by Kathy Brasby | Feb 8, 2013 | writing
Thanks to a couple of star-gliding teenagers, our family has been lured into watching the most current Doctor Who television series from BBC.
Doctor Who is a science fiction series, continuing on and off since the 1960’s, about a Time Lord who is able to cross time and space to rescue people from a wide range of villains. The story lines range from creative to bizarre but the creators of the series included a helpful wrinkle with the Doctor. He occasionally dies in action and then renews himself in a new body.
This new body is really a new person, with a new personality and mannerisms and interests. The favorite food of one Doctor may be disgusting to the next, for example. Favored clothing and even goals change with the new Doctor.
The idea is brilliant because, from a practical point of view, it allows the series producers to glide from one actor to another without a glitch. New actor, new Doctor, new personality. All’s well as long as the Daleks show up at least once a season.
Fiction writers don’t have this privilege. I’m tired of reading novels in which the main character can’t decide who he or she really is. We might start out with a strong-willed female who is willing to take risks and challenge the status quo. A 100 pages later, she’s cowering behind her new boyfriend, afraid to enter the dark room and screaming at cobwebs.
I know strong-willed women. They don’t change like that.
Or the story opens with the wise-cracking hero who confidently follows his hunches. By the midway point in the story, he hasn’t had a hunch in several chapters and is suddenly afraid of his father. Or boss. Or neighbor.
What’s with introducing traits that evaporate?
A memorable character carries a story. Authors need to trust that fact and craft characters so vivid that we allow them to carry the story rather than allowing the story to craft them.
Only Doctor Who can turn from a handsome heart-throb to a stumbling nerd and we’re OK with it.
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by Kathy Brasby | Feb 6, 2013 | Technology, writing
A smartphone is a gift to writers and here’s another reason why.
We had just finished a guitar-led round of folk songs for the local nursing home when Mary turned to me. “Remember the old cassette tape recorders? That sure would be helpful when we learn new songs. We could listen to them over and over.”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket. “I always have a recorder with me.”
She stared at it. “I have a phone like that.”
“Then you don’t need a tape recorder.”
It’s easy to forget the tools we already carry with us. Not all writers use smartphones – and a few refuse to carry a cell phone. But most of us carry our cell phone all the time. And if you do, check out the voice recorder on your phone.
My iPhone 4s will transcribe messages as I speak into the microphone. I have collected story and article ideas while on a walk, allowing the phone to write down what I’m thinking. It will convert spoken words into text messages or grocery lists.
Obviously, I can record interviews for articles. Once at a workshop, the speaker announced he would do a special poetic reading. Although I didn’t record the entire workshop, I did record his poem. And I’m glad I did, for he did an eloquent interpretation.
There is a bit of a learning curve but it’s worth experimenting with the feature. Very few of us carry a cassette tape recorder with us all the time but most of us have a cell phone.
Have you checked into your cell phone’s features? Do you have favorites?
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by Kathy Brasby | Feb 4, 2013 | writing
I love a good story as well as any one and a good character is even better.
So let me tell you about Barney. Just for the record, I have changed his name although he’s passed on now. I worked with him over 20 years ago. I was still trying to get life figured out and he was hanging onto whatever life he had left.
White-haired with a big belly and a gruff retort, he was dedicated to his work. And his opinions.
One day, Barney settled into a chair at break time and announced loudly that Major League Baseball games were fixed. “You know that somebody decides who’s going to win every game all season. That’s why I don’t watch baseball. And I can prove it. Ever watched a double header? How often does one team win the first game and the other team win the second? Because the fix was on!”
Um, OK. I leaned forward. “Well, they use different pitchers for each game.”
He snorted. “What the world difference could that make?”
I let him win that one.
Not long after, his opinion gave him another opportunity. Barney had worked in a Ford dealership most of his career and was devoted to Fords. In our shop, we had one Ford delivery pickup and it caused our service guys many problems. It was a chronic lemon. But Barney believed in it because of the Ford thing.
One day he was asked to run some parts to a town about 90 miles away. Barney, of course, opted to drive the Ford. Our service manager told him they’d been having some recent issues with it but Barney squared his shoulders and let his white hair shake back. “It’ll be just fine,” he said.
Our service manager wasn’t going to tangle with that glare.
So Barney and his wife headed out to deliver parts and enjoy an afternoon on the road. Two hours later, our shop got a call from Barney. The Ford had broken down on the road.
The service department guys, once they got done laughing, sent a semi truck and trailer out to haul the Ford home. When the truck returned, we all rushed to the big window to see Barney’s face. Instead, we saw the Ford strapped on the trailer with Barney and his wife still inside the Ford, staring straight ahead.
A little breakdown hadn’t dampened his opinion of Fords one bit.
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by Kathy Brasby | Jan 30, 2013 | writing
Jeff Gerke, who changed the face of Christian fantasy/speculative fiction, has written a fascinating post about expanding his Marcher Lord Press titles to include A Throne of Bones, not your average Christian book fare.
I’ve met Jeff and respect his faith and his insights. I found his reasoning interesting, especially in today’s Christian publishing world. I’d encourage you to check out this article, Marcher Lord Press and the Hinterlands Imprint.
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by Kathy Brasby | Oct 15, 2012 | writing
The business of writing can get too serious at times. This list isn’t original with me but it made me smile today. Maybe you, too?
From high school English tests:
- Define first person. Adam
- Define metaphor. Something you shout through
- Define simile. A picturesque way of saying what you really mean, such as calling your mother an old trout.
- List two parts of speech. Lungs. Air.
- Define adverb. The horses run vastly. This is an adverb.
- Define an abstract noun: something you can’t see when you are looking at it.
- Define an abstract noun: the name of something which has no existence, such as goodness.
- Define an abstract noun: something we can think of but cannot feel, like a red-hot poker.
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by Kathy Brasby | Oct 9, 2012 | writing
NaNoWriMo is coming is less than a month. The acronym stands for National Novel Writing Month and the challenge is to write 50,000 words in the 30 days of November.
The first year I tried it, I came up with a novel idea on October 31 and began writing. Writing over 1500 words a day when you don’t know where you’re going is like following a two-year-old through a barnyard.
So planning is in order. And November 1 is closing in. So the brainstorming will begin. But what method? Here are a few ideas that I will try when brainstorming:
- Freewriting. Just put pen to paper or, in my case, fingers to keyboard, and write for at least five minutes without stopping. This one works, even though I have to put up with at least 30 seconds of “I am writing even though I have nothing to write and I wonder how long I can keep this up before my brain goes to mush…” About then, the ideas start popping.
- Mapping. This is a visual way of listing ideas. Basically you start with a word or idea, write that in the center of a big sheet of blank paper, and start running lines off the circle to other words or ideas. This method can turn rabbit trails into amazing ideas.
- Cubing. This one is new to me but basically it attacks a word or idea from six different directions. It incorporates the who, what, when, where, why, and how for an idea. Describe the topic (what is it?) and then start asking questions. That appeals to my journalistic background.
- Researching. Take the idea and start to investigate it. Learn what you can about the topic and see what ideas spring forward.
- Ask my sister to lunch. My sister and I brainstorm together very well. We laugh and throw goofy ideas onto the table, which are almost guaranteed at some point to lead us to some great ideas. Inviting others into the brainstorming process can be amazing.
I’m off to storm some ideas.
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