I woke in the middle of the night with a migraine.  This isn’t as common as it used to be because I know my triggers, two of which are not drinking enough water and Chinese food.  Both combined yesterday to send white hot drill bits jackhammering into my skull.  Thank God for Excederin Migraine, which works immediately with the side effect of caffeine overload.

Which, in my suddenly 100 m.p.h. brain, made me think of character flaws.  Not like the hero with a dashing scar on his face or bitterness against women because he’d been jilted when he was young.  Nor like the heroine who’s too smart or fat and builds up a thick skin against love.

I’m talking about a character who has migraines.  Or low blood sugar, or a dozen other physical manifestations.  I once had a character with asthma.  Of course, I had her running a lot and traipsing through the forest at harvest time.  A friend with asthma provided details I couldn’t.

Details are important when adding depth to your characters.  Their flaws won’t ring true without the minute realism someone suffering from the same ailment can sniff out in a New York minute.  You want your reader to look for those details, to be drawn into the story and identify with the character so they can follow him to the end of the story.

The next time you have a killer headache, or the flu or the shakes because you haven’t eaten all day, think about transferring some of those traits to your character.  It will make him more human, more relatable and more readable.

Take care,

Cheryl

You have one on your hard drive or stuffed in a drawer somewhere.  I know I have several – an abandoned writing project.  Oh, once it was bright and shiny and the adrenaline pumped through our veins at the thought of its wonderness.  Then something went wrong.  Characters stopped talking, a plot problem wouldn’t unwrinkle, or maybe life just got in the way.  Whatever the reason, the shine started to dull, you stopped opening the file, and new and shinier projects took its place.

Are abandoned projects worth reviving?

Enough time has passed to take an objective view of your orphan.  Does the opening grip your attention or does the story start in the wrong spot?  If you erased a few pages/scenes/chapters would it make a difference?

Are your characters interesting?  Can I empathize with them?  Are their problems complex and insurmountable and will I care how they solve them?  Is there enough conflict?

Is the story outdated?  Do you have references to The Sopranos,  Bill Clinton and Schindler’s List?  Has the norm for relationships between men and women (if your story is a romance) shifted from what your story portrays?

Has the market changed?  Yes, I know it’s not good to write to the market, but if it’s saturated with zombie millionaire cattle ranchers, and your story is about a rich, dead Dude, you’re going to have a tough sell.

Do you need to do more research? Is your knowledge of the Louvre based on what you’ve read in a Dan Brown novel?  The internet makes research so much easier.  Find the answers you need to add depth and richness.

Read what you’ve written with a critical eye.  If your enthusiasm returns for the character and story you’ve written, then polish it up, fill some holes and continue writing until the story’s logical conclusion.  If there are no redeeming features, there’s nothing wrong with abandoning your baby again.  Maybe there’s a passage or turn of phrase (it can’t all be dreck) that can be recycled into another story.

I’ve taken out the 200 pages of a story I started in a writing challenge last winter.  I still love the concept and I know the ending.  Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to clean up the typical NaNo errors and omissions and decide if my abandoned project is worth reviving.  I’ll let you know.

Stay safe,

Cheryl

Soooo, I got to meet David Baldacci. 

Yes.  That David Baldacci.

He signed my book.  He shook my hand.  (I secretly prayed that some of his talent would rub off.) I had my picture taken with him. (The man is truly gracious.)  And listened to him speak. (Add funny to his list of admirable attributes.) It was a great privilege.

But I’m not writing this merely to brag about my googly-eyed groupie experience; I came away from Baldacci’s speech with a nugget of gold for all my writer friends.  Get this:  he doesn’t write every day.

That’s right.  He might go weeks without writing.  He writes when he’s ready.  This from a man who delivers two full-sized novels a year. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, this is not an excuse to stop writing.  If you won’t write without writing every day, then you should do it every day.  But, if you write faithfully when you have writing to do, you have permission to breathe when you’re between projects.  Mr. Baldacci says so.  (Did I mention that I met him?)

All of this brings me to another point – November is National Novel Writing Month, also known as NanoWriMo.   Every year, thousands of people “glue” themselves to a chair and write 50,000 words in one month.  (No editing as you go – just write, write, write.)  Now that’s not a Baldacci length novel, but it’s a good start.  It’s a great way to get your ideas out of your head and into word form.

If you commit to it now, you have a couple of weeks to research, outline, and write character profiles. 

You can find out more by visiting www.nanowrimo.org.  Try it; you might like it.  And just think, you might just be the next Baldacci.  Lovely.

Until Thursday,

Mary