Character Development

I remember once reading that every novel you write is a learning process, and am I learning. The other day I finally broke down and wrote character bios. I normally don't do this when writing short stories, and I have been tracking facts, setting, etc. as I write, but not writing a whole biography. For some reason I resisted it, but now that I've started it's been very helpful in structuring my novel.

The novel has gone through so many changes that I'm glad I actually did struggle in the beginning. My writing meandered and characters and events were fuzzy. Here's hoping for more clarity.

I also must credit all the mysteries and supernatural thrillers I've been reading these past few months. From the Heather Wells series to Psychic Eye, the chic lit has been entertaining and fun. Coming from a BA/MA background, all I read was the Great Works. I'm not knocking the greats. I love them (and my Nortons), but I'd forgotten about the popular genres and quite frankly the living and breathing authors out there.

In my first drafts I had obsessed so much over the 'literary' that I'd forgotten the entertaining and fun part. And forgotten my characters should have a personality. Very few have read my first drafts (thank goodness), but I'm glad they did. Nothing like some brutal honesty and time away to reflect and ask, what the hell do I want to write about?

It never fails. I have an idea. Love the idea. I start on it, work and rework the first five chapters until the beginning seems perfect but then I'm stumped. Where do I go with my protagonist? What happens now? What sadly happens is my characters live in limbo and my chapters end up saved on my laptop, a folder of unusable material. I was afraid this novel was heading in the same direction, so I'm glad to see it moving forward even if it means I'm going to have to scrap those first few chapters and write new ones. Such is life.

Happy writing, creating, and living!