Since beginning Usurper I have had one character in particular who troubles me; Evaliana Auliere Dyngannon. Nice long name, I know. She goes by Liana, for obvious reasons. Who wants that mouthful every time you're being spoken to? Liana and I constantly have issues, which I know makes me sound insane but I'm an author… Continue reading Problem Characters and How to Negotiate
Tag: fiction
Round Robin Discussion – Scarring your characters
This month for the Round Robin topic we are talking about emotionally scarred characters. The questioned posed is; "What mental, physical or spiritual wounds or scars have you used in your stories?" The truth is ... we all have scars. Whether they're big or small or whatever, we have them. They define us as people.… Continue reading Round Robin Discussion – Scarring your characters
Confronting Reality
In the last couple of weeks I've revisited Les Miserables. I do this every now and then because the story is rich and the music is beautiful and, while supremely tragic, it confronts a profound reality that forces me to stop and think about my life. Each time I revisit the story I find myself… Continue reading Confronting Reality
Killing the Hero
I've killed off characters in my books. There are several in particular who I mourned as the author, and still others who I really hadn't noticed. It seems to be a popular past-time in fiction to strategically murder personalities that we, the readers or viewers, have fallen in love with. I know everyone hated to… Continue reading Killing the Hero
Editing Outlines Take II – Character Depth
Alright! So last time I talked about the notion of editing an Outline before you begin writing your book. This was a new concept that I learned via the James Patterson Master Class, which I highly recommend to any authors out there who haven't given it a shot yet. Even if you don't write suspense,… Continue reading Editing Outlines Take II – Character Depth
Writing and Business and the In-Between
As of this evening my novelette "Torven" has a completed rough draft. Given its very small length (16006 words) I have been toying around with the idea of giving it away for free or really, really cheap (after it's gone through a rigorous editing) which has led me to the normal marketing spiel/debate. I've been… Continue reading Writing and Business and the In-Between
The Side Project
My cork board hasn't changed since January. According to my calendar I should be on Chapter 9, not Chapter 4, of Dead Weight. That big leap I had at the beginning of the year is now completely gone. But you know what? I really don't care. Because I've been working. Granted, I haven't been working… Continue reading The Side Project
Flashbacks, Memories, and the Tricks of Telling a Series
I've written several "sequels" at this point. Saboteur comes after Sedition and Dead Magic is after Witch-Born and, starting next month, Dead Weight will be the sequel to Tapped. Now, there are some tricks I've learned to telling a series and since I just had to implement a new one I figured it was time… Continue reading Flashbacks, Memories, and the Tricks of Telling a Series
Playing With Craft
"Are you a pantser or an outliner?" "What's your favorite part of the writing process?" "How do you deal with writer's block?" "Where do you get your characters?" "Do you hand write the first draft?" Over the last few years I've heard variations of these questions from different interviews and the like and I have… Continue reading Playing With Craft
Marketing and Me
Recently I met with another local author and had one of those Zen moments where I had to decide exactly why I write. This author was very well put together, had her spiel (aka, pitch) memorized and gave every outward appearance of success. She looked, in a word, classy. Flash to me ... in my… Continue reading Marketing and Me
AJMaguire 