Thanks Ariadne,

The advice you gave on characters makes sense.  I'll try it. I have no problem with plots, or dialogue. It's just the character development and description.  I just don't want to get too wordy.   

Thanks for the tips

Cathy

Hey Cathy. To solve you problem of making great characters, just write down his or her traits down on paper. First, what motivates the character? Greed, anger, hatred, malice, or the need to love? Second, how does the character react to others in your story? Third, how does the character turn out at the end of the story? Those things are what make the people in your short story, novel, novella a bit more vivid rather than just boring. Also for plot, try to come up with one for example, Jessie loves Edward so much, but he does not return her feelings back. What is another idea for your plot? Jessie sends mails to Edward's house and obsessively calls him. I hope that I had done my best to help you and I hope that for the suggestion that I gave to you that you write on my scratchpad for what you thought about it and if it helps you.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the invitation.  I really do need help describing scenes and creating strong characters.  I am a plot person.  I read and write for the plots of stories, and description just seems to be something you have to do.  I'm trying to get over this by describing as much and as vividly as I can, but I have to work at it.  Characters too, sometimes seem flat.  So everyone has their work cut out for them now that I've joined.  Glad to be here y'all.

Cathy  

Hey All

Thanks for the invite.  I am pretty new to Scrib, but I have seen some of your works and will flip through the rest as I get more acquainted (and get more free time),

I agree wholeheartedly on the living, breathing characters.  When I start a story, I never know where it is going or how it is going to get there.  I usually start with a character backstory and history, lend them air and a pulse in the first couple lines, and then just freewrite wherever their lives take me.  I think they are more believable, emotional, and easy to connect with that way.   I can't tell you how many times I started a story and it went the opposite way of my intended outline before I realized that I am a slave to my characters, not Goddess of them, lol

All part of the creative process though right?

I am posting my newest short story on my page if anyone is interested.  I am going to go through and read your works and list as fan etc so that I can see when new ones are posted.

If anyone is interested - I found this really cool site online from a friend.  I am a student in like 5 classes write now, and am prepping course work to teach one on meditations, but the main teacher/owner Ryan Edel (also on scrib- we did NaNoWriMo together last november - thats how I got hooked on the site) is awesome....www.12writingworkshopsonline.com.  

Have a good day all! 

P.S.

      Why Dylan Moody....I would never give up on you!! Never on a fellow writer!!

Well...

      Thanks for joining... alot of the characters I write about are in my head and then they keep me awake so long I'm forced to get up and get them out so I can sleep once again. So I guess Dylan's right they live and flounce around in our heads before they seek validation on paper, once there they seem to come more alive even if we don't  put their vital statistics in. But I know we do try to make them strong enough to live in our reader's heads. I have many characters in my memories that I remember from stories I've read even from here on Scribophile... I wonder though are our characters extentions of us???

Hi Rusti!

Thanks for the invite. I’ve been incognito for so long I thought you gave up on me.

To throw my two cents into the circle, I come up with characters all the time but they don’t always fit the story I’m working on so they are staged in the back of my mind or on a note pad somewhere. I read somewhere that the writer should know everything about each character they write about. A little exercise I do is think about the ridiculous things that may never even make it to the page. Stuff like the characters favorite color or food and why they like those things. I start off with the rudimentary stuff and move on from there. Dislikes and likes, dysfunctions and character history -I just love it all! Sometimes, at this level, is where some of my best heartfelt or comic writing comes from.

Hello Rusti. This is a great circle that you have posted on scribophile! I have the same needs as you do, wanting to make characters in a story remembered through the hearts and minds of millions of readers that read my story rather than remembering the characters on the descriptive words in my story. I look forward to reading more of your works someday. As for me I have done the fourth part of Heart of Ice: A Young Adult Story. I am currently doing the last, fifth part and the epilogue, as well as the excerpt of my short story that will be published around December or in Christmas Time for that matter. Oh and by the way, the Christmas Story will be called A Christmas Angel Named Vin-Vin. I will post it at the end of my short story Heart of Ice by this weekend. Remember that when you read it that I hope you enjoy what I have written so far! Take care! 

Greetings...

       Welcome to the circle of characters...lol! Here I am hoping to discuss ways to improve character writing. Ways to make them truly live and not only in our pages, but in our readers minds and hearts as well. I have found that sometimes when I write that some of my characters actually write the story, I'm merely the dancing fingers across the key board....