Killing off Characters

Usually when we start writing, we already know that one of our characters isn't going to make it to the end of the story. And if we really know our characters it hurts. I know that whenever I kill off a character I'm usually getting choked up. Even if it's the antagonist! The problem is, a lot of times our readers don't feel the same way. They brush it off like it's nothing. So how do we kill off our characters in a way that will really affect our readers.

I think that one of the biggest things is that your reader needs to have time to really get to know the character. If you kill off the character right at the beginning of the book, they probably won't be as affected by it as they might be if you had done it later on. Give them time to gain an understanding of your character. Of course, you need to make sure that there is something there to UNDERSTAND. This goes right back to the issue of 2D vs. 3D characters. Real people are going to grab your readers, not mechanical stick figures.

So, we need to make your readers care about the characters. Another way to do this is to have your protagonist (unless they are the one you're killing off) needs to be personally invested in that character. If they don't care, your reader isn't going to care. But if the death affects your protagonist, it will affect your reader far more.

Another thing that we need to be mindful of, when killing off characters, is the method we use. If the character just got stabbed in the chest, they're NOT going to give a five minute monologue! This is something I struggle with -- not creating a clichéd, stereotypical death scene. But the more unique it is, the better. Pour your heart into it and you will grab your readers' hearts.

I'm not sure that there's anything more to be said on the subject. I've found that the more obscure details you add in, the better. The more real you make it, the more real it will become to your readers.

     (Thank you for listening to my ramblings. If you have any input, please comment below.)

The Antagonist

 

MWAHAHAHA! The bad guy. The one that makes our skin crawl. The one that causes us to pull our covers over our heads at night. He is the one that will stand between the protagonist and his/her goal. The antagonist is one of the most important characters in every story, and his development is crucial. They are part of what makes our stories memorable. Who could ever forget Lord Voldemort, Darth  Vader, or Sauron?

I have always thought that the antagonist was the most difficult character to create. It's not that I have any problem being dark and demented (ha-ha). The problem I have had -- and many people have -- is making the antagonist this 2 dimensional lord of all evil. Well, unless your antagonist is the substance of evil itself, there's more to it than that.

The antagonist needs to be a real person. I'm not saying that you're antagonist can't be something besides a human being. I'm saying that your antagonist needs just as much personality as any of your other characters! We tend to give them only one layer -- evil. I am HORRIBLY guilty of this. But I will tell you that once I managed to create an antagonist that was a real person my story was seriously strengthened!

Your antagonist shouldn't be evil for the sake of evil. Not everyone walks around killing people or blowing things up (or whatever it is the badguy does in your story). There should be something in their life that made them what they are. Some sort of conscious choice or change in them. Spend as much time developing your antagonist as you do your protagonist. Just like all your other characters they should have layers. And just because they are the antagonist doesn't mean that they have to be pure evil.

The antagonist needs to be personally despicable. Okay, so now that we've established that the antagonist needs to have a personality (preferably not a stereotypical one), we need to make sure that our antagonist is one that our readers will hate. Maybe you want to glorify your antagonist, but I think that it will make for a stronger story -- and a stronger effect on your readers -- if you create an antagonist that they want to DESTROY. Make your readers' skin crawl! Make them want to throttle the antagonist! That will only enthrall them even more in the story.

When I say "personally despicable" I mean that the antagonist needs to do something that will touch your readers as well as your characters. Make him/her do something that we ALL recognize as bad. And not just bad! Dishonorable. Low. Despicable. I remember -- when I was reading the Divergent series -- disliking Eric. He was just plain yucky. But I didn't hate him until he shot the little boy in the second book. When he did that, it felt like the gloves were off! If the antagonist is just walking around doing that "I'm bad, fear me," routine, we're not really going to be bothered. But when he does something that affects us -- as readers -- everything changes.

The first scene my antagonist is in, he squishes a mouse with his bare hand. Yucky, right? And then I just make him get worse from there. Write to really affect your readers. Make them HATE your antagonist while still making him a 3D character.

There's only one last point I want to make and that is The antagonist shouldn't think they're evil. I think that most badguys, if asked outright, wouldn't claim to be evil. They would tell you why they're doing this and display their motives as if to justify what they're doing. They think they're just as right as the people who are fighting for a just cause! Because they believe a lie, then end up on the wrong side. See how this ties in with the "lie, ghost, fear, need" routine? The antagonist is developed just like any other character. They are just fighting on the wrong side because they believe a lie. They have fallen SO far from the truth that they are willing to hurt others to get what they want.

These are just a few things about writing your antagonist. I have found that there are a LOT of helpful articles on the internet on the subject. But what I would really say is the most important part of creating a good badguy is to avoid the stereotypical. Make your antagonist just as unique as your protagonist!

     (Thank you for listening to my ramblings. If you have any input, please comment below.)

The Protagonist

 

The most important character in your story is probably going to be your protagonist, your main character. They are the central focus of your story. If you have a protagonist that is totally dull or someone that your reader can't relate to, your story is going to be dry. Your protagonist should affect your readers more than any other character in the story. I often struggle with writing my protagonist because I'm always so much more interested in the other characters. It can be a bit of a battle trying to keep your secondary characters from taking over (if you're like me).

So what can we do to keep our protagonists interesting and fresh? I have a few simple suggestions that have helped me in creating better main characters.

     They shouldn't be perfect. This is just another part of making our characters real to the readers. No one is perfect, and therefore our protagonist should have flaws too. A mistake that we make a lot is thinking that if we create flawed characters they will be unlikeable. That is NOT true. Some of the most interesting characters in stories are the flawed ones. I just recently watched "Guardians of the Galaxy". I loved that movie because I loved all the characters. Why? None of them were perfect! They were "losers", people who had lost stuff, and that gave each of them interesting traits that just enthralled you in the story!

Flawed characters are characters that we can relate to, empathize with, cry with. We CANNOT feel any connection with a perfect character.

     They should be memorable. Another example from "Guardians of the Galaxy". In that movie, you had the man (Starlord) who lived among a bunch of aliens carrying around a Walkman. You had the green assassin lady (Gamora), Drax the walking thesaurus, Rocket, and Groot, the tree monster. These are all memorable characters because they are unique. Every character in your story should be unique, but the protagonist most of all. Why bother telling their story? What's special about them? Why are they the hero and not someone else. Your protagonist should be set apart from the others, different, even if they don't know it. It is the characters that are going to make the story memorable, and a unique main character is going to make it all the more interesting.

     Your readers should be able to sympathize with them. This goes back to the fact that your characters can't be perfect because they won't be real to the readers. When your protagonist is hurt, your readers should be hurting with them. This means that bad things need to happen to them. We don't want to watch your protagonist skipping through the roses all 300 pages! We, as readers, are CRUEL. We want to see what your protagonist is made of by throwing them in the fire! But, at the same time, we want to be able to feel bad for them.

Another thing is that if your character is a total jerk, the readers are less likely to care if they get hurt. Your protagonist, unless they are completely evil, should not be the badguy! And that means they probably shouldn't act like one. We want a hero, a flawed, imperfect, beat-up hero, but a hero nonetheless. If your protagonist is a jerk, I would suggest that you throw little things in so that your readers know they aren't all bad. Maybe he gets into fights at the bar but helps little old ladies across the street. Maybe she is a thief but she gives a few scraps of food to a hungry kid.

     Again, you can do whatever you want in your story, but whatever you do you want to have a powerful, affecting protagonist. That will be a key element in drawing in your readers and keeping them enthralled in your story.


     (Thank you for listening to my ramblings. If you have any input, please comment below.)

Romance Between Characters

Romance. Ugh. This is a subject that I struggle with a little bit because I'm not really one for the ooey-gooey stuff. Don't get me wrong. I love a good love story. But whenever I sit down to right a love scene I'm constantly second-guessing myself and trying to keep it from becoming cheesy. Now I'm pretty sure I will NEVER be a romance writer, (no offense to any romance writers) and you might be of the same mindset. However, there are elements of romance in most stories, and I have found that there are some things that you have to be watchful of.

     Love story vs. Lust story. Our society seems to be under the impression that love and lust are the same thing. Movie directors and writers alike fail to distinguish between the two. I would boldly say that lust stories are put forward to gratify our sin nature whereas a good love story is affecting and meaningful. Love has to do with affection for a person, and it often shows itself through self-sacrifice and service to the individual loved. But lust has to do with selfish desire. You can go ahead and write your lust story if you want to. I just don't want you to confuse love and lust because they are not the same. Don't present one as the other or visa versa.

I'm not condemning kissing or physical touch in stories. Relationships between characters can be used in powerful ways. But if that's ALL that's ever happening in your story, it gets old pretty fast. Any scene that doesn't empower your story and have a purpose should be taken out. So throw out the unnecessary touchy-feely! That's not all that love is!

In the story I wrote, two characters end up falling in love. How often did they kiss? Once at the end. When did they admit their love for each other? At the end. Did they ever embrace? Only a few times. Not a very enthralling love story, you may say (and you may be right). But in that story, I tried to convey love a different way, where the guy gives the girl his cloak when she's cold. Where the girl jumps in front of an arrow to save him. Where the guy carries the girl when she's too tired to go any farther. That, in my mind, is a more powerful representation of love.

     Developing the relationship. Call me a killjoy if you like, but I don't believe in love at first sight. People don't meet and fall in love in two seconds. They might take a liking to one another pretty quick. At first sight, they might be attracted to one another. But love doesn't just suddenly happen. It develops as you get to know the person better. They might not even like each other at first! Believe it or not, my characters (mentioned before) met when the guy tried to rob the girl with a knife! There certainly wasn't any "zing" between them until quite a while later.

     Keep it real. No one is perfect, and therefore no relationship is perfect. People, even if they are "in love" aren't always going to get along perfectly. Love is not all rainbows and butterflies! It is *shudder* commitment and sacrifice. Again, rainbows and butterflies are just fine, just don't forget to include the other, that is, if you want things to be realistic. And we already established that the more real things become to the reader, the more enthralled they will become.

These are just my own personal opinions on this subject. If you disagree with me, that's perfectly fine. You can write romance into your story (or leave it out) however you want! It's YOUR story. But I think that we can do a better job, as a society, of showing what love really is.


     (Thank you for listening to my ramblings. If you have any input, please comment below.)

Showing Hidden Emotions

Almost every story has at least one character that tends to hide their emotion. Whether they're in pain because of a dark secret from their past or they just want to be strong in front of their peers, it is important to know how to show emotion without the character showing it. Is that a contradiction? I don't think so. There are ways to show these emotions without just stating them outright. And often these emotions will come through stronger if you present them in a subtle way.

The first thing we have to realize when we are doing this is that THE READERS ARE NOT STUPID. They are going to catch the little details and the hints that we throw at them. We don't have to make everything totally obvious for them to get it. In fact, I know that when I read a book I like to look for little bits of foreshadowing so that I can try to guess what's going on in the background.

Subtle hints can often affect your readers more than if your tough male character just starts bawling. There may be a place for that, but it's not likely that he will do that, especially around other people.

Here are three tips that might help in conveying the emotion your character doesn't want to show:

     1. Give your character a specific action that shows they're trying to hide something. A small, tell-tale sign. Maybe they rub their hands against the front of their trousers. Maybe they stare at the ground or avoid eye-contact. Maybe they get up in arms when they think they're being confronted about it. Whatever it is, make them do something that they don't normally do except when they're hiding something. The reader will notice that finger-twitch or that tight jaw and come to a conclusion on their own.

I have a character that has a dark secret and a lot of baggage that he's trying to carry around without anyone knowing it. Whenever he feels like someone is seeing what he's feeling inside, he intimidates them until they back down and leave him alone. Choose something that will fit your character's personality.

     2. Write a scene from that character's point of view. This method will allow you to present how your character feels and why they feel that way. But I don't think that it's as good as showing them in their struggle to conceal emotion from the point of view of other characters (even if they don't notice it). One of the first mistakes I made in writing was thinking that in order to gain sympathy for my character I needed to show all the horrible things that happened to him and show him in agony. So I wrote a bunch of scenes from his point of view in attempt to gain sympathy for him. It made him look like a whiny, pitiful wimp! If you show, rather than tell, emotion on characters and show them trying to hide it, you will be more likely to gain sympathy from the readers.

Another tool is to write about that character's nightmares. Show them in their waking hours where they appear to be in control. Then show what they dream about. This will help to convey the emotion that they are trying to hide from themselves!

     3. Dialogue. Again, this can vary depending on your character. They might shut down and not talk at all, or they might chatter nervously without stop. But make their dialogue odd when they are trying to hide emotion. Have them speak with double-meanings, avoid questions, or snap at other people.

How your character responds to emotion is completely up to you. YOU are the writer. But not all characters are going to display their emotion outright. Everybody deals with pain and hurt differently. Try to make your character unique in how they try to conceal their feelings.

Here's an example from one of my books of a character concealing emotion:

After what seems like a long time, I say, "Andrew?"
"Hmm?" he grunts.
"Why can't you swim?"
He glances at me, scratching the back of his head. "Earl Vaska is convinced that he can use electricity to genetically modify people. He experimented on me while the idea was still new."
I wait for him to go on, then prompt, "What does that have to do with water?"
He stares straight into the distance, "He used to put me in a tank full of water with an oxygen mask on and charge the water with electricity. Every once in a while the oxygen tank would malfunction."
"That's awful!" I exclaim, kicking a pebble across the road. After a moment, I say, "I'm sorry."
"Don't be," his voice is flat. "It doesn't matter."
And for a while we just watch the wind ruffle the leaves in the high trees.

So, we've got Andrew talking to his friend about some of the things he suffered during childhood. Nothing big really happens here. He doesn't burst into tears or start getting angry. But we see him breaking eye contact, and his answers go from long to short. That makes it pretty clear that he doesn't really want to talk.

I think that realistic characters are the ones that don't always display their emotions outwardly, because a lot of times we try to hide our emotion for one reason or another. This is just another tool that we can use to make our characters more real to the readers.

     (Thank you for listening to my ramblings. If you have any questions, please comment below.)

Novel Soundtrack

Do you ever just sit at your computer when you're supposed to be writing and daydream about your story in movie form? Ever hear a song that sounded like it was written for one of your characters? I can personally say that I do this all the time -- and totally nerd out over it.

I'm going to be camping out on the subject of characters for a while because they are such a vital part of your story. While we are on the subject of developing characters, I would like to point out another method that will help you, as the writer, get to know your characters. And that is making a soundtrack for your book. This might sound a little odd, but it is actually very helpful. Music, in my mind is a very powerful thing. A lot of times listening to it cures writers' block for me.

Now I suggest that we use music as an inspirational tool as well as a way to really flesh out our characters.

Just think about your characters and your story while you're listening to music. Or even better, listen to it while you're writing. The stronger emotions that you have while writing will create stronger scenes and inspire a stronger reaction from your readers. And I think that music is one of the things that will stir up these emotions inside you.

For example, this song (Monster by Imagine Dragons) reminds me of Shale from my book. I listen to this sometimes when I need to write something from his point of view:

 

Another example is Battle Cry -- also by Imagine Dragons -- which reminds me of my antagonist, Othnor:

 

 

If you think about it, these can give you a pretty good look at what's going inside these peoples' heads, right? I added stuff to my characters after listening to certain songs, and they made them more interesting.

 

Besides finding songs that remind you of your characters, you can find some that remind you of different scenes. Doing that has also provided me personally with a lot of inspiration. I found it helpful to listen to Not Gonna Die by Skillet when writing my climax:

 

 

Of course, finding songs for your characters isn't necessary for their development. That's not what I'm saying. But it certainly can be helpful, and I don't think you will be sorry if you take the time to do it.

 

Do you have any songs that remind you of your story? Comment below!







Creating 3D Characters

As writers, we must create worlds on pages and people on a 2D surface. When I say "3D characters" I mean real people that your readers are going to believe in and understand and sympathize with. You characters, in my opinion, are the most important elements of your story. And creating characters that your readers love, good or bad, is going to draw them into your story.

If anyone is guilty of creating stereotypical, 2D characters it's me. When I first started writing, I had one character who was angry, one who was nice, one who was mysterious, and one that was just along for the ride. If I would have killed them all off, no one would have blinked an eye (not even me!) because they weren't real. They weren't interesting. They weren't relatable. And they weren't actually people. Readers want to read about real people, flaws and all!

When I went back and developed my characters, everything suddenly changed. They story became more enthralling. I was choking back tears with sympathy for my characters and swallowing down lumps in my throat when one of them died. Even when it was the antagonist that was suffering! THAT'S what you want your readers to do.

So, the difference between 2D and 3D characters is that 2D characters are mechanical stick-figures and 3D characters are real. 2D characters will bore your readers to death and 3D characters will draw them in.

                                                      Don't be satisfied with 2D characters!

Now how do we take the step that makes our characters real people? This is a question that I struggled with for a long time. I was really against character profiling and outlining my story because I always wanted to just jump right into the nitty-gritty of my story. Writing is exciting for me, and I didn't want to waste my time on the dull stuff. If I just jumped right in everything else would fall into place, right?

WRONG!

I had to rewrite my entire story almost from scratch because I started with the 2D characters. Having a plan and following it is what makes a story that hangs together and has good flow.

I would suggest from personal experience that you take the time to fully develop your characters before you even start. That brings us back to the question, how do we make our characters seem real? Everyone has a different system for this. I worked out my own. You can work out your own too. Think about all the people in your life. They don't always react the same to different things. In some situations, they flourish under stress, in others, they fall apart. To make your character a person, you need to know how they react in different situations, and you need to know why.

For example, maybe you have a girl in your story that is tough. Really tough! She never buckles, never asks for help, never seems to be out of her league. Why? Why is she like that? Did something happen to her early on that made her become furiously independent? Maybe this girl with the resolve of a tank can handle anything, but she can't talk in front of crowds, especially if her peers are there. Why? Was she embarrassed once in front of class?

If you come into your story knowing these things, your characters (even the ones that aren't particularly likeable) will become interesting. And please don't have a character that is tough all the time or really nice all the time. People aren't like that. Just like the tough girl couldn't talk in front of her peers, every character has layers. They will not always act the same. But that doesn't mean there isn't a reason for how they respond in different situations.

Here is a list of things that I fill out in order to give my character depth. You can use mine or figure out your own:

     Appearance
     Background
     Habits
     Ghost (the thing that haunts them, that they wish they could change, that causes some sort of self-destructive behavior)
     Fears
     Lie (every character should believe a lie, one that is going to hinder them until they find out the truth)
     Wants
     Needs (your character's wants might not be the same as their needs. In fact, they might not even know what they need!)
     Loves
     Hates
     Quirks (what makes this character unique from everyone else?)
     Cool factor (what makes this character butt-kick awesome?)
     Best qualities
     Worst qualities

Besides these, I would write down how the character changes throughout the story.

Now an effective system that I like to use brings the character's "ghost", "fears", "lie", and "needs" together. Now let's say that you have a male character who was abused and bullied when he was younger. That is his ghost. Because of this, he fears relationships with people because he thinks they are going to hurt him. The lie is that he believes he will always be hurt in relationships. But what he needs is to let people in again, to learn to trust.

You see the system? He needs exactly what he fears, but he can't quite get there because he believes a lie that was planted in his mind by his ghost! That's some deep stuff! I usually use this system and then build everything else off of that. So this character in your story could go from being distrustful and friendless to realizing the importance in relationship.

It may seem like a lot of work -- and it kind of is -- but I would take the time to make really good characters. You won't be sorry! They will drive your story and create something that will be really memorable for both you and your readers. If you have anything that you think is missing from my list, please comment. I would love to hear your input.

What a Writer Must Accomplish

Now that we've established that you can break the rules in writing, I would like to present a few things that I think a writer must accomplish when writing a story. As writers, we are the gods of our stories. We can do just about whatever we want. But in order to write a good story, there are certain guidelines that we need to follow. Here are a few things that I think are very important -- obvious, but important.

     1. A writer must draw their readers' interest. There are several ways to do this, but a lot depends on your readers' preferences. I believe that you, as the writer, shouldn't have to write romance because that is the current craze. Write what you want to write. But write to intrigue. Make the romance reader want to read your science fiction. One of the most important ways to accomplish this is to have a strong beginning. If you dump your protagonist's backstory on the reader, and their appearance, and how the city they are in was founded at the beginning of the story, chances are, they will put down the book. You want to enthrall them from the beginning and add in the backstory and stuff later. Jump right into the action and suspense, whether your protagonist's memory has just been wiped or a battle has just begun or a dangerous stranger has just walked into the tavern. Draw them in and fill in the details as you go.

Then, once you have captured your readers' interest, you must keep them reading, keep them wondering. I don't mean that you have to have constant intensity, but I do mean that things should always be happening, action-packed or not. One of the best things I think you can do to keep your readers reading is to put high stakes into the writing as soon as possible. Once they see that a bad thing is going to happen if the protagonist doesn't stop it, they will want to see it through.

     2. A writer must make the world and people they have created real to readers. If they do not believe in the characters or their world, what is the point of them reading the story? In order for the readers to believe in them, you have to believe in them first. Give every location vivid setting and backstory, and do even more for the characters. People are very complicated, they are often inconsistent and not stereotypical. I will go into a deeper discussion of character and setting later. But for now, suffice to say that your readers will not become invested in your story until it becomes real to them.

     3. A writer must affect their readers emotionally. Have you ever read a book that made you cry? Have you ever been so angry at the antagonist that you just wanted to crawl into the pages and throttle him? You became emotionally invested in the story. This happens when the story becomes MORE than just a story, which is why point #2 is so important. I believe that the strongest tool in making your readers become emotionally invested is your characters. THEY HAVE TO CARE ABOUT YOUR CHARACTERS or there is no point in them reading it. When your character is in pain, you want them to be in pain.

That doesn't mean that you make every character completely likeable. One of my favorite characters in the Harry Potter series was Severus Snape, and he wasn't exactly what you would call likeable. Why do people like him? Because he had depth. He wasn't just mean for the sake of mean. He was bitter because of the hurt that he had suffered. A character that only has one layer isn't a character at all. They are robotic stick figures. 2D characters that always act the same will not affect your readers.

     4. A writer must make a point. The reader shouldn't be the same after reading the story. Your story should teach something. This is one of the most important aspects of your story, in my opinion. You can pour your beliefs into ever word, every sentence, every page. What is the point of a story that doesn't have a moral, that doesn't make...a point! That doesn't mean that you have to hammer your opinions into them. But you should have an underlying theme, an underlying lesson to teach.

There are lots of things that I have probably left out, but theses are some of the more important things that should be included in your story. You might think, I'll just write my story and hope for the best. But if you're going to invest so much time and sweat and tears into something, you should make it powerful!



     (Thank you for listening to my ramblings. If you have any questions, please comment.)

Breaking the Rules

As a writer, you have lots of rules to learn and apply to your writing. Spelling, grammar, etc. You spend a lot of time in school learning all these rules. But one of the first things that I learned in writing is that these rules are made to be broken. You learn these rules so that you can actually break them with style. Now please don't get me wrong. Spelling and grammar are very important. If you're running around spelling everything wrong and leaving out the punctuation, you're going to look like a five-year-old that started banging on the keyboard. But there are times when breaking these rules will convey a stronger message than it otherwise would and make your writing better.

Take, for example, the first paragraph of my book:

     Shapes and shadows. White light pierces into my eyes. Tall figures loom over me. No, trees. Damp ground. It presses against my back, soaks my clothes, tickles the back of my neck. Leaves rustle like parchment being crumpled. A dull throb fills my temples. I take a sudden gasp of wet, salty air. My head feels too heavy to lift. I let out a soft groan. Where am I?

A couple of incomplete sentences. Not that big of a deal, right? But sometimes it makes a big difference in the scene. I used incomplete sentences and somewhat vague imagery because the protagonist was just waking up after being hit on the head. If I would have said:

     White light pierces into my eyes and casts deep shadows beneath the tall trees. Damp ground presses into my back...etc.

It doesn't really sound like she's just waking up. She seems pretty aware of what's around her. But just by reconstructing a few things and adding a few *gulp* incomplete sentences, it conveys a totally different message. If you ever read the Divergent series by Veronica Roth, I think you'll find that she does this quite often.

Here's an example from my book that shows this done in dialogue. The protagonist is just waking up after nearly drowning in the river and being saved by one of her friends (Shale):

     Indistinct voices begin to make sense. I see Carnen speaking frantically to Shale, "Let...take her..."
     Shale shakes his head over and over, "I've got her I've got her..."

A word missing. A period missing. Again, what's the big deal? Well, if Carnen had said, "Let me take her," he wouldn't sound all that frantic. And it wouldn't convey the fact that the protagonist is still trying to catch up with what is going on. It's the same with the missing period. Had Shale said, "I've got her. I've got her," he wouldn't sound like he's exhausted, like his brain has just gone on automatic.

In my opinion, you can go too far with breaking the rules. It will make you look unprofessional and ignorant. But using it in the right context can certainly strengthen your writing. If you keep in mind the message and feeling you want to convey and try to show that in the strongest way you possibly can, people aren't going to be freaking out because you used an incomplete sentence or left out a period. We learn these rules so that we can break them with style.



     (Thank you for listening to my ramblings. If you have any questions or would like me to talk about a certain subject, please comment.)

Introduction To Me

Well, I guess I should start with my name. I'm Alex Rushmer, the aspiring writer. For as long as I can remember, my dad has been reading to me, from Summer of the Monkeys to the Harry Potter series. And I always wondered what it would be like to be J.K. Rowling, with people all over the world reading my stories. But that seemed like a pretty lofty dream.

Some of the first stories I ever wrote were about princesses and demigods, and I experience something that must be a combination of nostalgia and horror when I read over the copies that still exist. I didn't start getting serious about writing until I was about twelve years old. And even then, it was -- well -- what you would expect of a twelve-year-old.

However, the story that I started then, I just recently finished at the age of fifteen.

Now I'm not going to claim to be a professional writer or some sort of genius, because I'm just a "snot-nosed" (as my grandpa would say) freshman in high school. But I have spent a lot of time writing and a lot of time trying to learn and improve my craft. I think that trial and error can be one of the best teachers.

So I would like to share with anyone who is willing to listen the lessons I have learned -- and am still learning -- about writing.