Tag: learning

What I’ve Learned: Creating a Character Sketch

For the longest time, I have been a discovery writer. I’ll have a vague idea of a plot and a vague idea of a character, sometimes a name and sometimes not, and then I will discovery write. At least that’s how I used to write.

For several years, my writing process was that way. It has been that way for several projects as well, where the characters show me who they are as I write their story.

Back when I was in school for my Bachelor’s, I was asked to create a character sketch before I even wrote the work the character was going to be in. I’ve tried it a few more times since then, for a few new projects.

Here’s a few things I’ve learned from that experience:

A Character Sketch can show you a character’s past.

Part of the character sketch I had to make for the class I was in involved making up a past for the character. While the story was loosely based off an idea I had, I didn’t have a main character for a while, so I had no idea what her past would be. It was interesting to figure out the MC’s motives of why she became who she was and what led her down the path to being the main character.

A Character Sketch can help map out the plot.

Originally, the plot was way different for the short story. The main character was meaner, bribing people to make herself feel better, a little sweet and sour action. In the character sketch, I realized the turning point in the story would be when the main character faced something she had never faced before. That helped me both build the character and build the plot.

A Character Sketch can make a character feel more real

Usually about half of the sketch doesn’t really end up in the written work explicitly.

While most of the sketch doesn’t appear, it does help to know what makes your character tick and by extension, how they would react to the world around them. An example is in the piece I wrote for my short story class. My main character is in the job she’s in because her grandmother passed away and it affected her.

The whole character sketch may not be helpful for the reader, but it does help the writer get a more concrete feel for the people they create.

I’m not sure if I’ll keep the process of creating a character sketch first. I like to write my first drafts by discovery, with loose enough outlines so my characters can surprise me. Maybe in second drafts, or on a deadline for shorter works, I might, but we shall see.

Every project is different, but I do enjoy trying new things.

 

What I’ve Learned…

Since 2023 started, I have written something every single day. As of August 1st, I have almost 240K to show for it. This is not the longest streak of writing I’ve ever had, but I will say I have learned a lot.

Here are some of my biggest takeaways.

Have Multiple Projects…

In the past, I’ve liked to work on one project at a time. In the past few months however, I have learned multiple projects means multiple places to jump around and put words if I feel like working on something else. I usually have a few “main” projects I try and hit every day, and then a few “side” projects that I can hit every day, or I can go back to whenever I feel like it. A few sentences in each every day yields a larger word count than you expect. On the flip side, having too many projects can be tough too.

…But Not too many that it feels overwhelming

Over the last few years that I’ve been taking writing seriously, there have been a lot of projects that languish and grow dull and lose their spark. Some days, I feel like writing a little bit in everything. Other days, I feel like throwing the project in the garbage. On those days, I move past that project and hope I feel more inclined to work on it in a few days. There are so many new sparks of ideas that come to me, many of which are those projects that have languished. So I have learned that the idea can be as fun as it wants, but that doesn’t mean I have to start it right away. Adding more projects to the massive list I have (oh and homework for my bachelor’s too), would be too overwhelming.

A few sentences a day go a long way…

There have been several days when a few sentences in a few projects will give me anywhere between 500 and 1500 words. If I have a short amount of time (hello, busy work and school life), I’ll write a few sentences where I can in a few projects. I’ll usually keep that streak up for a few days, then get busy and focus on a large project (like editing), but it helps to keep the momentum going by coming back to a project every day or even ever other day.

…But Sometimes momentum feels stilted.

Sometimes, when I give myself what I have been calling “5 Sentences and a thought” (Cute, right? 😂), the action of the scene can feel stilted, or worse, it takes me a month to write one scene. Depending on the day, sometimes 5:AT feels like slogging through mud. “I want to say this, but that is 6 sentences!” Or I don’t know where I want to go so I spend 5 sentences describing something mundane or describing a character’s inner thoughts badly. It can get comical, and at least I’m making progress, but most days after those sentences I tend to berate myself. “Really me?! No direction for today?”

Overall, the most important thing for me, since so many of these projects are first drafts, is getting the words down on the page and working through the story. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to get done. These are things that I’ve learned over the last 180+ days, and maybe in the next 180, I’ll throw it all out the window.

I’m learning, and I am growing. Most importantly, I’m writing every day.

 

What I’ve Learned: Participating in a Flash Fiction Writing Challenge

For the first time, I competed in a Flash Fiction writing contest. Flash Fiction is not really my style, since I enjoy writing long novels of over 100K and working on long short stories of upwards of 5K or more. Still, I decided to challenge myself and see what happened.

A little background on the contest and the rules. The NYC Midnight Flash Fiction writing challenge takes place over 48 hours, starting a few minutes before Midnight on Friday night and finishing a few minutes before midnight on Sunday. Competitors are given a genre, a location and an object and must write a story under 1000 words.

Here’a what I’ve learned (from round one)

I really enjoy having a hard deadline.

For a long time, I’ve been under my own dedlines. I have been a procrastinator all my life and to have a deadline set by someone else (and 48 hours at that!) was quite refreshing. To have consequences if I didn’t follow through was a powerful motivator.

I’m learning more about craft than I thought I already knew.

When handed a genre I wasn’t familiar with, I had to do a little research and find what worked and didn’t work for me. I was given a genre I don’t usually write in, or write in exclusively and it was interesting to feel like a brand new writer again and release an few things.

Working on something complete new is rejuvenating

I’ve been working on the same novel series, and editing book one for what feels like forever. It was refreshing to take a step back and work on something completely new, and short and quick.

Handwriting is best for first drafts.

When I started writing, it was all on paper. I didn’t have a smart phone or even a computer. It was nice to return to my roots and get the messy first draft out on paper, then edit it on paper. A physical copy makes a big difference, feeling the letters form from your hand is a powerful feeling.

1000 words is a lot and a little when each and every one of them counts.

1000 words or less. When I first read that I thought “How the heck can anyone tell a full and complete story in 1000 words or less?!” As I started writing and trying things out, I realized a decent story can be told in 1000 or less if you plan each and every word to work harder and choose words that are powerful. In the end, I like where my first round piece ended up, but there was so much more I wanted to say, but couldn’t. I had to stick with what I knew to be the most powerful and pack the most punch in the approximately 980 words it ended up being.

The results are still pending for round one, but either way, I am proud of myself!