The Coach NaNo Novel 2011

The wait is almost over for November first and the beginning of NaNoWrimo. Thank goodness! My Sis and writing partner Rose Wade and I have our novel plotted, cover mocked and our muses are psyched to get started. We even took a big step in choosing the nom de plume we'll co-author under. M.L.Brogan.

This year we're putting our own mythology into an old legend. I'm really excited about what we've got sketched out for these mysterious creatures of the night. Wanna lil peek?

The Coach
M.L. Brogan

Two centuries have passed. It is time for the Coachman of Death to allow his hooved beasts, the Keres, to find new souls to take their place and end their enslavement to the Coach. To the living, the Keres appear as feared creatures of legend. To the condemned, they are the beginning of an inescapable nightmare.

Fellow Writers Blog Hop: Remembrance 9/11 the Day My Writing Found a Voice

September 11, 2001 changed our nation, not just the nation but the people in it. Every person that could was watching every stage of the event take place. News of the first plane hitting the South Tower, then watching the second plane hit the North Tower. The disbelief and horror of it all was compounded by the towers sudden collapse. 

For days and days America and the world around her were thick with emotions. These kinds of events are what changes a person and how they think or do things. As a writer I was fairly new at the game still. I dabbled in fan fic and wrote a few short stories for for fun nothing serious. 

My writing was passable but it lacked impact, feeling. In a way the surge of emotions brought on by 9/11 empowered my pen. I began to write more with heart than head. Emotions poured out on the page. I dealt with fear and worry by giving it to my characters Letting them express what I couldn't.  

I'm sure I wasn't the only one who found their writing, effected in this way or others. There were some great stories and music written as this event in our history gave the writer the voice they needed to create. 

The face of our nation changed inside and out. 9/11 took a great deal from us that day. But though the tragedy we were given gifts. We were reminded what real heroes were supposed to be like. We found a unity and strength almost forgotten. This day should be remembered as well as those who gave so much and how it changed us. 

 

Character Recipe

A cup of action hero, a dash of debonair,  a pinch of mystery, or a sprinkle of good looks what makes a character unforgettable?  There are characters we watch faithfully every week on TV, read every book written about them. Even some we write and just can’t stop at one story.

These characters have something that draws us into their world. It’s different for everyone. The same as everyone has a favorite ice cream flavor, they have a favorite character or character type.

There’s no perfect recipe in fact you don’t want any character to be perfect. It’s those, flaws and vulnerabilities that make us fall in love. To find out what it is that will give your character the right quirk you need to ask them questions.

Yes, I’m asking you to go a lil crazy and talk to imaginary people for a few minutes. You might even have fun doing it. Sit down and ask them a few things about their personality, their wants, needs and goals. Do they think they can achieve the lofty goal you’ve set out for them?

You might even ask what they don’t like, do they have a secret you haven’t been told yet. Or about an event in their past that doesn’t even take place in the book or story. Is it something that they just want to tell you or is it something that could better build your plot?

You might be surprised at the interesting things characters will tell you about themselves. Or even another character in their story, yeah who figured they like juicy gossip as much as we do.  J

To help in plunder for the right spice to add to your recipe here’s a short questionnaire to ask darlings.

1. What kind of childhood did the character have?

2. Was there an event during the early years of life that impacted their future?

3. How do they deal with conflict or change?

4. How do they feel about falling in love/ relationships?

5. What do they want most that doesn’t have to do with the goal of the story?

6. Do they have something they hate/ dislike?

7. Do they believe in God/ faith?

8. What would make them change sides even temporarily? (ie… from a good law abiding person to committing a crime)

9. Do they have keepsakes of their past?

10. Is there someone in their story besides the obvious villain they have concerns about or don’t quite trust? 

This post is part of the Fellow Writers Blog Hop that takes place the 2nd Tuesday of each month. Want to read more great blogs about this months topic Character Building? Just click the Fellow Writers logo at the top of this post or go to that page of this blog for the linky listing of all participating blogs.  Happy Hopping! 

Elements of Fiction Writing - Characters & Viewpoint

Writer's Guide to Character Traits

How to Create Fictional Characters (The Novel Workshop)

Defining Inspiration

inspiration  (ˌɪnspɪˈreɪʃən) — n

1.      stimulation or arousal of the mind, feelings, etc, to special or unusual activity or creativity

We can’t wait around for inspiration to hit like lightening during a storm. We have to go looking for it. If we open our eyes there’s something to arouse your mind everywhere you go. (not that kind of aroused… get your mind out of the gutter)

How do we get it? Put in a favorite piece of music,  pull up a Google search of your favorite artist’s work, or pop in that movie that makes you cry. Take all of the thoughts, sensations, and emotions that string of notes, or the painting stirs in you and turn it into inspiration. Define it into a story with your voice. 

There are times in every writer’s life we get into a rut. Nothing seems to work or we have ideas that burn bright then die out quickly. Maybe we need a new definition. Try going some place you haven’t been before. Even if it’s just a new restaurant or coffee shop.

We can’t all be world travelers, but we can armchair travel on some pretty fantastic websites. Walk the halls of the Louver, see Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower, or explore a haunted castle. There are so many ways to seek and define our inspiration.

All that is well and good but how do we know when we’re really inspired? According to Webster’s Dictionary inspiration is physical and mental reaction to something that stimulates our mind.

If your heart races, you can see something so vividly in your mind, you can almost feel it under your fingertips. Perhaps it brings stirrings of an emotion. If you’ve had a reaction with both mind and body then you know you’ve truly been inspired.

So get out there and find an idea that not only sounds good but also gives you chills and fills your mind with imaginings.  

This post is part of the Fellow Writers Blog Hop. Just click on the image below to visit more great blogs in the hop or add your own and join in the fun!  

  

Book Blogger Hop Friday: Books to Movies Good and Bad

Yay it's Friday and time for another Book Blogger Hop! Hosted by the wonderful Crazy-For-Books.com Today's question is about book to movie adaptations.

  "What book-to-movie adaption have you most liked? 

I have a few book to screen movies that I have loved. I think one of my favorites was Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. It was adapted into the film Fried Green Tomatoes starring Kathy Bates and Jessica Tandy. 

Both book and movie will have you laughing out loud and grinning ear. Evelyn is a mild mannered house wife who visits her husbands aunt in the nursing home. Until she meets Ninny Threadgoode who begins to tell her the story of Idgie Threadgoode's life.  

Evelyn begins to grow into the woman she's always wanted to be with the mighty cry of, "Tawanda!" 

You'll laugh until your in tears with this great story of love, friendship, and being just a little different. 

 Which have you disliked?"

I must say some of the best books/ stories to film I have seen have been adaptations of Steven King's work. On the other hand some of the worst adaptations I've seen have come from there as well. Not by fault of the novel or story, but the screen writer just couldn't get the job done to bring King's vision to life. 

A few of these adaptations have even been redone such as The Shining. It was remade to follow the book more closely. Though I have to admit I do like the original film. Can't go wrong with Jack Nicholson as your leading man... even though he ended up a crazed murder.  REDRUM

My absolute least favorite early adaptation for a King novel was Salem's Lot. I felt like have the movie was missing and it didn't capture the real fear of a vampire being discovered in town. 

Misery missed the mark for me too. There were just too many small changes for me to enjoy that one.

Even if it's not always on the mark (such as Harry Potter) seeing your favorite book coming to life can be an enjoyable night at the movies. As a matter of fact I think tonight I'll pop the corn and watch a couple of my favorites. 

The Secret Window, starring Johnny Depp and adapted from a short story by Steven King , and, The Silver Brumby, starting Russell Crowe and adapted from The Sliver Brumby books written by Elyne Mitchell 

   

Death to the Inner Critic

The Inner Critic is that voice in your head that talks to you telling you if something is worthy of appraisal or not. Everyone has one. It just seems that writers tend to be the most tortured by this voice.

That nasty little voice in our heads if we are not careful will become judge, jury, and executioner to our work.  If we allow it that critic can shut a story down and keep us from submitting our work.  By listening to that voice in our head saying things like. “That’s not really good enough to send out.” “No one is going to want to read that.” “You’re no Stephen King, baby. Or we leave a manuscript unfinished because that voice convinced us it wasn’t what readers wanted.

When that voice begins to niggle… stuff a sock in it. Tell that inner critic to pack his bags and get on the next train out of town. Put him in a bag and toss him in the river. Whatever it takes to silence that voice. 

Writers have to stuff that voice down and get the job done. Tell those stories that are aching to be told. Just as we would with a rejection letter or a bad review, we write another page.  Write another and another until your work finds a home to adopt it. 

The inner critic will come back after a while, but, that doesn’t mean you have to listen to it. What does a voice in your head know anyways? When I was three he told me dirt might taste good… yeah what does he know.