I've been in limbo searching for an idea for a blog post, so I did an inventory of my writing instead. This is where I'm at:-
My novel Dream Keeper is now available in multi-format ebook through Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble Nook Store, Apple istore and Google ebooks. Dream Keeper is being represented at international book expos.
Novel manuscripts submitted = 2
Short stories accepted and being published in September = 2
Short stories submitted AKA 'playing the waiting game' = 105. (mind boggling)
Short stories in the drafting process = 4
Article accepted and being published in September = 1
Entered short story in FableCroft anthology competition. (fingers crossed)
Received an email requesting I cut the word count of 3 short stories and resubmit. (This is hopeful.)
When I consider the ratio of stories submitted to the ones accepted, that becomes a scary thought to me. Recently my ratio rate was one in nine stories accepted and the editor's comment was, 'It's actually a pretty good success rate!' Makes you sit back and think doesn't it? I figure to improve on that ratio I've got to write more, revise and tighten up rejected stories to ensure they're the best I can make them be ... and never ever give up!
Keep writing....
Friday, August 24, 2012
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
CHARACTERS
When I create characters I spend time thinking about their names, how they look, what motivates them, their strengths and their weaknesses. I observe the world around me and take 'snippets' of people to create new people. I wondered about other authors and their thoughts on characters and wanted to share this with you:
Dean Koontz - One dimensional characters do not engage the reader's empathy, and if the reader does not worry about what might happen to them, suspense is aborted.
Stephen King - It's dialogue that gives your cast their voices, and is crucial in defining their characters - only what people do tells us more about what they're like, and talk is sneaky: what people say often conveys their characters to others in ways of which they, the speakers, are completley unaware. Well crafted dialogue will indicate if a character is smart or dumb, honest or dishonest, amusing or an old sobersides.
Sidney Sheldon - When I begin a book, I start out with a character. I have no plot in mind. the character begets other characters and soon they begin to take over the novel and chart their own destinies.
W. Somerset Maugham - People are too elusive, too shadowy, to be copied; and they are also too incoherent and contradictory. The writer does not copy his originals; he takes what he wants from them, a few traits that have caught his attention, a turn of mind that has fired his imagination, and therefrom constructs his character.
How do you go about creating your characters?
Keep writing....
Dean Koontz - One dimensional characters do not engage the reader's empathy, and if the reader does not worry about what might happen to them, suspense is aborted.
Stephen King - It's dialogue that gives your cast their voices, and is crucial in defining their characters - only what people do tells us more about what they're like, and talk is sneaky: what people say often conveys their characters to others in ways of which they, the speakers, are completley unaware. Well crafted dialogue will indicate if a character is smart or dumb, honest or dishonest, amusing or an old sobersides.
Sidney Sheldon - When I begin a book, I start out with a character. I have no plot in mind. the character begets other characters and soon they begin to take over the novel and chart their own destinies.
W. Somerset Maugham - People are too elusive, too shadowy, to be copied; and they are also too incoherent and contradictory. The writer does not copy his originals; he takes what he wants from them, a few traits that have caught his attention, a turn of mind that has fired his imagination, and therefrom constructs his character.
How do you go about creating your characters?
Keep writing....
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