On the Wonders of Cheese...and symbolism

If you've been here for very long you certainly noticed the redundancy of my one fetish. Call it a character quirk, but if I were to be written into a book you can bet I'd been buying, munching, or mentioning cheese at least once a page.

When I think of cheese the first image to come to mind is that 5 lb golden block of cheddar Mom bought once a week. You know, the staple. It's the one food my family would have ceased to exist without. It represents life, vitality, thriving existence. But more than that, cheese=happiness. Besides the many tongue-tingling motivations to love cheese, I honestly think it's the key to solving all our problems.

Above and beyond it's cheery color, that block of cheddar encompasses lunches spent with my brothers, cheese souffles that my special needs brother died for, and bathroom raids to discover where Randy stashed the block this time. (Yes, he really did steal the cheese and hide it in the bathroom...regularly.) Every childhood memory I have of cheese is tied to family.

Families are the ultimate source of joy. And pain. But mostly joy. 

Connecting to symbolism:

Complex characters, or real people don't simply latch onto an item or notion for no reason. There are deeper motives. So what drives you? What drives your character(s)? And what outward symbols do you use to exemplify this?

I Believe in Awesomeness: Are you a character?

So I was going to write this awesome blogpost about following your dreams and believing in yourself. I ran to youtube searching for this great quote from Serenity (one of the goram best movies of all time), and instead I found this:

And I'm left remembering WHY I love Firefly/Serenity. It's all about the characters. 

Jayne Cobb is a character through and through. At first I hated him. I really thought he was the weak point of the party. As I got more invested he became my favorite. I mean, Jayne is Jayne. Period. He may not be the brightest but he doesn't apologize, he doesn't back down, and he holds to a standard of principals--although who really knows what they are or how low they go.

I think the same can be said of any great character. We love them when they are who they are, solid and flawed. 

Ready to get philosophical?

So what about ourselves? Are we willing to be bold and flawed--and can we come away still loving ourselves? I say that in reference to writing for myself, but whatever you do in life are you willing to take chances, make messes, and occasionally fail?

What hat are you wearing? Do you wear it as proudly as Jayne? 

Organizing, Cleaning, Plotting, and other Strange Habits

Summer is here!

For many parents that means kids will be running around the house crazy and asking every five seconds, "I'm bored. What can I do?"

Welcome to our house all year round.

We home school, and despite the "loud" and "busy", it's a joy. So, how do we deal with the chaos?

We get organized. Yesterday we sat down as a family and put together a list of weekly chores, and of course, our new chore wheel. Yay!

That's great you say, but what does that have to do with PLOTTING?

By default, I'm a pantster. The idea of plotting used to make me laugh. Why did I need that? My stories were completely character driven, and when characters hijacked the story, I ran along side cheering and panting. It's not until I completed my first 140k word middle grade novel that the need for plotting really sank in. As an author I needed to know which scenes were absolutely paramount--so I could chop that 140 to its eventual 90k. Whew! Each scene had to build character or the story arc/tension to make the final cut. It would have been so much easier if I'd started with an outline of important scenes before typing a single word.

See my outline of responsibilities on the fridge? Less chaos, less trauma. =)

Pardon. Cheese break. Mmm...Jarlsburg...

So, how do we plot?

Recently I stumbled across a video series I'll recommend to anyone who struggles with plotting.



Even after years of practice I don't sit down (on novel #6 now) and map out every fine detail of who, what, where, when and why. There has to be some wiggle room. It's just like our chore assignments--structure is supplied, but every hour of every day isn't set in stone.

So, how do you write? By the seat of your pants, or plotting? Somewhere in between? Do YOU think plotting is necessary?

The Secret Project: Pull Back the Curtain

Eight years ago I wrote a musical about a vampire. For the last 4.5 years we've bouncing between NYC, Upstate NY and Florida in pursuit of this project, including several false starts.

That's not the secret.

INTRODUCING THE SITE: 

www.immortalthemusical.com

Highlights: 

Intro: front page--listen to the opening number...except for the vocals. They will be added shortly...relatively speaking.

1. Story: Read the teaser.

2. Music: Listen to 7 selections of the 34 songs. People who have experienced the entire musical will tell you what you hear represents only a minor dynamic of the show. It is much more varied, and in the next several months we hope to add MANY more numbers (including updated ones of the current features). 

3. Characters: Meet the characters. They have been with us eight years. We love them. You will too.

4. Volunteer: SHARE THE SHOW!!! E-mail a link to everyone! Like it on Facebook. Share it on Facebook. Twitter it! Sign up for a newsletter and receive updates instantly. Donate...if you feel so inclined. In the future there will be more opportunities to get involved. (Contests, events, etc.)

5. Creative Team: Say hello to our AWESOME support group. They totally rock. 

6. BLOGS: A general news blog will keep you up to date, and you can get to know our fabulous team through their own words. BEST OF ALL, get the inside scoop from the characters! They've agreed (though some very reluctantly) to share their story with the world, and you could be the first to learn it.

THE FUTURE HAS ARRIVED (Where you come in): We are not shopping the show through conventional means. We don't have money, and we don't know anyone with clout. SO, the only other method at our disposal is a viral approach. We will be promoting the site through contests, youtube videos, and potentially, through an online reality show. If we have enough fans (because we really deserve them, we hope), then we don't need money or clout. We just need you. AND EVERYONE YOU KNOW!

The Dicken's Infection: Too Many Characters

Dear Dickens,

I love you, but you write TOO MANY CHARACTERS into a single story!

Sincerely,

Crystal Collier

AKA: Your greatest fan.


I have mixed feelings on this subject. Strong characters make my world go round. I believe in writing lives that feel realistic and complex—which means conflict surrounded by conflict, people surrounded by other people. (Unless they live on an island in the middle of a lake, surrounded by security fences and high voltage warnings. Hello Uncle Henry!)

How many different individuals do you associate with in a given day? (That number’s going to be smaller for a recluse like me…unless you count social networking.)

I’m in the process of reading WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL by Donald Maass.


Great book. In strengthening characters, he talks about regular relationships and suggests a method of crunching several people into one: “Combine roles”. Grab hold of that burger flipper in the story (MC’s best friend), and mesh them with the by-night taxidermist--the one who operated a tattoo shop in Mexico ten years back and gave your protagonist his first ever tattoo. Now let’s mix him with the agoraphobic neighbor who spends his free hours with a beebee gun, waiting for magpies to invade his yard. Suddenly, this character has a great deal to offer. The Dicken’s method would have been to introduce each of the characters individually: the burger flipper, a by-night taxidermist, an old best-friend whose tattoo shop closed its doors, and the angry neighbor whose only outlet is pelting birds.

Not saying this is the best or only method to cut down on character overload. In some instances a plethora of characters is desirable, but in most cases (as with Dicken’s), it makes for whiplash, head scratching, and a lower self esteem on the reader’s behalf. (“I swear I should remember who that is…”)

I say the solution, if you’ve got the Dicken’s infection (like me), is to introduce no more than one or two characters at a time, and make them memorable! That’s one thing Dicken’s did well. Who can forget John Jarndyce with his easterly wind (BLEAK HOUSE), or Little Emily--whose innocence could win Ebenezer himself (DAVID COPPERFIELD), Sydney Carton—the Jackal (TALE OF TWO CITIES), or Miss Havisham—mentally ill woman who still wore her wedding dress decades after her fiancé ditched her (GREAT EXPECTATIONS)?

When the character enters, set them apart. Bob steps into the office wearing a tutu. He lost a bet. I mean seriously, who’s going to forget a business man in pink? Angeline is introduced while using a high heel to hammer flies in her cubicle. Rodney asks the MC if he can pick the raisins out of his cafeteria oatmeal.

Finally, never place emphasis on a character unless they are pertinent! Every character in Dicken’s stories seemed worthy of a name and description. If they’re not going to make more than a thirty second appearance, why bother with a name? If we’re never going to hear from them after the second chapter, why bother with a description? Toss out a detail and let the reader fill in the blanks.

How many characters is too many?