Category: Characters

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What’s Your Chosen Writing Genre?

Three days ago, I said “I’ll talk about Documentary Historical Fiction another time.” Well, this is the time.

The online Britannica defines historical novel as a novel that has as its setting a period of history that attempts to convey the spirit, manners, and social conditions of a past age with realistic detail and fidelity to historical fact. The definition is good, but that is rarely what we find.

That presents a problem for truly historical fiction writers because readers may not know whether our writing is credible or not. Allow me to introduce Dr. Maier.

Dr. Paul L. Maier (https://www.paulmaier.com) is the Russell H. Seibert Professor of Ancient History at Western Michigan University and a much-published author of both scholarly and popular works. 

Relating to his works of historical fiction, Dr. Maier said in the preface of The Flames of Rome, “I have not tampered with known facts in retelling it – unlike almost all historical novelist – nor invented characters that could never match the kind who actually lived in this area…. But here as elsewhere in ancient history, yawning gaps in the original sources prevent any telling of the full story. I have tried to fill these in by devising a genre which I call the “documentary novel,” resorting to fiction for such connective material as well as dramatization, dialogue, and sub-plot to flesh out the story and bring its characters to life.”

Every person Dr. Maier named was a real person, but every character he created received no name in his books. Unless noted in the appendix otherwise, every event he described was actual. He constructed “history” only where there was no evidence for an event, but he remained true to life in that time frame.

I’m adding documentary historical fiction to my favorite genre list. That will help me to …

Write Creatively.

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Start with What You Know

Sometimes I have a difficult time starting a blog or a story. When that happens, I have a default mode – I start writing about an idea I’ve stored in my “Idea Folder” in my computer, or something I already know about. An event in my life, something I remember or saw recently, a news flash – many things can ignite the writing flame. That heats up the imagination and the story begins to flow.

If I’m writing history, I write what happened. If I’m writing fiction, I feel free to change things around. Sometimes I start with history but the flow changes direction and I revert to fiction. That’s okay.

Let your creativity out of its box and create characters that fit what’s happening in your imagination. The story can be historical, morph into historical fiction, or turn to total fiction – that’s okay. As you “see and hear” the characters floating in your imagination, your emotion will generate energy for the story. Write what you see and hear. You can – and should – always edit later.

So, if you’re having a difficult time thinking of a theme or story line, start with what you know, and …

Write Creatively

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Creating a Character

Several months ago, after I had formatted and published a book for a friend, the author asked, “Do you know who the main character is styled after?”

“No, I hadn’t thought about it.”

“I already had a plot, but I formed the primary character after a man that we both know. That made it easy because I didn’t have to create the character. You wouldn’t recognize him because I added a few other traits to mask his identity.”

That’s good thinking, and it greatly reduced his writing time.

Use the character traits of a friend, family member, or even someone you don’t like. Use them to form your heroes and villains. You can also take notes of what you observe about someone you just met and set your imagination free to think about what that kind of person might do in various situations. A story idea can pop up without much effort.

Writing can be fun. It takes time, but it can be easy. So, sit down and write that next book. And make sure that you …

Write Creatively

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Editors are an Unnecessary Expense … or Are They?

Often, what someone tries to convey in writing isn’t what the reader perceives. Also, the writer sometimes makes errors that his or her own mind glosses over. That’s why, after the document is completed, the author needs to become objective. So edit it: read it, and rewrite it . Make sure you take the time to revise it and make the story say what you want it to say. Edit the document to the best of your ability, then be willing to ask a knowledgeable friend to review the manuscript for you. But often close friends and family members don’t want to hurt your feelings, and that can color their judgment.

Marie called. She was distraught because she asked for and received advice from numerous friends about how to proceed. However, the advisors conflicted with each other and deepened her confusion. After we answered her questions and helped her understand what was involved, she hired our P&L Publishing and Literary Services editor who helped the message flow smoothly.

Editing takes time because the editor objectively reads every word. Depending on the genre, size of the book, and the level of editing the author requests, the process can take several days to a month. A good editor will not hurry because he/she wants to assure that your book is excellent. With that in mind, P&L’s highly experienced editor endeavors to complete the job within two weeks. Check P&L out at https://plpubandlit.org/.

The following statement may not surprise you, but you might not often think about it: A well-written book generates more sales than a poorly-written book. Therefore, give a lot of thought to editing. If you are good at it, you can save money. Otherwise, a good editor can help you make the sales, and therefore, earn you money. For a few more ideas, order our book, Publish Your Book the Easy and Inexpensive Way. (https://www.amazon.com/Publish-Your-Book-Easy-Inexpensive/dp/B0BVT8KWN2)

Write Creatively

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Writing Takes Time, but isn’t always Difficult

I like what best-selling author Randy Ingermanson said in his discussion about writing stories. He likes to start a story to see how it ends because when he starts one, it takes on a life of its own and he writes what’s happening. But remember yesterday’s blog about imagination? Randy has a prolific imagination, and he writes what he sees and hears.

It takes time to write – we have to make ourselves sit down and do it. But it isn’t always difficult if we set our imagination loose and write what you see and hear.

Years ago at a scientific laboratory when I wrote reports for my supervisor, he said, “I just read the report you wrote for me. I’m baffled because it looks exactly the way I would have written it. How do you do that?”

“George, I know the information you need, I know the sound of your voice, I know how you think, and I know your work ethic. Therefore, when I sit at my computer, I begin typing what I mentally hear what you say.” I got a big raise that year.

So, you should “know” your characters inside & out. Then when you begin writing, type what you “hear” them say. Allow yourself to enter the story, and as it develops, write what you “see” happening.

Writing is laborious, but not always difficult. And P&L Publishing and Literary Services is ready to help you publish your work when you are ready. (https://plpubandlit.org/)

Write Creatively

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Fulfilling Your Dream of Writing – Step 6

It’s been a busy weekend but we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday with listing and naming the people in your story. You’ll probably name the more important animals, too, because animals sometimes play a major role in a story.

In a book about ancient history I’m writing, I started by making a list of about 86 names. As I wrote a page of information about each character (step 5), I added the meaning of each name, and that gave me a little more understanding of the integrity of each person in the book. Now, let’s go to the next step.

Step 6 is a very a important concept: Draw on your Imagination.

One dictionary says imagination is the ability to form a mental image of something; to image it, or to mentally see it.

Randy Ingermanson, bestselling author of numerous books, once said, “I like to start stories because I want to see how they turn out.” Guess what? It’s obvious that the “turning out” of Randy’s stories comes from his own mind, and that’s because he has a tremendous imagination.

Now don’t tell me you don’t have a good imagination because it wouldn’t be true. I tell folks that I don’t have a good imagination when it comes to art and a few other concepts, but I am quite creative – imaginative – related to many other aspects of life.

Your imagination is limitless and it’s easy to develop, but it takes time. Develop it by reading, analyzing, discussing concepts with people.

Here’s a simple example of the process of analysis. Imagine the scene and action as you read it.

If I throw a rock at a window, what will be the result? The rock is harder than glass, so the window will break. The structure of the glass could make it shatter into hundreds or thousands of pieces. The owner of the window will be angry, and want me to pay for damages, including window replacement and cleanup. I’ll lose a lot of money because of a childish, irresponsible act. The owner might tell people what I did, and my reputation will be damaged. Some people will not trust a man who throws rocks at windows, and my business would suffer, my income would diminish, and I might even be arrested. Therefore, because of that, and many other reasons, I will not throw rocks at windows.

Now, admittedly, that’s quite an elementary rationalization, but it shows the process of using imagination. Although that would not make it into my ancient history story, it could be part of a children’s book.

Now that you mention it, David, the shepherd, hurled a rock at a giant. Some of you could write a book about that. Use your imagination to fill out the story.

Keep your imagination active when developing and writing your stories. Even while writing a historical event, write it well with exciting, descriptive narrative.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

Write Creatively

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Fulfilling Your Dream of Writing – Step 5

This step is where you start getting serious about your story. Why? You found a writing location and you have the basic idea and theme for the story. But this is where you begin to choose and Define your Characters.

After you’ve decided on a theme for the book, consider which type of characters would be best suited for the story. Write a list of their names. Write a page about each one: who they are, what they are, and their importance to the story. Identify their strengths and weaknesses. What do they look like? Any scars? Handicaps? What’s their emotional and mental temperament? What are their likes and dislikes? Write anything else about them that you can think of. Even if some details do not make it into the story, it will help you to know them better.

One well-known writer said, “If I’m not personally familiar with all my characters, they don’t get into the book.”

These are the resource pages you will refer to as you write about them. So allow your characters to come to life on these pages for your benefit. If you do it correctly, your readers will receive the benefit later.

Writing the background for your characters will enable you to keep them straight in your own mind as you write the story.

Here’s why I emphasize this effort. In a movie I saw several years ago, a man appeared with his right leg in a cast. In a scene about 10 minutes later, his left leg was in the cast. Whoops! And in a movie I saw over a decade ago, the lawyer wore 3 different dresses in a 5-minute courtroom segment. Someone forgot to do their job. Whoops again!

Protect yourself and give your book a good foundation. Bring those people to life in your thoughts as you plan, and they will be alive when you write the story.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

Write Creatively