This post is about developing characters and where they can come from.

'Characters are the people in our stories, they build the bare bones because once you have your characters you can start to paint the world around them.'
This is a quote I made up myself, it's true and simple to those who wish to understand it. It's a true quote because your story follows the people, the characters, not the background, so it's important to have your characters first and background second, whether you introduce the background or the characters first is an entirely different argument. The truth is that you follow the characters through the story, you watch them grow and change.

There is, however, a difference between the author and the reader. 'The reader watches, I have to kill the characters.' That is a sentence that Derek Landy said in response to one of the questions I asked when I interviewed him at the Children's Bath Literature Festival on October the 5th. What he meant by this is that when you read a book, you see how they die or get injured, but the author is the one who has to make the hard decision. He/she has to be the one to wound and kill the characters.

Characters come from the strange nooks and crannies in your mind, they can be completely made up on the spot or be planned carefully, but, to me, the best characters are those that have something in common with  somebody in the real world. This is because one, it's fun, two, whatever part of the character is based off the real person seems more realistic.

This is the baseline of Tristan McCall, these are the basic components that make him up as far as the reader can see. The brown overcoat comes from the Tenth Doctor's coat, I loved it and always thought it was rather cool, so I nabbed that idea and handed it to Tristan. The brown overcoat was going to be a temporary thing, but I love the way he wears it so I decided he's going to keep it. The fedora comes from the fact that I own two myself and I thought that I'd continually have character's making bad bald jokes. The trigger-happy element is only seen once so far but that too is a permanent fixture. I need not go on about the rest, although he will definitely start showing off his more charming side.

Diagrams like this are easy to make on things like paint or with paper and pen. You don't have to go into detail, just write down the base elements of a character. I could have added quite a lot more to this diagram but then it would be over crowded and complicated.

Lesson of this whole post is: Basically try to remember every person you meet or at least an interesting quirk because it may help you one day.
Also remember this: You may write the script, but the actors have a tendency to do as they please, the best ones always have an unseemly amount of self will.
(It basically means that character's can sometimes influence YOU as you write what they're doing)

Why start writing?

Why start writing?

Why start writing is a question I asked myself a bit at Primary school because the teachers kept telling me I should write more as I was good at it. I do not think, or believe, my love of writing came from the nagging of my Primary school teachers, I know it came from deep inside myself, because only I could choose what I wanted, and I chose to write. To a lot of people writing doesn't seem like much fun, it's just a bunch of words being typed up, but to others, like me, it's amazing. A couple of days ago I held what would be the manuscript of my story, Dead Raiser, in my hands for the first time. You see, I had written it up on my laptop and it's so very different to see your writing on actual paper, even if it's not in a book.


I was so happy when the last page was ejected from the printer that I didn't care that I had to go through it meticulously and make sure it was all in order, it was there, in front of me. That feeling is one of the very best, it's like holding a piece of your mind in your hands, something that you and you alone could see for such a long time and now others can see it too, they can appreciate it. This feeling and the act of letting others see how you do is one of the many reasons people write, I am only fifteen but started when I was thirteen. You see, things CAN actually come from humble beginnings, when I was thirteen I was inspired to write a fanfiction about my favourite character's from the Morganville Vampires books by a song.

Once I started that fanfiction I couldn't stop, I was hooked and would spend AGES writing. Once it was done I actually sat up on my bed, looked around then said aloud. "What the hell did I do before I started this?"  So yes, writing CAN be addictive and it won't stop, there isn't much you can do, that I know of, to stop writing something once you've started. If you get hooked on writing something, then continue, because it'll be great as you've put SO much effort in.

I cannot remember what I was about to say when I started this post, but I know where it was headed, and that's what you should keep in mind. I hope you found this somehow helpful, also, this is the song that inspired my fanfiction:

I hope the link works. I mean, see you sometime :D

           Writing, my thoughts on writing.

I'm a writer and this blog is all about it.


Starting to write can be hard, whether with paper and pen or a computer, but it can be made so much easier with a few things.

• Music: Music can help the development of thoughts and can be inspiring. It's better to think about what you're writing about and what kind of music suits that genre. For me, since I'm writing about magic/action/adventure in the modern world, music made by Paramore, Breaking Benjamin, Mayday Parade and many other artists who sing sad, angry and emotional music help better than songs by Katie Perry or Ke$ha. So match your writing to your music.

• Starting point: If you're doing creative writing or are just trying your hand at it, it's good to have a starting point. Most people plan things they way you're taught to at primary school, with a mountain picture, the flat at the bottom on one side is where you start, where everything's ok, and then things go up from there, events and such eventually lead you to the top of the mountain where everything's at it's worse. Then you start going down the other side as the character's fix everything, the resolution, as we were told. Now, this is an easy method, especially as you can add more peaks if you need to, but it's just as easy to write it down in a step by step manner like this:

             1  Joe is playing in a park.
             2   A dog steals his ball
             3   He follows the dog
             4   The dog leads him into the woods
             5    Joe gets lost
             6    The dog's owner comes looking for the dog
             7   Joe hears him and calls out
             8   The owner hears Joe and follows his voice
             9   The owner finds them and gives Joe his ball back
            10   Joe goes home and goes to bed.
      That is a simple yet effective way to do it, especially if you only write down the gist if what happens, because then the story is fresh and not over done with too much detail that you might not even add when you start writing.

• Leasing thoughts(writer's block): If you're having trouble coming up with ideas for something, then go for a walk, it's a good idea to go somewhere you don't have to think too much, like in the countryside or round a nearby field that you're allowed to walk through. It's also a good idea to have some headphones so you can listen to music. Walking is a good way to help lease your thoughts as you don't have to think too much about it, your body has become attuned to walking so you won't even think about it, allowing your mind to relax and wander as it pleases. Don't focus on the lyrics of the music if you bring it with you, just let your mind free.