Wednesday 9 May 2012

HOW THREE BAD THINGS CREATED A WHOLE LOT OF BETTER


ZOMBIE CHIP AND ME,
KILLING OFF CHARACTERS FOR FUN

"Planning to write is not writing. Outlining... researching... talking to people about what you're doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing." 
E L Doctorow

So far today I have:

  • Fine tuned my outlined planning
  • Researched detailed information I may need to use
  • Chatted through my ideas for the final plot twist with several writing friends 
Oh!

I thought I'd had such a good day  ;)


I was trying to kill off a character. 

Now, it's as if they'd never been - it was odd... how that happened. 


My character arcs look more like a watercolour landscape - the shapes feel and look just right - tight.

HAVE YOU EVER FOUND THAT TAKING A CHARACTER OUT STRENGTHENED YOUR NOVEL?

4 comments:

  1. Yep, I took out most of a family and left just one child. The book made a lot more sense after that. :)

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  2. Hi Charity
    I know what your mean and the change in clarity and focus.
    But the poor orphaned mite, that sounds so sad in theory ;)

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  3. i didn't even use my real kids in my story based on truth--but it wasn't about the kids

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    Replies
    1. Hi Lynn
      That was a wise decision. The process of writing is a tricky thing to negotiate, I would always avoid creating a character anyone I know might recognise or think it referred to them.

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