Tuesday - The Writer's Life - Do you have a system? #MFRWauthor #amwriting #system

You've finished all those books on writing and think you have a system. Don't be disheartened when the system doesn't seem to work the way you thought it should. Beginning to write a story will show you a lot of twists and turns. When all seems amiss you need to sit back and look at the parts of the story.

First you have the characters. Can you visualize them in your mind? You may need some pictures from magazines to help with this visualization. If you do, don't feel bad. That's a good way to start with seeing those tricky characters. Next, think about what they want. Is this something the reader can identify with. Do they want love, money, friends. Make your decision and make sure that's strong. Then you need to consider why they want what they have chosen. Make sure this is a strong reason. And look at all the characters who will people your story. Their wants and reasons must be strong as well. If you have a hero who's wants and reasons are weak and the heroine's are strong, the story will have problems. Next consider how they are going to go about achieving their desires. Make sure these ways fit the character you've developed. If they aren's the story will fall flat and the reader will decide the character is acting out of character.

So with characters, you need a physical description that makes the person come alive to the reader. How do they talk? What is their experience in life? What sort of job do they have? All these things and more influence the character.

You need to look at their emotional self and their manner of walk, dress and many other things. With the characters well in hand, you consider starting again. But there's one more thing you need to consider. That's Setting and next week, I'll give that a try.