1. Give them five minutes of your time. Write about them, draw them, make them lists. Then set them aside.
2. Work them into your story. (I actually don't recommend this unless they really fit or your story is in the beginning stages.)
3. Daydream about them for five minutes and then let them go.
4. Ignore them and get back to work on your W.I.P.
5. Use them as a reward. Finish your daily word count goal for your W.I.P. and then give those distracting characters 5-20 minutes of your "after" writing time.
What do you think?
Which one of these methods do you use to deal with distracting characters?
100 Days of Revision, Day 53
I'm at the 28,066 word mark on my revision of Champion in the Darkness. The next few days will prove to be challenging due to an exciting, fun weekend, but I made myself a checklist/plan last night that I think will keep my revision writing going in the right direction.
How is your W.I.P. going? Making progress? Hit a wall? Need a checklist?
Have a happy and blessed writing filled weekend!!!
Upcoming Blog Events
There are tons of good blog events going on every week these days, and it's hard to pick and choose.
I'll be participating in these three upcoming events:
Shh! It's a Secret Blog Hop hosted by Angela Felsted is a celebration for the relase of Poetry Pact 1 between June 27th and 29th.
Insecure Writers Support Group hosted by ninja captain Alex is a monthy event that gives us all a chance to vent our insecurities and encourage our fellow writers.
Hookers and Hangers hosted by Falling For Fiction is a blog hop contest of highlighting the first and last sentences of each chapter on July 16th and July 18th.
13 comments:
I think I tend to ignore them...
Hope you can stay on track this weekend.
My brain can only focus on one story and set of characters at a time. If other characters pop up, I jot notes about them, put them in a folder, wag a finger at them, and tell them to stay there until I'm ready.
Alex - Thanks! I hope so too.
Barbara - I know how you feel, but when they get super distracting, I keep jotting notes and short stories and keep stuffing them into a folder for later.
My distracting characters tend to be characters from other story ideas. If I'm not in the middle of something, I'll give them a 5 minute daydream then set them back in their place.
Angela - great method!
Thanks for stopping by my blog today, and thanks for the support in the Star Wars blogathon!
Andrew - You're Welcome!
I always allow my distracting characters to enter the story. However, I might delete them during revisions.
Hmmm-- I'm not sure I've thought too much about distracting characters, but then again I get so easily distracted that maybe I didn't realize the characters were distracting me. Something to think on--now I'm distracted.
Lee
Wrote By Rote
One character elbowed his way to center stage. He was right. My second manuscript focuses on him.
Linda - I think that works sometimes and if they have a loud enough voice in your imagination, sometimes I think it's the best method.
Arlee - You make me smile :-) I get that distracted too . . .
Susan - sometime a bigger than life character deserves center stage!
I love this challenge you set for yourself with 100 days of revision! I should do that myself. Great advice for dealing with distracting characters, too. Any advice for real life distracting characters? (ha ha)
great suggestions! and number 1 is #1
but it depends on how loud they are...
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