Okay, I am going to preface this with I Swear I am a writer.
I end up on weird rabbit hole Google searches. I feel sorry for whoever ends up having to sort out my search history. I search for things like who voiced certain characters in various anime or cartoons… like most people do. Then there’s the random fact search for stories I am currently working on…or the strange things that spark my imagination.
The last one was how to turn humans into soap. The worst part is that I already knew how… because I learned years ago how ashes, fat, and water in the right ratio created soap. I never thought about humans being a good source of fat before though.
I did not manage to go to college but I have taken so many free community courses or the occasional weird class offered by places that would be considered anything but educational. I have also taught myself things via the Internet and sheer determination to know it.
So my thoughts? Unless you are literally looking up illegal activity… do not be ashamed of research searches. You might be surprised by what you find.
(In 1780, the former Holy Innocents’ Cemetery in Paris was closed because of overuse. In 1786, the bodies were exhumed and the bones were moved to the Catacombs.[6] Many bodies had incompletely decomposed and had reduced into deposits of fat. During the exhumation, this fat was collected and subsequently turned into candles and soap.
In 1787, the French inspector of manufactures Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière reportedly proposed a scheme to the Academy of Lyons for utilizing the bodies of the dead by converting the fat into lamp-oil and the bones into phosphoric acid. <according to Wikipedia>)
Guess Serena has a new story idea. 😹
well you now know what rabbit hole I have been crawling in this week….
Yeah she’s my favorite Batman villain. But is she really a villain? or more of an anti-hero?
It really depends much on point of view. The problem is always POV.
For Harley. She is the Main character.
For Bruce Wayne, He is.
And realistically the same is true in any story. If you pick up a book and look at it from another character’s view…that character is not going to see themselves as a secondary character. Would you? If say you were in the DC Universe and hanging around the Daily Planet…would you see yourself as a extra in the story? No! So, from your POV you are the main character.
Harley would not see herself as a villain…
She is crazy, but not entirely without a idea of right and wrong. I believe she would see herself more as an antihero or as someone with a really nasty case of bad luck.
Which opens up so many options for the character in storylines.
I think sometimes just understanding the POV helps us to understand and perhaps flesh out the characters we write better. I think it also helps us empathize better with fictional characters on a different level as well.
I have been planning on doing some of my blog posts ahead from here on, as it worked out so well in April. Well… I am not sure where I should go. April is National Poetry Month so that is easier for me. But I am at a semi loss after that. I think that the imtern is ready to take over the Fae Corps Publishing blog… so I only have my own personal blog to attend to. Next weekend is the time I am going to be trying to get it scheduled for the month of May. That sounds like time to research what May is known for…any suggestions? I don’t know if I am going to be doing a daily thing…. that is quite an undertaking. Especially with the publication schedule I have lined up for Fae Corps Publishing.
Every writer will tell you that writing is not the easiest thing to do. The characters will refuse to be written if you have any thing off, such as the title or maybe the idea of who are writing. Serena has been struggling with the second book in her zombie series. She was trying to keep the name similar to the first one. The first book – Rust, Gore, and the Junkyard Zombie – was named appropriately. It worked for the book. She was also struggling with the cover. Nothing I was designing fit what she was wanting.
Through experiments and discussion I believe that we have found the right title and series title. (I will have to adjust RGatJZ later to add the subtitle).
Book 2 will be The Art of Zombie.
The series Title is going to be the World Gone Wrong.
She is back to work…writing more undeath. I have a cover design that she is happy with. (reveal will be closer to the release date)
So I think that there are a dozen “character development” sheets available on the web. As writers we all have them. We all look for new ways to put the characters together and not end up with crap.
The best way I know of is to decide what your story is about. The core of it. Then you “interview ” your character. Ask questions based upon the plot. You should already know the basic stuff. You need to ask about why they are in your story. What is their role? What does the story mean to them? How does the course of the story affect them? While yes you can look into the character, learning about their favorite music, books, and such… Unless you know the reason why they are in your story it will be fluff and not help you write.
You should understand how they are interacting within the story. With other characters, with the environment, and then with themselves. Is the character self-destructive? Why? You should always know the why of any behavior you give the character. The basic psychology behind their behavior.
Now that sounds scary… I know. Still cause and effect gives you a lot of details. And while the reader may not always see what caused the character to behave like they are, you should.
So I will give you an example. In Serena’s Rust, Gore, and the Junkyard Zombie… Chris is the sort to try to do everything by himself, and tries to be seen as an upstanding citizen. Now we do learn why in the story if we pay attention. His father was the town drunk and his mother raised him and his sisters by herself. Chris grew up basically as the man of his house and bullied by townsfolk because of his father. People who have that background can show it in multiple ways. Chris showed that he could be better than his father, but did not trust others to help him.
So what is the why for your character? And how does it fit in your story?
I think that I am in a chatty mood. Tea parties are for chatting, right? Today I want to talk hobbies. What are some of yours, and do you think that a person can have too many? I honestly pick up a new one each year. I have writing, which is no longer a hobby but more of an occupation now. I have drawing and digital art. I have painting, both acrylic and recently obtained water colors. (I am still not certain how I feel about water colors). I have jewelry design and crafting. (I make some really adorable earrings.) I have resin crafting. I crochet, though badly. I am about to add bath bomb making as well. (It was my daughter’s birthday request. She wants to have a craft we can do together and she is interested in bath bombs.) Of course I have reading, but I really don’t see that as a hobby. I have gaming, both video games and tabletop. I run a biweekly game in D20 style. I have been running games since third edition D&D came out. Currently I run a mish mash of pathfinder and 3.5. I looked into fourth edition and yeah… It’s not for me. I have been looking at fifth. I’m not really impressed. I would love to hear your opinion.
I have been considering adding soap and candlemaking to my activities. I think it would be fun. I took a class 20 years ago in candlemaking. The teacher made it over complex. I remember that I enjoyed it though. I think that the new melt and pour soap bases and the inexpensive soy wax options make both activities easier for me to access. Now I just need to convince my boyfriend that I don’t have too many hobbies… Hmm he may be right though. What is your opinion? Is it possible to do too many crafts? I really want you to tell me about your hobbies, where is your passions?
Ever wonder what makes you unique? Is it your environment, your choices? The combined experience? Here lately I’ve been questioning whether I was as unique as I used to think. In high school it was my thing… I was unique and no one could tell me different. Well high school was nearly 30 years ago. In that time I have been taught lessons from life that made the lines blur.
I have met others who have similar stories to mine. Often ones who I see as stronger than I am. I often see myself as weak. Survival doesn’t mean that you are strong, at least not always. Some times survival is just doing what you have always done.
Yeah, my thoughts are fragments. But it still is a legitimate question, what makes you unique? What about you is different than the next guy?
Oh btw this is research on character development for me… So please do give me your thoughts.
So last week we talked about the basic knowledge that we need for each character. This week… I only have one question… What makes the character unique? This is both the hardest and simplest question that you will answer. Everything else is details and may never be used.
This touches on your original story idea. Why did you choose the character to start with? Where does this character fit in that idea? Knowing this allows you to focus on why the character is unique. You need to know why each of your characters are unique. If you read a story and it has cardboard cutout characters you will be less likely to enjoy the read! So to write characters that the reader will want to read, you need to find their uniqueness.
So what is their reason in your story? This can be something as simple as supporting or slowing the main character or they are the main character. You don’t have to be complicated in how you design the characters.
Once you have this information you are more ready to dive in. And mind you that not all characters need more information than just this. Some minor players just need a purpose.
Next time I will be covering hero/heroine deeper in depth. Hopefully by the time I am done you will be able to write characters that you would want to read.
Language — Does your world have different languages? How did they evolve? Does each race have a different language or is it regional? Is there laws that are broken by speaking the wrong language?
Origin Tales — How did the world came to be? Is there a myths about the world’s origin that is disputed between societies? Is it seen as a religion?
Jobs/professions — What kind do people have? Do men and women divide work, share it? What kind of training do your characters receive, if any? How are they trained and by whom?
Gender roles – What are people’s attitudes about gender roles? And does it differ between species? How?
Clothing/Costumes — How do people dress? What do your characters wear and why? Where does fabric come from? Who makes it?
Weather — Does your place have four seasons? How is this expressed and does it affect your story?
Food — How it’s planted/harvested/hunted/gathered? What do people eat and when? How it’s cooked? Who cooks? What’s poisonous? And does it differ from species to species?
Animals – Are there any special or magical animals in your world? Are there any who are unique to your world? Any race hold an animal sacred? Is there animal sacrifice in your world?
Politics/Power – Who is in power and why? How is power transferred to the next generation? What people do or don’t do to get close to powerful people?
I really hope that this series has been helpful. Please feel free to comment your answers and discuss your world with me.
Today the world building topics are Religion and Time. These are both the most important and the least important for any world.
This world has multiple religions. Each religion has a different view of the divine. Religions shape morals and virtues, and how the inhabitants view themselves. Morals are a strange thing. People aren’t born with an innate knowledge of what to do inlife, or how to act. It only makes sense, then, that people would turn to religion as a guide for how they should behave. That’s easy enough to see with the world we live in. Nearly everybody learns the golden rule growing up. Nearly every religion has this same rule, in some form or another. When you get further into the details of differing religions, you see that each has its own set of morals and what it feels is “right.” This can range from Evangelicals who feel that same-sex love is a sin because of an archaic passage from the old testament to vegetarianism as a way to avoid hurting other living creatures,commonly found among Hindus. So, what does this mean?
Well, this means that when you’re crafting a religion, one of the things to think about is what morals you want in your world. What do you want the gods to stand for? Do you want to have a full pantheon to cover all of the aspects that one can find in the divine? Are there different gods for each race? Different taboos are often religion-centric as well. These taboos can have minor consequences on your world-building in some ways. For example, maybe you just want to make things more interesting by adding details such as characters who avoid certain kinds of metals or stones because they’re strictly forbidden in their religious texts. These taboos can also have major consequences on your story. For example, even in the modern day and age there are a lot of prejudices against albinism in some African countries. You can imagine the consequences for such a character.
When crafting a religion, it only makes sense to think about the cultural impact said religion will have. Holidays, prayer, rituals, religious pilgrimages, the way that people keep track of time (as in our AD system), taboos, fasting, celibacy, religious bathing/cleansing… These are just a few practices that exist within different religions. Many are so ingrained in our culture that people don’t even think of them as “religious” any more. Also remember that the same religion can have many different interpretations, leading to different branches and sects. They can be quite different, and they may not get along that well. This is another thing that is often forgotten. Throughout history there have been many different types of religions. Some have a single god. Some have an entire pantheon. Some see gods as people. Some see gods as animals. Some gods are both people and animals, depending on the story that’s being told. Some religions see gods as having no form. Some religions teach that god is the universe. Some say that there are no gods, but there is power in everything.
Is your main
religion science or a lack of religion? Why is this so? Religion is sometimes a
bit of background knowledge. It may never come into your story, or it might be
the focus. Still it is something you should know.
Time
Look at your calendar, Is the way your world laid out similar to ours? Our world is on a 24-hour day. We have a 7-day week and a usually 30-31-day month. There are worlds with 20-hour days, or 48-hour days. There are worlds with tenday weeks. Time controls everything we do. Often the time is controlled by sun and moon rotation, but you could have a world that had a magical accident. Your world has flexibility. Though this information can help your story to form.
Pattimouse 