Skeletons and imagination

Just a short post today. How has your imagination been lately?

My 5 year old nephew came over to my house for the weekend, and we played on the swings outside. He told me stories about his "Team Skeletons". Apparently, he has 5 skeletons that go with him wherever he goes, each with their own names and personaliteis. He reminded me that playing is a part of what I do, an esential part. You can't survive if you can't play in your own mind.

When was the last time you talked to YOUR imaginary friends? I'm trying to reconnect with my old pals. Maybe I'll develop my own team of skeletons. What do you think?

A Penitent Note and Building Characters

Okay, okay, I know. I haven't posted for a few days. I'm really sorry about that, but upkeeping a daily blog is more work than I thought it would be. I'm still adjusting to my new schedule and starting a new job at the same time.

Enough about me. Let's talk about YOU. Today you and I are going to do a little homework together. I promised you exercises, and exercises you shall have.

I think today's homework will be about...

Characters!

Characters are one of my favorite aspects of writing. You can meet anyone from anywhere and anywhen you want. Want to have lunch with an Astronaut on the moon? Go for it. Want to wrestle with Ghengis Khan? The mat awaits you. One of the great joys of writing is found in creating and discovering characters.

Coming up with new ideas, however, can be a real chore.

So for your homework tonight you're going to do something a little different. You're going to create a character, but you're not going to start with a name. You're not going to start with race. You're not even going to start with gender. Not location, not clothes, not history, not anything from the standard character "templates" everyone else will give you. You're going to start with...

What the character has in their pockets.

What's that? Am I nuts? Well, there's no "official" word on that yet, but most probably. I am, however, quite serious. Pick a few random objects, the more random and unrelated, the better. For mine, I chose a computer USB cable, an alarm clock, three marbles, and a stick of dynamite. You can use my list if you want, but it's more fun to come up with your own.

Now comes the fun part. Start asking questions. Who in the WORLD would have those kinds of things in their pockets? What would they do with them? What are they wearing? Why would they use those things? Start listing your ideas on paper. Just let them flow. They might seem silly at first, but most of the best ideas do. It's really a good way

It is going to feel pretty strange at first, like crossing your arms the wrong way. I think you'll find though, if you give it a good try, that you will create a character unlike anything you've ever made before. Besides, don't you deserve to have a little fun with your imagination every once in a while?

What makes a writer a writer?

So it's been almost two months since I last posted. My apologies to the one or two people who may have checked back here on occasion. Mostly what happened was I got swamped with some other projects, so this one fell into the corner. How am I going to remedy that situation so it doesn't happen again, you ask? Well, I'm going to make it a bigger priority. How, you ask again?

Simple.

I'm going to make this blog a DAILY blog.

From now on the entries will probably be shorter, more targeted, and as chock full of fiction factoids as I can fill it.

But that leads me to the subject of today's post. What makes a writer a writer? From the time I was a child, I wanted to "be a writer". I would go around telling people about it, carrying a notebook with me everywhere I went, and read how-to books by the master storytellers of the past.

Then, one day, when I was in High School, I got into a conversation with my friend Diana about writing, the creative process, and all the associated fun that comes with it. After talking for a while, she said "I'd love to read what you're writing right now."

It hit me like a ton of bricks in cement sauce. I didn't have a project I was working on. Not even a short story, and I had been sitting there talking like I was some master of the art. In short, I wasn't a writer. I was just a dreamer. Because, as it turns out, the only way to be a writer...

Is to Write!

So get started. Write something every day. It doesn't matter if it's a page of a novel, a short story, or a cookie recipe. Get started.

In her blog "Fiction Writing ~ The Passionate Journey!", Emily Hanlon has a fantastic article on this for her April 30, 2007 entry. Check it out.

http://www.thefictionwritersjourney.com/archives/blog.html