How To Fend Off Angry Mobs Consisting of Your Own Characters

I adore Harold and Maude. Whee...

Do you... enjoy... knives?

Moohahahah!

Sam wrote:or we'll never get this story past the initial, "I'm half a prince!" epiphany.

- I love you Sam. *hugs*

Matthias sounds look an interesting character (not to mention that I adore that name). I don't know if you've done this or not, but I find that outlining a character's goal and the conflicts that hinder that goal can be helpful; making a 'character skeleton' also helps. (character skeleton is where you write as many pages as you want all about your character's past, ambitions, personality, goals, weaknesses and anything else you want etc. It is very helpful.)

Well, good luck with 'em!

That's a good idea- he's the character I know least about, and he's very important in the beginning. Blabbering about characters in biography form is very fun, as well, so there's no way to go wrong.

Ambitions is something to think about...thanks, WD. In my normal cynical state, I'd have only picked out his flaws.

Teehee, CL is cool, too! She can join the Harold and Maude fan club.

...I've got a new idea for a story.

A novel, maybe.

Maybe.

It completely goes against my strict "No stories set before 1850" policy, but, eh, for an interesting idea? Anything'll do.

One word: Holocaust.

*runs to go research* Aye, I'd forgotten how much [cough] fun settling into a new time period was.

Ooooh! Alternative history or not? What have you got so far? Do tell.

Urgh, in that regard...I haven't got much. Just a few characters whose perspective I thought would be interesting: a kid at Thereseinstadt, an HJ member whose paternal grandmother was Jewish- just pretty basic skeletal ideas.

Maybe first person? Hmm.

*dances about in a research frenzy*

It's odd. On Monday and Tuesday I critiqued about five pieces each and wouldn't touch the writing, and now it's all I want to do. I'm determined to do more than miserably in the points contest this week...I'm a sucker for competition. And hasty critiques.

I LOVE the Holocaust. What will you be writing about, at least, like do you have any more ideas? I can't wait to read more!

Ooh, La Plume Noire's back up- and led by Imp! *jumps for joy* I'm rather excited; the challenges are really good. It's a quote, a game, and a picture prompt, I think...go see for yourself! Join! That sort of thing.

OH, THE JOYS OF CHILDREN'S TELEVISION:

I was watching that show "Max And Ruby" with my brother over Cheerios this morning- you know, the one with the rabbits? Where the older sister is the rabbit version of a prat, and the little brother gets into all sorts of mischievous, monosyllabic fun? Yeah...

Anyway, the title of the episode was "Ruby Writes a Story". I've determined that Ruby writes in rather the same fashion as I...she makes a big show of sharpening all her pencils and sweeping up the shavings, then taking forever to write the first line, and then starts with something lame like "Once upon a time".

And then she goes to get a drink.

She begins wandering around and wondering about her characters, and then goes to get a snack...and never actually writes anything until the end of the episode. Really. I think I've got a potential friend in you, Ruby- I am sorry for calling you a prat in rabbit form. Harmless joke, really...

A VERY BAD IDEA:

I set out to outline Hourglass last night- not a very good thing to do when it's already late and it would be advisable to go to bed, anyway.

Eh. The little clock at the top of the screen said 2:30 AM when I finally tore myself away from Word- it was a lot of pen chewing and pacing and snack-getting and looking up Decemberists lyrics. You know, the usual procrastination activities.

Hmm...I have fifty-seven chapters, thus far, and I'm a third of the way through? As I told dearest Claudester, my highly educated, verbose mind says, "This thing is freaking HUGE."

But, I have discovered by favorite character- ever! Or rather, one of them. I love them all, except when it's late and they won't cooperate.

ADELAIS: who used to be a side character, but now dominates "Character Answer Game". Basically- his mum's in the Hourglass, and so there's this weird tension of 'he's his best friend, but it would make his mom happy if he turned Luke in' and that sort of thing, because his mom is the only one who's civil towards him.

Yeah, he's freeform artsy boy in a family of Emotionless Male Hunters. And his twin sister dies and everything, and since it was technically a felony and a disease to be gay, he's hopped up on opium most of the time (grand parenting, no?). And then there's Mr. Smart, who's awfully despicable but such a grand character to write for. He makes people cringe.

And then, to add to the Foreign Brigade- Kostya and Mei Cheng! Kostya is Upton's science tutor, since Upton goes to Big Boy School two years ahead of schedule and doesn't have the education to keep up in that particular subject. Erm...he's Russian and rather hot, for lack of a better word.

Mei Cheng only appears after a series of totally awesome plot twists (in my humble and usually incorrect opinion). She's the wife of a Chinese tea-cargo-sailor-turned-pirate, who learned English from a woman's magazine, in the hope that she could barter with ship's captains and such to get the best deal.

Unfortunately...her feet are bound, so she has to be carried everywhere, and the only English vocabulary she's got have to do with dress patterns and curling one's eyelashes.

*dances about* Now, if only they weren't such a pain to work with, we'd be all set. I want to finish this stupid thing before it eats me alive...which, in all honesty, it shall probably do.

LETTERS FROM DEAD MEN:

Ah..."The Something Beneath the Stairs". You knew I was going to ramble on about that next, didn't you?

Anyway, it's based off this nightmare I had- not so much nightmare as 'lucid dream turned regular dream gone terribly wrong', and then I learned that my subconscious mind has a thing for ripping off fariytales. Oh, dear?

But, yeah. I get to write from a dead person's perspective! It's the best thing that's happened to me, writingwise, since I wrote a story about the Easter bunny complaining about his work in first grade.

...that's a little pitiable, no?

I'm off to critique- toodles!

Yeah, he's freeform artsy boy in a family of Emotionless Male Hunters. And his twin sister dies and everything, and since it was technically a felony and a disease to be gay, he's hopped up on opium most of the time (grand parenting, no?).

Oh, really? I have been now told by various voices in the head, those voices most likely characters that have created themselves in the void of my brain, the dark and/or blank spaces between forced cognition, that Adelais is a something short of a crack whore, that he is a den boy.

Poor kid.

I love the part about Emotionless Male Hunters, it should be some kind of title like Baron or Lord, or some kind of badge, like everytime they introduce themselves they are like -- "Well, hello. I am [Lord, Baron, Wig-maker so-and-so], Emotionless Male Hunter." or "Well, hello, I am [Lord, Baron, Wig-maker] [so-and-so], and I am an Emotionless Male Hunter." or "Well, hello, I am [Lord, Baron, Wig-maker so-and-so], I belong to Emotionless Male Hunters."

I have this really awesome power-point that I made about Opium for my AP Psych class in high-school including the history of the drug, the affects of humans, and some really good quotes by addicts, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

I'll email it to you. I think you would enjoy it, and it would help with some research, I certainly did, enjoy it that is.



Oh, and, I am getting farther along with both fan-mixes. Fun stuff!

Well, cheerios,
Cal.

Ooh, you shall have to! My research is a bit lacking; I really haven't read up on anything in awhile. I'm rusty.

...teehee, maybe the voices are right? Poor Addy. It's not really his fault, either- the Emotionless Male Hunters are out to get him.

Your characters sound majorally disfunctional in Hourglass, Sam. More so than Bound for Glory, which means, a compition? XD

But colonial America; all those people were a bit... off-centured, to sugarcoat the truth, by like 90% Ain't the period fun for that though?

They were all a bit addled- but that's why we love them! *hugs Welcome* How is he doing, currently?

...ooer, a Dysfunction Competition. I like the sound of that!

*hugs Welcome* How is he doing, currently?

Currently, not well at all. He finally, at long last, revieled the true nature of his Father. Not exactly the reactions I had expected but as he spoke, it was as if Welcome was entranced. I think those types of wounds are so cutting that it can unconciously transform them into a child sometimes. Their childhood was stripped. It wasn't on purpose but if you ever read it again slowly, you might catch small examples of Welcome acting way younger than his real age.

I feel very sorry for him. It's weird though. I don't think if it had not been for revolutionary activities... I just wonder if he would have spilled his memories to his family if Welcome had not migrated and stayed in England.

Sorry, rambling...

Hmm...I have fifty-seven chapters, thus far, and I'm a third of the way through? As I told dearest Claudester, my highly educated, verbose mind says, "This thing is freaking HUGE."

But, I have discovered by favorite character- ever! Or rather, one of them. I love them all, except when it's late and they won't cooperate.

Sounds like fun. 57 chapters? Very exciting. ^_~ Are you going to post more of Hourglass on YWS? If you ever need another pair of eyes, I would be more than happy to take a look at some of it.

On that note, I'm going to have take a look at Something Beneath the Stairs one of these days...

Ooer, I have not posted on this thing in forever. Mainly because of Livejournal, partly because I'm lazy...

D IS FOR DIPHTHERIA: Still...not...finished...I've probably tacked on about another five thousand words to it since NaNo, and am working on editing the first few chapters. I would owe you my soul and eternal friendship if you would take a look at 'em--there's a link in my signature.

Currently, I'm adding in plot arcs that I skipped on purpose in NaNo in order to stay on course with word count. Sukie's presidential run and relationship with Daniel has not been written, nor has Carl's angst about Todd...I'm slowly working on the latter. Here is something that I have gleaned thus far: do not work on a particularly angsty plot arc without taking precautions for your mental health and well-being. There is only so much ogling one writer can take.

I was having a POV Crisis in which I was not certain whether to tell the story entirely from Carl's POV, but I took a look at Naked and Ashamed and re-discovered why I decided to make Sukie the main character in the first place. It made me feel warm and fuzzy, with new resolve to work with her...

And the art teacher comes back. Mr. Gibbons. Oh, how I love him.

I should resolve to finish it soon, and then, because I am immature, post a Naughtiness Index. D ranks pretty high. XD

NERDY STORY REGARDING D:

They sat there awkwardly, the sound of titanium on plastic echoing out from various places.

"Uhm.We're the only state with a unicameral legislature. Did you know that?"

"Everyone knows that, Carl."

Carl's father was trying, yes, but he was rather good at killing conversations- nipping them in the bud.

Carl began to laugh uncontrollably. "Did…did you know that Nebraska has a unicameral legislature?"

"I did know that, Carl."

He made himself shut up, somewhat by force, and pulled the curtains away from the window, occupying his hands to keep himself from hearing the awkward silence on the other side of the line. "You're coming back…tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

More silence. Carl had the strange, continuous impulse to fill it. "Did you know that peanuts aren't actually nuts- they're legumes?"

"No, I did not know that."

Carl sighed. "I'm sorry."

"I don't care. It's kind of cute."

Guess what my first question on the Civics/Nebraska History CRT?

Which state is the only state with a unicameral legislature?

I started laughing like a loon.



LAZY BONES: ...

I cursed this story at the beginning of November, but lo and behold, I love it again? Does this make any sense? Answer: no.

Basic synopsis: William, a blissfully scatterbrained Confederate soldier, is shot somewhere in the deep swamplands of Louisiana. However, due to a loophole in the laws of the universe, his soul doesn't fully separate from his body--all because of his awkward romance with Anezka, waiting patiently back home. He meets the Witchmother, who agrees to save him if he re-learns what it means to be human--fun vices, instinct, quirk, and all.

Normally, I hate female main characters, but Anezka thoroughly kicked some posterior. Ergo, I love her.

HOURGLASS: *pines* So! I decided to work in the first part of the book in through backstory, so that Luke is viewed from the outside until the third part. This will be nice, especially since I focus so much more on the other characters while he is at school, and there's not that lurking feeling of, "Where'd the bastard child go? Wasn't he about to die?"

Unfortunately, this brings my 33,000 words down to...zero. But I get to start with Upton and Barclett now, and, despite what the Mary Sue Litmus Test says I should do, if you do not love Upton there is something emotionally wrong with you.

Hmm, so yummy. I should outline. ^_^

THE SCRIMSHAW COMPANY PLAYERS: This originally started as a short story for Cal's contest, but I think it's sparked somewhat of a novella. XD Basically: Lord Scrimshaw, war hero, birdwatcher, and amateur filmmaker, is a man with seven wives, all of them quite young and quite strange. Though, instead of using them for *ahem*ness, he writes dramas and has them act them out on a small stage set up at his home. However, when he begins fading to black and white, just as his movies do, the wives freak out and do something that I haven't plotted yet. Fun ensues.

I'm doing it in first person, though, which is scary. But necessary, I think...