Wedensday's Writer's Tip - Writing ABC - Countries #MFRWauthor #Writing

More exploration of setting - things a writer needs to know. This is about countries. This is the broadest of past of settings and bringing the reader into the story. Though your story may take place in the country where you live, you have a choice of which elements that make us a country to put into your book. You may be writing about a country where you have visited. Then you need to hone in on the things that interested you the most. Perhaps it's the Tower of London or the streets of Paris. The scene could be a country you're exploring in a historical setting for the story. Here you must make sure you don't have a structure that wasn't present in the time setting you've chosen. Readers like to point out anomalies. Now one can get away with this if they're writing an alternate world setting.

If you're writing fantasies you really need to invent your physical world and create a map if only in your head showing things like rivers, mountains and other such physical things. You may not use the all, but you'll have them on tap.

A good source of the physical world you can find are maps, atlases and books that show different climes. A class I had in college helps me with this and I often pull the small textbook for that course to help when I'm writing some world that is invented or some place I've been on the world I know. This is about as general as one sees the setting of a story. Just remember one little touch can be the one that makes the reader believe in what you've created.

Wednesday's Writer's Tip - Time #MFRWauthor #amwriting

When I think of Setting, I know I have to think about time. Time can be a valuable and vital part of setting the story. I seldom write historical romances but I do know when I have the time period of the story is a vital part of establishing the validity of the story. Life and attitudes were different in pre-written times and also in each century of man's existence. So making sure to read a bit about the time I'm writing about is important. Thinking about books I've written with a medical background, during the years I've been writing many things have changed, especially in the medical field so the time I'm writing about plays an important.

Time also involves seasons of the year. Each season and each month has a different flavor. Knowing this is important to the writer. One could have a snow storm in May but much would depend on where the story takes place. I do remember once when it snowed on Memorial Day and that was because of a freak cold front. Would I use this in a story. Maybe but probably not. So knowing the season it important. Also the month of the year. Though spring covers a number of months usually three, July is different from August. The writer needs to be aware of these things.

Time also involved time of day. Knowing when the sun rises might effect a story. Knowing when the sun sets could also have an effect. Having the villain creep in during the dark hours of the night would be different that having him creep about during the day.

So when you're writing be aware of time and the story will seem more real to the reader.

Wednesday's Writer's Tip - More on Showing Characterization #MFRWauthor #amwriting

Showing the character in action is important and there are many ways to do this. Last week 4 were mentioned. Today here are four more.

Give the character a tag that can be used to show what kind of person is or she is. She always bites her lower lip when she's nervous and she's nervous a number of times. Another character observing this will know what's happening. He stammers when he can't think of what to say. There are dozens of these tags you can give to show the character, One thing is to pick only one for a character and don't give that tag to others in the story.

re a way to show a character. He towers over everyone. She has piercing blue eyes, His hair is worn in a pony tail. There are many ways to make a physical attribute belong to a character. Here again if you're going to choose one of these to show your characters, chose the one that gives the most mileage. In the first description, you can use more than one of these tags but later, keep to the one. In a book I'm writing one of the characters has wintery eyes. They are cold and gray. Using other words for cold and gray his eyes characterize him.

There are other ways to tag a character ala mannerisms and habits.

For minor characters give them a dominant character type. I have a character in a book who speaks in dialect. You know immediately that she's speaking.

Contrasting characteris is also another way to characterize. One character is brash and bold. Another is shy and sweet. The contrast doesn't have to be blatant. Take two people who are loyal. One could go about showing this in a quiet way and the other be in everyone's face.

Names are another way to characterize. Many people think of a name such as Jane often put together with plain. Think of using the names to show a depth of character or for other reasons. I'm working on fantasy story where one character in each book is related to the others but don't know it. Ari, Larana and Arton. Using the Ar to show the relationship.