Archive for the ‘Alra Forest’ Category

One of the major challenges for part time writers is finding time to write, and even more so when things are busy in your real life.

With Alra, I am constantly writing notes down, considering plots, twists, character growth or degeneration and how they all intertwine with each other, this is a time consuming exercise.

In fact, most of the time I tend to stare blankly into my imagination, allowing my mind to subconsciencely create the story while on another level I try to piece together in words what is happening within  my mind.

This all takes time, and for me, I have to be alone with quietness dominating.

For the past few months this is not what I would call my usual circumstances.

I have moved country, I am now looking for work (I am not paid enough through my writing to quit my off line reliance on working for money) and basically running about doing stuff….. stuff that is not imagining or considering story lines and character reactions.

Lucky for me I have multiple chapters prewritten, but that is not the case with the blog posts.

ALL writing takes a certain degree of discipline, sometimes I have it, other times I dont.

Most times, even when I am not able to write, I am pondering the story, and craving another session of writing, I suppose it comes down to one small point….. I don’t write because I have to, I write because there is an inner compulsion, I don’t feel good when I don’t write.

So I guess I am lucky in a way as the motivation in internal and not forced by external pressures like a publisher wanting a book finished this week, although that would probably help me write even more…..

What this is about is a writer must write every day or the art will be lost.

Simple truth, hard fact.

For me, before I write a word of the story, I must know at least a few of the characters well. I like to be able to picture the person in my head for a start. I find, in the real world, that the way a person looks gives many clues to the kind of person they are.

Things like the stance of their eyes, the position of their stand, do they lean against walls, where are the wrinkles (young people lack wrinkles so character traits need to be found elsewhere), what kind of smile do they have and stuff like that.

When I picture the person it becomes easier to develop the person within the frame.

I consider their state of mind. Do they like people or not? How many friends do they have and are they close to many people. What is the normal mood, how do they view the world?

For me, the creation of a character in my mind is a relatively simple event. The person is made fairly abruptly and clearly.

BUT…. moving the person to the page is the real challenge. It is usual to write something about a person and for me to become annoyed with the words because they fail to explain the detail of the moment, thought, depth or lack of depth in feeling. Sometimes I think it is better to remove the detail and allow the reader to deduce the mood of the character.

I also try my best to display the person with actions and with the talking. I try not to explain anything at all if possible. But this is a tough ask because I like to over explain things a lot, give the background that explains the motive behind an action.

People who know me understand that if I start a story, it can be a longer than required story because I give the background to everything.

Hell, it annoys me sometimes.

So the trick is to explain more using fewer words. Doing this while explaining a full blown character is the trick.

The same thing goes for describing the surroundings, but that is for another post.