I'm going to reiterate, (reword might be a better of putting it) then expand a little on what Ray told you.
Tip 1; Establish your character's personality. It's something I've learned that I didn't believe until I started writing; I always figured, I'm writting it, I can make my characters do whatever I want. Wrong! Once a cahacter's personality is established (by you) they will not allow you to mess around with them.
Tip 2; I do this, and it may help you. When I work up a character, sometimes I don't even have their name in my head yet (A lot of times, I haven't even got the plot line clear in my head, but I do bios on proposed chacters, anyway. Height, weight, gender, approximate age, physical appearence, social traits, interests and hobbies, any character flaws or distinguishing marks (scars, tatoos, missing limbs). I'll even scan news groups for pictures of what I want them to look like and incorporate them into the bio. If I'm dealing in erotic, I'll use nude photos.
Then I print it out, so I've got a hard copy close at hand.
I may end up using all of it, some of it, or none at all. I may not even use the character. In which case, they go in my the "future possibles" file in my filing cabinet. But that's not the point, it's being able to pick up a piece (or pieces) of paper and see my each of my characters visually fleshed out.
Now, you've got your characters right at your fingertips, you're working on your story and one scene is giving you absolute fits. You dig out that character's bio, you look at her (or his) picture, you reread their bio, then you ask yourself: Would the character in my hands do what I'm trying to make the character in my story do. Odds are, they wouldn't. And it's your fault that they won't. You've, in effect, played God. You created them, now you're stuck with the way they are, or they aren't.
Rework the scene with the chacter's bio in mind, and it's a good bet the damn scene will almost write itself. I've had this happen... more than a few times.
Many times, with your chacter's personalities established, the story line becomes much easier, because you know waht can, and connot get away with.
In short, a character in your story simply cannot act, or react, in a way which is against their nature. Which you have yourself established.
If this helps you, you're welcome. It you chose to disregard this, good luck with whatever method (and there are only about a gazllion and one) you come up with that eventually works for you.
Moriah
Tip 1; Establish your character's personality. It's something I've learned that I didn't believe until I started writing; I always figured, I'm writting it, I can make my characters do whatever I want. Wrong! Once a cahacter's personality is established (by you) they will not allow you to mess around with them.
Tip 2; I do this, and it may help you. When I work up a character, sometimes I don't even have their name in my head yet (A lot of times, I haven't even got the plot line clear in my head, but I do bios on proposed chacters, anyway. Height, weight, gender, approximate age, physical appearence, social traits, interests and hobbies, any character flaws or distinguishing marks (scars, tatoos, missing limbs). I'll even scan news groups for pictures of what I want them to look like and incorporate them into the bio. If I'm dealing in erotic, I'll use nude photos.
Then I print it out, so I've got a hard copy close at hand.
I may end up using all of it, some of it, or none at all. I may not even use the character. In which case, they go in my the "future possibles" file in my filing cabinet. But that's not the point, it's being able to pick up a piece (or pieces) of paper and see my each of my characters visually fleshed out.
Now, you've got your characters right at your fingertips, you're working on your story and one scene is giving you absolute fits. You dig out that character's bio, you look at her (or his) picture, you reread their bio, then you ask yourself: Would the character in my hands do what I'm trying to make the character in my story do. Odds are, they wouldn't. And it's your fault that they won't. You've, in effect, played God. You created them, now you're stuck with the way they are, or they aren't.
Rework the scene with the chacter's bio in mind, and it's a good bet the damn scene will almost write itself. I've had this happen... more than a few times.
Many times, with your chacter's personalities established, the story line becomes much easier, because you know waht can, and connot get away with.
In short, a character in your story simply cannot act, or react, in a way which is against their nature. Which you have yourself established.
If this helps you, you're welcome. It you chose to disregard this, good luck with whatever method (and there are only about a gazllion and one) you come up with that eventually works for you.
Moriah
