Tag: writing mechanics

Creating Characters: Web of Deception

February 11, 2018

Creating Characters: Web of Deception

The first of my epic fantasy novels to be published, Web of Deception, has some of my favorite characters.  It took over seven years of development and several revisions to complete this work.  I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so I never thought it was really done!

I wasn’t writing for a specific audience at first.  (Perhaps it would be more accurate to say, at the time, I was writing for myself as a young adult fiction enthusiast.)  I chose a semi-autobiographical lead.  I imagined myself as Jordan.  Since I was fourteen years old when I started, he originally started out at fourteen.  There were also about 280 pages of exploits and adventures in Ja’hline!  Later, as I became more advanced in my writing profession, I realized that none of these “school stories” did anything to help advance the actual plot; it just gave an extended view at the culture of Swavaria and the emerging character of several players.  This did solidify the characters in my imagination.  I knew them because I had been slowly forming them.  As I hit “delete” on over 280 pages of material, I chose to see it as an exercise in character development  rather than a humongous loss and waste of time.  Today, any one of my series books and most of my novels have a separate file with in-depth biographies and feature traits of each character.  (Usually, even supporting characters like Darren from Brantley Station Saga and General Wrynn from Web of Deception have pages of biographical information on them!)

The character of Kalam was one of the easiest for me; when I started reading this story aloud to my younger brother, he loved it and wanted to be in it.  This led to the creation of Kalam, a younger character included in the group.  This younger character had expounded strengths and the quiet, reserved, thoughtful nature of my brother.  It was easy to develop him.

Several other characters had “base” humans – those I pictured with modified talents or enhanced abilities to keep reminding me of the core of my character.

Jordan was what I imagined myself to be should I be in a fantasy adventure.  His character was actually drawn from attributes I admired in various historical figures and fiction characters from favorite tales.  Jordan was a hodge-podge of strengths I wanted and weaknesses I felt inside me.  The turmoil he feels throughout the book is something any adolescent would likely feel to some degree – we all feel like we are fighting a raging battle between our inner good and evil wolves, don’t we?  (Which wolf do we choose to feed?)

Chloe was my first character that had no “base” human for me to draw from.  She was developed to be the bold opposite of Jordan.  Alike in many ways, but different in certain extremes, Chloe and Jordan complemented each other and fueled a growing fissure of uncertainty throughout the journey.

Sometimes, characters build themselves because of a vacuum created in my work: Corgi was pulled back from the scrap board and I needed a character to compliment him.  To fill this gap bloomed Seva Natalia.

Overall, the characters I create appear to come alive inside my imagination, spill into my dreams, and take on their own lives as I record their adventures on paper (or screen).  Often, the same or very similar characters pop up in various works!  This is because I tend to lean toward strong, noble, intelligent characters and  love tossing in my “bit parts” guys when I can.  (You know, like Gabby Haynes popping up in hundreds of westerns always playing the same sidekick?)  My grizzled, uncouth military leader, wizened salt-and-pepper crowned mentor, sassy bossy no-filter child, and a few others pop up under a variety of names and faces to keep my readers (my girls) yipping, “Mom!  He’s from your other book too!” when they find one of these bit part characters.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

 

Creating Characters: Ann, Mary, and Susan

The secret to staying young is by having someone base a character on you!

February 10, 2018

Creating Characters: Ann, Mary, and Susan

Just like in the creation of the characters in Five Alive: Stories of the Funny Sisters, the characters in the Ann, Mary, and Susan Mysteries are based on real-life people.

These stories were originally oral stories told for my little sisters.  Thus “Ann” and “Mary” are my baby sisters at the time of the series origin.  “Susan” is a compilation of several friends they had visiting our home.

Ann is the serious one.  Older than her sister, Mary, and her cousin, Susan, she is often the one who discovers the answer to their mystery.

Mary is the baby of the trio.  She is giggly, fun-loving, and mystery-seeking.  Anything at all that she can’t instantly see the answer to is “a new mystery!”

Susan loves following Mary around and joining her adventures whenever they are found no matter how small the mystery appears to be.

Developing these characters was another easy task as they are based on actual people.  The challenge when a writer has a continuing series yet the people they base their characters on grow faster than the series progresses is to keep the characters in their “time capsule.”  Sometimes I have to reread my books to refresh myself and “reenter” my characters.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

 

Creating Characters : Brantley Station Saga

February 8, 2018

Creating Characters: Brantley Station Saga

One of the last set of characters I created were for a youth adventure series called “Brantley Station Saga.”  This entire set was built off of one comment by my Dad.  He was helping develop a website when he observed, “all of your series stuff is for girls.  Have you ever thought of writing for boys?”

Thought about it?  (Yes!  Web of Deception, The Living God, many other single stories, and most of my “in progress” works are aimed primarily at boys in middle and high school levels.)  However, he was right about one thing.  Outside of my rooster in the Adventures of Long Tail, there isn’t a main male character in the Ann, Mary, and Susan Mysteries or in Five Alive: Stories of the Funny Sisters.  Even in my Melacotia Saga books, although Jeremy Scott is a primary character, the books were written for my sisters to read and Sarah is the primary character.   

From there, I dove into the adventure world I’d dreamed of writing.  I developed Brantley Station using my futuristic model from the Melacotia Saga.  I created a narration storyline following an underappreciated unclaimed youth, Ethan.  (I started him at 14, with The Protector.  This changed when Rebeccah wanted the “Pirate Baby Story” in full.)

This jumping backwards did give me an opportunity to illustrate the origin and development of Ethan’s character.  (In these two first books, the spotlight is shared by Jamie, a young submersible pilot.)  Ethan is a shy boy who aims to please.  His melancholy personality pushes him to perfection, which makes him a good worker, and enables him to be content to be invisible.  Ethan’s goal through his life is to keep unnoticed.

I imagined this child whose traumatic early childhood is scarred with death of his mother and the distance in grief of his father.  He had a close cousin who tried to fill this gap and cheer him up, but only a few months afterward, Ethan is kidnapped by pirates.  He becomes essentially a slave.  Because of several injuries while he was fighting with his captors and Ethan’s shoving his “dream-memories” of his earlier life away as a coping measure, Ethan doesn’t remember anything before the  pirates.  He manages to live through this for a long unknown amount of time – a few years – until he’s trying to hide from an abusive pirate in the captain’s docking sub.  This providential hiding place sends him to Brantley Station.  Here he ends up trying to fit in because he has a primal desire for the deep.  He is scared by wild stories of “topside” by the military police at the station.  Ethan finds himself taking up the lowest position and hiding from most people by keeping himself busy with work.  He works diligently and easily learns new tedious tasks; by nature he hates disorder so many of his tasks end up being cleaning jobs.

I imagined how his character and personality, originally Melancholy-Phlegmatic, could have changed with experiences and time.  Was he distanced from people by his mother’s death when he felt his father’s dealing with grief by retreating?  How did he keep his people-pleasing, obedient, truthful, positive character amid the abuses of being held captive?  How does being forced to live in the guard barracks affect him?  Ethan chooses to stay honorable because of voices he hears from his past – he calls them “dream-memories.” I gave Ethan an inner strength that helps keep him grounded.

I created a memory that would connect him with his past – using a book read nightly by his older cousin from which Ethan recites passages and a song Ethan’s mother used to sing which the boys created their own new words for.

In creating Ethan, I wanted to craft a believable, dynamic character.  Each of the secondary characters like Bria Addison, Corey Skitter, Makayla Ervin, Chef Brummen, and Victor Potter are also carefully designed to be as realistic as possible.  You can read about these members of Brantley Station in the young adult series, Brantley Station Saga.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

 

Character Creation: The Funny Sisters

February 7, 2018

Creating Characters: The Funny Sisters

One thing I love about reading is meeting amazing characters!   I’ll be feeling the same betrayal and hopelessness that twists into revenge alongside David Balfour as he watches his uncle get smaller as his prison of a ship carries him into unknown waters. (Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped)  I’m puzzling out the mystery with Nancy Drew in dozens of fun chapter books – and I scream at Bess, “Don’t open that door!” but she doesn’t listen.  When the rough man beats and drags Buck into the cold shack, I’m crying and praying for his release. (Jack Loudon’s Call of the Wild) Vivid characters make a story real to me.

I’m one of those crazy readers who actually talks to her book people.  I think about them as real people even though I know they are fictional – and when I find (or raise!) another crazy reader, we can discuss these characters as if they were real people for hours!   (This makes for interesting conversation: I’ve been part of discussions about characters’ psychology and conjecture regarding how they would handle said modern situation.)

Because of my reading quirks, when I write, I want to create believable characters.  (And I’m a nut for continuity, so I was very irritated when my first publisher cut my ending ceremony and didn’t add my 13 error-correction edit!)  But that’s a story for another time.

My first step is to figure out who I’m writing for.  For example: “The Funny Sisters” Series.

The Funny Sisters Series began as a few fun stories for my daughters.  They wanted stories about sisters like them.  Each character reflects the distinctive traits of each girl at the time the series was started.

Tina is an avid reader who likes to try to lead her younger sisters.  She sometimes gets irritated, but usually laughs it off.  She ends up in all kinds of odd situations caused by her younger siblings.  Tina is bouncy, fun, and at the age where she is trying to be grown up but also loves to do goofy stuff with her sisters.

Becky, another character, doesn’t like to get up in the mornings.  She gets cold easily, laughs a lot, likes to tell jokes and make puns, loves animals, and makes up cool pretend games.  Becky gets mad at people sometimes.  She is a perfectionist and likes things to run smoothly.  Becky and Ellen have a special understanding because they are so alike.

Kim is rambunctious.  She almost never walks or seldom does anything slowly.  She runs.  She jumps.  She cartwheels.  She slides into the oven and pulls on the handle so it falls on top of her.  Kim has a boisterous personality.  Kim almost never gets mad at anyone.  Kim is friendly.  She laughs loud and lives life boldly.

Ellen’s quiet personality hides her inner dragon.  She is always thinking, always contemplating her next move, always observing everything around her.  She usually knows where everyone else is and what they are doing.   She carries a blankie. (This just had to be since Jaquline wouldn’t have the stories without her blankie-that-went-everywhere.)  Ellen is determined, thoughtful, and factual.  She says what she sees.

Jill is the baby of the family.  She’s a typical two-year-old who loves fun, dancing, running, and keeping her sisters and parents guessing as to her next demolition target.  Of course, she doesn’t mean to decimate things, she just sometimes does.  Jill would rather not wear clothes.  She loves to sing!

These characters interact together to create funny family situations.  Most are copied from real life.  (Some events in the books are exaggerated while some are toned-down!)  Once these books became a “for sale” series, each character was tweaked just a touch to make sure they could entertain various age groups.  They are made to be read-aloud like bedtime stories.  The inclusion of the spread of ages gives the Reader an ability to say, “she’s just about your age!”  The thread of clean humor is woven through to make these books fun for the Reader as well as the bedtime audience.

This is the simplest example of my character creation.  Each of my books or series has its own backstory: some were created to reach a specific audience and characters created to meet that need (Brantley Station Saga) while others were created around a character I liked (the Adventures of Long Tail) or a story I created characters around (Web of Deception).

I’ll write about the different character creation method I use at a later time!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

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