Writing Tips: Characters I love to write

I’ve been slaving away over Beauty and the Beast, and I have to confess, my favorite character to write is the Beast’s shallow, selfish brother, Crown Prince Lucien.

Lucien is unapologetically selfish. He says want he wants, get what he wants, and acts the way he wants. Conversely he is deeply loyal to the Beast, and there is very little he wouldn’t do for him. What I love about Lucien is that he has no sense of reserve. He’s so fun to write because he has very few boundaries and I get to spend my time thinking of selfish, silly things for him to say when I write his scenes. I created Lucien to be a character readers will both like and dislike, so I found it a little odd that I enjoy writing him so much. I decided to look back through a few of my books and see if I could spy a pattern.

In terms of favorites, Britt from King Arthur and Her Knights is certainly up there. She’s easy and diverting to write because even though she’s plopped in the middle of an Arthurian romance she is very down to earth. Asher and Aron–the mischievous Montamous Twins from Life Reader–are high on my list of favorite characters as well. I love the devious twists to their personalities, the fact that they can effortlessly bounce jokes off one another, and I greatly prize their ability to break/hack their way into just about anything. In Red Rope of Fate I really enjoyed writing Tari and Arion, but my secret favorite character is Seer Ringali–Tari’s mentor and instructor. I love the way he holds no criticisms back, stomps over all elvish social norms, and openly wields odd accessories as hidden weapons. My favorite character from the Robyn Hood series is a little more difficult to pin down, but it’s probably either Robyn herself, or the dramatic duo of Much and Will Stutely. I like that Robyn is terrified of being a leader,  not at all courageous, and  that she doesn’t try to hide either of these facts from her men. When it comes to Much and Will Stutely I like the over-dramatic antics they use to get their points across, and the fact that they’re basically the camp gossips.

I could go on, but after looking at just a few books I realized I typically like the characters who do not mince their words and are straight forward. It’s surprising how that character trait can be expressed in dozens of different ways–From Seer Ringali’s rude observations to Prince Lucien’s incessant complaints. There are exceptions, of course–I’m not entirely certain Britt belongs in the straight forward category–but characters who say exactly what they are thinking are undoubtedly easier (and a lot of fun) to write.

That’s what I think, anyway. Tell me, Champions, what kind of characters do you like?

Writing Tips: My Tunes

When I talk to people about being an indie author there’s a few typical questions that get asked. How do you come up with your ideas? How long does it take you to write a book? Which of your characters is your favorite? And, surprisingly, what music do you listen to when you write? I’m going to tackle the last question in today’s post.

For starters, I rarely listen to music with words when I write. When I was a journalism student in college one of my professors explained to me that if you listen to music with words while you write it will influence the article. It might make you subconsciously change your word choice, or it might be something as obvious as making your article vaguely rhyme with the song. I tried it out back in my apartment and found that he was right–I had written my homework assignment in a cadence that matched the song.

Since then I’ve switched to instrumental music whenever I write. Of course there are a few exceptions, but usually it’s one song in a play list of 25 or 50. So if mainstream music is out, WHAT do I listen to?

A lot of movie and video game soundtracks.

For the King Arthur and her Knights books I listen to a playlist consisting of music from Zelda: the ocarina of time–a video game. For Red Rope of Fate I listened to music from the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe movie. Lord of the Rings orchestral music was my go-to soundtrack for Princess Ahira, and as I write Beauty and the Beast my playlist consists of music from Final Fantasy XIII–another video game. (Click on the links to visit youtube videos that give you a taste of the soundtracks.) Typically I select a specific soundtrack for every book, but occasionally I’ll build a customized playlist to fit specific moods. In example, for one of my books (which has yet to be finished and released) I built a playlist for battle scenes, drawing songs from different soundtracks.

Choosing the right soundtrack for a book takes time, and it makes the writing process easier. I wrote Beauty and the Beast for roughly two weeks before I decided on the Final Fantasy soundtrack. I’ve been using the soundtrack as my background music for approximately the same amount of time, and my productivity has almost doubled.

Speaking of which, I need to hop off to write. Beauty and the Beast is currently clocking in at 29,000 words, and it’s coming along swimmingly. Thanks for stopping by, Champions, and I will see you on Friday.

In the News: Ebooks

I was reading a book this morning, Publicize your Book!, which has some really great information in it. It teaches authors how to make and use connections, how to be proactive in the publicizing side of publishing, and more. However, when I read one of the last chapters of the book–the chapter dedicated to internet publicizing–I came to a screeching halt. The author, Jacqueline Deval, professes that ebook publishing had a brief golden year, and that the market is too immature and people can’t expect to make a living off ebooks. I was shocked, until I checked the publishing information and realized this book was released in 2003.

To me, Deval’s remarks highlight how much the ebook industry has changed. All authors–mainstream and self published–are working to harness the power of ebooks. Most of my favorite published authors have ebook only novellas available on Amazon. I found an article in the Huffington Post that was published in 2012. It says that for the first time ever online adult fiction ebooks outsold hardcover adult fiction books. It also tabulated that in 2011 30% of the publishing industry’s sales were from ebooks, which is WAY up from 2010 when ebooks made up a mere 13%.

Personally I don’t think publishing houses and actual hard/paperback books will ever totally go away. I love ebooks, but I still love hardcovers too. But, it’s been 10 years since Deval published her book, and the ebook industry has arrived. Why am I talking about this in my blog? Because it directly influences me. It’s only because the ebook industry is thriving that I can communicate with you, Champions. Thank you for making that possible. Thank you for buying ebooks, and thank you for supporting indie authors.