Ink in the Book

When I first began writing, I thought I could just sit down and write the story. For a beginner, that worked fine, I guess. I generally start my stories with a character in mind and a situation to work through. My stories ended very quickly because once my character got past the situation, that was it. I have since learned that in order to make my character real and believable, I needed to create a CHARACTER for my character. It's like reading a biography. The person writing the biography learned as much about their character as possible, maybe even interviewing him or her more than once. Getting to know your character will enable you to write a better story. In order to do this, you MUST know the CHARACTER of your character. Who is she? What made her so happy? Angry? Bitter? Scared? What made him so strong mentally? What happened to him that caused him to be mean, insensitive, careless? Why is he such a gentleman? Let's learn about your character. It's time to give y

Mason Cambs is a character from my book. This is his journal. What do you suppose he has written? What does this photo tell you about his character?

Before I begin my character development lessons, I wanted to ask my readers opinion about this photo and font. Does it stir the emotions, create intrigue, or evoke creativity? Is it too dark, plain, or unreadable? What emotions does it bring out?

Writing a novel that grabs a readers attention is not only necessary, it is vital to the success of any story. Creating believable, living characters enriches your manuscript and breathes life into the pages of your book. I found a website that offers a character worksheet. This worksheet can be printed and used to help develop your characters. Use this worksheet and watch your hero take shape. Character Worksheet from the Writer's Craft My next series of blog entries will be spotlighting CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. You can signup to receive this mini-writing course by email!

Take a few moments and sit down and simply write. Write whatever comes to mind. This is what I am doing right now and I'll show what happens: A ship Take a trip History in the making Vintage Retro Camels Time Travel Silk Dresses Loving to hate Purses Now, these are the ideas that just popped into my mind as I wrote. No meditating. No reading someoneelse's book or article. I started with the word ship and simply wrote down the first thing that popped into my mind. Now, I am going to take a couple of the thoughts and turn them into a one line idea that I may be able to expound on in the near future. A ship- Like the Titanic. Unsinkable, yet not promised and someone actually paid the passengers to gamble with their lives. Take a trip- To an exotic island where a known murderer has been hiding for 5 years, alone, and wants to make things right with his victims family, but is tempted to take on the visitors to his island. History in the makin