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I’ve been wondering about this since discussing writing as a gift from God (with Esther and various others… I can’t remember who because I’m so sick right now 😂).
I’ve noticed everyone has a different writing approach. I don’t mean strategy, plotter/pantser, etc. But everyone has a different level of passion, different focuses, and especially have different motives for why they write what they write. Some people aggressively identify with their characters. (No shame, just potential concern. You know exactly what I mean 😝) Others find interest in the wonder of worldbuilding or making a fantasy story believable. A lot of KPers (unless I am contradicted!) are spurred on by intense emotional scenes. Min pointed out recently this makes a lot of sense because there are so many teenage writers on here.
Identifying with my characters has never been a main drive for me. Not saying I don’t! They can be a great outlet for some of my personal experiences and wishes, especially by exaggerating my default coping mechanisms. (Humor, anyone?) I can think of two right now that I especially relate to. But I can’t say their souls are deeply entwined with mine… because they don’t exist? I almost feel like that’s harsh to say 😂
I love writing because I love watching human interaction, and trying to replicate it in a simplified/skewered way depending on the project. I love humor, and I love things that make me smile. I only write crazy sad scenes now and then, because like salt and pepper, food should be lightly seasoned with them. At least in my style. 🙃
It’s great to take a step back, be practical, and see how your potential preferences and biases have affected it.
Thoughts? Opinions? Deep, life-altering revelations?
@mineralizedwritings @savannah_grace2009 @loopylin @highscribeofaetherium @grcr @loopylin @jonas @freed_and_redeemed @rae @keilah-h @godlyfantasy12 @theducktator @esther-c @koshka @trailblazer Those are all the names I can think of with my tiny brain 😚#ProtectAdolinKholin
Oooh, good topic. 😉
All of my stories start with a little plot idea, a character begging to be written, or even a setting idea. But I think as I brainstorm my story I look at it and think, What message do I want to communicate to my readers? What character quality of God do I want to focus on in this story? And through subconscious questions like that I develop my story more.
I love characters a lot, so the answers to those questions above often take their form in characters. Characters are what really excite me about writing. Worldbuilding? Just give me an easy setting to play with. Plot? My characters’ arcs determine that. I love trying to create relatable characters that will help me convey a certain message to my readers. Now of course, some characters develop into something I wasn’t even planning and end up taking the story a different direction, but it always ends up better. 😉
And I agree with saying that I don’t super identify with my characters. Now, I if I look at all of them, specifically the MCs, I see pieces of myself in each one of them. I just take those pieces and magnify it in the character. But I definitely wouldn’t say I’m really connected to them, I just understand them. (I did create them after all. XD) Not sure if that makes sense or not… lol.
I also really like to include humor in most if not all of my stories. And the humor normally comes from character interactions. My stories aren’t super heavy, but I like to always have some level of humor in them to lighten things up. Sometimes I write humor just to make myself laugh, seriously. XD I also hope to get some giggles from future readers. 😉
I don’t write crazy sad scenes either. There are times when my characters go through difficult things and I don’t want to brush over that; but my style isn’t super emotional. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, because I do write emotional scenes, it’s just not a huge huge part of my stories. I want to present readers with something realistic and something I can relate to on a certain level. Yes, there are a lot of people out there who have had to deal with great sadness, grief, shame, darkness, and the like, but for me, I’ve never dealt with something like that on that big of a level. So I want to write for readers like me. A lot of them are going to be different than me, I understand that, but I want to give readers characters who struggle with the ups and downs of a normal life. Big things happen in life, I know from experience, and I do include those, I just don’t focus on overcoming grief or darkness to the extent that other authors do. Does that make sense? In every story I want to portray light overcoming darkness in some form, but my approach is just different than other writers.
I hope that all came out sounding somewhat intelligent. 😂 Thoughts anyone?
Write what should not be forgotten. — Isabel Allende
I agree a lot with what Esther said– my characters are the only main reason that writing appeals to me!
I’ve started to notice that my characters are all different pieces of myself. I kind of see it as each one having a little bit of a different part of my personality. That doesn’t necessarily mean they are all like me, and they’re definitely not all the same! But if I look close enough, I can see a little bit of myself in each one.
My style….well…I love emotional scenes. I write best when writing emotion, whether anger, joy, or sadness. Sometimes it’s how I express my emotions, because somehow I end up bottling up my emotions at school and then I come home and intertwine my sadness or frustration within the scene somehow.
You guys, I wish I had your talent for putting humor in my writing! It always comes out so stilted and just cringe when I try to make my story funny!
All my stories are so emotional I cry when I read some of them XD
I also like putting themes in my writing, like with Andromeda, it’s a lot about spiritual warfare and the lies we believe about ourselves. It makes it feel like I have a purpose behind my writing and it’s not some meaningless words on the page (though it’s so much fun to just write meaningless trash sometimes just to enjoy yourself!!)
Hopefully that makes sense XD
Lukas&Livia
#Lalbert
Sef&Chase
#HOTTOLINE
LEFSE FOREVER!!!!!! <333I promise I’ll respond to this at some point, my weekend has been super busy! Love the topic idea… I think I’ve already shared some thoughts in the discussion you already mentioned. Anyway I need to go to bed now but I’ll give my response when I have a little more time to think through my answers.
"Real love is for your good, not for your comfort." -Justin Whitmel Earley
You tagged me twice, so I guess I can’t ignore this lol
I don’t want to be too introspective, cuz that’s always a downward spiral for me, but here’s some half-baked thoughts.
I think I write stories to better understand the world and myself, I guess. Stories help me make connections, put things into categories and archetypes, and understand people’s emotions and motivations when I would usually not have any empathy. And writing’s just fun. And it’s painful if I’m not consistently doing creative stuff. So there’s that.
I also do what Sara does with characters, giving them all a little piece of myself, even though I try really hard not to. I was so proud of myself when I made Dante, a character I was convinced inherited nothing from me except some exaggerated chaotic tendencies. But then when I developed him more, I realized he has many similar flaws to me. It’s inescapable. I literally figured out that Ellie had a lot of symptoms of autism just few weeks before getting diagnosed with it myself.
But I still don’t feel super emotionally connected with them in the way I would with a friend. I absolutely love my characters, but it’s more like the way I would love a painting that I put a lot of time and care into. My characters and stories are a reflection of the world I see around me and in me, so I think I love the things they reflect more. (What am I even saying? idk it’s late)
Anyway… might think of more stuff to say later, but that’s all I got rn.
🎵It takes a long time to wait 🌻
I love humor, and I love things that make me smile. I only write crazy sad scenes now and then, because like salt and pepper, food should be lightly seasoned with them. At least in my style. 🙃
Same. I think the rarity of sad scenes in a story makes them hit harder and mean more when they finally show up
🎵It takes a long time to wait 🌻
@esther-c Oh I guess I forgot to read what you wrote earlier. Honestly same to everything you said XD
🎵It takes a long time to wait 🌻
@whalekeeper @esther-c @savannah_grace2009 @loopylin
Ok, so this might sound very basic, but I think for me, my writing stems from storytelling. I’ve had several people, who didn’t even know me or know that I write, tell me that I’m a storyteller. I think most writers are storytellers, but not all, at least not all in the same way. I have struggled to pinpoint whether I start with the setting or the character, because usually, neither one of those is what sparks the story. I don’t think I ever have the full plot planned out from the start (sometimes I can do that, but usually I have to write at least one scene before more inspiration comes and I get an idea for the direction of the story), and I often don’t know a whole lot about my characters when I start, either. Usually, it’s a real-life experience that sparks an idea for a scene, and then I create the characters, or sometimes I just add the scene to an already-existing story.
Of course I write for fun, but for years I’ve also recognized it as a gift God has given me to share a piece of His heart with the world. That’s one of the biggest things that burns on my heart, for people to know God for who He really is and not for who He has been misrepresented as, and that’s one thing I think about a lot as I write- how can I use this story to represent a part of God? I think this comes down to purpose more than anything else- the concept of revealing God’s heart and character can encompass more than just writing; it can be expressed in many ways, but for me, that comes out through my writing.
Something else I’m passionate about is learning how to have healthy relationships, whether that’s friendships or romantic relationships, so there’s another common theme in my stories. I write a lot out of personal experiences I’ve had, and or from what I’ve seen in other people’s lives. Which brings me right back around to the whole storyteller idea- a lot of what I write starts out with me re-telling a personal story, or an experience someone close to me has had, and then blossoms from there.
Anyway, I feel like I’m not getting very far explaining all this, so I hope that makes sense in some way or form!
As far as my characters go, this sometimes frustrates me because I feel like most of my characters (or at least the MCs) look a lot like me, and I want to have some variety! I struggle to write the more extroverted, risk-taking, thrill-seeking types of characters. I feel like too many of mine are laidback, go with the flow, don’t rock the boat, type of characters. Most of them don’t jump into something without thinking it through first, and as much as I want to see more variety in personality, I honestly haven’t figured out quite how to do that. I’ve created some characters who are less like me, but those are the stories that I struggle to write, plotwise, because I don’t relate to the characters as much. Idk… opinions on this? Is it good to just focus on the ones I relate to, or is it better to force myself to try to understand the ones that I don’t?
When it comes to emotional scenes, I feel like I agree with Esther. Some of those naturally come out of me during more emotional phases of life (I’ve never been a super emotional person, but I’ve definitely had seasons where I was more emotional). In general, I love creating special scenes between characters, but not usually emotionally deep ones. I think when I try to write really emotional scenes, they come out slightly overdramatic lol.
I like sweet scenes, but not sappy. I write some romance, but seeing as I have limited personal experience in that area of life, those sometimes start to feel superficial or fake. I struggle to find conflicts to add to the stories, too. And humor… I love humor in stories but I also agree with Sara, I feel like I struggle putting it in my stories. Sometimes I try to force it, and it sounds really bad. Idk… maybe I just don’t have a good perspective of how my writing comes across to other people and there’s more humor in it than I realize.
Anyway… I’ve taken this in so many different directions on one post, and I don’t know how to land this plane, so I’m just gonna stop typing now lol.
"Real love is for your good, not for your comfort." -Justin Whitmel Earley
Interesting topic!
I write because I like to animate. A lot of my stories are the bases of my animation series, so that is the main motivation tbh. But then, I also write because it’s a way to release my feelings/thoughts about things, and because I like to watch/think about people live. Kinda a way to escape reality.
I, too, relate to what Sara said about characters being different pieces of oneself. I see it sometimes in my charries. I feel like the times when it’s most evident is when I’m rping with my siblings, though.
I agree with Esther on the emotional topic. I don’t actually write a lot of emotional stuff, and I don’t always like a sad scene. Most of the things I like to write are on the somewhat happier note—friends being friends and families being quirky. Sometimes I feel like my emotional scenes are trashy and corny, so… yah.
I don’t really think I have much of a sense of humor… and the things I write that I think are funny are just random actions and such. Idk idk.
I don’t have much to say, nor do I really know what to say, so sorry if this sounds weird… 😜
INTP.
@savannah_grace2009 @trailblazer
I feel like my humor comes naturally and it fits naturally in my stories (ok, not all the time. I have removed a few jokes that are just too cringe, lol), but not all stories need some level of humor. I think the reason humor comes through in my stories is because I’ve been told I’m a funny person (or crazy…), not that y’all aren’t, I just say stupid things a lot so sometimes my characters end up saying stupid things that sound funny. XD A lot of the humor also comes from character interactions or even situational humor. I really wish I could give y’all some pointers on adding humor to your stories (because it sounds like you want to include it), but I just don’t know how.
I will say, humor doesn’t always have to be a character cracking a joke. Sometimes they’re just being themselves, and when they combines with another character’s personality, it ends up funny. And like I mentioned earlier, some situations have humor in and of themselves. For a recent example, I had two characters fighting over which path to take through the forest. One warned that going left would bring them to places with sinkholes, so it was dangerous, but because of other reasons, the second character was convinced they had to go left anyway. They end up going left and the second character asks how to spot sinkholes. Just as the first character begins to answer, the second character steps onto a sinkhole and it collapses.
Yeah, it’d kinda cheesy, but I think it works for my story just because of the tone I had set up in scenes pervious to this one and because of the personalities of these two characters.
So… I don’t know if any of that was helpful or even if you wanted to hear it at all… Maybe this was just me rambling. 😂
Write what should not be forgotten. — Isabel Allende
@everyonesofar
I’ve read all your posts! Even though I can’t reply to them all because length – I agree that you can’t write something you don’t know already. You can still write an extroverted character if you’re introverted, but they’ll be a combo of extrovert behavior you already know and some of your own brain wanderings. Like the Loops/Dante thing, I can confidently say all my characters have something of my attitude or values, even if they are different in every other way.
Big things happen in life, I know from experience, and I do include those, I just don’t focus on overcoming grief or darkness to the extent that other authors do. Does that make sense? In every story I want to portray light overcoming darkness in some form, but my approach is just different than other writers.
Right! You have similar themes, you just don’t press into the theme as directly.
But I still don’t feel super emotionally connected with them in the way I would with a friend. I absolutely love my characters, but it’s more like the way I would love a painting that I put a lot of time and care into. My characters and stories are a reflection of the world I see around me and in me, so I think I love the things they reflect more. (What am I even saying? idk it’s late)
Yeeess, you make total sense and I agree
Is it good to just focus on the ones I relate to, or is it better to force myself to try to understand the ones that I don’t?
It’s up to you 😅 When I imagine a new character different from me, they start as a completely blank space – like a stick figure. Then I decide what values they have. If they want love more than anything else, that might manifest through attention-seeking and an extroverted attitude (not all extroverts are this!). It’s less of knowing personally what they feel, and more about leaning into a set of base beliefs first.
Oh, and watch people. In real life. Always helps.
Sometimes I feel like my emotional scenes are trashy and corny, so… yah.
Way too relatable. But writing them means you’re practicing, and that’s the best advice for anything 😚 Also you should totally share your animation some time if Wyoh can handle it!
@savannah_grace2009 @trailblazer @esther-cI’m pretty convinced my humor comes off as annoying sometimes 😅 But like Esther said, sometimes a situation naturally calls for a joke, and it takes some practice to recognize when those moments are. The best thing would be to have starkly opposite characters who spend time together. Those almost always work.
Ooooo, another thing is to focus on unique voice and specific language.
If a guy is late to work, don’t necessarily let him say, “oh man, I’m late to work, my boss is going to kill me soon!”
Instead: “I’m late to work… In about thirteen seconds, [name] will no longer exist upon the face of the earth.” *sees a giant stapler sculpture on the building grounds* *clutches throat*
Overly dramatic unless he was a theater kid in high school, but you get the idea hopefully 😊
#ProtectAdolinKholin
Great topic idea!
First and foremost, I write because I want to show the light of Christ through fiction. Why fiction? Because I love stories and I love reading and I have realized how powerful words can be.
Stories (those that are filled with truth, at least) have helped me learn new things and see the world in a different way. Stories inspire us to think, and if a book is written with the truth of God, it causes us to think about God, sometimes in a way we never did before, at least in my experience.
I know that I am very character-driven, but I think I finally know why. I love peoples’ stories. My favorite part of history is the personal stories. I love to hear the ways people have struggled, the ways people have felt joy, the way people have overcome the challenges of life in their own special ways.
Battles and the overall scope of history is cool and all, but without the individuals that made that history, it wouldn’t be history…and to me, the personal stories are sooo much better/powerful than reading about the battle strategies, if you know what I mean. I’ve recently been reading a Biography about the full life of Adolf Hitler, and it’s really made me think and question things and wonder things I never wondered before.
My characters do represent pieces of myself at times, but I also feel that not only is that unavoidable, it’s also not a bad thing. We’re all human. We all have emotions, memories, dreams, motives, etc.
Creating characters that have things you understand/relate to not only makes them easier to write, but in my opinion, it also makes them more real and relatable to others.
If you’re not comfortable with creating characters that have a piece of you in them, then that’s okay.
Everyone has their own preferences.
But I think, just as artists (and other creatives!) have ways they put the uniqueness of themselves into things, so do us writers, and for me, that’s through characters.
Now why do I write Historical Fiction?
For one, I love history. We all know this😂 But also, even though the characters are fictional, I think Christian Historical Fiction is a good way to show how just as God was faithful in the past, so can he be faithful now. History shows us a different world than the one we’re used to, but also the same in the fact that those of us alive now and those alive then share the understanding of joy, pain, sorrow, evil, goodness, life, death, etc.
But that’s just a few of my thoughts 🙂
@loopylin @esther-c @trailblazer @grcr @savannah_grace2009 @anyone-I-may-have-forgotten-XD
I love everyone’s unique thoughts!! <3
Now I feel like I probably write more emotion than most of y’all here😂
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