Taking a Break from Character Creation
The process of creating characters for The Netherworld and trying to decide the basic plot has been harder than I would have imagined. I’ve had to think a lot about each person’s goals and desires and pasts and futures. I see why Ingermason says to take an hour for each character. It’s also difficult to decide which characters are going to be main characters and which will be secondary.
I’m sure I will create more as the story progresses, but this blog is about the experience of writing a book. I think a lot about the storyline as I do stuff during my day. I have some awesome ideas for how I want things to look, but it’s hard to write them down so that someone else will see them like I do. I really wish I could draw, but oh well.
I’m glad for all the comments you have left so far. I welcome any thoughts, criticisms, or suggestions!
What I learned from Reading Dracula
William Faulkner said, “"Read, read, read. Read everything -- trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out the window." I’m starting to agree. The more I read the more I learn about how to write.
I’ve continued reading to get inspiration for my story. I’m not a very fast reader, so it has taken a long time to finish Dracula. I guess it’s only been about a month, which is faster than I have read most books, but I’ve also had a lot of free time since it’s winter.
I’ve picked up quite a few ideas about writing from reading Dracula that I’d like to share with you. These ideas focus on how to tell the story. So far, I’ve posted a few blogs about creating characters and getting your novel started. This one is about narrating a novel, or telling a story.
1) Use multiple points of view in order to create picture!
Bram Stoker switched between multiple points of view throughout Dracula. Each of the main characters gets time in the limelight. As the reader, I got to see things from each character’s perspectives. I mentioned this technique when I started reading Dracula, but now that I’m done, I’m more convinced than ever that it’s a great way to write a book.
If the story had been written from only Jonathan’s perspective, I wouldn’t have known each of the characters as well as I did. By the end of the story, I felt like Van Helsing was an old friend of mine, even though I probably would never be good friends with a professor in real life. It was exciting to see how each character felt about what was happening. It made me sad to read from Mina’s perspective a lot, though, since she had to deal with so much.
As I’ve been writing my novel, I’ve been switching between perspectives a little, but I think I want to do it a little more and make sure that everything in a specific section is seen from just one character’s perspective. I may need to go back and update the first two chapters, but I’m not sure yet.
Instead of changing the novel from one person to another at the end of each chapter, I’m going to do it within chapters as well. I’m going to use chapters to show that I’m changing from one group of people to another, but within that group, I’m going to use just a line break to show the change in perspectives. What do you all think about this method?
2) Give each character a purpose in the story. Don’t let one hog the show.
In Dracula, each character had a specific purpose and something helpful to contribute to the group. Jonathan Harker was resourceful, but not knowledgeable. Van Helsing was courageous and knowledgeable, but he wasn’t young and agile. Quincy had strength to contribute, and Mina added an interesting twist to a number of places in the novel.
As I think about my novel, it’s easy to think a lot about Natalie and Kælon while leaving the others out. Dracula was more interesting because the characters needed each other and often had to split up which caused interesting problems, but it also allowed them to succeed in the end. Dracula was only one person. Maybe this says something about teamwork versus doing things on your own:p
When writing your novel, keep in mind that fiction shouldn’t be too much different than reality, even in a fantasy world like mine. I think we’ve all heard the saying, “No man is an island” (I just looked it up. It’s a poem by John Donne). Writing a story about one character who can do everything alone is a lot more boring because no one can relate to it. Even James Bond had Q and M to help him out, and he was really good at working alone!
Sadly, I ran out of time to finish this tonight, so I will post this blog in 2 parts.
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