I didn’t write on Sunday — it’s really the first day I’ve had off since before WFC. Though to be honest, the main reason I didn’t write was because I didn’t feel physically well enough. This morning, Monday, I woke up with a migraine (I suspected that was where the day-long headache from Sunday was going, but as it wasn’t a migraine when I went to bed, I didn’t take anything for it until I woke up.) Which left me groggy for most of the day. Still, I managed to write 8 1/2 pages this evening, so maybe about 1200 words, which I think is good for a day that I felt mostly crappy.
During one of our many meals together during WFC, the very astute David B. Coe asked me about which character I loved the most in the novel. I realized, to my horror, that I loved one of the two main characters *much* more than the other. The reason why it was so obvious? The amount of torture and anguish I was heaping on this character. The character that I didn’t care for as much had their own share of anguish and torture, but not as much. And it wasn’t as personal.
I’ve thought a lot about what I need to do in order for me to like this character more. Writing this character as I have been is but isn’t working — I notice that I keep slipping out of their POV, having to add it in later. There are scenes that I enjoy writing with this character. I don’t have to put in more of these scenes. Instead, I need to change the other scenes so that I’ll enjoy them more.
One of the other things I’ve come to realize: I wouldn’t have understood this as a problem if I’d done an outline, if I hadn’t been exploring with this character as much as anything else. Plus, now that I realize it’s a problem, I’m thinking about what I need to do to correct it, actually implementing some changes. If I’d outlined the novel, in my usual style, I wouldn’t have been as willing as I am now to make the necessary changes. With the old novel, the one that I’m no longer on speaking terms with, this was one of the huge problems I had with the main character. She was lying to herself about what she was doing, which made it very difficult for me to write her, particularly given what I was going through at the time. She was so immature emotionally I found myself not liking her at all.
Things that I’m thinking about changing so that I do continue to like this character:
Make the character older mentally. The character doesn’t have to be older physically, just mentally.
Make the character smarter.
Make the character cynical. (This is partially being driven by the plot — I actually think it’ll work out better if this character has a lot more cynicism.)
Plus I’m thinking about relationships, how I need to change them and develop them for me to like this one character more.
One other thing — this was a really good focusing exercise for me. This novel was started with the prompt, “Write about someone who goes to an extreme.” And that’s really what happens to all the characters — they go to extremes. This is *not* a coming of age story. And somehow I’d lost track of that a little with the one character. This character is going to an extreme. I just need to get this character there.
Funny thing. I’ve been going through a similar issue with one of my two POV characters in the new novel. I’ve vowed to plunge on and fix later, but this posting was an eye opener.
I don’t use outlines. Can’t. The more I know about what’s ahead, the less my characters cooperate. Silly, or what?
I actually can’t fix later — I have to change the character now, so that this character will be easier to write. So much of this novel *flows* — and when it doesn’t, it’s my first clue that I really need fix something. I’ve always worked this way, but now I’m super sensative to it.
It isn’t silly to not use an outline — many, many writers don’t. I’m certainly discovering the joys of working without an outline. But also the pitfalls. Justine Larbalestier has a recent post about using a spreadsheet for tracking things. I just made one this morning — I think it’s going to help me a lot in terms of keeping track of things like names (as I’m making them up as I go alone) and places and dates. . . I am emphatically *not* using it as a planning tool. I won’t fill out a chapter entry until after I write the chapter. But using it as a tracking tool makes a lot of sense to me.
Funny thing. I’ve been going through a similar issue with one of my two POV characters in the new novel. I’ve vowed to plunge on and fix later, but this posting was an eye opener.
I don’t use outlines. Can’t. The more I know about what’s ahead, the less my characters cooperate. Silly, or what?
I actually can’t fix later — I have to change the character now, so that this character will be easier to write. So much of this novel *flows* — and when it doesn’t, it’s my first clue that I really need fix something. I’ve always worked this way, but now I’m super sensative to it.
It isn’t silly to not use an outline — many, many writers don’t. I’m certainly discovering the joys of working without an outline. But also the pitfalls. Justine Larbalestier has a recent post about using a spreadsheet for tracking things. I just made one this morning — I think it’s going to help me a lot in terms of keeping track of things like names (as I’m making them up as I go alone) and places and dates. . . I am emphatically *not* using it as a planning tool. I won’t fill out a chapter entry until after I write the chapter. But using it as a tracking tool makes a lot of sense to me.