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Tag: Character development

The value of taking tea in story writing and RPGs

Published by MichelV69 on August 1, 2012

Post Views: 388 A reader emailed me after the initial release of “The Sauder Diaries – By Any Other Name” and commented that one of the things she enjoyed so much about the book was that “the camera” followed the characters even into their “quiet time”. Little amusing jabbs between the characters about how they took their coffee, how they conducted their private lives and implied whistfulness at “roads not taken”. This style of exposition was inspired by two individuals I respect in their given fields, Scott Westerfeld and Nicholas Jequier. At a meet-the-author evening in Vancouver, BC,  with Scott Westerfeld of “Uglies” and “Leviathan” fame, he commented that most of the fan art he received for either set of characters had nothing to do with scenes in the books…

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Men Writing Women

Published by MichelV69 on June 27, 2012

Post Views: 1,347 “You’re a man. You cannot possibly understand what it is like to be a woman. You don’t have the same social pressures, you don’t have the same physiology, you don’t have the same hormones, you don’t have the same emotional wiring. It’s impossible for you to understand what it is like to be a woman!” — feminist debator, Dalhouse University, Halifax, Circa 1991. I remember this quote fairly well, because it came out of an otherwise quiet coffee chat in the Student Union building. One of the chaps at the table, possibly myself, commented that we empathized/ understood the current state of affairs on women’s issues. The resulting slap down was both sharp and swift. While I will not be so trite as to claim…

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When a “prop” character becomes “real”

Published by MichelV69 on June 15, 2012

Post Views: 247 “…once you are Real you can’t become unreal again. It lasts for always.” — Skin Horse, “The Velveteen Rabit“ For those of us who recall the wonderful children’s story, the quest to become “real” is something that is a very tricky thing to manage for characters. Sometimes, a character that is planned to be “real” never quite makes it there in the eyes of the reader. In other cases, a character who is really just a “prop” — walks in, delivers a few lines, then fading to plot obscurity — takes on a life of their own. They become “real” wether that’s what the author wanted or not. “I am Doctor Alexi Koblinski; I have been the ship’s doctor for two years now. You will…

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