Someone emailed me and said that they would be interested in me hosting a workshop for my writers group about ideas pertaining to character or plot development or the origin of my stories.
I replied that I really didn’t have any ideas on character or plot development, and that the origin of most of my stories is from dreams.
This is largely true. I don’t have set formulas or tricks to make my characters work. I don’t do character interviews (unless someone’s just not talking and I’m in Dire Need) and I don’t have any idea what color my characters’ eyes are unless it comes up in the story somewhere. (Nathaniel’s eyes are hazel. Sometimes they look brown, other times, green.)
Some of my first drafts are fairly thin in the character development phase, in truth. (The Tenth Ghost comes to mind. If I were to rewrite that one, I’d cut a couple of extraneous characters who will probably never appear again and flesh out a couple others. Like Jacob and Ophelia, now that I really know it’s going to be a series and now that I really know what’s going on. Well, kind of, at least...) When I get to the second draft, then the characters start talking. Ofttimes, the story changes quite drastically between drafts. But sometimes, it doesn’t change much at all.
This is one of the reasons why I’m looking forward to the rewrite/revision of NS. Ella’s been whispering in my ear all morning.
As for plots, well… I make them up as I go along for the most part. In TSoR, I had no earthly idea what happened after that small beginning I posted in May. I didn’t know a thing about what the story would be about, other than it somehow involved Malachi and Karen Montgomery. In SCR, I’m writing blind. All I know is that Certain Characters can’t die because they’re going to be in the next book. And that’s it. (That actually makes writing it a bit… interesting. For the most part.)
Sometimes plots start out as titles (The Tenth Ghost.) Sometimes, they start out as a general idea (Nightshade.) Sometimes, they do come from dreams (Heart’s Desire, Second Coming.) Sometimes I get flashes of a germ of an idea out of the blue while in the shower or on my way somewhere (invariably I’m driving without any means to grab a piece of paper and a pen) (Fire and Water.) Which explains a lot about the origins of my stories as well.
In truth, I shouldn’t have said that most of my stories have their origin in dreams. Some of them do, yes. But the larger part have their origin in the world around me; the world I exist in and have to enact with each and every day.
Could I do a workshop on character development? Well, yes. Probably. I’d have a general description of a character, perhaps, and ask everyone to write a paragraph about that character in an uncomfortable position.
Could I do a workshop on plots? Well, drawing on that prior paragraph, I’d probably get them to flesh it out a bit and see what happens.
On the origins of stories? Look outside. Pick something blandly normal, then write a paragraph changing that something just enough to make it abnormal. There you go. The origin of a story.
Hmm. Maybe I could do workshops after all…
I replied that I really didn’t have any ideas on character or plot development, and that the origin of most of my stories is from dreams.
This is largely true. I don’t have set formulas or tricks to make my characters work. I don’t do character interviews (unless someone’s just not talking and I’m in Dire Need) and I don’t have any idea what color my characters’ eyes are unless it comes up in the story somewhere. (Nathaniel’s eyes are hazel. Sometimes they look brown, other times, green.)
Some of my first drafts are fairly thin in the character development phase, in truth. (The Tenth Ghost comes to mind. If I were to rewrite that one, I’d cut a couple of extraneous characters who will probably never appear again and flesh out a couple others. Like Jacob and Ophelia, now that I really know it’s going to be a series and now that I really know what’s going on. Well, kind of, at least...) When I get to the second draft, then the characters start talking. Ofttimes, the story changes quite drastically between drafts. But sometimes, it doesn’t change much at all.
This is one of the reasons why I’m looking forward to the rewrite/revision of NS. Ella’s been whispering in my ear all morning.
As for plots, well… I make them up as I go along for the most part. In TSoR, I had no earthly idea what happened after that small beginning I posted in May. I didn’t know a thing about what the story would be about, other than it somehow involved Malachi and Karen Montgomery. In SCR, I’m writing blind. All I know is that Certain Characters can’t die because they’re going to be in the next book. And that’s it. (That actually makes writing it a bit… interesting. For the most part.)
Sometimes plots start out as titles (The Tenth Ghost.) Sometimes, they start out as a general idea (Nightshade.) Sometimes, they do come from dreams (Heart’s Desire, Second Coming.) Sometimes I get flashes of a germ of an idea out of the blue while in the shower or on my way somewhere (invariably I’m driving without any means to grab a piece of paper and a pen) (Fire and Water.) Which explains a lot about the origins of my stories as well.
In truth, I shouldn’t have said that most of my stories have their origin in dreams. Some of them do, yes. But the larger part have their origin in the world around me; the world I exist in and have to enact with each and every day.
Could I do a workshop on character development? Well, yes. Probably. I’d have a general description of a character, perhaps, and ask everyone to write a paragraph about that character in an uncomfortable position.
Could I do a workshop on plots? Well, drawing on that prior paragraph, I’d probably get them to flesh it out a bit and see what happens.
On the origins of stories? Look outside. Pick something blandly normal, then write a paragraph changing that something just enough to make it abnormal. There you go. The origin of a story.
Hmm. Maybe I could do workshops after all…
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