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Young Writers Society


Duncan's pre-writing journal



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Thu Sep 25, 2014 3:39 pm
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Duncan says...



Hello!
I am Duncan from Hong Kong.
I've had some ideas for novels, but I could never finish them. Right now I am trying to accomplish 3 projects. One is about a 'secret' of a school (well, that sounds similar enough...), consisting 3 books. I have got to attend school and dozens of extra-curricular activities (exaggeration warning signal), so I can only write 8 chapters of Book 2 (I am such a weird person- I started with book 2) plus 3 prologues so far. This is a series of school story/adventure, called 'Clarkson Chronicles' (?!?!?!)
The other one has only been a brief idea. It sounds like a crime-mystery to me.
The third is a series of short stories called 'Ten short days in a life', which is about the busy school life of F.3 under the education system in Hong Kong, narrated in different povs of students and teachers.
I am decided! I am trying to figure out Project No.2! Wish me luck, if you mind...
  





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Fri Sep 26, 2014 10:49 am
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Duncan says...



I would like to start challenge 2 first, since I had not started thinking what the story looks like to me. Maybe after I come up with some characters I would have some 'bling' flashes of ideas in my brain.


Full name: Stewart Thyme Skyler
Nickname: Thyme, Herbie
Age: 14
Birthday: 9th March, 2000
Colour of eyes: Chocolatey brown
Colour of hair: Black
Hair style: Short
Height: 168cm
Weight: a bit lighter than average
Distinctive features: smart-looking, carrying a lab menu wherever he goes
Favourite clothes: shirts and jeans
Favourite colours: green
Ethnic Background: British
Physical imperfections: Severe short sightedness- 600 degrees
Glasses: Black, round.
Family: One younger sister, father- a lawyer, mother- a wonderful housewife
A warm and cozy family, getting along with good cohesion
School: Aston School
Special Skills: Keen observation and logical inference
Expert aspects: Science
Hobbies: Reading manga and novels, and scientific magazines
Sports: Table tennis- though not very good at it
Personality: looks calm enough, but gets furious quite easily
Bad habits: Getting drawn back easily when he cannot explain or come up with a conclusion of some phenomena
Fears: Getting lower marks than 90 in tests, which will bring him to a situation where his classmates no longer think him as the top student
Hope: Enroll in a good university to study Chemistry
Faults: Every time he gets despair he locks himself in the room for hours, refusing to speak with anyone
Patience breaking point:
1. Anyone ignorant enough to shout wrong scientific facts at him, and after his explanation, continues to argue foolishly. He will then go into a tantrum for an hour.
Adorable traits: cannot get easily with girls- feel embarrassed and uncomfortable when girls are around.

I might add something more when I come up with more ideas. Stay tuned!
Dip your memory in the evening, and the rings will spread. And they spread to who knows how far away... -Ripple Effect
  





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Wed Oct 08, 2014 8:57 pm
Rosendorn says...



Okay, so how do any of these traits interact with the real world?

The character, right now, appears inherently selfish. Not in the sense he himself is selfish, but that he's written selfishly. You only mention how he is with others in any sort of detail three times, but neither of these traits translate into any sort of ramifications. If he throws tantrums when people are wrong, how does that impact his ability to make friends? If he can't get along easily with girls, how can he do anything with/around them, and how does that impact others' perceptive of him? If he withdraws when he doesn't understand something, how can he learn anything new?

Everything about him is just this network of things he does. It's not any reflection of who he is internally or how he gets along with others. The things we do are only a small part of who we are; there's our motive for doing them, our histories, our personalities, and how those traits make us appear to others. The attitude we do those traits with impact how others see us. If he's always serious when he's focusing, then that's one thing. If he's always smiling, that's another. People will see exactly the same acts drastically differently depending on the attitude and air around the person, and will in turn modify their behaviour around that person, who will then feel ramifications to that either as they get to know people ("you're a lot less intimidating than I thought you'd be!") or as people pull away or get closer (an internal "why are people treating me like this?")

You can't build a character with isolated traits. You have to mesh them together, figure out why those traits came up, and what results they get in the real world. People do not exist in a vacuum, and you have to figure out how they work outside themselves.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  








What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god -- the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals!
— William Shakespeare