Being a Better Writer: Small Windows of Character · 10:33pm Feb 11th, 2019
Life, The Universe, and Everything is this week!
Yeah, that’s an opening of excitement. I love attending LTUE (which if you’ve somehow missed or not heard of, is a Fantasy/Science-Fiction convention that focuses foremost on authors and writers; check out their site here). Tomorrow I’ll throw my schedule up here on the site, ie what panels I’m interested in attending, where I’ll be, etc, but no mistake, if you spot me and want to say “Hello!” do so! I love attending this convention not just to both learn and pass on knowledge, but also to run into people and chat about books, writing, games … the works!
Okay, I’ll stop disrupting today’s Being a Better Writer post now. Well, save for one small detail:
My entire lexicon (as in, all of my books) will be on sale during LTUE. Starting a day beforehand—this Wednesday—and running through the weekend. This will be a great chance to catch up on any you’ve missed, let friends who might want a copy of one know, share a link on Facebook (hint, hint), etc. It’s the LTUE sale!
And, like I said, it’s only through the weekend, starting one day before LTUE does (so that you’ve got a day beforehand if you really don’t want to be distracted during the con).
With that, all LTUE news is over for this post (tomorrow is another story). I hope to see you there! And yes, tomorrow I’ll give you some helpful identification in tomorrow’s post plus a picture if you’re looking to say hello.
Now, news out of the way, let’s talk about today’s BaBW topic. Which is … well, a bit of an interesting one. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about characters, or specifically, what makes them unique and have depth to a reader.
Which is, to be fair, nothing new. But today I wanted to talk about a specific aspect of giving our characters depth and how we approach it, because as I’ve been thinking upon it, I think that this is a delicate area that many authors accidentally overstep or underutilize for one reason or another.
With that, I’m starting to worry that I’m getting a little too nebulous here, so let’s just dive into it. Today, I want to talk about character quirks and how we use them.
As soon as I saw the title, I knew what this was going to be about. Haven't even read the blog yet, but I’m doing a little jig anyway because the last sentence here confirms it.
Also, LTUE, eh? I think I shall bookmark that. No way I could go this late, but it would be a worthwhile thing to keep in mind for the future.
I liked this one. Reminds me of a character I wrote long before FIMFiction. He always had this routine at breakfast where he’d be cooking and his dog would sit next to him and stare. They’d then follow the exact same interaction every morning:
Man: “No. Human food.”
Dog: *licks lips*
Man: “You’ll get fat.”
Dog: *scoots closer, turns up the puppy eyes*
Man: *sighs, gives piece of sausage*
Every morning like clockwork. The man also had a habit of eating a piece of dark chocolate candy every time he got frustrated. I kinda wish I’d finished that story now.
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It would be awesome if you could make it to an LTUE in the future. They're the best writing-centric con out there, hands/talons/hooves down.