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Post by veryblessedmom on Jun 12, 2009 12:58:37 GMT -5
I'm at the finish line of my WIP. 1 1/2 chapters and a short epilogue and my rough draft is done.
My Mr. Bad Dude is on the scene after much anticipation. The fight began and all was well until it time for him to say something. I went blank.
He's not been in any scenes and I don't know him. All my other characters have lived in my head for months. They've told me about how they grew up, their parents. They basically live their lives in my head and I take dictation. My husband comes to check on me in the shower when their conversations make me laugh out loud. (Remember, I'm married to Spock. Shakes head and leaves)
Now I'm getting to know my villain. I know he's Spaniard. His family settled one of the islands and had a plantation. I don't know what island, when, or anything else about him. Well, I know from his tone he has an attitude of entitlement. He's quite arrogant and has a very bad temper.
I hope to get acquainted really soon.
I need this information out of my head. I can really relate to Chuck.
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Post by Christian Soldier on Jun 12, 2009 13:05:09 GMT -5
I love Chuck! It's the life every nerd wishes to have, whether he or she admits it or not. Anyhoo, I know the feeling. My own characters are starting to really come alive for me. Recently, two of them informed me that they were the same person, just after a kind of transformation. Who knew?
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Post by veryblessedmom on Jun 12, 2009 13:22:55 GMT -5
I just discovered Chuck this season. The BuyMore guys reminded me of my High School lunch table. I was the only girl there among guys. I was safe cause they were more into comics than girls.
I took a fiction writing class in college and one guy did nerd fiction. All his stories were about a group of teen boys who spent their weekends playing Dungeons and Dragons, arguing over which comic book hero could beat the other, etc, but they made sure no one in their group took band, cause band was for dorks. LOL.
It's nice to know I'm not the only one who's characters talk to them. I read on one loop that it is strange the first time your characters start talking to you but stranger when they start talking to your friends when you aren't around.
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Post by Christian Soldier on Jun 12, 2009 13:40:01 GMT -5
I'm not the only one! WOW! My friends are always complaining about various personalities.. erm... characters coming over to visit.
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Post by torainfor on Jun 12, 2009 19:00:31 GMT -5
My villain from book one, the guy my mom's afraid of, surprised me at the end of book two by turning out to be somewhat redeemable. Didn't see that coming.
*Deep breath.* They didn't cancel Chuck. They're going to put it in mid-season, just as I predicted. It will return. Just have to wait until around January. You'll still have NUMB3RS and Doctor Who (whenever it stinkin' returns!) You can last that long until Chuck.
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Post by veryblessedmom on Jun 12, 2009 19:44:50 GMT -5
Doctor Who! Are there new ones? I heard it was on hiatus until 2010.
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Post by torainfor on Jun 12, 2009 20:59:08 GMT -5
Uh! It's like God doesn't want me to watch TV or something! I shall now commence pouting.  |
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Post by veryblessedmom on Jun 12, 2009 22:05:09 GMT -5
I gave up TV during the writer's strike. I rediscovered reading. When everything came back on it was all so formulaic and predictable. I guess it always was. Chuck was something I found on one of those rare occasions I flipped on the TV. And of course as soon as I like it, they threaten to take it off.  Why can't I be like other mindless Americans and enjoy dull predictable crime dramas?(Or enjoy watching a man drink his own urine every week. My hubby's way into Survivor Man. That and the guy who eats nasty stuff around the world)  |
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Post by Christian Soldier on Jun 13, 2009 12:28:10 GMT -5
We prefer the realm of our own heads. Nothing can be more fun than that. Thus: TV has little hold on us. Why should we watch what they're doing when all the action is going on with the characters interacting within our minds?
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Post by tris on Jun 23, 2009 20:13:30 GMT -5
Maybe I'm a little confused here (think it must come with the territory after raising three boys and a girl), but how can your bad guy show up in the last chapter and a half? Maybe it's just me, but it seems like the villains always need to be entwined throughout the entire story to really have a climatic story.
Otherwise it's like some of the Japanese Power Rangers type shows where the evil villain pops out at the end and you think, who's this and where did he come from and why should I care?
Besides, if he's tangled throughout the story, that puts a little more heat on the hero and builds the climax.
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Post by veryblessedmom on Jun 23, 2009 20:48:03 GMT -5
Up until a few chapters ago they thought another person was the bad guy, the girl's dad. Then they discovered there was a bigger bad guy pulling the strings.
The girl's father has been hiding her from this bad guy, but she just thought her dad was crazy and moved a lot. The bad guy's existence ties up some strings woven throughout the story.
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Post by veryblessedmom on Jun 23, 2009 20:54:27 GMT -5
Oh, and the major conflict is internal but somehow the external conflict is very allegorical of that internal conflict.
My protag thought his biggest problem in his life was one thing, but in the end there was something else motivating his actions. He's helping a girl who thought her dad was her biggest problem, but things were not as it appeared.
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Post by fluke on Jun 23, 2009 20:57:55 GMT -5
One of mine told me I had his ethnicity wrong. Seriously.
I have had some strange conversations with my characters. Besides the ethnicity question, last week I had one like this: "No, my mask has to be bigger than that. This isn't a comic book where you change your hair part, put on a tiny mask, and no one recognizes you! This is reality!" [Don't ask.]
On the OP, sounds like you have a very behind-the-scenes puppet master. Cool!
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Post by Jeff Gerke on Jun 24, 2009 7:36:35 GMT -5
VeryBlessedMom, I'm with Tris. It's okay that it isn't revealed until near the end that someone besides who they suspected is the real villain (like in the first Spy Kids movie), but this person needs to have been in the story before then, imo. What if Luke Skywalker were zooming down the Death Star trench and then the Emperor had showed up in a Tie Fighter to try to shoot him down? We'd be like, "Huh? Who's that guy? Get me back the villain I know." As for getting to know your characters, do I have a deal for you! Check out my $14.99 product called Character Creation for the Plot-First Novelist. You will certainly become acquainted with your villain if you take him through that system. Jeff |
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Post by Christian Soldier on Jun 24, 2009 14:22:50 GMT -5
Yeah... I had two of mine tell me that they were in fact one person, just after a minor change. I had to verify with my MC, but it's true
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Why can't I be like other mindless Americans and enjoy dull predictable crime dramas?(Or enjoy watching a man drink his own urine every week. My hubby's way into Survivor Man. That and the guy who eats nasty stuff around the world) 
