells me, though, that I will probably have this struggle for every chapter I have to write from this complex perspective.  In the end, with the efforts of my Muse and myself, the story will flow and more will be revealed.  In the meantime, I'll struggle to get the story down in the way that I hope the Metrusians in my head want to tell it.

So, I'm off to let the Muse know that I am finished with this latest chapter and ready for him to give his much needed and desired input into the storyline.  And then it will be on to chapter three!

Back To Work...

Since my last post, it's been back to work for me.  I've been inside Rosa's head for the last few days and am really getting to know this unique character, inside and out.  She's young and has a lot of growing up to do, but I see a lot of potential for her as the story progresses.

Speaking of which, I now finally have a title for the series and the first book in which Rosa is the main star.  The series is entitled Galactic Dynasty and the first book is entitled "Starward".  These books are being co-authored with my Muse and have been challenging and fun to write so far.  It's a world completely different from the L & L Mysteries and even though I have an outline of where the plot will take the characters, I'm looking forward to seeing how it all unfolds as my fingers fly over the keyboard.

This brings me to a subject that I had never really given much thought to before.  But as I was writing a particularly emotional scene for Rosa, it suddenly dawned on me that it was going to be an awesome scene!  And why did I think this?  Because I was actually shedding a few tears as the scene unfolded.

I'm not sure if other authors get this or not when they're writing.  But for me, this is the first time it's happened.  Of course, I usually tend to shy away from emotional rollercoasters, but after I finished this scene, I began thinking about other stories I've written and came to realize what I'd been missing out on.  Sure, it made me cry and I really don't like to cry.  But that's what made the character even more realistic; her very real, human reaction to an emotional situation.

Giving characters depth is a very challenging thing to do.  I think it might actually be one of the most challenging aspects to writing because it really forces the author to question how they themselves would handle different situations and then write that down for others to read.  The emotions and reactions reveal a little something about the author and sometimes that can be scary.  After all, perfect strangers will be reading these novels and in a way, the author is sharing their more intimate thoughts and feelings with those strangers.  The only difference is that the author is using a character in a story to portray those feelings instead of coming out and saying "Hey, this is actually me spilling my guts here!"

But it's those very real emotions that draw readers in and helps them to identify with the characters within the story.  So, depth of character is crucial and after having written that particular scene for Rosa, I will strive to give my characters the depth that they deserve.

Well, I'm off to continue Rosa's journey.  She has a very scary, life-changing decision to make and I don't want to leave her hanging for too long.  Until next time...