I think I over-use the word "stride" - no idea why, I'm afraid. Other than that, I don't think I'm aware of excessive favouritism towards any particular word. I try to be vigilant in not putting the same word in the one sentence, or paragraph, if I can help it... but sometimes you just can't help it.
If there's anything I over-use, it would be the hyphen and the ellipsis. I guess I'm just not a fan of ordinary, every-day punctuation... <-- see?
Smirk.
He smirked. She smirked. They smirked. He said, with a smirk. Smirk this, smirk that. Smirk smirk smirk.
She smirked as she strode along and sighed a lot... [img]http://s4.images.proboards.com/grin.gif" alt=";D" border="0"/>
Ha! I even put an ellipsis at the end by accident!
Jul 11, 2005, 1:25am[/url], Iced Bunne[/url] wrote:She smirked as she strode along and sighed a lot... [img]http://s4.images.proboards.com/grin.gif" alt=";D" border="0"/>
Ha! I even put an ellipsis at the end by accident![/quote]
- hence, she got alot of writers annoyed!!!!
(note the hyphen and excessive use of exclamation marks [img]http://s4.images.proboards.com/grin.gif" alt=";D" border="0"/>)
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
18 years ago
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
Guildmember
I want to talk about characters for a mo....
I'm going to state again first, that yes, i am an unusual writer, i do things a little weird, and you see, characters are what i write for. I tend to create more characters than stories, and have a whole bank of them in note books about my room, or in my head. I love to create characters.
But once i've created them, i have a habit of losing control. I never seem to be able to make them do what i want them to do. Constantly i fight with them, trying to get them out of situations they started.
Now i know, this is weird. YOu would think that a WRITER would have control over HER IMAGINARY characters. That if i didn't want them to be somewhere, they wouldn't be there.
But no, it doesn't work like that.
My best example of this, was a time when one of my characters got herself into a situation that called for her death. I didn't want it to happen, so i wrote a way for her to get out of it, continued writing the story, and then came to the realisation about 10 thousand words on, that it was the wrong choice. And she had been trying to tell me it was the wrong choice since the moment i went in to save her life. So, i ended up scrapping that 10 thou, going back, and having her killed off. I mean for goodness sakes you'd think i would get a say in it, wouldn't you....?
I always get that feeling when i'm writing, that i'm only recording events, that these people actually exist somewhere, and i'm only jotting down what they did, instead of coming up with it myself..... Now, i know this isn't true, but that's what it feels like some days. And i can't be blamed for anything that happens to them, because it honestly wasn't me.
Which is what i used to tell people when they came up to complain about something that happened. "It wasn't me, they just got themselves into that situation. What the hell would you have done?"
I was just wondering, how the rest of you handle your characters? Or am i the only weirdo out there......??
My characters run off and do whatever they please, most of the time. If that fits in with my plan, I'm happy with it. But look at Kate and Andy, for example (not that there's anything to look at), the plan was to steer them AWAY from that suspect relationship and they just ploughed on closer and closer to it. What's with that?
However, as it fits the story, I'm going to let them get away with it (there is no it, incidentally).
Sometimes, it doesn't fit my plan and I have to say no. But usaully, characters seem to know best. I still maintain then when I couldn't work out how to end Questers, Aiadiam ended it for me. The whole ending just bypassed me and came out the way he thought it should go. I was writing the ending by myself, not knowing where it was going. Then he leapt onto the page and solved my problem. Was bizzare.
I think when that happens it's a writer's instincts taking over. Intellectually, you're trying to do something, but there's an instinctive writer's thing that KNOWS you're wrong about that and changes it. That's why I usually accept the change, whatever it is doing this knows better than my concious mind.
It's almost as though we have a story-instinct, deep inside our minds. I often find characters doing things I hadn't planned for them. In Black Fiddle, one decided to die and another decided to be related to somebody else in the story, without consulting me about it first. Ages ago (back in secondary school), I wrote a story with a girl in it whom I absolutely detested. I couldn't stand her. She was supposed to be a nice sort of person, the best friend of the main character - but she kept doing snobbish and nasty things and generally behaving like a selfish cow. And I couldn't stop it!
I maintain that once you let them loose on a page they come alive. And no matter how much you wrestle with them, they will always do what they wantm, not what you want. I have a character who was meant to be a bit player, but he kept popping up ibn pivotal moments. Couldn't keep him out of the action. In the end I just had to go back and give him a bigger role, or he was going to just keep on annoying me [img]http://s4.images.proboards.com/cheesy.gif" alt=":D" border="0"/>
Turks, that happened to me!!!
In the end, i gave him his own book!
Nice!
Yeah. Funnily enough there's fgoing to be a sequel, and this pesky bugger has started appearing, even in the outlines.
*sigh* *bows to the inevitable*
P.S Who's Andy MacMilan? and what's a given value of bachelor?
Ah, Andy MacMillan.
He is a character from the Life or Freedom project. He was always supposed to be easy on the eyes, but suddenly I find my fellow LorFers regarding him as ruggedly handsome, and idolising him as some kind of standard of perfection.
LorFers: We deny that very strongly!
Well... okay. But Andy has somehow become LorF's Most Eligible Bachelor.
Except that, it could be argued that he is most definitely off the market. Not married, but not exactly available either. So, it all depends on your definition of "bachelor", really.
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
18 years ago
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
Guildmember
He's soooo off the market *lewd smiley*
sorry, couldn't resist myself....
He's ON the market for now.
That's what a man gets when he's filthy murdering, lying scum!
*right*
How does one join ya'all at LorF? I was given to understand that the story was nearing completion. (And my sister has lost an eye. And is apparently shagging some bloke named Andy)
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
18 years ago
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
Guildmember
*cough cough* um.... Turks, that be Kayt... unless there's something going on that nobody is telling me about.... Kayt?
I knew it! I KNEW something was going on between Yanna and Andy!
Ooh, Flit... Kate's really gonna kill Yanna now.
(Not that there's anything going on between her and Andy. *cough*)
OK so I got confused! I thought Yanna was getting tortured?*pulls face*
So Kate's shagging a bloke named Andy??? *raises eyebrows suggestively*
Hmm.... I shall consider it.
Can I be a bad guy?
I'm afraid not. Unless you genuinely believe that you would be, under the circumstances of the scenario. But if you think you would be bad, then by all means you can.
You could always be a good guy who has constant run-ins with a bad guy. The options are completely open.
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
18 years ago
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
Guildmember
There could never be anything going on between Andy and Yanna, let's face it, he's too attached to Kate... [img]http://s4.images.proboards.com/tongue.gif" alt=":P" border="0"/>
And i think Kayt would argue that Yanna is a bad guy... [img]http://s4.images.proboards.com/tongue.gif" alt=":P" border="0"/>
I don't know Yanna's a bad guy.
Just remind me never to come near you when you have a bottle of saline, dude!
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
18 years ago
Keeper of the Sherbet Lemons
Guildmember
dude, last time i check you weren't suffering full thickness burns, so i doubt i could do anything nasty to you.... [img]http://s4.images.proboards.com/grin.gif" alt=";D" border="0"/> but it's nice to know i've got you running....