What a fun week! The party started HERE last Tuesday and grew more exciting each day. So far, 26 people have submitted a character or two. We have seen these characters come to life as their creators traveled between posts (a couple thousand views and more than a thousand comments worth) to meet the others and look for potential friendships and plots.
In my book, that’s some partying.
Some of you blew my plan (see why I hate organization – it’s usually a waste of time) by exceeding my wildest expectations. Thanks. That fits my rather party than work personality perfectly. I have – well, not a plan B because you taught me that lesson already – flexible ideas now. From here on, I will follow the leads of your characters. That’s when writing is the most fun anyway.
If you (ahem)* followed instructions and waited until today to introduce your characters, I will add a link to your post in this article, as well as to the master list. New characters are welcome after today but I will add them to the master list only.
As promised, I have a games and writing challenges. I’m listing a couple of each with the understanding that this might be more than everyone wants to do, or has time to do in one week. Do what you can and we’ll catch up later.
Game 1 - Scavenger Hunt
We are looking for instances where writers showed us about characters instead of telling us about them. The game is to find as many examples of showing instead of telling as you can and list them here. List as many as you want in a box.
“It is the writer’s job to show us what the characters are like, not by what he says about them, or what they say about one another, but by their actions.” Noah Lukeman
“Some writers try too hard when they want to evoke an image by mentioning every aspect of the object they’re describing. This is not necessary. It is enough to list the key aspects of an image and then rely on the power of words to evoke. You don’t need to supply all the colors and nuances. Another common mistake in descriptions is to rely on adjectives—sometimes piles of them—to create pictures.” Josip Novakovich
A few examples I saw in the twenty-six submissions this week:
- a pillow clued me in to the fact that one character’s life might not be as it appears
- someone let me know a character did not like his/her job without actually saying that
- a bowtie gave me an idea about one character’s age
- I learned the gender of one character through objects.
Winners: the reader who finds the most, the writer who created the most, and everyone else for playing. Winners get to babysit Faith, Hope, and Charity for a weekend.
Game 2 – The ‘list’
Answer the following getting to know you list of questions for your character
- How many magnets do you have on your refrigerator and what are they
- List three things you need from the grocery
- What is your favorite television show
- What was the last concert you attended
- What do you like most about yourself
- If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be
- What scares you
- What comforts you
The winner of this game gets to dream of owning Sooky’s shoes.
Writing Challenges
(Post as articles and bring the links back here. I’ll create master lists for these)
Write a letter from your character to yourself. (If you do nothing else, please write this letter.)
Write a letter from your character to any other character.
Bonus Challenge from Sarah A.
Write a description of your character’s mind – as though it were a person. What would it look like, wear, what are its personal habits? Does it brush its teeth? Who does it hang with and where? What job does it do? Hobbies? Etc.
Do the same with your own brain, then let the two have a conversation.
Tags for this week: fiction, funtue2, character development
Be sure to post to the Gather Writing Essential group.
Please don’t cross post to groups whose primary reason for existence is to attract views for points or rating boosts, generic comments, picture comments (this is about writing so we should use words to express ourselves), or to pay anything forward or backward.
I look forward to another fun week with you and your characters!
*I enjoyed watching the characters flow in all week and do not mean to embarrass or insult anyone with that ‘ahem’.
Links to completed challenges/games
Lukeman, Noah, The First Five Pages
Novakovich, Josip, Fiction Writer’s Workshop
CHARACTERS ADDED TODAY:
Aaron Delaney (Sheryl O.)
Brian Robert Alistair Nesbitt (Aniko)
Leona (Vicky D.)
Adam (Pat M.)
Cole (Emme)
HealingLite Greenfeather (Marilyn N.)
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Comments: 85
I listed more than I thought everyone would have time for in one week, to allow people to work at their own pace/interest. Since everyone did more than I expected last week, I thought I'd try this and see how much people want.
Thanks for telling me about the Error. I'll fix the link (or try).
I am not expecting the other character to respond with much, it is just that Sooky wants to be with one of the other characters.
Kathryn, I agree that style is important. I'll read a good plot without style, but I want to throw the book across the room while I'm reading it.
You could have Sooky write her letter to the character she's interested in. (Will she donate shoes for prizes?)
Looks like we might be on the same schedule. My best writing time is from 11pm - 4am. But then, I want to be up at 7 to flip back and forth between C-span and GMA. That might explain the bags under my eyes.
Thanks for the challenges ~ what if we win and we would like to donate the prize to someone else? or to Gather for a special prize give away? is that allowed? You know we are all of the giving and loving nature here.
~ gone to play~j
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977612928
Answer the following getting to know you list of questions for your character
How many magnets do you have on your refrigerator and what are they
List three things you need from the grocery
What is your favorite television show
What was the last concert you attended
What do you like most about yourself
If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be
What scares you
What comforts you
The winner of this game gets to dream of owning Sooky’s shoes.
The Ferryman is flattered that you want to know him better, but he doesn't have a refrigerator! Ahahahahahahaha! I'm still giggling like a 'tard...
I just HAD to go down the Supernatural Path! Ah, I'm dyin' here!
Pardon the pun...
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
These are some great prompts, Sandy. This should be wicked fun, Thanks.
Freudian or mental retardation: You Decide.
I'm glad to see this comment. I didn't want to overwhelm anyone or lose anyone, so I tried to make this "work at your own pace" for everyone.
"I'm not exactly sure who Martha is ready to get involved with." This might be difficult for many of us at this point. I'm going to start with the letter from my character to me and the 'list' so I can learn a little more about Sabrina before deciding which character she might approach first.
I do too, Rose. Often, I go back and work the end-of-chapter exercises in my writing books. I wish I had saved them over the years because it would be fun to see how I've (hopefully) progressed.
Dear Donna;Love, Dixie
Cleavis did a list and a letter, he didn't like it, but he did it!
I'll visit each post and create lists of links by the end of the day.
Carrie Boyd's Answers
(That could well be the case with mine. Something tells me she might never be fully developed. Emotionally, anyway.)
Dixie (Donna F.)
Martha (Sue)
Mordeban (Ron & Buddy)
Carrie Boyd (Kay M.)
Liz (Grems)
Cleavis (Rose)
Leona (Vicky D.)
J. Tinker (Doyle)
Elliott (E.M.)
I'm hoping to have time to finish the remainder of the assignment before I leave town, Sandy.
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977613607&nav=MyGather
Sooky's letter to Russell - Tuesday Writing Essentials
His letter will follow later. He isn't much of a writer.
Adam's letter.
In a conversation I was having this afternoon, I think I might have confused the 'rules' or perhaps taken my own creative liberties.
Madison's List is written to you - or some other entity - because you (or the entity) gave her the list to fill out.
Madison's Letter is written to Lainie, her friend, not Lainie, her creator.
Is that okay?
It is Here
And my paper, only half done, is due Tuesday, so I may not get to the List. I think it more impactful to my Troll, that she correspond with another "member" of the sect.
Blessings Sandy, I talked to myself through the morning rush hour, being the troll, and thought about this all day at work today. I wanted to leave work, go home, and write. Just to create. And, dearest heart, that hasn't happened in ages! So, thank you.
Wilka
Ha. Ha! HaHaHaHahahahahahaha!
Wilka
Tee says, "Same problem! Keyboards just aren't made for paws!" Guess who his secretary will be again? ;)
Now your choices for "Next Step" surprised me! I've been envisioning Tee being there for a few other characters, working his charm to get them to do what life requires all of us to do - enjoy it!!! Of course, at the rate I was going ... well, let's just say between the one that would teach him, and the three he was going to assist -- that's at least four chapters for a long novel, and this has just been creeping in my mind in the last 4-5 days!
Definitely takes less time to choose 1-2 or more of your games/bonuses! Good thing! My poor blog has been stalled into serious neglect again!
Then again - STILL not done reading everyone's characters.
No wonder all you, who work, stay up at night! Whoops! Just noticed the time - and I don't work much! Time to go to bed! lol
Great ideas, you got! Thanks!
Did a little, by no means comprehensive, but here goes:
Not bothering with Tinker as Jean has already done a stunning job on that comment thread.
Mrs Weatherly - Lori F
"Her daughter checked on her once a week, always on a different day and always without warning.
Her son rarely came to her. But when he did it was splendid."
"Her current reading list included every Agatha Christie book her library had."
Sabrina - Sandy
Calling her three daughters Faith, Hope and Charity.
"One good thing is none of them got my flimsy nails so they ain’t afraid to catch a ball or swing a bat, and they probably won’t ever need as many manicures as I do."
L-Shae - Jean
Her name.
"A job that she not only needed, but she could also find entertaining in a worst-case scenario."
"PJ [...] became her newest nemesis and employer."
Alpha and Omega. Em Jay
Again, the names.
"...but they can't really find a cure for the loneliness.
Oh well, Alpha has to die someday."
Does it count to see her turning up in Dixie's storyline?"
Trolleana - Kathy
Not from the intro but fom the letters - the style of speaking sounding like a cross between Gaelic and the - as best I can describe it - Midwest casual.
Mordebahn
"...a dumpy twosome of the most plebeian extraction..."
"the scar on his left cheek had combined [...] to give him an air of aristocracy. Not a bad thing, in the end, not bad at all."
*BRAIN* - Aniko
The stream-of-consciousness of:
"Faint beams of sunlight struggled through the material here and there, drawing a dancing a pattern of intricate beauty—and no doubt deep meaning, were he given the opportunity to read it. It was clearly a map of sorts, revealing mysterious oceans and continents, offering new connections for the Theory. His gray eyes lit up at the joy of it all and became visible and sparkling blue for a second, but the mystery was no match against the marauding hordes of words that were violating his mind."
(Of course when the sugar rush kicks in, I'll be handing them right back...)
I learned that being oblivious to a job that is not you, can make you become oblivious to important details to get out of it, like signing a cassette sent.
I found out a freshly sharpened pencil and a crossword puzzle can help the mind escape from an old dingy office, a desk of papers and a call from Mom.
I knew weighing over 56 grams and being 127 millimeters tall sounds much better to some ears than weighing 2 ounces and being 5 inches tall.
I saw fixing a cappuccino machine is just the tip of an iceberg for a well-kept secret.
I watched even silence giving away an essential part of becoming whole again.
I found a postcard that transcends generations.
I discovered a daughter had the power to make you willing to hide who you really are.
Adam and Eve named their first three sons, hoping for a promise to come quickly. Cain means "I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD." Abel means "unsatisfactory, transit, vanity." Seth means, "Substitute." As his mother put it, "For God has appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." With that, I understood even now, if daughters are named "Faith," "Hope," and "Charity," the names do not change the reality of how things are. Children should always change who the parents are. That is the sign of a good parent.
I realize some secrets are so large that there is a need to be able to change appearance quickly.
I found out, no matter how much we change, the past is still our master.
I've been taught that what is on the inside can be a much bigger prison, then where we are on the outside.
I learned that a smart-alex reflex doesn't stop the pains of the past, but a signature does insure more pain in the future.
Who we are carries over into what becomes of us after death, but it doesn't hurt anymore.
Sometimes being two people in one body is literal.
There are still places where speed begets insight, insight begets wisdom, and wisdom begets the boldness to be you.
There have always been people boldly going against the grain, and howling loudly through the nights. (Later on, those same people will be considered depraved, but new howlers arise.)
Spitting out snuff is the passive aggressive version of spitting on people.
There is never enough jade – in color or substance – to make others or someone realize how important someone once was.
A day of family celebration, a perfectly clean house the same night, and a sleeping husband do not make enough reasons to stay.
Long hours at the office and black laced undies do a poor job of hiding who someone really is, even to herself.
Carefully continuing to place one foot before the other, always keeps us going, even after our reason to live is done.
Dwelling on a beautiful woman beats watching plans and dreams float to the moon.
Believing fairy tales do exist might be better then knowing they never have.
The rattle of chains and walking down a hall is not enough time to reflect on what happened, once more, "was it right?"
Never hang around "death's freeway."
"…like a complete unknown…" has a steep price.
"A dancing pattern of intricate beauty" could be a sign of an uncommon mind.
Watching others "stray off the path" is much easier then examining our own.
Constantly stroking a branded palm is better than tying a string around a finger.
Some women are like levees.
"Meager belongs" shows life has never been about "the most stuff."
It's not "just a song."
Things we cannot control, follow us.
How many faces can one hide behind before all the balls drop?
Even trained for such a moment, a face half blown off cannot be forgotten.
Smoking a cigarette can help to inhale a lot of feelings that might otherwise escape, but it's hard to remember when it became unsatisfying.
Wrapping herself in an Egyptian towel is great comfort, but it isn't the same as being wrapped in him.
A blank, quiet, dark mind bringing hidden tears in a shower anyway, is a life falling apart and too well controlled!
Meanwhile - here's my list for "Game 2 - The List." - http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977617823&nav=MyGather
The hardest assignment dying on you?! I think I heard your scream from here. (Tee wants to charge you for colorful words, but we have a loophole that fits in this case - "If cursing is because of pain...." lol)
If you use Word, when computer took the coffee break, sometimes Word saves what you had. If you never saved or named it, it still might be "doc1.doc."