Writing Tips: 3 Ways I'm Getting To Know My Characters

 

It's October, which means Nanowrimo will be starting in just one month. I've already plotted out the book I'm planning to work on during November (I know, get me being all organised) but now I want to get to know my characters a bit better before I start.

There are probably loads of different ways that writers get to know their characters, but these are the three ways I'm going to get to know mine in preparation of Nano 2021:

Pinterest is a brilliant tool for writers, and one of the ways I use it is to create a board for my characters and pin images that I feel represent them; their hobbies, their  jobs, aspects of their personality, their look. 

This worked particularly well during the run-up to last year's Nanowrimo. I had my plot, planned out down to each individual chapter and scene, but I wasn't sure who my main character was. I was having a little look at Pinterest and I came across a photo of a woman wearing a thick green woolly coat with an orange skirt, royal blue jumper, grey tights and brown lace-up boots, and it was seeing this mish-mash of colours that somehow worked that made Zoey's character start to come alive in my head. I could see her wearing that outfit and as I searched for more quirky clashing outfits, her image grew with every picture that I pinned.

There are loads of questionnaires that you can find online to fill out about your characters. For last year's book, I used Nanowrimo's questionnaire and although I didn't use all the questions provided, I picked out a few that I thought would be most useful. I didn't want reams and reams of questions and answers, but I did find those few I chose really helpful in finding out what made my characters tick.

It sounds a bit odd to take a career test on behalf of your character (especially if you're not trying to find a career for them, though sometimes I am looking for ideas for that too) but having to think about the answers your character would give to the questions is really helpful and I often find out things about my character that I wasn't aware of before the test!

So those are three ways I'll be getting to know my characters over the next few weeks. If you have any tips of your own, feel free to share in the comments below :)

A Quick Catch Up

 

Can you believe we're at the tail end of September already?

Luckily, I LOVE September as we start to edge into autumn, with the weather cooling, the leaves falling, and the promise of Halloween. I haven't switched my summer clothes over for warmer ones in my wardrobe yet, but it will be happening soon (Jumpers! Snuggly cardis!)

The summer passed really quickly and I (finally) had my second pfizer jab, met up with some writer friends in Manchester (for the first time since Lockdown 1) and enjoyed the summer holidays with my girls.

Here's what else I've been up to over the past couple of months:

I've just finished the first draft of a new book, which was a bit of a surprise as I hadn't planned on starting a new book until Nano. I wrote it over the summer and I really enjoyed discovering Tessa's story (you can find out more about it here).

I've already plotted out the book I'll be writing for Nanowrimo, so I'm now writing some short stories. If you're a newsletter subscriber, you'll be able to read them soon (if you're not a subscriber yet but would like to be one, you sign up for free here)

I'm currently reading The Love Square by Laura Jane Williams.
I loved Our Stop last year, so I've been really looking forward to diving into this one!

I've also recently read:

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver

Autumn Dreams at Mermaids Point by Sarah Bennett

The River Home by Hannah Richell

I've been getting my fix of quiz/game shows recently, with Only Connect and The Hit List being my favourites, and I've also been feeding my nerdiness with A House Through Time.

The kids and I recently discovered Ackley Bridge on Netflix (and found series 4 on All4) and we really enjoyed watching it. There isn't much that the three of us will sit and watch together, so this made it extra special.

The teen and I have been catching up on our crime dramas, including Vigil and Lucan and the first two episodes of Vera, and we loved the latest series of Ghosts. I'm really looking forward to watching the rest of this year's Bake Off and getting stuck into Strictly.

Reading and writing in the garden, the flowers I've been growing, Luna and day trips.

You can find me on Instagram here

So that's what I've been up to over the summer. Let us know what you've been up to in the comments below :)

The Accidental First Draft

Do you remember the list of writing goals I made for 2021? Nowhere on that list did it say write the first draft of a whole new, non-Nanowrimo book. Yet I finished one yesterday.

I was in the middle of planning Book 14 (which, because I sneaked the third instalment of the Beginner's Guide series in, is now Book 15*) when Tessa's story started niggling at me. If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that I like to plan my books a lot. I'm an uber-plotter. The book I'm going to start writing for Nanowrimo, for example, has already been planned out, chapter by chapter, so that I'm ready to go on 1st November. I didn't have a plan for Tessa's story. I had a first line, that kept repeating itself over and over in my head, so even though I was busy planning Book 15, I wrote it down. And I added a bit more. And then a bit more.

By the time I'd finished planning Book 15, I had one and a half chapters of Tessa's story, written in tiny instalments. I still didn't have a plan for this book, but I decided to carry on, to see where Tessa took me.

She took me to almost 90,000 words. I somehow wrote a whole book, with a beginning, middle and an end, without a plan, without really meaning to. It's a rough first draft, but there's a story there. There are characters I've got to know over the summer, who I've grown to love, and it's a bit strange not to be discovering what happens next in Tessa's life this morning. But I know she's happy, and that brings me a lot of joy.

I'll be putting Tessa's story aside for now: I have a list of goals for 2021 that I'm still working on. But she'll be going on my list of goals for 2022 and I'm looking forward to returning to her world.

*To make matters even more confusing, Book 15, which I'll be working on during Nano, has been usurped by Tessa's story, so is now
Book 16?

Back To School

And just like that, they're back to school.

Isobel is in her uniform and she's just set off to start Year 8. She finished Year 7 at home, self-isolating after a positive case in her class bubble. It was the second time during July that she'd had to self-isolate and work online from home; she went back to school for a day and a half after the first time before the text came through to say she was being sent home.

The rules have changed during the summer holidays, so contacts of those who test positive shouldn't be sent home. In theory, this should mean less disruption to school (and, let's be honest, less time off for people in work) but as a parent, this doesn't make me feel any better because it isn't any safer. In fact, it's less safe. She's taken her mask to school, but we have no idea whether mask-wearing is ongoing, and who knows about the ventilation in the classrooms or the CO2 detectors that were promised? But we have to send them into school (if you look back to the 2020 home schooling posts, you will see I am no home educator).

Can we please re-do the summer holidays? It was a much more relaxed time as we sat in the garden when the weather allowed, watching the bees enjoying our flowers. We visited family and went to the Sea Life Centre (which, due to Covid restricting how many people were allowed in at one time, was lovely and calm, even in the middle of the school holidays). We went on walks with Luna, and we celebrated A Levels results. The teen and I were finally double-vaxxed (and even that was less stressful than this back-to-school stuff). And I somehow managed to write almost 80k of a new book I hadn't even planned.

It would be lovely to keep us cocooned in a perpetual summer holiday, but it's never going to happen. And I know we'll soon be back into the school day routine, learning how to navigate the updated Covid regulations. And before we know it, it'll be the summer holidays all over again.

Read My Short Stories for FREE

 

If you're in the mood for a bite-sized romantic comedy, there are lots on offer on my short stories page, from Valentine's Day stories to festive tales.

There are four categories for you to choose from:

Click on a category and enjoy!

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You'll receive a free ebook quick read when you sign up, plus I write new short stories and send them out in my newsletters.

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Genre-Swap Short Story: Oh, Crumbs

 

My local writing group recently set a challenge, where we'd take a character from our books, plonk them into another genre and write a 500 word short story. So I took Ruth, my rom com heroine from the Beginner's Guide series (I was working on A Beginner's Guide To Family Life at the time) and popped her into a Downton Abbey-style historical setting. Ruth doesn't react too well to authority so it was a lot of fun to write and see how she'd handle being a maid in a manor house.

Oh, Crumbs

Oh, crumbs. Literally. I had little morsels scattered down my apron and Lady Shuttleworth was standing in the doorway of the library, her voice so crisp and icy it made the temperature in the room plummet.

    ‘What on earth are you doing in here?’
    I didn’t dare turn around. Not while my apron was littered with the evidence of the pilfered biscuit. It had seemed like a fun idea as I’d swiped the still-warm biscuit from the kitchen, relishing the little yelp of shock when Quinn spied the misdeed. Her hand covered her mouth, her eyes widening as I slipped the biscuit into my pocket. The new scullery maid was jumpy and fragile, as though a stern look could shatter her into a million pieces. She hadn’t yet learned to push the boundaries at Woodgate Manor, that these little acts of defiance were thrilling and gave a jolt of pleasure that counteracted – briefly – the drudgery of scrubbing pans and emptying chamber pots.
    But only as long as you didn’t get caught.
    ‘Well?’
    I still didn’t dare turn around, but I could hear the tap of Lady Shuttleworth’s foot. I’d attempted to brush the crumbs away, with tiny, covert movements, but the room was dark, even with the door wide open, and I wasn’t convinced I’d managed to rid myself of the damning evidence.
    ‘I was looking for a bible, m’Lady.’ Leaning over to peer at the bookshelves, I furtively swiped at my apron. ‘But I cannot find one anywhere in the house.’
    My tone was innocent, but my words were shaming. Lady Shuttleworth stepped back, allowing more light to flood into the library. I had a quick peep down at my apron. I couldn’t see any crumbs, but the eagle-eyed lady of the house would pounce at the tiniest fragment.
    ‘Now isn’t the time. Lady Harper will be arriving soon for tea.’
    I almost snorted with derision but managed to catch myself in time. Lady Harper. The girl may have a husband now, but she’d always be Lindsay Shuttleworth to me. The girl whose hair I’d brushed every morning and helped to dress. The girl who’d hidden the little red marks at her throat with high necklines and scarves after a night at the funfair with her ‘respectable’ friends. The girl who’d begged me not to mention them. And I hadn’t said a word to anyone, not even to the other maids, even though the words were burning inside my mouth. Not that Lindsay – Lady Harper – was grateful. For any of it. The secrets I’d kept. The hair-brushing and the dressing. The chamber pots. Which is why nabbing one of those buttery, melt-in-the-mouth biscuits from the plate would be worth it, whatever the consequences.
    I turned, marching with my head held high from the library. Lady Shuttleworth watched me, eyes narrowed to mean little slits as I passed, but she didn’t utter a word. If there was a stray crumb, she hadn’t spotted it. I’d got away with it. Again.

If you'd like to read the Beginner's Guide series, you can find them on Amazon UK and Amazon US or you can buy signed copies here

A Beginner's Guide To Family Life Playlist

I always like to create a playlist to accompany my books, and it made sense to build a family-themed selection of songs for A Beginner's Guide To Family Life.

You can listen to the playlist here on the blog, or you can open it in Spotify here

Enjoy!

You can choose your friends, but you're pretty much stuck with your family.

Ruth has everything she never dared to hope for: a husband who adores her, a beautiful home, and a job she can just about tolerate. And now she's having a baby. But having zero experience with babies and a pregnancy that isn't quite as blooming as the magazines claim it should be, how will she cope with this stage of her life?

Quinn loves her family, but she sometimes wishes there weren't quite so many of them living under the same roof. But is she ready to fly the nest and build a whole new one with her boyfriend?

Richard's life is pretty great, until a visitor arrives on his doorstep and turns his whole world upside down.

Three friends.

Three families.

A whole lot of drama.

Amazon UK | Amazon US