Every day I sit down, pull out my notebook and try to put my mind in gear. I write down things that I have heard or seen. Everything I have written has been inspired by something else. I jot, scribble, list, cut and change from beginning to end.
I seem to focus a lot on characters. After all, they are my favorite part of a story. I like to know the details of my character's lives. I need to know where they live, what they look like, what they like and what they don't like. Most times I start out by outlining or interviewing my character, often obsessing about my character's details. I probably gather up three times the information than I will actually use.
Outlining and/or interviewing helps me create believable characters. Do you interview your charachters? Do you let your characters reveal himself/herself to you? This is how I start my stories. How do you start out yours? Do you start with a plot, a title or a character? Please share.
5 comments:
I live with them inside my head until I know them so well like myself. I'm constantly thinking about them, visualizing them, and finding connections and curious discoveries like if they were real persons - and at some point they do become real to me.
I guess that's how a writer lives, with many others inside their heads. There's no escaping.
EEV - Exactly!! Thanks for stopping by and sharing.
I start in different places. The majority of times I'll have a single scene in mind that develops into a story. Often the scene that started it all never shows up in the final story. The scene is also usually based on the characters, but not always.
I'm with you, Mauve. It's all about the characters. The plot should be laid out to help characterization.
Great post!
Lynda - I'm curious to know if you outline out a scene by drawing or visualizing it. When reading your blog I get the feeling that words flow easily to you. Can you share how you do this?
Emily - Thank you for your comment and for stopping by. I really enjoyed reading your blog!
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