Friday, June 29, 2018

Different Ways to Talk to Your Characters




Your characters can be like butterflies, they seem just out of reach until you are patient and learn things about them. (And maybe even try talking to them.)
Anyway In some of my writing posts I talk about pretending to talk to your characters, but I only mentioned a few ways to do it. (And there are a lot of ways to do it.)

Act out a scene from your story 
This helps especially if you are stuck on a scene, or want to play it out outside of your head. Sometimes just going out and pretending to be your characters in a quiet space is the best way to understand a scene. Don't feel bad if you mess up the scene the first time, because you are practicing the scene.

Interview them 
This is more writing than actually talking out loud to them. You ask them questions on paper or on your computer, and then they can answer (you have to write their answer though).
Here is an example:
Writer: What are some of your favorite things to do (character's name)?
Character: (lists things they like to do)

and then you continue from there.

Argue or talk to your characters 
I have mentioned this idea a number of times in my posts, but I never mentioned the arguing part. The arguing part I found out about when a character went off script and made their own choices.
Which is good and that means they are developed (beyond your control). However, that doesn't mean having a friendly argument with them wouldn't be good. It helps you talk to them in a different way other than "Hello" and "How are you?".
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What ways do you like to talk to your characters? Any other way that I didn't mention? 
-Quinley
P.S. I will be doing Camp NaNoWrimo this July, so I won't be posting as much as I normally do. I will working on my novel The Mystery of the Body Thief

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Father's day drawings


Hello everyone,
I hope you are having a happy Father's Day!
To celebrate I drew some Father's Day drawings:

Mr. short and (young) Tess, I rather like how it turned out... 
it was quite fun to draw. 

Elm and her father, I actually didn't know what Elm's father looked like (or if he even existed) 
but he turned out well. 



A drawing of Marigold (who is the adopted daughter of D.I. Time) and Detective Inspector Time, 
I like how it turned out. 


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Which drawing is your favorite? And what are your character's fathers like? 

Love,
Quinley  

Saturday, June 2, 2018

Mr. Robertson's letter (A short story.)


(Before reading this post, just so everyone knows when I say The Legend of Sleepy Hollow I do not mean the horror movie, I am talking about The Novella by Washington Irving, this story I am posting is not a horror story.)  

Hi everyone, even though it is not October I decided I should share one of my short stories about Mr. Robertson... (Also this one isn't very "Halloweeny," it's more the romantic subplot side of the story.) This is a test story to get to know my character Mr. Robertson a little bit better...
anyway here is the story:

My dear sister Jennifer,

Love songs, and ballads of woe are often sung in the presence of Katrina Van Tassel. She is the daughter of the rich farmer, who hosted the autumn ball after which Mr. Crane was allegedly chased by the Headless Horse…thing. Twas but a year ago, yet the townsfolk are still talking about it, and gossiping among themselves about what happened to Mr. Crane. 

I am afraid I am going off-topic for what I started telling you about was Ms. Van Tassel. She is the most beautiful girl in Sleepy Hollow and every young man wants to marry her, unless, of course, they were already married or had their mind set on someone else. Ever since I've been in Sleepy Hollow, Brom Van Brunt (for that is his real name, though everyone calls him “Brom Bones,” which is quite a silly name if you ask me) has thought that I too want to marry Katrina, which I have no desire or longing to do. 

From what I heard Mr. Van Ripper, father of one of my pupils, Isabella, and owner of Gunpowder the horse, which Mr. Crane rode on that fateful night, has told me that Brom is known for punching suitors of Katrina. Brom wants Katrina for himself and only him. I do believe that Miss Van Tassel hates being thought of as an object, prize to be won, or a damsel in distress, though when I talked to her she showed no signs of that. 

Besides meeting Katrina, I have also met another young woman. Her name I can not place (However if do remember it I shall tell you). She is quite skilled with the musket and is equal in skill to Brom (she is possibly even better than Brom). Some townsfolk even claim that she disguised herself as a solider and fought in the Revolutionary War (against England), though I can not verify, if this true or not, for she tends to keep to herself and has no desire for love. 

How are things going in England? And how is your book going? 

Your loving brother,
Mr. Robertson 

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What do you think? What do you think of the woman who Mr. Robertson says is better at shooting a musket than Brom? 

Love,
Quinley