Once Upon A Time

I know that our Beginnings month was a while back -- and probably you got enough of it then -- but I was just listening to Writing Excuses (http://www.writingexcuses.com/) with Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, and Howard Johnson talking about beginnings, and it set me off. So, if you're having a bit of Writer's Block, or you're just in the mood for some Free Writing, take off from any or all of these beginnings (remember that you can change gender, POV, and names)

• It all started with me in my coffin.
• It would have been the perfect day had it not been for the lions.
• "What do you think you're doing?"
• The police never seem to think it's as funny as you do.
• Even as a little girl, I'd thought the swamp was a magical place....
• I've heard it said that girl's can't keep secrets.
• The house stood on a slight rise just on the edge of the village.
• I'd never seen Death look so nervous.
• It is a sad and shocking fact of my young life that my parents named me Mary Elizabeth Cep by mistake.
• Wind howled through the night, carrying a scent that would change the world.
• It was bright and sunny the day I died.

I think Brandon Sanderson brought up a good point during the 'cast, that the first line is very important, but the first line doesn't have to be the first line you WROTE in the book. Don't stress about it when you start writing. Sometimes it will just come to you.

By the way, the 'cast I'm talking about is March 2, 2008 on http://www.writingexcuses.com/. Enjoy Writing Excuses -- they're only 15 mintes long ("Because you're in a hurry, and we're not that smart.")

Why are you reading this? Write! Write!! Schnell, schnell!! (Random break into German just for Bai ^_^)

THE SOCIETY OF LITERACY AND BANANAS ASSOCIATION

Character Questions

I'd really like it if you guys would answer these questions specifically -- partly because I spent a good twenty minutes formatting them and editing them, and party because I think they are excellent questions and would be good discussion (I mean answer them for your pass-along story character).

By the way, mundane = non-magical.

Mandatory Questions

1. What about you is heroic?
2. What about you is social? What do you like about people?
3. Of what benefit could you be to the current group?
4. Why would you choose to join the current group?
5. Invent an adventure/plot that your character would actively undertake (as opposed to just tagging along)?


Personal Questions

1. What is your real, birth name? What name do you use?
2. Do you have a nickname? What is it, and where did you get it?
3. What do you look like? (Include height, weight, hair, eyes, skin, apparent age, and distinguishing features)
4. How do you dress most of the time?
5. How do you "dress up?"
6. How do you "dress down?"
7. What do you wear when you go to sleep?
8. Do you wear any jewelry?
9. In your opinion, what is your best feature?
10. What's your real birth date?
11. Where do you live? Describe it: Is it messy, neat, avant-garde, sparse, etc.?
12. Do you own a car? Describe it.
13. What is your most prized mundane possession? Why do you value it so much?
14. What one word best describes you?


Familial Questions

1. What was your family like?
2. Who was your father, and what was he like?
3. Who was your mother, and what was she like?
4. What was your parents marriage like? Were they married? Did they remain married?
5. What were your siblings names? What were they like?
6. What's the worst thing one of your siblings ever did to you? What's the worst thing you've done to one of your siblings?
7. When's the last time you saw any member of your family? Where are they now?
8. Did you ever meet any other family members? Who were they? What did you think of them?


Childhood Questions

1. What is your first memory?
2. What was your favorite toy?
3. What was your favorite game?
4. Any non-family member adults stick out in your mind? Who were they, and how did you know them? Why do they stick out?
5. Who was your best friend when you were growing up?
6. What is your fondest childhood memory?
7. What is your worst childhood memory?


Adolescent Questions

1. How old were you when you went on your first date?
2. It is common for one's view of authority to develop in their adolescent years. What is your view of authority, and what event most affected it?
3. What were you like in high school? What "clique" did you best fit in with?
4. What were your high school goals?
5. Who was your idol when you were growing up? Who did you first fantasize about in your life?
6. What is your favorite memory from adolescence?
7. What is your worst memory from adolescence?


Occupational Questions

1. Do you have a job? What is it? Do you like it? If no job, where does your money come from?
2. What is your boss or employer like? (Or publisher, or agent, or whatever.)
3. What are your co-workers like? Do you get along with them? Any in particular? Which ones don't you get along with?
4. What is something you had to learn that you hated?
5. Do you tend to save or spend your money? Why?


Likes & Dislikes Questions

1. What hobbies do you have?
2. Who is your closest mundane friend? Describe them and how you relate to them.
3. Who is your worst mundane enemy? Describe them and why you don't get along.
4. What bands do you like? Do you even pay attention?
5. What tape or CD hasn't left your player since your purchased it? Why?
6. What song is "your song?" Why?
7. What's been your favorite movie of all time?
8. Read any good books? What were they?
9. What do you watch on the Television?
10. When it comes to mundane politics, do you care? If so, which way do you tend to vote? If not, why don't you care?
11. What type of places do you hang out in with your mundane friends?
12. What type of places do you hang out in with your normal friends?
13. What annoys you more than anything else?
14. What would be the perfect gift for you?
15. What's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?
16. What time of day is your favorite?
17. What kind of weather is your favorite?
18. What is your favorite food? What is your least favorite food?
19. What is your favorite drink? (Coffee, Coke, Juice, Beer, Wine, etc.)
20. What's your favorite animal? Why?
21. Do you have any pets? Do you want any pets? What kind?
22. What do you find most relaxing? (Not as in stress relief, but as something that actually calms you down.)
23. What habit that others have annoys you most?
24. What kind of things embarrass you? Why?
25. What don't you like about yourself?
26. How would you like to look?


Intimacy Questions

1. Are you currently in a romantic relationship? What is their name, and what is your relationship like? What are they like? Why are you attracted to them?
2. What is the perfect romantic date?
3. Describe the perfect romantic partner for you.
4. Do you ever want to get married and have children? When do you see this happening?
5. What was your most recent relationship like? Who was it with?
6. What's the worst thing you've done to someone you loved?


Drug & Alcohol Questions
(feel free to skip these)

1. How old were you when you first got drunk? What was the experience like? Did anything good come out of it? Did anything bad come out of it?
2. Do you drink on any kind of regular basis?
3. What kind of alcohol do you prefer?
4. Have you ever tried any other kind of "mood altering" substance? Which one(s)? What did you think of each?
5. What do you think of drugs and alcohol? Are there any people should not do? Why or why not?


Morality Questions

1. What one act in your past are you most ashamed of? What one act in your past are you most proud of?
2. Have you ever been in an argument before? Over what, with who, and who won?
3. Have you ever been in a physical fight before? Over what, with who, and who won?
4. What do you feel most strongly about?
5. What do you pretend to feel strongly about, just to impress people?
6. What trait do you find most admirable, and how often do you find it?
7. Is there anything you think should not be incorporated into the media or art (sex, violence, greed, etc.,)? If so, what and why, and if not, why not?
8. What is your religious view of things? What religion, if any, do you call your own?
9. Do you think the future is hopeful? Why?
10. Is an ounce of prevention really worth a pound of cure? Which is more valuable? Why do you feel this way?
12. What's the worst thing that can be done to another person? Why?
13. What's the worst thing you could actually do to someone you hated?
14. Are you a better leader or follower? Why do you think that? If you think the whole leader-follower archetype is a bunch of crap, say so, and explain why?
15. What is your responsibility to the world, if any? Why do you think that?
16. Do you think redemption is possible? If so, can anyone be redeemed, or are there only certain circumstances that can be? If not, why do you think nothing can redeem itself?
17. Is it okay for you to cry? When was the last time you cried?
18. What do you think is wrong with MOST people, overall?


Miscellaneous Questions

1. What is the thing that has frightened you most? Do you think there is anything out there that's scarier than that? What do you think that would be?
2. Has anyone or anything you've ever cared about died? How did you feel about it? What happened?
3. What was the worst injury you've ever received? How did it happen?
4. How ticklish are you? Where are you ticklish?
5. What is your current long term goal?
6. What is your current short term goal?
7. Do you have any bad habits? If so, what are they, and do you plan to get rid of them?
8. If you were a mundane person, what would you do with your life? What occupation would you want, and how would you spend all your time?
9. What time period do you wish you had lived in? Why? (Looking at this as an attempt to change history doesn't count.) What appeals to you about this era?
10. How private of a person are you? Why?
11. If you were to gain an obscenely large sum of money (via an inhertiance, a lawsuit, a lottery, or anything else) what would you do with it?
12. What would you wish for if you found a djinni?
13. What do you do when you are bored?


I found these on http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474976908598, but, like I say, I was forced to edit them (rather heavily -- they were not originally very appropriate), so you may not want to go check out the original.

~The Society of Literacy and Bananas Association~

Character Activities

Here are a bunch of really random character activities. Have fun!


List ten things your character believes with all his heart and soul.

List five ways that your character is ordinary (for his world).
List five ways that your character is unordinary.

Go to your refrigerator and write down 10 random or odd items in there. Write the introductory paragraphs of a character who only has those items in his or her refrigerator. (Alternatively, go to the grocery store and go hog weird wild to choose 10 items.)

Write a list of emotions – then, every day, for fifteen minutes, free write about what your character thinks about that emotion, what experiences your character has had feeling that emotion or being around people with that emotion. (You can find lists of emotions online – try wiki).

Write 100 sentences (or more) about your character. Just write, without stopping. These sentences should be fairly short, and should not relate to each other. Just write, without stopping, about your character.

Listen to music with your character in mind. What does he think of the song? Why is he listening to it? What does it make him think about? Free write (in 3rd or 1st person – or, heck, 2nd if you’re feeling… um… strange?). Try music that you don’t particularly like as well as music you love – maybe your hero has different taste!

Choose something you do not like, that your character DOES, and write about it from your character’s point of view. Do the same thing about something that you like that your character DOESN’T.

Your character has to wait for a dentist appointment. How does he respond? How does he respond to waiting in line at an amusement park? Driving in congested traffic?

THE SOCIETY OF LITERACY AND BANANAS! ASSOCIATION

Character Questions

Just like I promised. Answer these questions as your MC, your FMC, your villain, whoever!

• What is your favorite color?
• What was/is your favorite class in school?
• Who was/is your best friend?
• Who was your first kiss? How old were you?
• How old were you when you had your first heart break? Who broke it?
• What is your favorite animal?
• What was your first pet? your favorite? What is/are your current pet(s)?
• How far have you travelled? (i.e. out of state, out of country, off planet)
• What is your fondest dream?
• What is your worst nightmare?
• If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?
• If you could go anywhere AT ALL, where would it be?
• What is your biggest pet-peeve?
• If you could meet anyone, alive or dead, who would it be?
• If you were in love with a blue-blood AND a pauper, and you loved them both the same and they both loved you the same, which would you choose?
• If you could choose how you were going to die, what would it be?
• Do you like rainy days?
• What is your favorite flower?
• Coffee or cocoa?
• What is your favorite song? Who is your favorite music artist?
• Can you play an instrument?
• When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
• Where do you see yourself in five years? ten? twenty?
• What is your favorite television show? your favorite movie?
• What is your favorite game? (card, board, video, etc.)
• Can you dance?
• Can you sing?
• What is your favorite food? your least favorite?
• Do you like to read?
• What is your favorite season?
• Do you believe in love at first sight?
• In your opinion, what is the best technological invention?
• Would you rather act or direct?
• Do you speak another language?
• What is your favorite quote?
• What do you do in your free time?
• What is your job? dream job?
• Do you have a celebrity crush? on whom?
• If you had one super-power, what would it be?
• If you could fix one mistake, what would it be? why?
• Would you die to save a friend? an aquaintance? a stranger? an enemy?
• If you had a choice between saving the world and saving your one true love, which would you choose?
• Do you believe in life-after-death?
• Have you ever had a near-death experience?
• What is the hardest thing about day-to-day life?
• What makes you laugh? cry?
• What makes you angry?
• Politics -- your thoughts?
• Are you good with money?
• Do you believe in magic?
  

Oh, I'm sure there are PLENTY more questions you could think of! Just think: What do I want to know about my character? What does NO ONE know about my character? What does no one care to know about my character, but I'd kind of like to know it anyway, just becuase I can?

I know it's difficult, but think about your character when the action ISN'T happening. We imagine our characters slaying dragons, getting into bar-fights (or is that just me?), falling deeply in love... but who are they at home? Who are they when dinner needs to be made? Who are they when the TV's on? So, your planet doesn't have TV? Then what does your character do instead? Does she sew? Does he whittle? I'm sure you can come up with something! Maybe write a scene where your character is doing something so incredibly ordinary you would NEVER put it in the book. What does that teach you about your character?

What are you doing here? Go write something!!!

Sincerely,

The Society of Literacy and Bananas! Association

Time travel is like visiting Paris -- you can't just read the guide book, you have to throw yourself in, eat the food, see the sights, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing total strangers... or is that just me?

(by the way: yes, I do know that the quote has almost nothing to do with the post. I just really like that quote.)

Character Month!

Could your MC tag your other characters in this pic? Could YOU?



May is character month, and it's time to ask: Just how well do you know your characters, anyway? Are they your best friends ever, or are they that weird third-cousin twice removed that you've never seen until he makes you hug him at a family reunion?



If the latter is the case, you need to get to know these characters! If the prior is true, you still probably could do with some fine-tuning... and, besides, "Get-to-Know-You" games are fun.



Here are some suggestions for better getting to know your characters:



1. ME, ME, ME
So, you want to get to know your hero's best friend, or love interest, or worst enemy. Try writing a scene from their point of view (I prefer 1st person to get to know them) -- no, it will never make it into the book, but it will help strengthen characters that you might otherwise have left rather flat. Try http://writeordie.drwicked.com/ for forced-writing! It's great for scenes that you might not know how to write.



2. EYES -- no, don't put "two"
Questionairres are surprisingly helpful. It seems as though you're not getting into anything deep, but you can surprise yourself when your character's favorite food becomes: "Anything I can get my hands on." This character questionairre is the one we were working on at SOLAB!A until parental units showed up and interruppted us part-way through:



Full Name:
Birthday:
Birthplace:
Current Location:
Heritage:
Eye Color/Hair Color:
Right or Left Handed:
Major Strength:
Major Weakness:
Fears:
Life Goal:
Dream Profession:
Actual Profession:
Favorite Meal:
Coffee Drinker:
Favorite Alcoholic Drink:
Has Character Been in Love:
Is Character Attractive:
Does Character Think of Self as Attractive:
Healthy Habits:
Unhealthy Habits:
Favorite Movie:
Vices:
Tattoo(s)/ Piercing(s):
Number One Regret:

(Thanks to Writer's Digest for the questionairre.)
Don't be afraid to Google for more of these!



3. HE SAID/SHE SAID
What do your characters think of one another? Do they get along? Try putting two of your characters in an unlikely situation with each other (i.e. make your villain and sidekick go grocery shopping together). Try to explain the same situation/argument from the point of view of two very different characters. Definitely try doing one of these: http://measthenarrator.deviantart.com/art/The-Narrative-OC-MEME-145509715 (it's not hard to find these online -- actually, it's almost hard NOT to if you're searching for character developement).



4. DRAGON WRITING PROMPTS
http://dragonwritingprompts.blogspot.com/ (look at the labels, search under "Character Developement"). These are EXCELLENT. It was almost entirely this website we worked from at SOLAB!A on Friday.



5. FRIEND-OF-A-FRIEND
Who are your favorite characters that you've read? Personally, I've always been attatched to pretty much all of J. K. Rowling's characters. There's something about the way she writes them that makes me like even the most dislikeable character. Look at the characters you love, and think about why you love them. Can you relate to them? Learn from them? Fall in love with them? Enjoy hating them? What tactics can you take from this?



6. ♪Family History, I am doing it!♫♪
Okay, so I don't work on my OWN family history, but I do work on that of my characters. Why? Once I had a character that was REALLY annoying, and rather cliche -- you know, just totally pompous. Then I wrote about his parents (who never, not ONCE, make it into the story), and I learned why I should forgive him and love him. Did it make him any less anoying? No. But now I GOT him, and now I could really write him. Much though you might want to deny it, who we are related to affects who we become. So find out who your MC grew up with.



7. BFF
Your characters existed before "Once Upon a Time." They had lives -- and they were living them (well, unless you start your story the moment your MC is born... but then your MC's parents had lives before the story began, and so did the doctors or the Taxi driver or whoever else is there). My point is, your characters have stories. Best friends and heart breaks, fears and challenges. What was your MC's favorite class in school? When did they have their first kiss? When they were three, what did they want to be when they grew up? (Bai wanted to be a Mail Box.) What are they most proud of? How old were they when they learned to ride a bike? Who was their favorite teacher? I'm making these questions up off the top of my head -- I'm sure you can make up plenty. If you want, I'll just post an entire post of random questions to ask your MC. In fact, now I want to do that....



8. IDK, Google it!
Definitely Google for more ideas. If you find anything brilliant, let me know!



For now, I will simply end with this thought: Remember that every time your character "comes on stage," they are coming from somewhere. If your MC walks into a room, and there are people in there, have those people be DOING something. Ever watched a show where the MC walks into the room, and the other people are just standing there, waiting for the action to start? Don't let that be you! Every side-character is the main character of their own story. Give them credit where credit is due. Why is your henchman a henchman? What's up with the kid who sits next to your MC in math class? A person's a person, no matter how small a role they play in your story.



Okay, I'm done. Have fun working on Character Profiles!

This Message Brought to you By:

The Society of Literacy and Bananas! Association

P.S. 9. FACEBOOK QUIZZES!!!

I'm serious ~ answer a Facebook Quiz or fill out a Facebook Survey from your character's point of view. It's an interesting way to get to know them ~ and it's actually rather fun. AND it's a "productive" way to waste time on Facebook! Yay!

10. ZWINKEY

Make an Avatar of your character -- whether it's on Zwinkey or Mii Channel or whatever. This is fun to do just as the author, but imagine your character was making an avatar of themselves -- how would it be different? What if one of your characters was making an avatar of another one? How would THAT be different?

Okay, I really am done now....

Why Blog?

So, I know many of you said you would NOT check a blog if I made one. Many of you probably will not (and thusly are not reading this). However, I have several reasons for going ahead and making the blog anyways.

1. It's really easy, and I have a bit of time on my hands
2. Maybe I'll be able to convince you to read it
3. It's worth it even if just one of you checks it
4. Umm... I usually do whatever I want anyways, regardless of what anyone else says

I really think this blog could be an asset. Here I plan on posting writing pompts, links to useful websites, ideas, contests, and anything else that seems as though it would be worthwhile. I do not intend to post random rediculous things that are a waste of your time.

I know our club is silly. Sometimes that actually bothers me -- but sometimes I wonder if it is a GOOD thing. When we were little, we wrote whatever we wanted, with no boundaries. Maybe we need to go back to that -- to when we had no inner-critic telling us we were horrible. Even when we were. We need to write like that again.

But I hope you do take writing seriously. Not seriously as in "I must write only great works of literature," for if everyone thought like that we would never have Douglas Adams or P. G. Wodehouse or television shows like The Addams Family, which are just plain silly. What I mean is: I hope you take to writing passionately. I hope you write every day, regardless of how busy you are. I hope you write for fun, and with a purpose.

For me, writing isn't just something I do. It's what I am. It's a lifestyle. I'm not saying you have to be as obsessed as I am -- I understand that you all have something that is called a "life." This might be an alien concept to me, but I can respect it. But PLEASE, don't let writing get set on a back-burnner. If you love writing, then you must throw yourself into it -- you can only get better at writing if you WRITE. Even the silly little writing prompts that I post can help you get one step closer to becoming the next J. K. Rowling. So just take 10 minutes out of your day to check this site and do a bit of writing. Come on, you watch that much time in commercials (or, at least, you did... until we all got DVRs... so use the time you earned by fast-forwarding through Wal*Mart adds to come here!).

Time spent writing is never time wasted.

-The Society of Literacy and Bananas! Association