Tag: Character Development

LK LohanLeave a comment

How to Decide What to Read

Even though I read way too many books, I can’t read them all. So every new book I take on involves a selection process. For me, that selection process is pretty straightforward; at least for novels. At the beginning, there is discovery: I have to know about a book in order to consider reading it. Recommendations are usually my prime discovery tool. I get few recommendations from friends and family because our tastes are too different. So it’s usually through blogs I follow, through random folks on Twitter, or through Amazon’s algorithm that I discover new (to me) books. I Read More …

LK LohanLeave a comment

Whose Character Development Is It Anyway?

Reading fiction is about a lot more than just entertainment. And writing fiction is about a lot more than just story. It’s about putting imaginary people in imaginary situations and letting them figure out how to deal. Which really means that it’s you figuring it out while inhabiting the character. It’s not an easy thing to do, and more often than not you’ll default to your own gut reaction, and then you catch yourself. Wait a minute – this character would never do that. So you start over and come up with a different solution. Sometimes it takes many iterations Read More …

LK LohanLeave a comment

Better Living through Characters

I’ve been immersed in my story world for such a long time now that in some ways it feels more real than the real world. The characters, though, aren’t old friends. Well, some of them are. Others, though, are a part of me. Or, rather, parts of them are parts of me. Some of their traits and attitudes and idiosyncrasies are lifted from my own experience. And this is where it gets interesting: At the intersection of fiction and life. Your own gut reaction to any situation you put your characters in tells a story about your own… well… character, Read More …

LK Lohan

Are You a Plotter or Are You a Pantser?

Are you a plotter, or are you a pantser? As much as I resist being categorized, this one’s an exception. I fit squarely into the pantsing box. Actually, I prefer to call myself a “discovery writer”*. In my ongoing quest of learning the craft of writing, I’ve devoured a large number of books (yes, it’s a pattern). Most of the instruction came squarely down on the plotting side. Three-act structure. Hero’s journey. Plot points to be checked off somewhere between page 50 and 60. Hey, what’s the matter? That’s a whole TEN PAGES of leeway. I tried. I really did, Read More …

LK Lohan

The Story behind the Stories

I’ve been writing for a long time. A much longer time, in fact, than I’m willing to admit. For most of that time, publication wasn’t even a smudge on the horizon. All I wanted was to see what might happen to those really cool characters who just stood in the doorway of my mind one day and demanded to be given life. I wrote hundreds of thousands of words worth of vignettes; just occurrences in the characters’ lives. Imagine the worst of purple prose, stacked upon melodrama. A plot? A story arc? A character arc? WTF? And that was fine. Read More …