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@That_Writer_Girl_99 *hugs you*
Okay. So…instead of showing her thoughts, show her actions, emotions, and thoughts simultaneously. Easy as pie.
Why do we say that anyway? Pie is actually very complicated?
Now I’m hungry.
Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.
@That_Writer_Girl_99 yep. And thoughts are actually the least necessary of those three. Oftentimes I just cut them out and let the actions tell the story. Emotions and actions go a long way to cluing people in on what someone’s thinking. 😉 😛
Yeah… maybe it means easy as eating pie? XD
*reluctant sigh* I know you’re right, but I’m going to have to get used to writing that way.
Are you still on? I know we’ve covered a lot today–benefits of being done with school on my end: I’m online a lot–but now that I’m actually writing, I have a question about a character.
Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.
@That_writer_girl_99 *jumps in late AGAIN to respond to something that happened four pages ago* Yup, Sarcastic Elf. That’s me. Summed up and wrapped in glittery perfection in two incredibly awesome words. *bows*
INTJ ➸Your friendly neighborhood mastermind. ➸https://thesarcasticelf.wordpress.com/
@That_Writer_Girl_99 well I’m here now. XD *folds hands primly**ahem* You had a question?
I updated my Google Doc with what I currently have of Chapter 3 @kate-flournoy
I’m actually going to run errands with my mom at the moment, but let’s just say that the character Matthias decided to be in this chapter is very similar to how I thought Blake was going to be, so I might have to change Blake a bit…
Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.
@That_Writer_Girl_99 wow, that took an unexpected turn. 😛 I love it. Good job with the prose. 😉
You’re right though, the shift in Matthias is pretty obvious.
And… that might actually be a problem. It’s perfectly fine for him to change his personality as you write him; that’s not what I’m worried about. It’s that the Matthias we meet first and the Matthias we see in the hall are literally two completely different people and are extremely difficult to match up in our head.
Matthias is a tricky character. Most traitors are. 😛 But no, joking aside, they really can be very ticklish to write because they have so many layers of complexity and deception.
When a reader discovers that a character is not what they seem, you don’t want their reaction to be ‘wow, I never saw that’, but ‘HOW DID I NOT SEE THAT?!’
To achieve that, you need to keep the character consistent, but also clue us in that there is something about him we don’t understand.
For consistency, just decide whether you want the happy go lucky, slightly mischievous Matthias we meet first, or the bitter, cynical fireball (no pun intended 😛 ) in Kara’s hallway to be the surface of the character. There’s nothing to say he cannot be both, but if he is both, one will always take precedence and the other always be hidden except in his darkest moments. He won’t just randomly switch between the two and be equally comfortable in both.
If you do decide to have him be both, with a happy outside and a bitter inside, we need to be able to sense the bitter inside even through the happy mask. To sense that there is more to him than we see. This can be achieved through very small, ‘out-of-character’ moments in his first meeting with Kara— sudden glances she wasn’t meant to catch, or a distracted drumming of his fingers on the table even as he’s smiling. It’s all in the details Elizabeth. To make him and the role he plays in the story believable he needs to be both consistent and mysterious, and the only way to add mystery to consistency is through details. Tiny contradictory details. It’s a fine line to walk, but a very fun one, actually. 😀Okay @Daeus my post does not appear to be showing up. My guess is it got spammed.
@kate-flournoy Ok, done. That’s really weird it did that. Didn’t look spammy to me.
🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢
@Daeus it just doesn’t like me. 😀
Good points. @kate-flournoy
I think that Matthias definitely needs to be both. The moment in Kara’s hallway was supposed to be a “Hey, since we’re alone, I’m going to give you a warning” type thing, but I’m going to have to go back to the cafeteria chapter to subtly reference Matthias’ actual personality. Matthias doesn’t like Kara because of her friendship with Tam, but at the same time, he desperately wants to get out of the prison, so he tries–unsuccessfully–to set that disdain aside in favor of gaining an ally in Kara. Does that make sense?Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.
Okay. I went back through chapter two and added a few things, but also switched some of the dialogue around so that Ava says it, not Matthias. That way, the emphasis on how Matthias’ personality changes one he realizes Kara was friends with Tam should be clearer. Hypothetically. This way, Ava’s personality is developed, too.
Is that a good solution to the problem? Or should I try something different?Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.
@That_Writer_Girl_99 could you give me the link to the doc again? Mine is doing weird things.
That sounds like a great solution. Good job. I notice you’re thinking in wider perspectives now— purposefully using the interactions to develop or manipulate. *wiggles eyebrows* Excellent work, my young padawan. 😉
Yep. @kate-flournoy
Here it is:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/16Fp5D7pKF1SwuVVegM6Ke2kz8PuxVSj0qQb8LpaL2UU/editAnd feel free to drop a comment within the document if you see anything specific that needs changing, like a typo or something.
I notice you’re thinking in wider perspectives now— purposefully using the interactions to develop or manipulate. *wiggles eyebrows* Excellent work, my young padawan. 😉
Am I? I didn’t even notice…it just seemed to make sense at the time?
Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.
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