Character Sketch

Okay, so I mentioned a few posts (and weeks) ago that the novel I'm plugging away at is a fantasy about a kid named Roger who has power over the earth. He's got to find an ancient power source before his antagonist (unnamed and really quite fuzzy at this point.. maybe that's the next writing exercise...) gets to it.

Thing is, I need a friend for Roger, who goes by Roh. Pronounced like the way you say salmon eggs. (Roe) Roh is turning sixteen and is not the most popular of people. He's marvelously overweight and has a great home life, so he hasn't needed friends much. But he needs to have one I think.

So today's writing exercise is a character sketch of Roh's friend. I have some ideas, but as I put them down here, I hope to expand on them. Please, if any readers have thoughts or suggestions, pass them on. Umm.. wait a sec.. Pandora is playing "The Lady in Red," which doesn't get my creative juices going at all.

Skipped.

Nice. Journey's "Don't Stop Believin"

Okay here goes.

Character: Roh's friend.

• Name: (I'll get back to this.) Okay, his name is Aiden Pope.
• Gender: (If I typed 'sex' here would I get more hits?) Male. (Roh's a shy sixteen year old boy.)
• Age: Fourteen or fifteen.
• Description: Blond, usually messy hair. Blue eyes with a nose that looks like a boxer's but is actually a family heirloom. About 5' 7" and lean. Long arms. Avid reader and a great debater. Has a high voice. Wears contacts because he hates glasses. Always wears khakis and T-shirts. Round face with a square chin that is flat in front.
• Family: Mom and dad still married. Two sisters, both pretty. Roh likes the older one.
• Goals: Wants to go to Evergreen State College in Tacoma, Washington for two reasons: he hates the heat of Arizona (where the book takes place) and wants to study liberal arts, especially writing and literature. Problem with this is that Evergreen students have a reputation for the use of liberating substances and Aiden has strong morals. Wants to be friends with people and is good at making friends because he's a good talker and can always think of interesting things to talk about. Sees what is going on with Roh, doesn't understand it and doesn't get why Roh doesn't just tell him everything. Notices the changes in Roh's physical appearance and is scared but intrigued. Makes an extra effort to be there for Roh after the tragedy with Roh's parents.
• Overall: A good person who is generally liked. He has a crush on the English teacher, Ms. Spendlove, who is unmarried and very smart. Unfortunately, he is not very brave and when something dangerous happens, he loses his head, not physically. This bothers him, but he is scared of being in another dangerous situation, because he doesn't know how he will react. Aiden is actually very religious and sometimes has trouble understanding how God could let some things happen.

Okay, that's good stuff. I like his goals and how some of them are in conflict. I think I should do this every time my story happens upon another character. Any thoughts? Have I left anything out? Sure, there are some pay-offs that I'm not getting into, like his crush and his fear, but that will come out in the story.

Probably next time I will do this for the antagonist. Alrighty then.

Carpe somnium!

This blog...

is now re-launched.

Note the lovely new colors.

Love the beautiful icons at the end of each post, which enable readers to share my posts on social networking sites.

Behold the fact that my posts each have their own unique URL that you can link to from your own blog, your Facebook, your Twitter or whatever else.

In the future, posts will begin with a quick update on my progress in my writing career. I will often include links to articles I write, as this is a good way to increase my page rank for both my articles and my blog.

Next will be some kind of writing exercise. It could be a quick character study, a description of a conflict, a plot device.. or whatever. The point of these, and the gimmick here, is that these will be things I use in my current book.

My current novel is a YA fantasy novel about a kid named Roger Hollacher. The day he gets a job, he is attacked by young men from his high school. Problem: the young men seem to transform back and forth from humans to evil-looking, hairy, toothy creatures with glowing red eyes.

Roger doesn't know it yet, but he holds power over the earth because of his connection to creation.

Tingles yet?

He will have to learn to wield his power fast to save his parents and to stop the big baddy from gaining almost total power.

And that's all for now. Come back lots! Share my posts. We can trade blog URLs so we can increase each other's rank and traffic.

Let's use this Internet thing.

You put your left leg in...

you put your left leg out. You put your left leg in and you shake it all about.

You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around.

That's what it's all about!

Why, you might ask, am I transcribing the song to what may be the single most embarassing party game on the planet, with the distinct exception of musical chairs?

Good question. I think that only time will tell. Or maybe I just like to do the hokey pokey.

Or maybe I like to turn myself around.

See.. that's a good lead in. I am turning myself around. I'm finally settling into this routine and I didn't spend most of my writing time updating networking sites. Nope, I spent ten minutes (after getting up ten minutes late) updating them and checking e-mail. Now I've written on my book for thirty minutes and here's how it went:

635 words written today. 5805 total in the book now.

And it's moving along. The story is unfolding nicely. I'm really doing my best to build a family that loves each other and that is not dysfunctional. It's fun to do.

Now I must go to Gold's and do exercise-y things.

Reporting on my morning's work

Well, I spent far too long checking e-mail and updating my various networking sites, but I finally settled in and did some writing.

About 800 words this morning (some of it actually just a rewrite of something I'd already done), bringing the grand total to 5150 words.

Hey, 51/50 is the name of a Van Halen album.

I need to get right to writing when I get up so that I still have time to hit the gym immediately after and then get back home in time for breakfast. All this because I usually try to be in the office around 9AM.

Today, however, is different, although I should have been able to get to the gym anyway. We WeXL folks are participating in a business and technology expo today and tomorrow, and we are getting there by 8:30AM for a networking breakfast type thing.

In any case, as I wrote this morning, I made a decision. I'd been writing in first person, but was struggling with that. I mean, it seems like a lot of YA stuff is in first person, although not all of it is. However, I just feel like I can tell this story better in third person, so I decided to go for it.

Hey, Melinda and Kristi's work is in 3rd person... I think.. and it's good stuff.

Anyway, I have to go get ready for my day job.

So far so good. I invite any readers to follow me on Twitter, check out my political blog: http://powersderived.blogspot.com and to take a look at my online portfolio: www.helium.com/users/45690

May the Farce be with you.

carpe somnium

ImGoToWrANoMo Report for Wednesday, December 3, 2008.

Okay. Last night I decided to see what I could do with a book idea I had about four years ago. I wrote the first chapter, loved the kernel of the story but was unhappy with the tone and style, and put it away, thinking of it often.

So it's about a kid named Roger Hollacher, or Roh, and some magical and terrifying things that happen to him. He's exceedingly overweight, surprisingly fast, a good cook, likes to count to seven and sees patterns of seven in lots of things, and may actually not be entirely human.

We'll see.

I wrote... 3570 words today. I keep having to turn off my mental editor. This is going to be good practice, even if the book itself sucks.

I have the first chapter, with some nice character stuff, some conflict and motivation, and at least one inciting event. It ends with a nice image.

Tomorrow I might not shoot for the goal, although I'll probably hit it in a different way. I need to outline this story somewhat. I need to know in general where it is going. If I do this, I will feel more comfortable with letting Roh as a character have his way. I won't make a terribly detailed outline, but it will have the general arc, highlight moments, and very likely a resolution, although all of that's flexible.

It's good to be writing. This was hard. I kept getting up to get a drink and wanting to check my e-mail.

Tomorrow another report. Until then...

carpe somnium