Mainly for me

I am mostly doing this post for me, but heck, aren't they all?

These two sites seem pretty fun/promising to me.

Also: I haven't been keeping to my writing schedule. I am going to try and do better.

Characters Part Deux

So, I started watching "Highlander"--yes, the hokey, old series, and started thinking about the fun I could have toying around with a setting like it, and that got me thinking, strangely enough, about archetypes. I know I touched, briefly, on writing characters before, but mainly focused on what Jim Butcher had written in his blog of advice for aspiring writers. I think that characters deserve to be touched on again, and not just because I need to churn out another post for class ... promise.

I think that in a story/screenplay/whatever, no matter the genre, characters can really be boiled down an archetype, or even a role that they fill in the plot. This isn't a new concept, and one of my favorite authors as a teen explored it quite a bit.

Anyway, I think that this could be another way to approach creating characters, especially for me. I tend to get way too bogged down in my characters, rather than applying the necessary focus to my storylines. I get attached to the character, and sometimes, heck, often times sacrifice the story when I should sacrifice the character. If I could instead keep this view in mind, I would have an easier time of things.

Funny thing, though, I haven't read this book for at least five years, and as I started blathering out this post, I looked it up on Wikipedia and learned that there's a bunch written about the very concept I've been trying to form in my head. I feel a little less clever, now. But I also want to read these books, now.

The Crux: Getting Down to Writing

Ultimately, even with all the reading and all the theory in the world, you--meaning, really, I, will never have anything if I don't get down to the nitty-gritty of writing. The problem is that for me, at least, the moment I schedule time for myself to write, suddenly I lose every shred of inspiration I might have had even seconds before.

The fix for this, I have decided, is to just write until I do have inspiration. This is, obviously, harder than it sounds. A way this can be made easier, though, is to use random generators to "stir" those creative juices until something comes out, even if it isn't anything amazing. The goal at this point is to built the habit and stamina for writing more so than to really produce a masterpiece--or at least, that's the goal for me.

So here are some random random generators I would like to remember to use in the future, and perhaps you, likely bored-silly reader, may get some use out of them as well.

Snagging Ideas from Others on Characters

So, rather than reinvent the wheel, I am researching what published authors have said about writing, starting with creating characters. I pulled the bit below from Jim Butcher's Live Journal. While he doesn't update it anymore, it has a wealth of awesome information about his writing process, and as he has done what I hope to -- mainly, succeeded, he seems like a good person to take advice from. (The below is from Jim Butcher's LiveJournal) Characters So your story is all about conflict, right? And you can't have conflict without, well, people. Maybe your people look like sentient renaissance mice, or maybe they look like talking cats, but there are going to be beings running around your story with a bunch of conflicting desires. Those are your characters. Sticking with the purely craft-oriented standpoint, we'll start with a basic question: what makes a good character? FIRST AND FOREMOST, FICTION WRITERS, YOUR CHARACTERS MUST BE INTERESTING. I mean, come on. Who is going to want to read about boring people? I can do that in the newspaper, or in any history class. Increasingly, as our society moves into the MTV-Information-broadband-instant-gratification age, reader tolerance for the dull and the plain is going to go down. Bottom line: without interesting characters, your book is already dead. You can write something that flies in the face of this if you like, and people the story town of Plainsville with John Smiths, and who knows, maybe you'll create an immortal piece of literary art. But for poor slobs like me whose sons are suddenly wearing larger shoes than them, and who are looking with mild panic at the costs of a college degree, there are a couple of basic principles to think about which could really help you in all kinds of ways. Which leads us to the next logical question: What is (or what makes) an interesting character? While no one thing can really stake a sole claim, several things consistently make a team contribution: o Exaggeration. o Exotic position. o Introduction. o Verisimilitude. o Empathy. (From Jim Butcher's LiveJournal.) That's about all I dare pull from his blog, but the bit I pulled gives a good sense of the information available. I really wish he still updated.

Procrastination--embrace it or battle it?

I previously referred to this blogging effort as academically enforced narcissism. As I haven't posted since, I'm not sure whether that is a commentary on my status as student or as a narcissist.

Anyway.

This post will primarily be occupied with the idea of scheduling. You may say, "Kirstin! This is a blog about writing! You are straying from your topic, shame on you!" But never fear oh gentle and mutually academically-forced reader, I have my reasons for this segue. (That's such a weird spelling. Segue. Seguuuuu-eee. >.>)

I have the ambition to write. I have the desire to write. I have (arguably) the time to write. However, I don't have the discipline I need to write for other than (and even for) academic purposes.

I need a schedule. I need a set, required, pull-out my toenails-if-I-don't time to write. This is simply how I 'roll'. I suspect many others are like me. I am using this site to help me, because I am cheap.

To explain my process, I wrote out all of the requirements I have on my time, which I may share in an edited capacity later, and then color coded the way I was using my time. I discovered a three-hour block of time on Mondays and Wednesdays that I could schedule in writing time, and realized I spend way too much time on campus, as a side note.

But the problem is that I need to write every day, so I am going to start forcing myself to write during my down time at work. While this might cut down on my silly movie-watching time, I think in the long run it might be worth it. MIGHT.

I'll note later on how this works.

Oh, also, to prove this is actually a valid issue, look at these other nice people, like ... here. Or here.

An introduction, or more simply, academically approved narcissism

A more appropriate title for this post may have been, "This thing that is," or, failing that, "word vomit that appears when I try to force wit." This is a blog--a blog about things, stuff, and most importantly, (or specifically), those things that occur to me at night. Why night? Night is that time when I think.
Days are pressing.
Days are mindless.
Well, so are nights.

But days are more so, I promise. Days are spent devoted to such pursuits as school, homework and the perfection of other's writing.
Nights are mine. Nights can be spent on my own advancement. Nights are for my writing.

This blog will be devoted to the advancement of my writing. I will use this space to write about how I want to write, will write and will improve my writing.