How I Write – Part 5 The Character Focus

When I write and a character introduces themself to me I only get the briefest of outlines and glimpses into their character and personality. Over time I discover more and more about them as they show me just who they are. Their backgrounds, beliefs and motivations come into view as I go.

Many writers will say that you need to outline the whole story and draw up brief bios about your characters and a whole lot of other extra work. That certainly doesn’t sound like a lot of fun now does it?

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How I write, Myranda's Story, Writing projects and updates

How I Write – Part 4 Physicality of Writing

So, I ran out of notebook the other day and had to take a day’s hiatus from the writing of Myranda’s Story. I was so desperate for space that I even wrote on the little bit of paper left from a torn out page.

Well now I’ve picked up some notebooks. A nice A5 sized lined paper one this time round. That should keep me on track for some time. It’s got 150 pages so that’s 300 pages written. See if you’re not a writer you might not appreciate how splendid it is to find a notebook.

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How I write, Myranda's Story, The Site, Writing projects and updates

How I Write – Part 3

Remember earlier when I said the story is like I put a DVD in and can zip around it? Well when I’m writing I often use this ‘feature’ of my brain so I know what to write next. Sometimes it even surprises me because I didn’t see something coming and sometimes I don’t even know my own characters.

Characters are terribly difficult creatures to work with. One might think ‘well he’s making them up so they do what he says..’ To a point that’s true. But sometimes you hae one of these characters that just doesn’t follow the rules, doesn’t pay attention to what you want and is just downright beligerent.

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How I write, Myranda's Story, Writing projects and updates