FeathersOfDust

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cbrmale

It is not being presumptuous by writing from the perspective of another character in another age group (I got some short stories published where the narrator was an eighteen year old girl). It all depends if you can pull it off, and life experience makes a big difference in understanding ourselves and the people around us.

The ONLY reason I write for publication is I hate books with one-dimensional stereotypical characters, so you know my style. When writing character biographies, I always give the major characters (and some of the minor ones) at least one life-shaping event in their pasts. My current work is set in 1921 in Paris and the narrator's brother was killed a few years previously in World War One. The second major character is his mistress and she hated the way his father treated his mother, and after pressure was put on her to marry, she was afraid a future husband would treat her the same way as her father treats her mother so she fled to Paris instead. The narrators wife comes later in the story, she is Roma (gypsy or gitane) and has enough character to carry the book! A male friend who becomes the narrator's agent is in a friendly but passionless marriage and keeps a mistress as compensation (very typical of the time). I even had a minor character and wrote the biography of her lover (who doesn't appear in the story) so that his impact on her would flow through in a logical way. I like to write biographies on everyone except the waiter and shopkeeper!

How are your character backgrounds travelling, should they have some character-shaping events in their respective pasts to help you make them more interesting?

Emerson Darkness

Listen to the above post.

Remember, when writing, your characters aren't only dealing with 'ther here and now'. they are constantly bumping their unique personalities into their present situation. That being the case, they must all have reason for being the way they are.

Don't just make one character 'a quiet girl'. Tell your reader why she is that way. Make the reader believe that she is quiet, and should be a quiet person, through the telling of your story.

When you're able to do this, with all your important characters, you will be amazed at how high your word count climbs.

You have your story, you know where it goes, and ends. Now make it interesting with character interaction. Relate yourself to them, if you must. You are the way you are for a reason, and more than one reason. Should this not apply to characters as well?

Rob

You're fifteen years old. You've got a lot of writing ahead of you. You will learn by trying. Just write it, and see how it works out. You can always make a better job of the next story, or the one after that. As long as you're not trying to publish a novel before you've learned how to write, you'll be fine.

Cheers,
Omni

mammamaia

i just answered this question of yours somewhere else... another forum, perhaps?... see my reply there...

hugs, maia

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