v Characters – I want three-dimensional characters that jump off the page. I want characters that are not clichéd or boring. I want characters that my audience can relate to and like or love to hate.
v Tortured Characters - I want to torture my characters to the point that the reader can hardly recognize them at the end of the book. I want the readers to feel sorry for them and question my (the author) sanity.
v Realistic dialogue – I want my young adult (teenage) characters to sound like teenagers when they talk (and their inner dialogue when they think). I want their exchanges to be honest and not full of adult like mannerisms and thoughts. I don’t want people to think about the “old lady” who wrote the piece while they’re reading the characters words.
v A Clear Goal for my Protagonist – I want my character’s goal(s) and motivations to be clear to the audience. I want them to have goals that are attainable for the length of the book I’ve written. I want my young adult and middle grade characters to have goals that are realistic for their age.
Have a great day. Read a book and laugh.
Great post. I may have to steal your list for myself.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! I want these things for my manuscript too!
ReplyDeleteYep, I'm willing to work for all that. Will even go without food for two days, eat beans and drink water while sitting in a cold, musky basement wearing a tattered knit skull cap, with internet service of course. Sometimes, you have to play the part and set the mood. :-)
ReplyDeleteSexy Christmas song, by the way but that's Ms. Kitt for you.
Yes, yes. Great list. I want all these things too and will remember them this coming year as I meet new characters and continue with the old. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteFi, go right ahead and take it...I figured most writers would appreciate and want the same things for Christmas. LOL
ReplyDeleteKelly, I figured you would.
Totsy, I want to read your story if that's what they go through. Fantastic!
Your Welcome, Beverly. It's Christmas so I'm willing to share my gifts (or wishes for gifts). LOL
Like Fi, this tempts me to make my own list. I don't usually take the time to think of these things. My only writing rule, besides keeping my spelling and grammar on-par, is 'never be boring'.
ReplyDeleteThis song is lots of fun!
Agree. You need to put your characters through some bad torture, and you need to give them some breathing room at the end. Ironic.
ReplyDeleteWell, I was gonna come up with my own holiday wish list for my MS, but yours is better, so I'm "borrowing."
ReplyDeleteI will, however, torture my characters in their own sweet & sour way.
That's a BIG relief - I just hate to be a stoner --- Greetings, earthling!! Gottawanna run back to the Elysian Fields soon, but take anything and everything you wanna from our wonderfull, plethora-of-thot to write the next, great masterpeace -if- I can but kiss your gorgeous, adorable feets and/or cuddle withe greatest, ex-mortal-girly-ever to arrive in Seventh Heaven. Think about it. Do it! Get back with me Upstairs, k? God bless you, doll: pleasure-beyond-measure is waiting in the Great Beyond for you and eye. Love you. PS: the musical term MORENDO means ‘dying-away in tone-and-time’. How very apropos for U.S. …thewarningsecondcoming.com
ReplyDelete