Character Development

Hey, I've got to admit I've had a slow week of writing. Last week I submitted my short story Azaria to the Costa Book Awards competition, and I'm still working away on Moonlight Jasmine for the Dragonfly Tea 'Story in a Teacup' short story competition. 

I'm currently working on a second draft of Moonlight Jasmine but (like all writers) I hit a brick wall this week. To get through the wall I decided to take a break and go back to basics, so I've been working on some character development for Jasmine to see if I can find her voice and make it come across in the story. 

I thought I'd give you some tips on how I approach character development. Personally I think the best way through it is to create a character questionnaire. This questionnaire should include important information about your character. Here's a few things that I include:

For each main character apply the following profile:

Name (and maiden name /previous names /aliases if applicable)
Date of birth
Birth sign
Marital status
Religion
A detailed physical description; height & weight, eyes; hair; special abilities
Parents; names and histories (jobs, education, religion, ethnicity, etc.)
Siblings – names, ages, relationships etc.
Relationship with immediate family members
Education
Job (and previous work history)
Salary
Interests/hobbies
Fears
Prejudices
Desires
Attitudes
Friends
Enemies
Pets
Passions
Disposition (temperament, character, mentality etc.)
Mannerisms
Likes
Dislikes
Any other traits you might want to add

I find that by doing a simple exercise like this, I can find a way through the story again. The idea is not necessarily that you make use of every single detail from the questionnaire in the story, more that you get to know your character(s) in greater depth, and can draw inspiration from the details of their life.

I'm now looking forward to getting stuck into my second draft and finishing the story ready for submission. I hope this blog has helped you out if you're struggling with developing your characters. I always find this exercise very useful.

Good luck and keep chasing your dreams!

@stephlottwriter on Twitter

Steph Lott Writer and Poet on Facebook

Azaria Excerpt

It's a busy time at the moment. This month I have two short story competition deadlines and the first one is this Wednesday, 5th August. It's a piece for the Costa Book Awards short story competition, everything else has gone on hold for the last couple of days to get it finished.

My story is called 'Azaria.' Azaria makes things happens on Earth via his paintings, its the way he interacts with the humans, but the humans are not listening and are doing things their own way. This leads Azaria to decide to send a warning to the world via Daniel and Ruth about a punishment that will befall them if they don't start doing what is right. 

Here's a sneak preview from 'Azaria.'

"...Azaria had just finished painting the last of the trees with a striking lime green. They lined a long straight road that stretched the length of the canvas and gave no clues as to where it might end. Azaria sat back; he tugged on his beard and stroked his chin in deep thought. ‘Hmm!’ he mused. ‘What I need is a messenger.’..."

I hope you like it and are looking forward to reading more. I will keep you informed of any progress during the competition.

Thanks for reading and keep chasing your dreams.

@stephlottwriter 

  

And the title of my first Novel is...

Having put my short story 'Moonlight Jasmine' away for a few days before the editing process begins, I have spent some of the day working on developing my main character for my first novel, which I will be writing for NaNoWriMo this November.

So for the first time in public since getting the idea for this novel a few months ago, and at the risk of sounding a little like Neneh Cherry, my book will be called...

...'A Woman's World.'

 My lead character is a woman called Emerson James, she's a politician in her late 30's, and has a vision that will change the world; that's all I'm giving away for now!

I am very excited to be talking about my novel at last, and because I already love Emerson so much I've decided to treat you all to part of one of her speeches. It should give you a good idea about where the plot may go but it certainly won't give everything away, so here it is;

‘Imagine a world where women are no longer satisfied with 'equality'. Imagine a world where men are no longer in power. Imagine a world where men no longer exist. This is my dream, my vision, my mission.’

Whoa! What kind of a journey could Emerson be taking us on? I hope you'll enjoy getting to know her as much as I am; I will treat you to another hint about where the plot might be going very soon.

Thanks for reading and keep chasing your dreams!

@stephlottwriter

Moonlight Jasmine; Second Excerpt

Right, I've been working on my short story some more today, although I haven't quite finished my first draft yet (almost there!). I'm really enjoying getting to know my characters Jasmine and Ollie, they inspire me to keep on writing, I want to know them better, and I find out more about them with each paragraph.

Below is another excerpt from 'Moonlight Jasmine', I hope you enjoy it and I hope that when you finally get to read the story in full you will love Jasmine and Ollie as much as I do.

"...I take a final glance in the mirror and then I see him walking towards me. He looks as fresh as an early autumn morning with his floral shirt and brown chinos and that blonde hair with the single lock that is still hanging over his eyes. He flicks it back, ‘hello again Jasmine'."

Thank you for reading and keep chasing your dreams.

@steffiemarie28

Moonlight Jasmine Excerpt

As promised earlier today on twitter, here is an excerpt from a short story I am writing for a short story competition from dragon fly tea called 'story in a teacup'. There are four possible titles to choose from for this story although the story itself can be about anything. I've chosen to call mine 'Moonlight Jasmine'.

Here's a brief summary of my story; Jasmine is a shy girl who doesn't like to go out unless she really has to and definitely doesn't like to meet people, most of all men! To ensure she meets as few people as possible she has a quiet job in a library and she lives in the apartment above it. How likely is it that she would find love in this situation?...  ....well not likely at all! but against all odds Ollie (aka Mr Brook, a school teacher) walks in to the library on a normal Monday morning with a class full of students and steals Jasmine's heart right away.

I hope you enjoy this little excerpt...

"...The next few hours flew by, I felt happy and content as I watched this man; a stranger to me, play with the children and read them stories. He was very tender and pleasing to look at. I’d have watched him all afternoon if it wasn’t for Miss Summers telling me to do this and do that. But every now and then I sneaked a look. I caught him doing the same thing and I was presented with so many of his half smiles that I felt like I had won a trophy, fifty trophies, that I intended to store away in my heart forever..."

Hopefully that left you eager to read more; I will post another excerpt in the next few days, and will post the story in full once the competition is over.

Thank you for reading and keep chasing your dreams.

@steffiemarie28

New Year, New Me!

Hey and Happy New Year!

I hope 2014 has been a good one for you and here's to an even better year ahead. Here are the dreams I'm going to be chasing over the next twelve months...I hope you'll be chasing some of your own.

Completing My Degree...Woohoo!

Five years seems like such a long time ago now when I started my English Literature Degree, I never thought I'd have the patience to see this through till the end. But finally, there's light at the end of tunnel. June 2015 will mark the end of this long journey and I'm so happy and proud of myself for sticking to it. What will I do with all the spare time I will gain from having no assignments?!...

My First Half Marathon...aggghhh!

I can't quite believe that my husband and I have signed up for this, I'm nervous, I'm excited! As my degree comes to an end in June I will also be running my first (and possibly last) half marathon in aid of the North Devon Hospice. This charity means a lot to me as they looked after my boys daddy just before he died in 2012. So next week starts a whole new fitness regime in order to get in to shape to achieve this goal...bring it on! As if these two goals aren't enough...

I'm Writing a Novel

Once my degree and half marathon are out of the way I plan to get back into writing and focus on one of my many story ideas to write my first novel. In order to keep myself motivated to do this I'm going to be writing it with nanowrimo. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing. On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30.

I'm totally excited about my story-line and it is very much one for the ladies. I'm looking forward to revealing the plot to you all later in the year.

So there we are, a few of my goals for 2015, a few more dreams I'm going to chase. I'd love to hear what some of yours are, you can tell me by leaving a comment on this post.

Have a peaceful and blessed New Year and remember to keep chasing your dreams.

@steffiemarie28

Stephen Mulhern Song

Hello!

Sorry I haven't posted anything for a while, I've been super busy being a full time mum and starting my first novel which I will tell you all about in my next blog!

This post is about a new song I've written which was inspired by one of my idols Stephen Mulhern. I'm sure you've heard of him! You might be wondering what my motivation for this song was, well...

… My honest answer is I'm trying to get him to follow me back on Twitter and it's made pretty clear in the lyrics that that's what I want.

I've always wanted a follow back from the Mulhern Man, but never so much as I do now. A couple of weeks ago, my sister earned herself a follow back from him for getting an answer right in the quickest time on Catchphrase.

OK, I'm a little bit jealous! But I thought, maybe that's all I have to do to get him to follow me, earn it. So I'm hoping to earn a follow back with my new song which is all about him.

Please check out my song 'Stephen Mulhern' and if you like it, please give it the thumbs up and share it with as many people as possible, it would make my day!

You can hear 'Stephen Mulhern' here - Stephen Mulhern

Please do let me know what you think, I always love getting your feedback.

I'll see you in my next Blog. I promise not to leave it so long next time!

Bye for now and remember, Keep chasing your dreams!

@steffiemarie28