Character Traits Shake-Up Game and Character Generator Resource

Want to break up your routine for coming up with characters? Play a game! Come on. It'll be fun.

And the characters in your head might play too. Or they'll hate you for it. Let's see!

You're familiar with those shake-box-full-of-names-and-pick-one drawings. This is like that.

Character Trait Shake-Up Game

Materialz:

- Shoe box with lid
- tongue depressors
- two different colored markers
- pen and paper
- (optional) unbiased minion
- (opt.) Trait Thesauruses (Thesaurai?)

1. Write out boxes for your random characters. You can use these for anything. I'm gonna use them as a resource in case I need a new minor character, or an idea for a main for future books.

2. Write down as many negative personality traits as you want. I chose 27 with the pink marker. Then write down the positive traits with the other colored marker. (I also chose 27.) Keep the negative and positive traits segregated. 

3. Put one set of traits in the shoe box and summon your minion (if you have one). Have them shake up the box and choose 3 sticks.

4. Repeat this as many times as desired. If you followed this, just fill up the right side of the four character boxes. Move on to the positive traits and do the same. You could even keep the used sticks out of the box for no repeats.

5. You made random characters! Congrats!

There are also generators online if you're not a kinesthetic type, or don't want to bother with this activity. Here are some resources that quickly help you in the character field:

Three random traits: Random Character Trait Generator

Simple button to push and write down whatever shows up.

Complete character: Character Design Inspiration Generator

To play, just take a screenshot of the section

(Command+Shift 4 for Macs)

you want for making your character.

Character quirks and other randomizers: Quirk Generator

How fun is this? I giggled. I use quirks of mine and place them in all my characters, but if you want total random, try this generator. They also made lots others for role-playing and writing. Fantastic!

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Hope was this fun for you as I had making it. My little monster liked choosing for me, so I'm glad he helped with my writing. He's patient when I work but needs that attention from mom. Probably why I don't get work done as fast as everyone else. But work is work. Family is everything. They're only kids before they're not.

Tell me your thoughts! How do you make your characters? Are there different ways you found interesting? I'd love to know. 

Please comment! 

5 Ways to Reward Yourself During NaNoWriMo

First thing I hear about rewarding yourself includes food. Buy an extra sugary coffee, go splurge on ice cream. I treat all my reward systems like I treat my fitness one: the healthy, non-detrimental way. Certain foods may not have the same effect on you as it does me, but if I carb load or have one too many sugar yums I am in a coma or just the laziest person ever. If I start writing again after I rewarded myself with sugary snack, I will fall asleep with my hands on the keyboard, and nothing further accomplished.

How should we reward ourselves? Rewards should improve our state of mind, alleviate stress, and I know you're thinking "sugar alleviates stress and improves my state of mind", or "beer alleviates..." "chocolate improves..." and I say, you will use it as a crutch and it will break, and drown you. I know. I've been there. Using food as a reward leads to more food and more food and--oh look at that, I will have gained back every pound I ever fought hard to get rid of since I started my weight loss journey back in 2011. Yes, people. I'm bringing this up because I used to be fat and I will not be fat again. I hated how I felt and food reward systems are dumb. All food reward systems will lead me back to how I was. If you are working tirelessly to lose weight, maintain it, or just be healthy--maybe you're starting your nutritional awareness and want to find other means of rewards--this is the list to inspire you to not pick up that donut because you just sat there for hours upon hours and met your word count goals.

1. New Book or Journal
2. Staycation
3. Venture Out
4. Exploit Capitalism
5. Hire Loved One as Servant for a Day

1. New Book or Journal 

Every writer loves paper. Every writer should be reading books to absorb the finished product of other writers, either as entertainment, or to be inspired, or as personal development. I call it personal development because, truly, I don't like reading. Why do I not like reading? Because I love reading and I am constantly bombarded by crappy books, or at least crappy starts. (I will prey forever on the gnawed bones of Veronica Roth for betraying her fanbase.) What makes me giddy is paper. I think you love it too. Don't hide it. Embrace it. Have you reached 5k words in a day? Go out and grab new materials for your writing wantiez and needz. It's okay if you buy another pack of colored pens even though your drawer is stuffed full of them from years of gathering.
I am the Squirrel of Pens. Hear me squeak.

Squeaker squeak squeaken.

2. Staycation

Yesterday I thought this was a great idea. The sun shined, I was done writing by 1000, I got my workout done by 1200, and all I wanted to do was try, and grab those rays with Vitamin D before another rain cloud hit.

 (Hawaii in fall is all rain and wind or solid overcast. It's been rare to see the sun for longer than half a day. Like right now...it's pouring out. It could be all sun northshore, but I don't know. Never trust Hawaii weather. It's the mistress of deception. lol...anyway.)

I took the rest of my day as a sign to unwind. I fed my child and I and, while he played, I lounged in the backyard, and read. Personal development and Vitamin D. Spf 8 so I can stay out longer and I got to live in another writer's world for hours. I sharpened my most important writing tool and got great nutritional value out of the elusive sun. Win-Win (that's Franklin Covey, btw.). 

Take the time to enjoy your home. You don't have to read. Maybe you're sick of reading and just want to play video games. That's cool too. But stay on schedule. Don't tune out the world for too long or you'll wonder what happened to the years of your life.

3. Venture Out

Got family? Take them with you. Go to the beach, a bounce house, or a park. Is it raining? Good. Splash in the puddles. Be a kid again. Enjoy life. Enjoy the oxygen. This one isn't about going to the movies or staying indoors. If you're writing a book that involves the environment, get in the environment! Remember the smells and the feels. Remember what triggers certain thoughts. Don't write it down! This is to live in the moment with yourself or with kids or with your lover. I got a friend who just took her Honeymoon over to Kauai. She's venturing out to Haleakala Crater, and hiking the Na Pali coast, and she just took a helo to see the stuff her feet will miss. A gorgeous place to be (another place where you cannot trust the weather). You can even play a game. Become one of your characters and respond to the world as they would. Did they take a lunch break? What did they order? Have they even seen this century before? That should be even funner. Oh yes. I said funner.

Enjoying the Outdoors now?

4. Exploit Capitalism

You knew this was coming. I don't like to shop unless I know what I'm looking for and then my mind goes into different trails of importance and I remember things I needed to get, so I end up shopping longer. But this is where I need you to focus. I'll try to focus too. FOCUS! Okay. Buy ONE thing that is a luxury item that does not count towards your writing. It can have writing inspiration stuff on it, if you want. But I want you to steer away from buying binders or paper. Omit tools or personal development. Got it? Make it count!

• Shoes
• Clothes
• Jewelry
• Accessories
• Cosmetics (oh you know this includes nail polish! Eeeee!)
• Lotion or other Hygiene Luxury Products
• Candles
• Phone case
• Framed Print
• Video Game
• DVD/Blu-Ray/3D
• Recreational Item

What did I miss? Most of these shouldn't blow a budget if you have one. Just count it under luxury (Dave Ramsey can help you, here, or I can give you a quick rundown--message me) and enjoy the purchase. No buyer's remorse, please. One item. Keep it simple. Cash or Debit. And know that it was purchased from your hard work!

5. Hire Loved One as Servant for the Day

You have told them you're doing NaNoWriMo. You told them it's going to be hard and they should forgive you for any snappy comebacks or lashing-outs you might make. You have done well. Very well. So well in fact you can ask them to pamper you. Do so respectively. You're not a queen or king, but if you say "hey, may I take a break for the day, and you help me relax?" I guarantee they will do their best to make this happen. If not, reconsider who your loved ones are. Unless they're sick or just got off work from 24-hour duty, request it. My husband tells me every day he's super proud of me for doing this. He watches me type insane amounts of words. Insane in my book is over 2,000, because life as a mom does not usually let me write that much in a day. Yet I am performing mommy writer miracles. I ask him to take care of the chores for the day and he has no problem. 

If you can find a day for your loved one to do this for you, so you don't have to stress about the house being a mess, or you being a total dirt bag and not bathing for two days (accused and guilty), make it happen. Have them run you a bath. While you're soaking, they'll do the dishes, or make dinner. If you're a working family, do this over the weekend. If they must treasure their days off, then just have them do a chore or two that you would usually do. We're a military family so all off-days are precious. But my hubby can deal with cleaning the kitchen so it's not dragging through my mind when I also need that precious off-time.

NaNoWriMo?
Good heavens, Master Wayne.
I do think you're in over your head.

After you're done with NaNo, maybe you can pamper them back. It's a balanced relationship. It's supposed to be anyway. Both of you serve each other. Both of you love each other. Let them show you. And you show them.

Don't pamper me, sir.

= = = = = = = = = = = =

Avoid the junk food. It hinders your production and leaves your body feeling icky. It might release those endorphins for a time, but you'll be hurting.

You are worth being healthy. You are worth taking care of yourself. Don't let yourself or anyone else tell you different. Find the healthy rewards. You'll look back on it later and be thankful you did.

One last thing: don't reward yourself for every little thing.

Make a challenging goal, set it, and when you reach it, choose your reward. Is it to break your word count of the day from 2,000 to 5,000? Or maybe 750 to 1,500? Is it to reach the NaNoWriMo badges, like 10k or 25k? Make the goal short-term and when the long-term goal is achieved, it's a whole new sense of accomplishment that may be a reward in itself.

I know when I finished my first novel, I was on top of the world, and was so excited about the second, that I just ran right into outlining the second.

My rewards for finishing the overall goal were: (1) calling my parents late night, waking them up, and regaling them about my hard work; (2) posting photos of the final word count (120k+) and a happy selfie to smear in any haters' faces that were stalking me; and (3) cuddling with my son, knowing I just achieved one of my lifelong dreams, and just basking in the afterglow of hard work, determination, and consistency.

You can do this. If my once-procrastinating butt can do it, you can too.

You are worth it.

NaNoWriMo Writer's Workshop Webinar 14Oct2015

14 October held the first webinar for NaNoWriMo. These authors have amazing insight into different ways of dealing with their books, managing time, and getting unstuck in their writing. Everybody has different ways of writing. Watch this and find yours.

Just don't listen to the authors when they're talking about snacks. You want your brain to be focused on healthy eating. 

FOCUS!

(click on the words, not the image. I'm not HTML savvy enough to make it an easy click.)

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Writer's Workshop

Write What You Want to Know

Write What You Know. I hear many people say this. I also hear many people against prologues yet I've read Clive Cussler and he seems to be doing just fine. Do you really want to be like most people? Most people can be awfully...sheep-like.

Instead, try this:

The challenge is learning something new, or refreshing something you have knowledge of. Maybe you like historical fiction. You write historical fiction. A reliable source (Mom) knew of an author who spent years studying her subject. She'd get into the language, the clothes, the "current" events they would read in the newspaper, and all the details just to write her book as accurately as possible. She'd travel to the location of her setting. She'd take tours, she'd go to the universities and ask for information.

Write what you WANT to know.

People live in this bubble and their knowledge only goes out so far. But I believe humans naturally crave information. They're curious. They have to know things. Anybody or anything that gets in the way of that disrupts what it means to be human. But anything in the way of it knows that it cannot be stopped, even if threats of death breathe into their face. And the more you suppress a human, the more they rebel. The more they think. Why don't you want a human to be curious, they'll think.

Curiosity is a circle. A hungry circle that needs to be fed. Get out of that bubble once in a while and learn.

Want to write about Italian mobsters but live in Britain but can't leave your floral interior-designed loft that smells like your nan? Do it. Go learn. Incorporate your living quarters with your mobster book. Fuse the info that you know and the info you're studying to know.

I'm from the Northwest. I want Russians in my book. I'm studying Russian history (I took it in college and still want more), have books by Russian authors, and books on the language (one for slang, the other for...other). When I heard my pastor lived there and still keeps in contact with his translator, I knew I had to put him in my network. Not only do you need books, you need people. If you want to know more, you have to play nice. I smile and joke a lot. My military-disciplined personality goes a long way.

But if I wrote what I knew...I'd be living a life that I knew years ago that I do not want to go back to. At least right now. Maybe I'll write what I know later.

But as a veteran, I want to escape what I know. I want to write what I don't know. And that makes it fun. Any time I can escape reality, create my own worlds, and dive into them, I'm there. I don't even think writers know what will come out of the world they make. Characters from fantasy just seem to...pop out of nowhere and tell you this is how it's going to be.

Isn't that right, Caelum?

Caelum and Svetlana - "The First" - Monsters & Mercies

Write what you want to know.

You'll grow because you chose to get out of yourself.

5 Must-Dos for Creating Believable Characters

She came to you in a dream, at the dinner table, in the shower. What did she tell you? Did she speak at all? Did her looks explain everything?

The majority of writers understand they cannot completely control their characters. Why? When you create them they become their own person. The writer is just there to report the journey through the conflicts they made. 

(If you need help with conflicts, start here: Conflict and Character.)

I've read from several reference books on how I go about creating characters. It's not so much that they help me come up with one, they help me dimensionalize (oh yes, new word) them into helping me create plot. Once you understand your characters it's easier to make the plot-plot-plotting as you type-type-type your pages. Your characters are the ones that move plot as they deal with the conflicts you've put in their way. Does that make sense? Comment if it does or doesn't.

To figure out your character the best way is something we all know and love, but somehow we get the descriptors prioritized differently, perhaps wrongly. What do I mean: the color of your character's hair does not matter when it comes to the reader (unless it's purple, or it's an indicator into something else in the story, or both). The reader cares about caring: the heart, the mind, the soul. Create your character from the inside-out, and let the outside reflect inside. 

Designing Your Character

1. Establish Goals and Motivations
2. Prioritize Traits
3. Believe The Lie
4. Cue their "Aha" Moment
5. Flesh Out the Face (and body...and hair)

Here is my character template sheet I customized on Scrivener. If you don't have this application, I wish I could throw it into your computer right now, so you could get to work on it right away. But I can only send you this handy link from Literature & Latte. (It's a free trial; please take advantage! I adore Scrivener. It makes outlining and note-keeping so much easier. I'm an index-card kinda gal and this app really works for me. )

BRIE'S BODACIOUS CHARACTER TEMPLATE:

Look at all that craziness. Okay. It's not totally crazy. Actually makes some sense. Are you ready for the explanations? Here we go:

Establish Goals and Motivations

This is foremost because this is your plot-driver. Your character is nothing without desire, and your book is plotless if the character isn't wanting enough to be motivated. Establish a concrete goal and figure out why they are motivated to achieve it. 

A motivation might be an over-protective family and the goal might be freedom to be their own person. 

I have a character who comes from an abusive household. She wants to be independent and do her own thing but her family restricts her. The motivation might also be the conflict. It depends and that's another subject. Focus!

Prioritize Traits

You don't want an info-dump to make the reader groan and toss your book aside (or over the fence...cough). Put your character in pieces throughout your story. What trait do you want to show first? Choose wisely. The first trait is the one that'll stick to them the entire book. Like a first impression. This trait will be in their first scene. Are they a womanizer? Lazy? Hot-headed? Family-oriented? You choose. And then choose another. Remember Shrek? Your characters are onions. Make them sweet, sharp, or purple (purple poppin' everywhere today!), but peel the layers one by one, and give your reader a taste. Just a taste.

Believe The Lie

The Lie is their belief. What do they strongly believe in? What are they convinced about that is their truth? 

Possible Lies: 

• all women are manipulative See-You-Next-Tuesdays
• You can only rely on yourself
• money brings happiness
• people are too stupid to live independently
• killing murderers is not murder, it's justice

K.M. Weiland wrote an excellent post on Believing the Lie and it's where I got all the questions for it: The Lie Your Character Believes

Cue their "Aha" Moment

Characters will grow. They will change. Their belief system may be shattered. An "aha" is the moment of realization. Their Lie will be put in the spotlight and crushed before the character's eyes. Truth rises from The Lie's remains and the character sees everything, from their first scene up to the "Aha" moment. What has changed? Why? How? If your character has no "aha" moment, there is no growth, and the reader will be left empty, and your book flying over their fence.

Flesh Out the Face (and body...and hair)

I said the outside should reflect the inside. Now is the time to look at their personality through their goals and motivators, their traits, and beliefs, and consider their physical appearance. A lot of factors come into play here: their location, origin, discipline, vocation, positive or negative traits, finances, etc..

You're not going to have a soldier with long hair and a beard (unless they're special ops) but maybe they have a tattoo that indicates something more. Or a woman who is very uptight and doesn't have a single wrinkle in her wardrobe. Maybe you have a rebel teen who can't afford a professional haircut, so they cut and dye their own hair against their parent's wishes.

Physical descriptions are lesser priority than what will help move your story. There are a couple exceptions that I use, but they don't overrule the goals and motivations which push the characters through conflict.

Ultimately, it's up to you. I have given you my template in hopes of inspiring you to build your characters with depth.

My character sheet is from months of adding and subtracting what I need to make it work for me. As you can see, I have "Food" and "Song" as a helper.

I'm a former chef who worked in the Navy for eight years. The culinary world is a part of me and I know how it feeds into people's lives (you see what I did there?). Favorite food might not be priority, but it gives me perspective on my character. Kinda like going out on a date with them outside the book and just seeing them as a person. That's this blog, by the way: Dating Your Characters.  Their food doesn't even have to show up in the book; it's just something to help dimensionalize them.

Just like the Song, which is my interpretation of their theme. When I need some motivation to write and need to get into a character's head, I have a playlist. But their theme song generalizes that playlist. For instance, my boy Caelum's song is "King Me" by Lamb of God. I listen to it if I need to and feel the anger, the frustration, the driving factor of him. That's why it's in the template. Add Song to your template, if it helps you.

What would you add to your template? Would you take away anything? Please comment below and tell me if this helped or didn't help. I'd love to hear from you.

I'm also on Facebook if you wanna stalk me there. 

Say Hi!

Hi!

Conflict and Character

Apologies if my posts for this week and next seem distracted. I have good reason: my husband returned from deployment! Yay! We've missed him fiercely, especially our little monster. Happy to be under the same roof again.

We're Whole Again

As a military family, we are bombarded with obstacles. We signed up to serve our country (yes, I served for a while, but got out when we had our son) and face conflict only 1% of this nation will ever experience. Those conflicts are why I love fantasy genres. Anything to escape our reality is the best story, as long as it is, really, the best. I want a book that entertains and steers my mind from current events, the real world. I want conflict that I won't deal with if I was at sea or at home. I want an escape.

But I also want to relate to the characters. Conflict with unappealing characters means I close that book, either putting it down, or throwing it across the room. Maybe I won't even touch it at all...(cough) Twilight.

I mean no one is going to care about my husband working in the Navy if they don't understand why he puts up with the deployments all the time. There's conflict and then there's character. It's characters that drive the story. Conflict only propels them to reveal who they really are.

One reason I started writing is because I got sick of people eating up these awful books that have the weakest female characters in the world. They're not role models and they sicken me. They get published and I can see why: the conflict is believable in its genre, but the characters are lacking for some reason. Maybe it's just me, but I don't find boring personalities entertaining. They're...boring. Or annoying. This usually happens when their motivations are lackadaisy.

So how do you get out of that rut? I have some characters that I debate on allowing their existence. But I set them aside because I know they're not ready to tell me who they really are. Or I have characters that I never knew existed and there they are. My prot goes into another world and I'm just as surprised as she is to find out all the different people that live there. And it works for me. If I'm not intrigued, the reader isn't intrigued. It's a journey I love to go on despite my need-for-control quirks. Because if the story isn't driven by the characters you know and not know, then the story isn't believable. The conflict is there but the characters are who go through the conflicts. If you force them to go through the motions to solve situations, readers will know.

I can go into great detail on creating characters that aren't boring but that's very basic and I think new writers have more potential for nailing this part than they do balancing out conflict with character. So let's focus on the balance.




What is CONFLICT? Anything that hinders your character to satisfy her desires. Much different from a delay or incident, like a gun just out of reach when a victim falls while the attacker is closing in. The conflict is the attacker, not the delay, which is the gun inches from fingers.

Conflict will exist when your character has a goal. Make this goal clear to your reader.

For example: (Goal) Svetlana wants to be her own person. (Conflict) Her father, Ruslan, forces her to join the military.

The conflict will elevate when both try their hardest to achieve their goals. What makes this more dynamic is understanding the inner conflict that goes with the external. Sveta's external is her dad, and her internal would be her rebellious nature, or maybe her insecurity to stand up to him.

And goals will change because the person changes. And that's fine. What is important is that the reader must care about the character before the conflict matters. Most readers are character-driven. Humans are social creatures and naturally seek connections with others. If they don't care, they won't read. The conflict will bring the story to life by the character's motivation to reach their goals, and the reactions brought on by the conflict. Your story's core is emotion. Why is the character pushing through to the end? Why should we care?  Answer these for yourself. Ensure your story has characters we'll care about.

In the book Writing with Emotion, Tension, & Conflict, Cheryl St.John writes this principle: "What the character is doing is not as important as why he is doing it. What's happening is not as important as how he reacts to what's happening."

I highly recommend this book to study her take on conflict, although I disagree with her when she says that being angry and bickering "is acceptable for antagonists because it characterizes them, but your protagonists must have more depth." She talks about conflict not being the foot-stomping moments. What I disagree with is prots being more in depth than antagonists. The ant and the prot should be equally-motivated, if not more.

Antagonists are the ones with the most depth, I have read. They are the characters I love because they have relatable reasons to do what they do. You see? It's character-driven, not conflict. When the story has two characters with believable motivation to achieve their goals no matter what conflict, it makes for a more compelling read. When you adamantly know every character's motivations, you will soar through your writing. And St.John also explains this. And I agree with her. But let that antagonist shine.

Find some writing exercises to help develop your conflict and understand your character's motivations. Choose your protagonist, and come up with one sentence to describe their goal. Is their goal based on the conflict or is it based on personal desires? Will their goal change throughout the story or remain the same?

Do the same for your antagonist. Are they the conflict to the protagonist or is it something else? Will their goal change?

How might each character's inner conflict fight their external conflict? Will they think one way and act another?

Have fun this weekend! I'll be spending quality time with my sailor and catching up on some personal development. Later kiddos.