M. Lori Motley

In a novel or short story you need characters that seem as real as possible and act in ways that make sense to the reader. Some people make a grand production of creating characters, filling out a 25 page character sheets, writing character episodes and even drawing artwork of their characters to get a real feel of what they look like. Other people just some open a baby name book, randomly choose a name and say, “Frank. Yeah, Frank is a great name for my stereo typical warrior.” And then they proceed to write the same warrior that has been found in every formulaic fantasy novel since the 1970s.

To get a truly believable character for your fiction writing, you probably have to fall somewhere between those two extremes. Of course, if you enjoy delving into the deep dark secrets of every character you make you can use character sheets and write stories of the character that will not end up in your finished novel. For simple characters, like the back up guy who gets killed by the rampaging werehog halfway through chapter 2, you probably could just give them the name and set them loose on your pages. Continue reading →

For the past 3 years, I’ve attended the Muse online writer’s conference. Tons of information and tons of writerly camaraderie. There are also multiple publishers who attend and — besides teaching classes and answering questions — accept pitches during the conference.

After carefully researching all publishers attending the 2010 conference, I may have to prepare a few pitches myself.

But… only after I finish the novels.

I’ve completed Chapter Four edit and polish for my current WIP, “The Shadow’s Song.” I was inspired by a kestrel that landed in my backyard yesterday. One of the main character’s name is Kestrel, so I took it for a sign to start editing again. I have tweaked my work schedule to allow more time for fiction writing, and I intend to make use of it. I have two other novels that I could finish by October… IF I work really hard between now and then.

I stayed up way too late last night and took out my Dragon voice recognition again and spent about 1 1/2 hours this morning talking as fast as it would let me to get to 50,000 words! It’s not a personal best for time or total words – that was last year with over 80,000 – but I made it!

My fourth year in a row I have won NaNoWriMo! Yay!

My story still has a long way to go and a lot of editing of story-line needed. I’m a pantser and, about halfway through a first draft, the whole story starts to gel more in my head. I like it this way. I’ll go back and edit and add now that I know where I’m heading. Who was I to know that the kingdom actually floated a couple of thousand years ago? Ha ha!

I hope all you NaNoers out there are spending the day wisely and writing like mad! Even if you do not hit the 50,000 (Come on, you can do it!), you have won if you got into the habit of BIC (butt in chair) and wrote more than you would have normally.

There’s always next year. Yay!

ZERO words on my NaNo novel yesterday. That won’t do!