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Writers talk a lot about 'voice' and what rings true for their characters in what they say and in what they do.  I have thousands of words of back story for my characters.  This back story contains scenes which will never make it into the novel but that I felt was important for me to experience as the writer so I would fully understand who my character is, their 'formative experiences' and why it is they do what they do.

If my characters went to Starbucks I'd probably have an idea what coffee they'd order or whether they'd prefer a tea.  I know which brand of cigarettes they smoke and whether they wear deodorant or not.  This keeps things 'real' so the voice of your character doesn't slip, so you can anticipate their reaction in each situation you place them in and that way you don't end up putting words in their mouths. (so the reader doesn't realise you're putting words in their mouths sic)

This seems like a tragic amount of work and effort for something that will never be read by anyone but you.  I found I had to do it to stop my secondary characters from becoming 2-dimensional and flat. After all is not like they know they are only peripheral, they probably expect to be stand alone entities the buggers.  But as they say - a picture paints a thousand words.

Next time my plan is to use Pinterest not to eliminate the need to write backstory but as a handy reference guide when I'm unsure, of what word my might character use, what metaphors or similes they'll think in, how they will look or smell.

For example - if someone in the office this person temps in were to show her their new Uggs

http://pinterest.com/eleanorpaine/who-am-i/

What would she say?

'Lovely,' she said, like the word meant something else.

If something upset her?

She reached for her packet of cigarettes and ripped off the plastic wrapping.  She sat on the cafe terrace smoking until her throat was raw.  She chewed on the corners of the nails she'd spent the last three months growing out.  She tried to sip the red wine she'd ordered but it tasted vile.  Vinegar.  When anyone tried to make eye contact she stared down at the book she'd placed on the table before her.  She did not once turn the page. 

Cliched I know but handy

Writing Inspirations #2

Pinterest


Snow.  Kai’s nose above the blankets could smell it.  Fat, fluffy, flakes of snow in thick swirls that clung to the air.  He sat upright in bed and pulled aside the curtain to gaze out. He shivered slightly, with cold, with anticipation, his face pressed against the glass, his breath formed a fog on the pane and there it was.  The snow, lush on the lawn, and there was the world, white and clean, blunted by snow. 

Snow blanketed the hedge rows and fields, it made a shape of what was the car - it shrouded the truth of the farm.  Drifts lay heavily on bare branches and the snow was dense in the air still softly, silently and steadily falling. 

A caw, caw, cawing of crows echoed through the white wilderness of the day.

A mood board for my writing