My Writing: Three Things I've Learnt (That Seem Perfectly Obvious But Took Me Years To Figure Out)

As some of you might already know, in an effort to write better dialog for my stories, I've taken on the challenge of writing a visual novel, one of the most dialog heavy modes of entertainment that I know of.

Well, it's already been helpful and I've learnt things by doing this that I might never have figured out otherwise.


#1 It's okay to have a sentence before you have a speaker.
A conversation doesn't have to be a 'round robin'. If a character truly wouldn't say the words that NEED to be said to push the conversation along, it's perfectly fine to pick the character that would say it. (EG: It's Kenyon's 'turn' to speak, but he wouldn't say that - or, really, anything to push the conversation along - but Eleria would, so it's a great idea to have her say it.)

#2 You don't have to use the first words that come to your mind.
I have a fairly specific way of talking and thinking - I think most people probably do - so the first words that come to my mind won't always be the words a character would say. There is nothing wrong with taking a few moments, reminding yourself which character is talking and getting their words right. Or even during a read-through, changing the when it's obvious they wouldn't say that.

#3 Backspace and delete is your friend.
Sometimes the conversation/scene can't be saved. You've gotten off on a tangent that there's no editing and improving. So what if it's two pages worth? Delete it. Don't even think about saving it. Delete!


And there are three things that I've learnt during this experiment. Sure, they seem totally obvious to me now, but a few months ago, I never had even thought any of these things.

My Writing: Character Voice is Difficult

I will warn you right now, this is mostly a rant/stream of consciousness type thing. So, it's not well thought out. So if you read it, do so at your own risk.

I've been having this huge problem lately.

I've discovered, as I try to write my stories, that all my characters sound the same. The prince sounds like the mercenary sounds like the duchess sounds like the inventor sounds like the historian...ect.

I get that characters are supposed to sound different. They're supposed to be products of their environment and how they grew up and their education level.

Instead? They all sound like me.

Grand, ain't it? They all sound like middle-class, high school diploma, twenty something women from mid-America.

What am I supposed to do with that? I mean, honestly. How are my characters even supposed to sound? (About the only answer I got is 'not like me'. At least not usually.)

I've tried character personality sheets, but them things just seem to make it worse because they want to know things like 'do you characters sleep in the nude while away from home?' How is something like that even going to help with character building - much less voice?

I've tried thinking about what the characters want, but that really only helps with internal voice, not when they talk. (And I'm almost okay if the narration sound the same between characters so...)

I've heard it said that you shouldn't be able to read more than a couple sentences without tags before knowing who's talking. With my characters? You'd never be able to tell who's talking without tags. (Unless, maybe if they're talking to their oldest friend, and even then...probably not.)

So, I've been trying something for the past two months.

Have you even heard of visual novels? (If you haven't go look them up because I'm not explaining it.) I've been trying to write one. Just a short one, but so far it has helped me a little because so much of the characters and information is communicated through dialogue.

Which means I constantly have to stay on top of the differences in my characters. So far the differences are fairly simple - but it's also helped me out a lot.

One of the most important things I've learnt is that characters don't have to say the first thing that comes to your mind - and they certainly don't have to phrase it the first way I think of it.

Seems simple, but I think my writing just got a little better. :)

My Writing: 'The Thirteenth City' Names

Why does choosing names for characters have to be so darn difficult? It seems that the only time I'm decent at choosing proper names is when it's a fantasy story set on a very, very different world from ours.

The story I'm currently working on isn't set on a different world. (But our world is very, very different than what it's like right now.) I won't go into spoilers - because if I ever actually get this finished, I have some awesome twists on the way!

However, I am supposed to have a diverse cast. That's the plan, anyhow. When I first sat down and started writing, I just went with the first good sounding names for the characters, confident they'd either grow into them or a better one would make itself known.

That left me with:

Zheng - An older Chinese inventor. (I actually researched this name a bit and am super happy with it.)

Legretta - A 30-something history professor. Possibly Russian. Or German. (I don't know. I sort of like the name, but all I can liken her to is the woman from Tales of the Abyss.)

Aileen - A student. Supposedly Russian or German but certainly sounds more Irish. (I HAVE to change this name. It makes her all shy and meek and docile and I can't write a woman like that!)

Soracha - Mercenary/treasure hunter. Unknown origins. (Hell, I wasn't even sure if that was his first name, last name or pseudonym. Then I found out it's a Gaelic name for a girl...)

Mikayla - Pilot. Possibly mixed heritage. Maybe Arabic, but I'm thinking Spanish. (And that's too English sounding of a name but every other one I look at sucks!)

Miles - Inventor. Probably half-Chinese. (And what kind of name is that for a half-Chinese boy? Really?)

Caedyn - Spoiler! (I don't think I could ever find a name more perfect than this one. What I love about it is that it's so simple, but looks complicated.)

Not to mention the fact that I've heard said you should never have two main characters whose names start with the same letter. And I've only been able to find names that end with 'a' that I like the sound of. And when I have to say Legretta, Soracha and Eliska, I start to feel funny.

The I also have the problem of not waiting to have names that are either too popular or too 'out there.' I mean, I don't want the reader to be constantly reminded every time they read a name that this character is from this country and etcetera. The hardest thing though is to choose names that don't already have some prior connotation for me.

(For example, I once named a young woman in one of my stories Daphne. I love the name Daphne, but it was years before I stopped thinking of Daphne Blake every time I wrote the name or thought it.)

So, I put my baby names book and behindthenames to good use. And nameberry.

Then I had:

Zheng - (Which, ideally, will never change because the name goes to the old curmudgeon perfectly.)

Gretel - (I can totally hear all the Hansel & Gretel jokes she heard growing up, and her responses to them.)

Eliska - (I like the name. Beyond that, I think the slight connotation I have with it I can easily ignore.)

Soracha - (Every other name I found that I could see him being called starts with a 'K' and, spoken, that would be too similar to Caedyn.)

Valora - (I actually like this a lot. It's different but no totally out there, and it offers several good nicknames. And it sounds just exotic enough.)

Atticus - (Truthfully, he was never a 'Miles' - at least not once I started getting his character pegged down. And this is a much more classy name. Besides, it's totally believable that an English parent would want to name their child something less foreign sounding. Not sure about history, but his Chinese parent might have been dead by this point. Or the name was a dying wish. Yeah, I think I'm trying to convince myself, but he is totally an Atticus.)

Caedyn - (There's a small part of me that wants to go with an Egyptian name. Eventually, depending which direction the story goes in, it might be revealed that this is the either easy to pronounce or the bastardized version of his name. Or a nickname. Or any of about a half-dozen other options that would explain it. But, for now, I'm keeping this name. And, yes, there is a reason why his name sound simple compared to the others.)


So, I'd love to hear what you think of either set of names. How important are names to you in books? Do you like it when a character fits their name perfectly, or do you prefer when the name is a psych-out and they're the opposite? If you're a writer, do you have problems choosing names for your characters?

My Writing: I Fail and Clockpunk

You know, it's totally the strangest thing, I have been struggling a lot lately in writing. It seems that no matter what idea I have, no matter how much I love the characters and what I'm working on, I struggle to really sit down and write. Just write.

Well, back around the middle of February, I was clicking around the internet - how people do - and found a picture.

It's basically just these gears floating through the sky that people live on!

As soon as I saw it, I said 'I want to write a story like that.' So, I sat down and started writing. In the space of a week, I think I got more written for this than I have anything else I've tried to write in the past six months.

Now, it's not perfect, but it's a plot and characters that I can see myself building over time and loving.

I don't know what, exactly, it means for my fantasy stories I want to write, but for now, I'm going where my muse takes me. And, right now, she's taking me to a world filled with clockwork gears floating in the sky, strange Egyptian steampunk, aliens and air trains.

We'll see how things go and I might be ready to share some of this with you next month!

Emperor Fuzwarts Magic

I had really hoped that by now I'd have some actual writing to show you - but I failed miserably at getting anything written last month. However, I did get some brainstorming done, so now I get to share with you my magic system. Originally, this story wasn't even going to have magic, but once one of my main characters became a magic user, I had to. ;)

WIP Codename: Emperor Fuzwarts
Progress: First Draft
I'm very early in the first draft of this story. Working on world building and trying to get my characters to point B quicker. (That is, get them out of the city and on their mission/quest/thingy.)

In this world, there are Four Ancient Dragons, existing from the beginning of time, since the world was created out of chaos. Each dragon represents one of the four elements, Earth, Air, Fire or Water.

All magic ability is directly linked to each of the four elements and to access it, you must form a 'contract' with the dragon that represents it.

Usually wizards can only contract to one dragon and that's a lifetime contract. But, occasionally, a human might be able to contract to two or three of the dragons. Twice in recorded history, a human contracted to all four.

To use a magic skill, you have to 'pay' for it to the dragon. The payment varies between dragons and the amount of magic used. For example, Frozen Rain (a Water Dragon spell) might cost you a bowl of water at a temple, but Landslide (an Earth Dragon spell) might cost three drops of blood.

Sadly, the cost also varies with the dragon's mood and how much it likes the spellcaster. (Try using a spell for a dragon you haven't contracted to and chances are great, nothing will happen. Occasionally, something might, but not necessarily anything good.)

Now, when I say dragons, I mean it. These are actual living, breathing, mortal dragons. Yes, these same dragons have been alive tens of thousands of years. Yes, they can die. (As a plot in a later story shows.) And, yes, they can take on human appearance. But they are dragons. Not exactly normal dragons from the world - because we have a few of those too - but these are the Four Ancient Dragons.

As I mentioned earlier, these dragons can take on human form - though they often don't, preferring the solitude that their power affords them.

They do have minions, though!

There we have a quick look at my magic system. Really, after all this, I'd love to write a story about these dragons.

I do plan to make up a whole slew of magic spells for each element - and a few that combine elements - as well as a whole personality sketch-up for each of the Ancient Dragons. I might post it whenever I get there, so let me know if you're interested.

Pictures From

Here

Here

Here

Here

Emperor Fuzwarts: The Main Cast

Hey, everyone! It's time for my second update on my current WIP! (So excited! If the over use of exclamation points wasn't getting it across.)

WIP Codename: Emperor Fuzwarts
Progress: First Draft
I'm very early in the first draft of this story. I'm still ironing out the plot and characters and world building.


Now, allow me to introduce you to the three main characters.

Kyran Vaile

Kyran is kind of - okay, okay - majorly abrasive. He acts cold and aloof all the time and has a sarcastic response to anything and everything that he doesn't want to give an honest reply to. Which is pretty much everything. He doesn't have friends, merely people that want something from him, as he says with that 'don't you dare pity me' glare.

Fallon Temple

The guy you go to if you want a party - especially if you want him to be the life of the party. Fallon is friendly and approachable and so not at all what he first appears. He's kind of flirty to everyone, usually just to make them blush or get them flustered. There are plenty of people that like him, but none that take him seriously.

Tanith Avery

Tanith is hotheaded and somewhat violent. Her answer to picking a lock is breaking the door down instead. She's physically strong and is perfectly willing to use it, but also friendly and outgoing. Plenty of people consider her a friend, but she always thinks they either want something from her, or don't know her at all.

And, that's it. Can you believe I am trying to tell a fantasy story with only three main characters?! So, what do you think of them? And, no, they totally do not dress like that. Well, not if they have a choice ;)

I own none of the pictures or the characters depicted therein. Found on Zerochan. If someone would like to do fan art for me, I would love you forever in a totally not stalker way.

Not really sure what next month is going to bring, but hopefully I've accomplished a lot thanks to November being NaNoWriMo. *crosses fingers*

Introducing: Emperor Fuzwarts! (AKA: My WIP)

I fail. Okay, so if not at life, at least at writing and remaining true to what I said I was going to do. You know that story I said last month I was working on writing? Yeah, it fell through. That and I so don't know the kind of story it's even supposed to be. Let's say 'too many ideas and none of them coming clear.' So, while that story's on the back burner for awhile, I have decided to focus on a story that I've been thinking about for years.

WIP Codename: Emperor Fuzwarts
Progress: First Draft
I'm very early in the first draft of this story. I'm still ironing out the plot and characters and world building.

Why Emperor Fuzwarts?
I've never been good at naming my WIP. I either wind up with something that has no bearing to the story, or that I get way too attached to. The phrase 'Emperor Fuzwarts' just came to me. It's odd. It's something that I'm in no danger of wanting to keep. And it's unique. (No, the Emperor doesn't have fuzzy warts. At least, not yet.)

No, Why Emperor Fuzwarts
This story has been in my mind for years. Three people, members of the Royal Guard that would do anything for each other? Yeah, that's not what the story is now. Now we are actually seeing when they first meet and how they really don't get along. But the core has stayed the same. It's funny, I don't like moralistic stories, but I do like the ones that are trying to say something. Well, my fuzzy warted Emperor is certainly trying to say something through this story.

What is Emperor Fuzwarts?
EF is a fantasy/steampunk amalgamation set in a fantasy world. There probably won't be many - if any - fantasy creatures, but there will be gods and magic. More importantly though, EF is a story about three cadets training for the Guard. Early on in the story, they have their final test and, when the three characters are teamed up on their 'Field Exam' (basically sending the trainees out on a mission without instructors) they must learn to work together. EF is a story about misfits fitting in with each other, about friendship and what three people can accomplish.

What was Emperor Fuzwarts inspired by?
The Legend of the Legendary Heroes - anime show
Autumn's Journey - visual novel
Behind Closed Doors by Rise Against
Brother by NEEDTOBREATHE feat. Gavin Degraw

Or, to sum it up in one picture:

Fanart of Legendary Heroes

EF is about friendship, more than anything else and I have derived inspiration from some great friendships.

I hope I can actually work on this story - definitely not been having the time I want to - and that you enjoyed learning about my creative endeavor. Next month I plan to introduce my three main characters.

Introducing My Fantasy Cast

Something you probably don't know about me is that I'm working on a story. Something that, one day, I'd like to see published. I've worked on things before, posting them online or them just getting shoved back by the dust bunnies on my flash drives. But, there's this fantasy book that I'm in the process of writing and, in hopes that I'll be able to keep my energy for it up, I decided to start posting things about it here. (It's a whole different monster working on this without having to post a chapter at a time.)

Don't worry, this will probably only be a monthly feature (certainly not going to take over my blog) where I talk a little about something to do with my story, or maybe post a scene or…well, something. While I've been thinking about doing this for awhile, I really can't say for certain what the best use of this feature will be for me.