It's been so many years since I put the first chapters on paper, I don't even remember the last name I used, but the first name was Shawn...and that was my first mistake. The story opens in the late 1950's, and the name Shawn would not have been a typical name, particularly for a family of limited means.
Yet, Shawn was a name I liked and until someone pointed out how unlikely it was that she would be named that, I didn't even realize I'd made a mistake. At first I was defensive, as many writers are about their babies. The fact that I'd written published magazine articles didn't count, because in those cases I dealt with fact. This was fiction, and my protagonist could have any name I chose to give her. I liked Shawn, and hung on to it with a vengeance until I realized I had to let go and pick one that was more appropriate.
So the quest for a name began. Through the years she has had many: Katherine, Marie, Susan, Sandra, and more. It would change every few years along with the title and names of many of the other characters. Finally, last year I hit upon Jeanette, Jen or Jenny for short, and it stuck. The name was right.
One of the other problems with the original Shawn, Marie, Katherine, or...pick whichever one you want...was that her voice was not right for a girl of sixteen. And it stayed the same throughout the book even though the story spanned many years...years that saw her mature from a scared, abused teen to a confident young mother. Again, I didn't even realize that I'd given her the wrong voice, until I joined a writers group. One of the early questions during a reading for critique was: "How old is she supposed to be?" When I said, "Sixteen," the whole group agreed that she didn't sound anything like a sixteen year old.
This is where you have to put yourself in your character's head and take on their characteristics. Depending upon the story, once you are your character, it can become a very emotional experience in a book that is filled with triumphs and tragedies.
More about Jen tomorrow.
ARLISS ADAMS
Showing posts with label characters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label characters. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
OKAY, BACK TO WRITING THE TWO BOOKS
Sometimes when I think about how long it took to write A DREAM LOST and THE DEVIL'S DUE, I can't believe that much time has passed. During those years I've learned so much, and had so many new experiences, that I'm simply not the same person who began these two books by typing out thoughts on a word processor.
I say fourteen years, but it's actually been longer. I got my first computer around 1994 or 95. My preliminary notes were on a dinosaur called a word processor. For those of you who don't know what that it, it was basically a typewriter that had a little bit of memory. When you selected print, the keys would bang out the document automatically, like machine gun fire. I swear the next door neighbors probably thought there was murder and mayhem going on right under their noses. Well, yes, there was mayhem, but it was all on paper.
I was delighted that this Smith-Corona word processor had a little 3 1/2 inch disk that could actually store some of what I'd written. Anyway, back in those days, it was possible to save in a format that later could be read by a computer. That's how I know it was more than fourteen years, because I transferred the information on those disks to my computer when I got one. Without that, I never would have been able to rescue the original manscript after I'd put it down for two years, discouraged that it wasn't going the way I thought it would. Once it was on a computer, I was enthused again. Oh, I guess I could have retyped everything from the printed pages, but would I? It was so easy to put the disk in the computer and have it all done for me..
I was a workaholic back then, (as if I'm not now) and I'd sit down to write this "great American novel" after working fourteen or fifteen hours at my "real job". I'd tap away into the wee hours of the morning. The next day I'd read what I'd written, thinking it was brilliant. Oh yes, when I was done, the publishers would be bidding against each other to get their hands on this heart-wrenching novel. Except, they weren't. Why? Well, I gave you the answer before. I simply didn't know how to write fiction. The story premise was good...the author sucked. Better stick to magazine articles.
Still, I always say there is a benefit in most things. Sure, I'd written published magazine articles, but I definitely knew nothing about writing fiction. The work was professional in its presentation, but filled with information dumps and devices that work in articles, but have no place in fiction. It was not one of those books that grab you by the throat and won't let go until you've read all night, because you just had to find out what happened.
So what was the benefit? I got those thoughts out of my mind--down on paper. They became something tangible...something that I could tweak, cut, expand, edit and use as a training ground over many years. If I had never made that first step, it would still be in my mind. If I hadn't made that first step, I never would have studied my craft until I learned how to find the voice for my characters, learned to do a "machete edit", and make people care what happened.
It doesn't come overnight. But it can come. That's where I leave off tonight. Not exactly a cliffhanger, but there is so much more to tell...so much more to talk about...that every time I post I also have to decide when to stop.
Arliss
I say fourteen years, but it's actually been longer. I got my first computer around 1994 or 95. My preliminary notes were on a dinosaur called a word processor. For those of you who don't know what that it, it was basically a typewriter that had a little bit of memory. When you selected print, the keys would bang out the document automatically, like machine gun fire. I swear the next door neighbors probably thought there was murder and mayhem going on right under their noses. Well, yes, there was mayhem, but it was all on paper.
I was delighted that this Smith-Corona word processor had a little 3 1/2 inch disk that could actually store some of what I'd written. Anyway, back in those days, it was possible to save in a format that later could be read by a computer. That's how I know it was more than fourteen years, because I transferred the information on those disks to my computer when I got one. Without that, I never would have been able to rescue the original manscript after I'd put it down for two years, discouraged that it wasn't going the way I thought it would. Once it was on a computer, I was enthused again. Oh, I guess I could have retyped everything from the printed pages, but would I? It was so easy to put the disk in the computer and have it all done for me..
I was a workaholic back then, (as if I'm not now) and I'd sit down to write this "great American novel" after working fourteen or fifteen hours at my "real job". I'd tap away into the wee hours of the morning. The next day I'd read what I'd written, thinking it was brilliant. Oh yes, when I was done, the publishers would be bidding against each other to get their hands on this heart-wrenching novel. Except, they weren't. Why? Well, I gave you the answer before. I simply didn't know how to write fiction. The story premise was good...the author sucked. Better stick to magazine articles.
Still, I always say there is a benefit in most things. Sure, I'd written published magazine articles, but I definitely knew nothing about writing fiction. The work was professional in its presentation, but filled with information dumps and devices that work in articles, but have no place in fiction. It was not one of those books that grab you by the throat and won't let go until you've read all night, because you just had to find out what happened.
So what was the benefit? I got those thoughts out of my mind--down on paper. They became something tangible...something that I could tweak, cut, expand, edit and use as a training ground over many years. If I had never made that first step, it would still be in my mind. If I hadn't made that first step, I never would have studied my craft until I learned how to find the voice for my characters, learned to do a "machete edit", and make people care what happened.
It doesn't come overnight. But it can come. That's where I leave off tonight. Not exactly a cliffhanger, but there is so much more to tell...so much more to talk about...that every time I post I also have to decide when to stop.
Arliss
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