I am a world class procrastinator. About a lot of things, actually. But when it comes to writing, character profiles will always land near the top of the list. They’re actually the hardest part of writing a book.
Why? Because if I don’t love my characters, if I don’t know my characters well enough … their books are going to be agonizingly hard to write. There’s also the fact that if I screw up this oh-so-crucial step, you won’t love my characters. And you won’t love their stories either.
I have just hated every second of creating characters for the past few years though. I’ve never understood why. One of the best parts of writing is breathing life into these people who live on my pages. So what happened? Well… Yesterday, I had an epiphany.
No matter how great computers are for writing, my brain needs to slow down, to have some more relaxed time to really think about my characters. What they’re like, their favorite things, their families, their childhoods, and on and on and on.
That same process is also very helpful in the early stages figuring out the outlines and timelines. And since I’m working on the new series, and adding to the Royal Sweethearts series (affiliate link, click here for more info), I need to make my brain happy by picking up my purple gel pen and going back to what I love to do. Write it out.
Yes, it’s slower than typing, but it works. And doing something that works is better than avoiding doing it at all, right? Especially when we’re talking more than a dozen books. So, while I finish editing three projects, I’m currently working on, I’ll also be spending the next couple of weeks figuring out who’s who, and doing some basic plots.
96 pages? Yup. Thanks to some much needed inspiration and cool new templates from Abbie Emmons, I’m ready to get started now. Check it out. 🙂
And I’m TOTALLY excited about it!!!
Oh. A Couple more things.
First, before I forget – the pathology report came back all clear. I don’t have to have another test for three years. Yay!!!
And second, one of the projects I’m editing is the prequel to the Weko Harbor series. I’m planning on it being available the end of August or early September. And … the only way to get it is to sign up for my newsletter – because it will be free to subscribers.
Time to get busy. I’ll leave you with one of my favorite songs, one that’s always on a playlist for when I want to be super productive.
