Yesterday, Walmart Sucked.
I planned one outing to get some groceries and picked Wally World so I could also get this book.
It wasn’t there.
Check out this fantastic review. Oh, I want! Even though I’m going to read it and suffer through a bit of that envy bug this author inevitably passes… and then wonder why I’m still trying to sell my own work 😉 …I’m still reading it.
Kim Harrison is one of the authors I can’t live with… and simply can’t live without.
As for the weekend, I planned an all writing one but forgot that Saturday is catch up on the other kiddo needs. I have to go to the mall. Help!! Prom dress shopping. Joy. Haircut for young son. Patience. The daughter wants the cartilage in her ear pierced. Ouch. (Hey, I’m still a young-ish, cool mom and she could want more difficult things pierced!)
The hubby and I made a deal. Today, I take care of this stuff and tomorrow, he deals with everything while I lock myself in my office.
I brainstormed and researched most of the night and morning. I’m writing a short with the intent to sell to Nocturne Bites. (Do you wonder if anyone thought about the second half of that title? heh ) So tomorrow, I plan to get most of the rough done.
And shopping today should be interesting. When a story is playing out in my head, I tend to have a lot of Rinda Moments. Poor kids.
relliott4.wordpress.com 
So far I’ve looked at my grocery store, Walgreens, Walmart, Target, and another local department store that carries books, and none of them have had TODW. Though that last one had Harrison’s last book, in hardback, in a huge display.
I am not happy. We don’t have a local bookstore, and I’m going to have to go downtown to get it, because I’m not willing to wait for it. And I didn’t pre-order, because all those stores I mentioned had her last one on release day.
Sigh.
Happy writing tomorrow!
Liked your prose at the beginning of the blog. Your usual personality is warm, inviting, and entertaining, but the start of the blog was edgy and concise which is very cool!
Any ideas for making a character more likeable? My magician story I’m told needs to have more characterization. More detail to make it a better story. I’m wary of cutting into it and changing the whole of the continuity. I’m willing to do it if I have a plan to make it a winning story. Any suggestions?
Wow, that’s an excellent question. The answer could take up an entire post. Or even a week of posts. IMO, there are many ways to make a character more likeable. Give them a personal flaw that will enable a reader to identify with them. Describe them in a moment of compassion– even if it’s surprising and unexpected. Show an internal weakness, a period of self-doubt or have them make a wrong choice. Make sure they seem human with all the ups and downs and goods and bads. 😉
In my published story, Retribution, I purposely used an old school writing style (my little Lovecraft homage ) to tell the story of a sociopath who spends his life killing only to have all the years of emotion come back to hit him at once. That story was a challenge because I didn’t really want the reader to like this guy. But, I did want them interested in what happened to him.
Retribution won a pretty decent first place award, the editor said it was one of his favorites stories, yet the reviews were terrible. In fact, someone told me outright that Clyde was truly unlikable so it was hard to feel sorry for him when his black moment hit.
Good. It was horror–not a feel good piece. LOL!
In most of my stories though, I tend to write about people with compassion. I have a hard time liking characters without it. I also like to have my characters make mistakes. I don’t think anyone relates to a Perfect character.
Not sure this answer is helpful at all. It really does depend on the character and the story. Have you broken your main character down? Looked at him outside the story? Some writers like to do interviews with their characters to learn more about them. Some base characters on astrological charts or personality types.
Oh, an excellent book to help round out personalities in characters is 45 Master Characters.
It takes archetypes and breaks them down. Even lists the good and bad personality issues with each type
I pre-ordered, received Demon Wails and I’m half-way through. Doesn’t help my writing word count or help me get to bed on time. I’m also reading Half-way to the Grave and really like the voice and premise, as well as hunky Mr. Bones.
Had to take L to ER yesterday (pneumonia)-got a lot of reading done. Writing not so much, especially with OWFI stuff. C
I can’t believe I won’t be going to OWFI this year either. 😦
Oh man, I’m sorry about L and the ER. Hugs, Carol.