characters | Meredith Mansfield, Author

Posts Tagged ‘characters’

Potpourri

Posted in writing, tagged characters, conflict, e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, Learning, marketing, serialization, writing, Young Adult on May 8, 2013| Leave a Comment »

A little of this and a little of that, today.

Work progresses on the WIP, MAGIC AND POWER. It had slowed to a crawl for a couple of days as I had a really difficult scene to write. It’s one where my main character is assailed by doubts and is unprepared to make a difficult choice. I’m sure that it’s one that’s going to need plenty of work in the revisions to strengthen it. Sometimes int the first draft, you just have to put down what you can and move on. Now I’m on the scene where my characters can get really angry with each other. This one’s going to be a lot more fun to write.

In other news, Amazon made me really happy this morning when this turned up in my inbox.

Gotta love free advertising.

On the chain mail front, I know I haven’t posted anything recently. I finally ran down a new set of instructions for European Four-In-One. This is the standard pattern of actual chain mail used as armor back in the middle ages.

Sometimes, it just helps to try something a different way. That’s what finally worked for me with the helm pattern. The different perspective can just help it make sense. It works for writing, too, by the way. Stuck on something? Try writing it from a different point of view.

Also, as usual, new chapters of FIRE AND EARTH and BLOOD WILL TELL are available on wattpad. You know, though, it’s going to take over a month to get to the end at two chapters a week. Both books are available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and other places.

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Stirring the Pot

Posted in writing, tagged characters, conflict, fantasy, first drafts, serialization, writing, Young Adult on May 1, 2013| 2 Comments »

It’s what we writers do. We put our characters in situations and just when they think they’re getting comfortable, we stir things up and make them uncomfortable again. After all, stories require conflict.

So, I’ve posted before about the love triangle in MAGIC AND POWER. Well, it hasn’t been that much of a triangle, really, until now. The main character had a boyfriend back home, before she left for school. She’s just developing a relationship with a friend/potential boyfriend at school. But, since the two potential love interests have never been in the same place, it’s not too complicated. Guess who’s about to show up at her school. (Where’s that evil little emoticon when you need it.)

So that’s what I’m working on now at about the two-thirds mark in this story. Things are getting a lot more interesting.

Meanwhile, I’m still trying to find new ways to promote FIRE AND EARTH.

Also, as usual, new chapters of FIRE AND EARTH and BLOOD WILL TELL are available on wattpad. (Or, if you want to read faster than two chapters a week, check out the “My Books” page for links to where both are available for sale.)

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Romantic Complications

Posted in writing, tagged characters, conflict, fantasy, first drafts, Romance, serialization, writing, Young Adult on April 28, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Oops. Got busy writing and almost forgot to blog.

So, now that FIRE AND EARTH has been launched, let’s get back to the new story. This is the one that was supposed to be just something short to work on while I got ready to write my weird Oz story. It’s approaching 50,000 words, so yeah, not that short.

Anyway, I’m in the middle of the romantic complication. This time, I’m trying to write a love triangle, something new and different for me. Right now, my main character should be thoroughly confused. I’m sure I haven’t gotten that strong enough, yet, but that’s what first drafts are for. Everything doesn’t have to be perfect the first time through. It has to be as close to perfect as you can make it the last time through.

So, coming up in the next couple of chapters are the places where the rivalry between the two love interests will really heat up and . . . the choice. Should be fun. Also, a challenge. I have to keep both guys as credible choices even though I know which one will ultimately get the girl. At least, I think I do. This story has surprised me twice already. Well, that’s what keeps writing interesting, isn’t it?

Also, new chapters of FIRE AND EARTH and BLOOD WILL TELL are available on wattpad.

FIRE AND EARTH finally showed up on Barnes and Noble.

And there’s a giveaway of a copy of FIRE AND EARTH on Goodreads.

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Down the Rabbit Trail

Posted in writing, tagged characters, fantasy, first drafts, Multiple Projects, writing, Young Adult on March 27, 2013| 3 Comments »

And I don’t mean for the Easter bunny.

Easter postcard circa early 20th century (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’m afraid the characters in my current WIP, “Magic and Power”, have been leading me astray. Well, not exactly astray, but not on track, either. That’s the problem, really. There never was a sufficient track laid out for this one.

I’ve posted before about being a (modified) discovery writer here and here among others. I’m perfectly willing to embark on a short story on the basis of an idea and faith. If it doesn’t work out, I haven’t lost that much time and no writing is ever wasted. It’s all practice if nothing else.

But I approach longer works a little differently. I want at least a minimum amount of milestones to keep me from going off into the weeds. The reason for this is experience. The second book I wrote after getting serious about writing (which doesn’t count that thing I wrote back in college) is the specific reason.

I was literally writing the last page of a 100,000 word or so novel when I looked up and said to myself, “But, it’s not a story.” I instinctively knew it wasn’t a story, even though there were characters, who changed, a setting, and things happened. I was a much less experienced writer then, though. It took me half a dozen attempts at fixing it to figure out why it wasn’t a story.

It wasn’t a story because it didn’t have a strong central conflict. There were conflicts. They were resolved. But the ending didn’t feel like a resolution of the whole book because there wasn’t one dominant problem that drove the whole story forward. Once I fixed that, it became a story–one that I was even happy with.

And that’s–sort of–my problem with “Magic and Power”. This was supposed to be just a sweet little love story. Maybe 15,000 words tops. Just something to work on while I prepared to write my weird Oz story that needs more development. At least, that’s what I thought it was going to be. And for that, the conflict of the main character’s choice between her magic and her love was sufficient. I just passed 27,000 words. That’s not enough to sustain the story anymore.

So, once I finish the current scene, I think it may be time to take a step back and do a little plotting. There are some elements that are candidates for greater conflicts that can intertwine with the love story. I just need to pick one as central and go back and weave it in more firmly. Two steps forward, one step back is still progress.

In other news, new chapters of FIRE AND EARTH and BLOOD WILL TELL are available for free on Wattpad.

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Love Triangles

Posted in writing, tagged characters, conflict, fantasy, Multiple Projects, Romance, short stories, writing, Young Adult on March 24, 2013| 4 Comments »

My current WIP (working title “Magic and Power”) took a turn of it’s own about a week ago. This turn leads me into unfamiliar territory–the first time I’ve ever written a love triangle.

Well, technically, it’s not a true triangle, because there’s no relationship between the two love interests. That added relationship, where it works into a plot, can add another layer of conflict. That’s just not going to work out in this story, though. It’s okay, my main character has other issues to add to the conflict. Plus some conflicts external to the whole romance element.

I didn’t plan this story, originally, to have a love triangle, but this second character popped up and said he loved my main character, too and to give him a chance. It’s not where I intended the story to go, but I think I like this new twist better. Still, it’s a little outside of my comfort zone, so making it work is going to be interesting. We’ll see what my critique partners have to say on whether or not I pulled it off.

I also hadn’t planned for this story to be this long. I thought it was probably a novelette (between 7500 and 15,000 words) or maybe a novella (between 15,000 and 50,000 words), which is why I was willing to dive in without more planning. I just passed 26,000 words, so it’s definitely at least a novella and might even decide to grow into a full novel. If I get to–or close to–50,000 words, I’ll have to give serious thought to expanding it to a full novel.

Well, meanwhile, I’m having fun with this story.

In other news, new chapters of FIRE AND EARTH and BLOOD WILL TELL are up for free on Wattpad. Take a look!

Also, although I missed out on Pitch Madness, I did get a partial request for THE BARD’S GIFT out of WriteOnCon’s Luck O’ the Irish Pitch Fest.

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When Stories Take on a Life of Their Own

Posted in writing, tagged agents, Alternate History, characters, conflict, Contests, fantasy, first drafts, Multiple Projects, Pitches, short stories, writing, Young Adult on March 17, 2013| Leave a Comment »

First, let me say Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

And fingers crossed for a little of the Luck of the Irish. (I am part Irish, after all.) I made it in to The Luck of the Irish Pitch Fest. We’ll see what, if anything, comes of that next week. And I have to wait a couple of weeks to find out if I make it into Pitch Madness. In both cases, I’m pitching my YA alternate history, THE BARD’S GIFT.

Next, a small announcement:

Chapter 2 of FIRE AND EARTH and Chapter 5 of BLOOD WILL TELL are now available on Wattpad. It’s free, so go check them out.

Now, back to the topic, stories taking on a life of their own:

I just passed 20,000 words on this story I’m working on now–and it’s starting to veer off in an unexpected direction.

This was supposed to be a short story or maybe a novella. I picked it up to fill the time (productively) while I figured out which of my novels-in-waiting to take up next and do a little more prep work on the chosen novel. This one is looking more and more like it might decide that it needs to be a novel, too.

That’s–I won’t call it a problem, let’s say interesting (as in the Chinese curese “May you live in interesting times”)–because I deal with short stories and novels a little differently. I’ve mentioned before on this blog that I’m a discovery writer by nature and a modified discovery writer by experience. I’m willing to freestyle (fly by the seat of my pants) with a short story or even a novella. After all, it’s only a few thousand words. If it doesn’t work out, well, no writing is ever wasted. Hopefully, I always at least learn something. Maybe I try something that I’ve never done before, like first person or a different genre. Short is the place to experiment.

But when I plan to start a novel, I do at least a little planning. I want to know the inciting incident (obviously), the central conflict, and if possible the try/fail cycles. I don’t outline, exactly, but I do usually have a separate file with a paragraph or so about key points that the story will hit. Most importantly, where the story is going to end. I have a plan.

I had an idea where this story would go, but it left a lot of room to explore. Well, now I’ve introduced a new character who has decided that he’s going to be a second love interest. I’ve never written a real love triangle before. Not as in there’s real doubt about who she’ll choose in the end. Now this new character is turning out to be maybe the better choice. Which wasn’t in the plan at all. Stinker.

Oh well, I better fasten my seat belt. I’m already on this rollercoaster. There’s nothing to do now but ride it to the end–and hope.

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Pitches Are Evil

Posted in writing, tagged agents, characters, conflict, Contests, fantasy, first pages, Learning, Pitches, revisions, world building, writing, Young Adult on January 16, 2013| 6 Comments »

You think trying to sum up a whole novel in 250 words for a query is hard? Try a 35-word pitch. They’re evil, I tell you.

This is what I’ve got so far:

Casora was raised as a warrior. Tiaran can barely swing a sword, but he knows palace intrigue. To win the war and make a place for themselves, they’ll both have to stretch beyond their limits.

I have to get this and the first 250 words ready for the alternate round of Pitch Wars by Sunday.

The first 250 words have changed, too. Sometimes, you just need someone to slap you on the side of the head. After getting the revision notes from my mentor and taking a couple of days to digest them, I realized that there was too much world-building in the first few chapters. Not that the world-building was bad, just misplaced. It got in the way of letting the story really get rolling. Just because I love world-building doesn’t mean it’ll draw a reader in. Well, sometimes . . .

Anyway, here’s the new first 250 words:

Casora restrained the impulse to get up and pace across the floor of the command tent. She couldn’t show emotion, not even frustration, in front of her troops, but the continued silence from home was troubling. She reached up to rub the little scar above her right eyebrow.

She glanced up at the mountains visible through the open tent flap. The snow crept lower every day and so did her hopes of a recall order to let the troop over-winter at home. Casora dreaded the prospect of a winter stuck in camp with a troop made up entirely of homesick teenagers and every one of them carrying the potential of the berserker curse. She’d better start planning a lot of training exercises.

“Riders coming!” The shout came from the lookout to the east, toward home. After a pause, the lookout added, “Two of them.”

Only two riders? She’d sent three out.

Casora walked to the front of the tent and cursed under her breath. They were her scouts all right, but whatever orders they brought had better be end-of-the-world urgent. There was no other excuse for abusing the horses like that. Then she realized that Varana’s braid was redder than it should be–blood red. Casora took off running. So did others from all parts of the camp. Varana fell off the winded mare just as Casora reached her.

“Report,” she said, but more quietly than her usual command voice.

“Stumbled into a scouting party just inside the pass. Ambushed.”

And that’s what I’ve been doing for the last few days–and will be for the next couple, too.

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Back to Revision Land

Posted in writing, tagged agents, Alternate History, characters, Contests, critiques, fantasy, Multiple Projects, Pitches, revisions, rewrites, writing, Young Adult on January 13, 2013| 2 Comments »

Well, it was nice while it lasted, but it looks like I’m leaving the first draft behind for a while and heading back into revision land.

I think I mentioned here before that I’m a first alternate in Pitch Wars with FIRE AND EARTH. I got the revision notes back from my mentor on Friday and I’ve been digesting them for the last day or so. Some of them I completely agree with, but one in particular has taken me awhile to come around to. She says I started the story in the wrong place–by about eight chapters. Yikes. And then use some of the saved words to further develop the characters, side characters, and their goals and conflicts, as well as more showing of emotions.

But, you know, she has a point and what she identifies as the inciting incident may be a better choice than what I thought was the inciting incident. Now, I don’t know yet if I’m going to be able to delete all of that. There are some things in there I really do believe the reader needs to know to understand what’s driving the characters. But I’ve already identified–and cut–quite a lot that isn’t really necessary. I might be able to work in some of the rest later in the story.

I’ve got a lot of work to do on this. And I have to try to do as much as possible by the 20th, because where the story really starts will determine what the first 250 words are. Duh! (Also, you know, it’s just good form to have a completed ms for things like this just in case an agent makes a request.) Plus I need to write a 35-word pitch. I have about four possibilities right now and frankly, they all suck. This is not the part of writing I’m good at. I really like the description by a critique partner (thank you MattLeo) that trying to boil the story down to 35 words is necessarily like trying to decide which blind man had hold of the most interesting part of the elephant.

Plus, the reader critiques of THE BARD’S GIFT are starting to come in much earlier than I expected. (I was planning on the end of the month.) I think that’s good. It takes longer to read a story to critique it and I only sent it out on (I think) the 30th of December. I’m taking that to mean that the story kept them reading.

Back to work with a vengeance.

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Minor Characters

Posted in writing, tagged Alternate History, characters, conflict, fantasy, first drafts, revisions, writing, Young Adult on November 18, 2012| 2 Comments »

As I work through the second draft of THE BARD’S GIFT (now about 75% complete), I’m starting to think more and more about my side characters. Minor characters can add depth, conflict, and realism to a story. After all, would HARRY POTTER be as good without the Weasley twins or Luna Lovegood? Or LORD OF THE RINGS without Faramir and Eowyn?

My first drafts tend to be very protagonist-centric. Minor characters and even the antagonists tend to be underdeveloped in the first draft. That’s not a problem–as long as I realize it and fix it.

Through the second draft, part of what I’ve been doing is strengthening the antagonists. I’m not nearly done with that. There’ll be more to do in the third and maybe even in the fourth draft.

There are other minor characters, too, though. And they all have to be real, three-dimensional characters in the final draft. That’s one of the main things I have to work on in later drafts.

In particular, I’ve got my eye on a very minor character. Well, she was minor in the first draft. A friend of Astrid, my main character, who isn’t always on her side. She’s a friend, but she has her own issues and goals, too. And her own ideas of what is in Astrid’s best interest. This is good. It makes her more real. It’s also a potential (and currently untapped) source of conflict in the story. Next draft, Gerda is getting a lot bigger role.

Who are some of your favorite side characters?

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Reading as Research

Posted in writing, tagged characters, conflict, e-publishing, fantasy, first pages, inspiration, Learning, paranormal romance, Reading, research, revisions, Romance, sequels, writing on October 21, 2012| 2 Comments »

As I’ve been working through the first round of revisions to BLOOD IS THICKER, I’ve also been rereading parts of A CIVIL CAMPAIGN by Lois McMaster Bujold. Not just because it’s my favorite of the Vorkosigan Saga books, though it is. Also because it’s a good model for how a smart man can blow up his own love life–and then fix it again by realizing his own mistake.

That’s one of the things that happens in BLOOD WILL TELL, although obviously in a very different way, and it didn’t come off quite right in the first draft. It was too flat and a bit stereotypical. So, how to fix it. Well, it never hurts to try to pick up pointers from somebody who handled a similar situation extremely well.

I think I’ve made it better. It still may need some tweaking, but that’s what revisions are for.

BTW, I’ve finally built up some momentum in this one. I’ve passed the half-way point in this revision. Yay!

That’s good, because I’m very soon going to have three revision projects going at once: