More flesh please!
No, not that flesh – I’m not that kinda gal. I’m talking character flesh.
In a previous post Put Some Flesh on the Bones of my Dreams I received some great comments from other bloggers on how they add flesh to characters.
I thought I’d share their secrets with you (shhh – don’t tell them!)
4am Writer – When I teach kids creative writing, I have them pretend they are their own protags and question each other in order to help them flesh out their heroes and villains. This helps them realize that even villains have a soft side too, which is harder for kids to understand as most villains they read about are very ‘cookie cutter’ and one-dimensional.
Anna Scott Graham – I talk out scenes that may or may not be in a book, but mostly it’s dialogue to get to better know my characters. (I’ve warned my family that if they find me talking to myself, that’s all I’m really doing.) I find that so helpful, plus I come up with a plot twist or two.
Justin – I like to write a mini biography for each main character. This way if something shifts unexpectedly later on, I’ll know how my characters will react to anything from sudden death to a dropped ice cream.
Anna Belfrage – I live with the characters for a very long time before actually committing anything to paper. I make sure I have their back-stories right, I draw up complicated family trees, I have huge fun deciding on their names, on whether they like smoked fish, tobacco, gravel paths, roses or elderberry wine.
Carrie Rubin – When writing thrillers–which is the genre I prefer–it can be difficult to find the right balance between keeping the plot moving and building up the characters enough so the reader cares. I find I can create full character sketches before I begin writing, but I have to remember to include these humanizing elements while writing the action scenes required of a thriller.
Janna G Noelle – I usually use a character resume sheet that includes many of the questions you posed above, but also speaking it out loud with a friend sounds like good fun. More in line with how my characters come to start speaking/acting through me while I’m writing as well, once I’ve spent enough time with them.
Jannatwrites – My tendency is to think of a story line and place people in the needed character slots. On a novel I was working on, I took online personality tests as each of the characters. Based on the personality test results, I could figure out if they were the type to try new things or order the same dish at every visit to a restaurant. Time consuming, yes…but it made me pay more attention to my characters than I ever did.
Harula – A few times I’ve taken a character on an outing. Basically I go (alone) somewhere I think the character would have a response to, and then during my time there I ask myself now and again, what would so and so do/think/say now? It’s quite fun:-)
There you have it. Some great ideas from some great writers!
I’m hoping to write a post in the near future about how to come up with great story ideas. Those who have read my books will know that I LOVE writing stories that are have an unusual and unique theme (I’m constantly contemplating my navel thinking of new and unusual ideas for story lines). Some of my ideas come from dreams and others can be as simple as stopping at a set of traffic lights and having a prisoner in a police van try to talk to me in sign language (yes – I have a WIP in progress about him).
If you want to share your thoughts on how you get your ideas for stories, feel free to add them to the comments and I’ll add them to my post.
I’m glad you posted those….I’ve spent the last two mornings getting to know my characters again so we can continue our journey. Those ideas will help!!
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Excellent! Every little bit helps when we’re dealing with those illusive characters! 😉
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They both had full name changes this morning….apparently they hated their names and just told me now!! 😀
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LOL! Fantastic! 😉
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I jot down character notes in Evernote, usually as I’m already writing. I’m not much of an outline person. I like to jump in and get dirty right off the bat.
Love the skeleton though. I may use that for my next book.
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LOL! Please do, Theo! I love that you like to get dirty right off the bat – what a great way to start 😀
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Stories are like stardust… At the most unexpected moments there’s a spark in your brain and you’re off. One of my books has as its “conception point” a scene in which the female protagonist is sitting on a stool and cutting off her hair – she has to sell it to pay for… well, at the time I had no idea!
i will now draw a number of keletons, name them & add your headings above, just to remind me of the flesh 🙂
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Oh – thank you, Anna! I hope the skeleton is of some use to you 😀
I love ‘stories are like stardust’ – so incredibly true! 😉
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skeletons – not keletons 🙂
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I’m still learning this stuff via a whole bunch of proven writers. Do you not believe though that it is possible for the characters to be created as the book unfolds i.e. the flesh is uncovered, piece by piece, to the writer as well as to the reader? Admittedly that way may invite inconsistency but is it not more fun discovering your characters in that manner?
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It can be fun, Roy, and I do believe it. This is just another of the thousands of ways to develop characters. We’re all different and this is what makes it so exciting! 😉
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I like ASG’s method. That’s normally how I do it. Although, Jannatwrites, you may be on to something…
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They are great points, Adam. People do it so differently and I love how it’s such a unique and personal process 😉
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Coming up with a story idea is kind of like getting bitten my a mosquito: there are a million of them out there, but no one ever knows which specific one will sink its mandibles into you. The idea of my novel-in-progress was solidified in my mind when I heard two of my characters conversing in my head (one make the other an offer she couldn’t refuse) while I was brushing my teeth. Yes, I hear voices. 🙂
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LOL! I LOVE it, Janna!
I hear voices too (even when I’m brushing my teeth!) 😀
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Mostly I outline the history of each character so I’ll know what drives them, but sometimes a character pops in and takes his or her rightful place in my story–without so much as a formal introduction. I don’t know what to do with these interlopers, but usually they become important in the story and I have to cede territory to their fictional purpose.
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I’ve also had characters muscle their way into my stories without so much as a ‘hello’! These interlopers can become pivotal and take on a life of their own, growing and revealing themselves as the story progresses. Some of these are my favorites!
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Wow! Those are all great ideas. As a new writer, I am willing to experiment with everything I come across. I especially like the idea of giving every character a mini bio.
Thanks for sharing!
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I’m so glad you liked this post and I really hope it helps! I wish you the very best of luck with your writing and thanks for coming by to say hello 😀
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I usually have an idea of what my characters are about. Sometimes though they surprise me and go off on a tangent and show things in their personalities that I never knew was there. But that is part of the fun of writing for me, getting to know who the characters truly are!
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They can be absolute imps at times and do whatever they want to do. I once had a dream where three of my characters cornered me and told me they hated what I was doing with them. The next day I changed a lot of things about them and I think they must have been happy because they didn’t come back to haunt me 😀
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ha! thats a good one. I’ve never had any characters haunt me, at least not that way. They have nagged at me to write more about them though. 🙂
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I can hear my wife’s mom… “You need to put some meat on those bones”. 😉
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LOL! I heard that all the time when I was young (and overly thin!)
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What a clever post, and very useful to learn how other writers hone their characters. Some of what they do, I do as well, but it’s nice to read about some other techniques. And thanks so much for the mention! Much appreciated.
I wish I knew where I got my ideas from, but I don’t think I can verbalize the process. It just seems to happen. Sorry for the unsatisfying response, but what else would you expect from a concrete, left-brain thinker? 😉
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My mother always asks me where I get my ideas from and I never have a definitive answer. They just pop in from the universe! She doesn’t think that’s a great response 😉
It’s really useful to know how other writers go about their work because it’s such a personal thing. Everyone is different and that’s what makes the world such an interesting place 😀
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Agreed. 🙂
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A prisoner trying to communicate via sign language!? I have GOT to read that book. That sounds almost too outlandish to have happened! What an amazing idea.
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And I don’t understand sign language, so that made it even more bizarre! I was actually a bit scared at the time because he could have been saying he was going to kill me, or just saying hello. Weird!
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I love the skeleton diagram. There are lots of great ideas here. Thanks so much for sharing them.
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I really hope it helps. There are thousands of ways to do it – we just have to find the right one for us 😉
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You are endlessly generous with your info and I am endlessly appreciative.
My stories usually spring from life’s events and my mind taking off in the middle of whatever it is I’m involved in at that moment and saying; what if?
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I’m really glad you liked this post and I hope it helps 😉
You are so similar to me. When I saw the guy in the police van, I thought – what if he gets out? What if he’s saying he’s innocent, or thirsty, or wants to kill me? Everyday things just seem to take on a whole new dimension for me! It’s an interesting way to live, that’s for sure. 😀
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It’s cool to be discussing this because it’s a post that’s been rolling around ‘up there’ for a while now and I am so interested to hear your take on it.
I can be having lunch with someone and, out of the blue, my inside voice will take off, rambling on about, what if this, what if that. But then, I’m fearful of putting it out there in public, in case the person I was having lunch with thinks it’s somehow about them…
My writer mind knows it’s fiction and most definitely fabricated, but I guess my regular human being mind has writer’s guilt…? My God – I sound insane.
Does any of that make sense to you? I like how you say; “It’s an interesting way to live.” I’ve pondered it a great deal as of late and wondered if anyone else had this thinking process,because, at times, I really do feel a bit NUTS.
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You not nuts at all! This happens to me all the time and it’s created a lot of my stories. I’ll be in the bank or post office and think ‘what if someone decided to rob the place now. What would I do’ and then an entire story goes through my head about the robbers, the staff the people and how they would all react. I have to then write it all down because it starts to become ‘real’ and I don’t want to go home and say ‘guess what happened today!!’ and then rethink it and say ‘absolutely nothing – it was just my imagination’! LOL! (now that’s nuts!)
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This is funny. There have been many times where I am reminiscing, either all by lonesome, or with someone and I stop and think; Wait…did that really happen or is it one of those things I made up? And, for real, a lot of the time, I just don’t know.
I love that I’m not alone. Thanks for sharing, Dianne!
P.S. I couldn’t possibly think YOU’RE nuts!! 😉
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Excellent advice here. I am afraid my characters come out of the writing, not the writing comes out of the pre-writing character development process. My characters developed as the words fell on the page. I guess I’m doing it backwards.
BTW . . . did the prisoner keep his fingers crossed that you knew sign language or where you signing to someone in the car with you.
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I can’t understand sign language, Robin – and I was the only car with the police car at the lights. For all I know he could have been telling me he wanted a toasted cheese sandwich (I hope he wasn’t telling me he was going to hunt me down and kill me)! 😀
A lot of writers let their character’s develop while they’re actually writing the story and I this is a great way to do it. We’re all different and there’s definitely no right or wrong way. Keep doing what you’re doing because it’s obviously working 😉
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Or, completely off-track. I’m not sure which.
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Such good advise, Dianne. Thanks for sharing.
http://annblantonwriter.wordpress.com/
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Thank you, Ann! 😉
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VERY cool!
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Thank you! 😉
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Great post for this time of the year. 🙂 I look forward to hearing how you come up with ideas and how you turn them into novels. Everyone approaches long writing in a different way and what works for one might not work for others, but what works for me is proverb based themes. There are two articles on this topic at my website. Feel free to link to them for your upcoming post as maybe someone will find them useful.
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This sounds excellent, Justin. I’ll go take a look now 😀
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Wonderful collection of tips! Thanks to all!
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Thanks to you for coming by, Nancy! I hope they’re helpful 😀
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Really nice post, Dianne. The ideas from others is really helpful. Thank you for compiling them. … I started by writing characters I knew. Of course, I had to change names and tweak personalities a bit, but I was startled when a character I had never even thought about stuck his head out of his apartment door and inserted himself into my story … and he never left. My story and my characters tend to unfold on the fly as I write. I only need to start with a bare-bones outline.
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Writing characters on the fly seems to be the theme for comments on this post. It’s great the way everyone has their own way of getting characters on the page and giving them flesh! I love the way your character stuck his head out of his apartment door and inserted himself into your story – that’s fantastic! 😀
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You are a genius, Dianne, ’nuff said! I am so sharing this with my fb friends! 😉
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Thank you, Lena. You are wonderful! 😀
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Good informative Blog, Thanks !
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Thanks for visiting, Delta! Glad you liked the post 😀
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Thanks for sharing and summarizing…and dropping a few names, including mine:-) Looking forward to the ‘generating great story ideas’ post.
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Thank you, Harula! I loved your idea 😉
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I just get lost 😦 I have 6-7 stories waiting to finish. I start then I block – or I couldn’t be bothered. Being original is difficult, there are only what 8 story lines that can be used, just depends how you use them. Yes I envisage myself as the characters, alas I have a 7 or 8 page start then it just fizzles because I don’t ‘set out’ the start middle and end’ pathetic.. that’s why I love blogging so much I guess, I don’t have to concentrate on plots, themes, I just ramble with what is in my head. You are dedicated .. whereas I feel why should I even attempt to be. xx
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You’ll get there! Everyone writes differently and you don’t have to set out plots (I never do – I just write and see what happens!) 😀
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Very useful post – cheers for putting it out there.
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Thanks, Micheal! 😉
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This was so useful. I love that you take ideas from dreams – me too – and often I make up a recurring dream for my characters to flesh them out.
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Recurring dreams for characters – I love it! Thanks Gabriela! 😉
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This is awesome! I am very much looking forward to the navel watching/storyline creation post. 🙂 I had a steampunk type dream the other night, which is weird because I don’t usually remember my dreams, but it was a morning after a night of too much wine, so I didn’t sleep well. So now I know why some authors had a problem with drink – hangovers = waking up more = more remembered dreams
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LOL! It must have been a good night! You might have to share that dream one day 😀
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Wow, Dianne, when I first read the title, I thought you had switched genres to zombie novels or erotica. Great advice from you and the skeleton crew.
Can’t wait to read what happens to the escaped convict.
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Thanks, Kozo! 😉 You had me giggling…
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Well if that traffic light incident wasn’t fodder for a novel, what would be?! 🙂 I suspect I would have freaked out and taken a wrong turn just to get away!
Those are all great ideas for fleshing out the characters. Mine seem to come hand-in-hand with the story ideas. In part, their “flesh” grows as the story grows. But some characters are more reticent than others to reveal their “flaws” and “warts.” And sometimes I don’t get them right, and they need to get creative. I should do a post on the “intervention” the gang from Crossroads staged….
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Most of my ‘side characters’ just pop up in the story and add their own flesh (they can be very determined at times!) A lot of the comments here relate to character building during the story and that’s a great way to do it (there are no rules – which is what I love about writing!)
I’d love to see a post in the “intervention”! 😀
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This made for very interesting reading, Dianne. There’s so much that goes into writing a novel. I wonder if i would ever manage it. 🙂
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A travel novel would be great! I’d certainly read it because you’ve been to so many places. When I write about foreign places I have to Google them 😀
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Wonderful. I think I shall let all my talking stick figures take an online personality test. 😉
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LOL! Brilliant, Allison 😀
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Interesting reading, Dianne. Thanks.
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Thank’s Dennis! Glad you liked it 😉
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Those are great flesh comments. I think ideas come from the air. They float around out there until writers pull them out of the air and write them down. Sometimes a sentence or paragraph will just pop into my mind and that will usually be the start of a story. If that doesn’t work, there’s always good ideas in the newspaper.
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It’s interesting you say that ideas come from the air because that’s where I get mine from and that’s what my “ideas” post will be about. It’s almost like the famous “collective subconscious” whirling above us occasionally drops something on our heads (not from a bird) 😉
The newspaper has stories that are very difficult to believe – but you know what they say, truth is stranger than fiction! They are a great source of amazing stories. Excellent idea 🙂
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Great diagram! And wonderful secrets too, heh heh. 🙂
Plots, well, the two most recent were from the latest James Bond flick (what if a spy actually walked away and lived a real life?) and reading a Rolling Stone article about a punk musician who is transitioning from male to female. News articles often prod my gray matter; somehow I just never seem to have a problem stirring drama from mundane occurrences.
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These are great, Anna! I like a spy walking away to live a real life and the punk turning female – wow! News articles are excellent fodder because they’re often so strange! 😀
Thank you so much for the insight into your thoughts 😉
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I enjoyed reading this collection of tips you gathered! It is fascinating to me to read about others’ processes. Some might not work with how my brain functions (or not…depending on the day), but it never hurts to try new things.
I almost forgot about another thing I did to get to know my characters – for each main character, I wrote a short story about them that took place 10 to 20 years before the novel’s setting. Each was an event that shaped who they were to become. It was a fun exercise, too, but hard for me to stay focused because I wanted to get into the plot 🙂
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You’re right about it never hurting to try new things. I’ve been trying some of these tips myself! 😉
A short story is great (I love writing short stories) and you have to pack so much of the character into such a small space it’s an excellent way to add the flesh. What a great idea. Thank you so much for sharing 😀
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Thanks for sharing, I promise to put any advice I filch from here to good use!
Cheers. 😉
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Please do! 😀
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Awesome post! I will keep an on eye on your blog.
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Thank you 😉
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I’m like you; I often get ideas from dreams! They’re always so wild and creative, and it would be a shame to let them slip by unnoticed. Often I get ideas just from a name or a character. For example, I once came up with a character called Petra, and a whole story came following after. 🙂
By the way, I’m about to start reading your book (The Eleventh Question); I’m counting on an excellent read! 😉
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These are great ways to get ideas, Zen! I’ll used them in a follow-up post if that’s okay with you 😉
I really hope you enjoy The Eleventh Question! 😀
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Perfectly okay with me! And I’m definitely enjoying it so far. =D
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You sneaky little thing! I had no idea you posted that. I’m happy you thought it was worthwhile. All the other bloggers’ tricks of the trade were interesting, too. It was neat to see so many in one place like that. 🙂
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LOL! Sneaky is my middle name 😉 I love ideas like this – thank you! 😀
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Loved this post Dianne. I do many of the things your authors mentioned and now I have few more ideas for fleshing out my characters.
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I’m so glad you liked it and I really hope it helps, Donna 😀
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I’ve been silently enjoying your blog so very much, and it’s time to make some noise! I’ve nominated you for the Liebster Award, to show my appreciation and share the love. Please visit http://www.awisdomwithin.wordpress.com/2013/01/11/liebster-blog-award/ for more info. Enjoy!
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Thank you so much, Gina! I’m heading over now to take a look 😉
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When I’m in the midst of writing a book, the characters follow me everywhere, including my dreams. They talk to me, for heaven’s sake. I try not to talk back, because then I’m in trouble with those around me who aren’t writers, and don’t understand that we LIVE our chacacters. Great post – thank you!
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LOL! I love it! I often find myself talking to my characters as well. I dream about them and when I find myself in a situation I wonder what they would do 😀
So glad you liked the post 😉
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Great tips Dianne, thank you 🙂
Xx
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Thanks, Vikki! I hope they help in some way 😉
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I wonder how long it took Tolstoy to play out all his characters of war and peace!! Happy 2013 😉
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LOL! I think they probably all just lived inside his head 😀
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Reblogged this on Hunter's Writing and commented:
reblogging, because I can’t turn down a post that has a big ol’ skeleton on it, and is about writing.
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Hi Dianne S. (neaky) Gray, What a great post! I am going to refer back to it often if I can ever get started writing something besides memoires. You are such a kick, no wonder I love your writing and you so much! Can you imagine all of Tolstoy’s characters living inside his head? He must have been schizophrenic!!!
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LOL! A true schizophrenic, deary me 😉
I’m really glad you like this post, Marsha. Please refer back to it if your writing ever decides to take you in that direction! 😀
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You won’t be able to keep me away!!!! I finished Winter of the World, so now I can order your book. 🙂
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Fantastic!!! 😀
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I love that image. I kind of want to frame it and put it above my writing desk.
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What a great idea! Feel free 😀
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Love these ideas. One thing I have heard which is similar to what you have said is its good to do an interview or pysch evaluation of your character. Forces you to think about how the character would answer and get to know them intimately before you place them in the plot of your novel.
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Thanks so much for coming by and commenting. I just went over to your blog and followed you 😀
I’m glad you liked the ideas here and really hope they help 😉
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Hey Dianne,
I am back from the road and I thought of adding to your work….
Here, You are it…
Regards,
BC
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Welcome back!!!! I’ve just gone over to take a look 😉 Thank you!
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Thank you! 🙂
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Very interesting how other people look at that subject. Lots of useful tips and ideas. Thank you.
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Thanks, Oma! It’s really interesting to see how others think and work 😉
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Diane, I’m trying to read the new post, but the system says the site is deleted. Just a heads up.
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Someone just told me the same thing. I tried to post it again and I’m not sure what’s going on. This happened to me with someone else’s post yesterday. Maybe there’s a glitch in the system… I’ll check it out again. Thank you for letting me know…
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I have nothing to add and everything to gain from this post and your reader comments! Thank you, Dianne!
(that’s better 😉 )
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Thank you, Lynda! I love that you’re reading my posts 😉
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Creative ideas come in the strangest way to me too… I love your prisoner storyline. 🙂
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The prisoner was so strange. His actions had me thinking for days! I wish I knew what he was trying to say…
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