I wanted to say thanks to everyone who has been hanging in here with Typescript the past few weeks. If you’ve noticed, the challenges have been few and far and the posts even less frequent. I haven’t lost my passion for fiction writing — I don’t think I ever could, as it’s such a huge part of me — but life led me to unexpected places, leaving this site on the back-burner.

So I’m going to officially take a brief hiatus until things settle down and I get back in the swing of it all. I plan to bring Typescript back in mid-November with a new giveaway, fresh challenges, blog posts, and even some new short stories and another installment of the Annie Summer Series .

That’s all coming in the future, but I’m dedicating November to NaNoWriMo.

National Novel Writing Month occurs each November with the goal of spending every day for thirty days writing. The idea is to write. Just write. Get your story from your mind to the paper or the screen: let your characters talk, set the scene, spill the story. Write with abandon; turn off that spell-check, don’t look back, and follow your instincts as your fingers fly across the keyboard. NaNoWriMo is about telling the story.

And don’t we all have a story to tell?

I hope to put this to practice, altering it a bit so that I write at least a half an hour each day on fiction — something I’ve admittedly stalled on these past two months. Whether it’s a short story, a poem, a script, or THE NOVEL (yes, that Achilles’ heel that I love and dread and have abandoned for too long), the purpose is to write. And keep writing.

And as a congratulations to everyone who survives NaNoWriMo, there might be a special surprise giveaway at the end of November.

So keep well, keep writing, and let us know what you’ll be working on for NaNoWriMo!

I was reading an article on TechCrunch the other day about Disney’s newest venture into online reading. The comments, as per usual, varied in opinion, but one comment stood out to me:

It makes me wonder if books will exist in the same way that classical music and opera exist today, in that a fraction of the educated class finds it to be a refined, involved pleasure, which the rest of the world does not enjoy because those things have a learning curve.

Will reading tangible books be seen as a fad? Will they become outdated, prehistoric, in the way scrolls were once used, now disregarded? Looking back through history, people chose using the typewriter over handwritten letters due to its ease; the telephone became the source of communication due to its convenience. Now, email and texting has become the norm.

Then, musicians like Beethoven and Mozart were revered, and people waited for newspapers to publish popular novelist’s newest stories or chapters. Now, we idolize pop and rock stars while reading celebrity biographies (trust me, I’m not exempt from this). The world is evolving, yes, but there comes a point where you begin to wonder…

For those who know me, you should know my stance on this. I will be the one creating an entire library and hoarding books in secret hiding places in my attic à la Fahrenheit 451 to make sure books never disappear from my hands. And while I love products such as LeapFrog for helping kids learn how to read, I’m not sure how I would feel were digital to go mainstream.

Books are much more to me than a tool to learn. They are the open doors to other worlds, they are the gatekeeper to the imagination. Sure you can take a Kindle and laptop anywhere and read — and if one were traveling, I would advocate for exactly that. But there’s something about a book…something charming and nostalgic and inexplicable. Others have said you can’t curl up with a Kindle like you can a book; that old “books are your best friend” idea just doesn’t seem the same with an electronic device. For me, it doesn’t have the same old, familiar comfort.

I wonder, too, what the impact could be on the mind, if it’s possible that the brain processes information differently on the page verses on the screen. I wonder if our minds are so geared now for the fast-paced world of the computer that when we read on an electronic device, that sense of hyperactive processing somehow doesn’t slow. With a book, reading is almost leisurely, relaxing; it makes you take your time and contemplate as you delve deeper and deeper into the words, the ideas, the story, the content. It seems, with electronic devices, you remain at the surface level.

We seem to have gotten to the point where we want things to be quicker and easier, more convenient and all electronic. But I think there’s something to be said for holding a hardcover book in your hands, fingers poised on the corner, lightly touching the paper as you anticipate turning the page.

There’s something to be said for wanting to curl up in bed with your son or daughter and a familiar book as you tell them a fairy-tale and read them goodnight.

What are your thoughts on the advent of the digital age and its affect on books and future generations?

Soap operas may be known as your grandmother’s afternoon indulgence, but there’s more than meets the eye when considering its longevity. The first television soap opera aired in the early 1950s after evolving from its origins as a radio series. Since then, the industry has sustained itself by fresh settings, an ever-growing cast of characters, and evolving plots. In short: it’s a work of fiction that has lasted for decades.

Soap operas understand the basics of storytelling: setting (distinct places), characters (well-developed characters to whom viewers can relate) and driving plot (A, B, and C storylines) are all interconnected to create a cohesive, sustainable whole that has the viewer returning time and again. In fiction, it’s important to operate with the same basics in order for the reader to become invested in your story.

Setting

Setting is an important piece of a story because it can be viewed as an extension of those already-crafted characters who might inhabit it. In soap operas, this especially rings true, as not only does plot unfold in the setting, but it helps us understand the characters who frequent the location.

Take, for example, General Hospital, wherein the hospital is, quite obviously, one of the main settings. Not only do emergencies take place there (plot), but it sets the scene for those who might naturally belong — namely doctors, nurses, and patients (characters) — while they also experience love, family, and friendship (secondary plot).

In fiction, setting is just as important as your plot and characters, and it’s often said that setting can become a character itself. What does it mean for your story to take place on a ranch, on an island, in a diner? What does that say about the characters who work, vacation, or frequent that specific location? What do these details mean for your plot?

Setting matters, as it helps us further understand the characters while moving the plot forward.

Characters

The vixen. The villain. The all-American guy or the girl-next-door. The lawyer. The cop. The bartender or the rebel teenager. The rich family and the suburbanites; the small business owners, the fashion designers, the doctors.

These stereotypes and simple labels are the basis of most soap opera characters before they are spun and woven into something more complex and three-dimensional. Soap opera characters are successful because they have layers, and those layers are the reasons why viewers feel some sense of connection and sympathy towards them, why we keep returning to find out what they’re up to. Characters have a rich history that comes from day-after-day of storytelling; flaws and mistakes make them relatable, while their experiences offer depth.

In fiction, you unfortunately don’t have the luxury of years to create your compelling characters; what you do have, however, are paragraphs and pages. As viewers, you get to see the transformation. As readers, we can have that same development and progression throughout the course of the novel or story as we get to know them. What are your characters’ likes, dislikes? What flaws do they have and what are their strengths? Where do they come from and why do they act the way they do? How does your protagonist change and grow?

We may not be able to see your characters on a screen, but they should come alive on the page.

Plot

Soap operas typically air five days a week throughout the year, offering time for the viewer to become invested in the characters and familiar with the settings. However, in order to keep the attention of the viewers, plot has to be heavily considered. Whether the action is driving the plot with some catastrophe, disaster, or emergency (such as in a sweeps period) or the characters are having a simple exchange, each day — each conversation, action — is planned out with the primary goal of moving the plot forward.

While soap operas generally have no set time-frame, in fiction, the goal is to keep the plot moving in order to reach some sort of final conclusion with the close of a book. Just like soap opera writers have to plan out their storyline, so must you “plot your plot” — or, at the very least, understand it — to create a tight, whole story.

But just what is the plot? Soaps take the very basic themes of good vs. bad, love, family, friendship, betrayal, etc. and create something deeper and original by inserting conflict. Soap operas are known for their elaborate storylines, and often the conflict is heightened for increased suspense and dramatic effect.

While you don’t have to go to those extremes with your story, think about the conflict in your plot: is their tension? Cliffhangers? Is there motivation for the reader to keep turning the page? Are you working towards some type of climax and resolution?

Have you discovered your plot?

Conclusion

So, remind me, you say. How does a soap opera where an evil twin turns up and schemes to steal their sibling’s spouse who is already having an affair with the previously presumed-deceased neighbor relate to fiction again?*

It’s about the story. Soap operas, like fiction, weave the basic elements of plot, character, and setting to create a story that is rich and dynamic. It’s a culmination of (semi) realistic, three-dimensional characters in a purposeful, believable setting that assist in character development and carries the plot forward.

Will your story be the one readers return to time and again?

* If this storyline never occurred on a soap opera, though doubtful, I’m hereby claiming full-rights.

I have a confession to make…

I haven’t touched my novel since December. Haven’t written a word, haven’t read it through in a (seemingly futile) attempt to get back into that mindset, haven’t even opened up the document.

But I think about it. Nearly every single day the characters are there, residing in the recesses of my mind.

Silent.

I’ve stalled. Writer’s fatigue, writer’s block…Whatever you want to call it, I’m admittedly stuck.

I’d been working on this novel for a number of years, though I keep hitting roadblocks with it, unsure of how to navigate the prose. Sometimes I put it away for days, weeks, months. Last year, I barely touched it at all.

I constantly ask myself why continue with it if it seems like such a burden, if the writing just isn’t coming? And I hem and I haw and I consider nixing the whole thing and then continue to make excuses.

The truth is, I love it. There’s a story in me that wants to be told, rising from a part of me, part of my imagination, that I can’t explain, yet it’s yearning to be put into words. That’s why I love it, that’s why I write it.

Only, I haven’t been writing it.

Although I tried time and again, I just couldn’t seem to find the story anymore.

And that was exactly the problem: I had the characters, I had the setting, but I didn’t know where the story was going in terms of plot. Instead of trusting my intuition, instead of letting my characters lead me, I began to panic. And in that panic, I began to plan.

I have another confession to make…

I am not a planner.

At least, not when it comes to writing. Part of the joy in writing, for me, is the discovery, the anticipation of where the characters will lead you and what you will find.

So when I panicked and started to outline, I knew that I was in trouble. A thousand and one possibilities flew through my mind, pieces of scenes being written that didn’t seem to have a context. I crossed out and deleted scenarios, copied and pasted bits of dialogue, wrote character profiles and drew timelines. None of it felt right, and in that process, I became overwhelmed.

So I stalled. Then I stopped completely.

And I stuck all of those materials in a folder on the desktop and didn’t open it again for months.

It has been my inspiration and my Achilles’ heel. I love it and I dread it all in the same breath; I’m excited and I’m scared.

Of what, exactly, I keep trying to ask myself. Of a few words down on paper? A few characters typed on the screen?

Of not having a direction. Of having my characters suspended, indefinitely, in a time and a place with nothing to move them forward. I’m afraid of not knowing where it’s going to go next.

But that’s part of the excitement, I’ve realized, and why I’ve suddenly become inspired to open up that document folder and rediscover that small town on the harbor, the rambunctious and curious little girl for whom I have such affection, and the story that surrounds both.

Sound advice says to just keep writing, to put the words to paper without worrying about the finished product. The idea is to start somewhere and keep writing. There’s a magic in words, in writing, in the story. If you keep writing, keep going, you’ll always end up somewhere.

So that’s exactly what I’m doing…Simply writing — without an outline, without preconceived ideas, without interruption. The magic is in the making, in the telling, in the trusting.

I’ve begun to have faith in the story within me again, and I have hope that we’ll both end up somewhere.

What problems have you encountered as a writer? Do you have any similar experiences? How do you combat these concerns?

This week’s posts touched on the theme of character development and how creating layered, three-dimensional characters can add to the plot, spark inspiration, and offer more depth to a story.

To end the week, I’d like to share the story of Annie Summer and how a precocious and smart-tongued 12 year old sought me out, started talking…

And never stopped.

When I say that Annie sought me out, I believe that to be true. I wasn’t looking for a character like her and certainly wasn’t expecting one to be so vocal. I desperately wanted to start writing creatively again, to regain that passion for something that had always been important to me. But I felt like I was stuck in a rut, dried up, with not an ounce of creativity left. In order to try to rediscover that creative side, I began to browse the internet for song lyrics or titles that would stand out, scream “Inspiration Here!” with neon lights and arrows pointing me in the right direction.

Surprisingly, one did.

I’d never heard the song Laundry Daydreams before and, admittedly, I still haven’t. But the title intrigued me, and as I sat on the bed one weekend morning, fingers poised over the laptop, a warm May breeze sneaking through the open window, pictures and ideas began to emerge in my mind.

Suddenly, there were white linens blowing in a hot breeze, among lush, green grass and the sound of sprinklers interrupting a lazy afternoon. I thought of summer and ice cream trucks and a suburban backyard. And then I changed perspectives and thought of what that would look like if someone was lying in that grass, looking up.

These thoughts took less than an instant, and in less than an instant, that someone turned into 12 year old Annie Summer.

I let her talk as my fingers flew across the keyboard, barely slowing. Suddenly there was a childhood crush and coveted sneakers, baking apple pie and panning for gold with a best friend. Annie had a story.

And, like it or not, she was going to tell it.

I had intended to write separate, complete stories using song lyrics as the inspiration and titles, but clearly Annie had other ideas. One story turned into two, and two turned into a series.

She was kind of like the little kid who poked you over and over until you finally answered, trying to gain your attention. She wasn’t done talking, and she wanted me to listen.

I was more than willing.

As I began to write her story, I discovered that there was something bigger there. Suddenly, there was a neighborhood, a town. Suddenly, there was a family, friends. Setting and plot began to come together, and though I tried to reason and play around with place and time, the story, Annie, had other ideas.

The year, it seemed, was going to be 1979. No way, Practical Me said. I didn’t know anything about the 70s, so how could I possibly write about it? I tried every which way to change it, but as the story progressed, and as the neighbor-to-the-left came into the picture, I began to realize that sometimes, you just have to go with it.

Sometimes, you have to trust your characters.

And sometimes, you have to trust yourself.

I love history because I love the stories of people’s lives, the everyday moments that connect each of us, regardless of year or era. Writing about Annie — her summer boredom, her reluctance to help her Mom bake pies, her sibling rivalry with her sister — was a reminder of this.

So I listened. And wrote. And she talked. And I wrote.

And then she talked some more.

So much that I created a Twitter account for her character. This was an outlet for me as well, a chance, much like the idea of the character interview, to get to know her and experience her life day-to-day. Memories and motivation, experiences and thoughts — it was a way to grow her story and understand where she was leading me.

The series stalled for awhile when she went silent for some months. Actually, truth-be-told, maybe I just didn’t feel like listening. I like to imagine that she stepped aside for awhile, letting other characters tell their own story, but she’s always been there, waiting patiently for me to get back to her. Finally, I gave in.

She hasn’t shut up since.

I couldn’t be more grateful.

When I look back on my other writing, I realize that no other character has spoken more powerfully, more insistently, than Annie Summer. Some call it a muse, some call it inspiration, but I like to think that it’s the characters themselves who finally have a voice.

These characters are there, speaking to you, waiting for you to tell their story.

Are you listening?

Note: This is the conclusion of the three-part post series focusing on character development. Check out the first post on how to listen to your characters and take the Wednesday Writing Challenge as a source of new inspiration.

One of the most difficult aspects of writing fiction lies in creating believable, three-dimensional characters that come to life on the page. While it’s relatively easy to create the skeleton of a character, characters, like people, have multiple layers that extend far beyond what is originally perceived.

So often are people, and consequently characters, defined by what they do rather than who they are, it seems that this same idea naturally translates when creating a character. There’s the “sympathetic bartender” or the “hardened lawyer,” the “girl-next-door” or the “bad boy with the heart of gold.” These descriptions can provide the reader with the basics necessary for setting a scene or presenting a plot; however, they are still merely the shell of a character.

To create more depth, and thus a more believable, well-rounded character, it’s important to ask “who,” rather than “what,” and finding out the “who” often requires asking “why.”

One of the best exercises I’ve found for development is the character interview. This exercise forces you, as the writer, to really listen to what the characters are saying, to figure out who they are and to get to know them just as you would someone who is originally a stranger. Even if you don’t use all of the information you gain, it will be a starting point (and who knows what inspiration might be lurking in the answers).

What is your character’s favorite vacation spot? What toy did they play with as a child? Who took care of them when they were sick? What is their favorite fruit? What is their favorite piece of clothing?

Don’t stop with one-word answers. Find out the motivation behind the responses. Ask “why.”

Why can that sympathetic bartender be found recommending wine to customers at the hotel bar? Why does the hardened lawyer look back fondly on the Easy-Bake Oven she had when she was six?

Just as there is more to every person than a name and an occupation, so is there more to your characters, with memories, experiences, and influences that can motivate their actions, place them in that setting, and sometimes even drive the plot forward.

Get to know your characters to create the depth and dimension that breathes a story to life.

Characters love to talk.

Are you listening?

Note: This is part one of a three-part post series focusing on character development. Stay tuned for this week’s Wednesday Writing Challenge, which ties into using the character interview as a source of new inspiration.

Writers seem to be constantly debating whether or not writer’s block exists. Some claim that it’s a myth and attribute it to pure laziness. Others say that it’s a very real feeling of fear and anxiety that comes from a period of stagnation or lack of motivation. Whatever it’s called, sometimes you just feel a little stuck, with words that just won’t come. Sometimes that blinking cursor mocks you and you tap your fingers mindlessly on the keyboard, not knowing how to start, not knowing where to begin.

So then where do you begin?

Whether you’re starting a new story or returning to an old one, the idea of filling a blank page may seem like a daunting task you’d rather not tackle. How do you come up with something new, captivating? How do you start with that first sentence so that all the others that follow will flow quickly, easily, flawlessly? How do you return to the characters that once spoke to you when they’ve suddenly gone silent?

Maybe the trick is to just start somewhere.

The best advice I’ve ever read was to keep going, to write through it.

Too often, lack of motivation and anxiety about the blank page can hold us back. As writers, many of us are subject to believing that our first drafts have to be remarkable. But as writers, we get second, third, and fourth chances. As writers, we edit.

Your first draft is really just that — a place to get started, a puzzle with which you can begin filling in the pieces to see the larger picture. Start with the outline, the edges — a single scene, thought, piece of dialogue or setting. Whatever comes to mind, put pen to paper and start writing.

Trust that the rest of the pieces will begin to fall into place.

Trust the story.

And trust yourself.

I have half a dozen blog entries waiting to be written and stories that are longing to be told, but there’s something building inside of me, waiting to emerge; there’s an emotion that needs to be recognized, put to paper, typed on the screen…

It’s love.

Love for words, love for language.

Love for writing.

Love for life.

For me, writing is so much more than a passion. I need to write. I need it like I need the air to breathe, and maybe ever so much more. There was a time when I had lost that, where writing became a chore, a struggle, where words were merely made up of letters, lacking meaning, and stories were like wistful daydreams, imagined and discarded.

But now…Now a longing for expression wells up from somewhere so deep inside of me, and my fingers tingle with anticipation to let them out, set them free, follow them wherever they might lead. My mind races with a thousand thoughts and the outside world disappears and suddenly it’s just me…Just me and an eruption of words and a desire greater than anything I’ve ever known — a need to explore the world, ask what if, question why not.

There’s that longing to cross invisible boundaries and experience things that can only be imagined, can only be dreamed. You want to understand people, understand yourself. You want to make sense of something impossible, you want to create beauty and experience wonder and express the deepest emotions that might never dare pass your lips.

And you know that nothing can compare to this world that you’ve imagined, these characters and settings you’re creating, but it brings tears to your eyes because there’s a chance, and you know you can believe in something good, something better, something lasting, and something true. It makes you recognize that beauty does exist in this world, makes you realize that you can find inspiration in the colors of the trees, see memories in a smile, a teardrop, and hear words of hope whispered through the silence.

I’ve never felt more alive, more inspired, than when I’m feeling, when I’m writing. This is the core of who I am, when everything else is stripped away. All I’m left with is a passion to discover and experience and imagine and feel, and it runs so deep that it takes my breath away.

There is life everywhere. Everywhere. And it sends warm chills down your arms and travels to your fingers and makes your heart skip a beat in awe and excitement and you want to capture it, savor it, remember it.

You want to tell its story.

You want to write.

A friend from Georgia called me recently. During the course of our conversation, I mentioned that he was one of my closest friends.

“Words are meaningless,” he responded.

“Words matter,” I tried to argue.

“Only if there are actions behind the words,” he said. “I call you every day to tell you that I love you, but I’m also showing you that I mean it.”

Touché.

This conversation happened to bring up a curious concept that I’ve been pondering ever since: just how much do words really matter? Or are they meaningless without the action behind them to back them up?

As a writer, I tend to place a lot of emphasis on words, always believing that they conveyed more because you’re making a conscious decision to verbalize how you think, feel.

But are these words enough?

There’s the saying that “actions speak louder than words.” In writing, the rule of thumb tends to lean towards “show, don’t tell.” Verbs depict the action, adjectives describe the setting, but in the end, are these still just words on a page, used to tell a story, a small piece of expression?

Is the meaning still there, still as strong? Or are words merely hollow thoughts without the actions behind them, used to emphasize the meaning and make it more real?

Do actions really speak louder than words?

A close friend sent me the link to an article, titled “Give Me Twitter or Give Me Death.” While my love for Twitter doesn’t run so deep (give it time), it made me question what attracts me to it, to blogging, to writing.

The answer is in the details.

According to the article, “Twitter is a communications technology, a form of mass instant messaging, that specializes in recording the details of life in the moment.”

And, for me, therein lies the appeal: recording the details of life in the moment.

It’s why I read, it’s why I write. I love the everyday moments of life and those ties that bind us together: making dinner, going to work, playing a game, questioning life…There is beauty in the simple moments that is captured by words, a life story woven through them.

Maybe this is why I’ve always been intrigued by history — not so much by the events that occurred, but, rather, by the people that experienced them. Humanity has no time barrier; it spans generations, and though our technology may have changed, though our societies may differ, we can still relate to generations before us because we all still love, laugh, face heartbreak and rejection, feel joy, feel suffering, feel lonely.

Maybe this new technology is just another way to bridge that gap, let everyone have a brief glimpse into someone else’s life to help us realize how similar we really are, to see them for the people they were, not just as names, but as fellow human beings.

We’re not so different. No matter what age, no matter what era. Maybe this technology just emphasizes that more, brings history a little closer to home.

Because I don’t think I’ll ever quite be able to articulate these thoughts as well as I did last May, below is the blog post I wrote after a trip to Gettysburg:

I used to hate history as a kid and love it now, and I know the exact reason for it: Textbooks are filled with only the facts — dates and names and places are meaningless unless there is a story there. And there is always a story. Maybe that’s the writer in me, but I believe that history is more than a recording — it’s a living picture, a breathing past. A journal is the same thing; it’s the story of a life – raw, uncut, and unedited.

We all have experiences and emotions that we want to remember. We all have a story to tell.

What story do you want to tell?