Welcome to the writing thread, The Rose-Tree Dryad! Glad you decided to join us!

Here's a question for you all:
Do you think of your characters as "characters"? or as real people? Mine haven't really seemed like characters to me, for some time now. It's only occasionally that I remember "Oh, they're just pretend"

I LOVED reading everyone's responses to this! Oh good, so it's not just me having writer delusions.

My characters are definitely real to me! I think my brain is constantly in writer-mode. Whenever I hear a song, I'll try to somehow relate the lyrics to my characters. If it's an instrumental song, I'll figure out what part of my book it sounds like. I'll look at clothing or jewelery and say, "Oh, that looks like something so-and-so would wear!" I'll stare at random people, trying to decide which of my characters they resemble. Whenever I'm bored, I'll play over scenes in my head (I also do this before falling asleep every night). I'm also obsessed with gargoyles, red pandas, and feathers (don't ask ).

I have a cat-like creature character who frequently visits me while I'm bored in math class. She'll sit on the windowsill outside and stare at me, but when she notices me staring back, she'll narrow her eyes and say, "What is the square root of 263, rounded to the nearest whole number? Pay attention, human!" and bound away.

Or, I'll be writing and a couple characters will wander over and ask, "What are you doing?"
"Writing."
"Oh. Have you gotten to the part when -"
"Nope."
"What about when I-"
"Nope!"
"Or when -"
"Leave me alone - I'm TRYING TO WRITE HERE!!!"

But the worst is when a character I haven't written about yet gets impatient and tells me to hurry up and introduce him.

I think my story already exists somewhere. I'm just the "interpreter" who figures out what that story is and puts it into words. So what if I talk with imaginary people more than real ones? The better I know my characters, the better I can write about them.

One of the best things about having character be real to the writer is that very often, they end up being real to the reader. If they are just imaginary to the author, it will be the same for the reader and you lose credibility as an author.

After having my first days of classes, it is now official that my work on my final editing phase will be greatly slowed down. My weekends will be my only real chances. But I have to get as much done this weekend as possible because Lighthouse is waiting for it. It's going to be a crazy semester, but once my book is finished, that will be out of the way.

Welcome to the thread, The Rose-Tree Dryad!

It's marvelous to have you here. Cool about your Hans Christian Anderson idea. He's my favorite fairy tale author. My favorite story is Thumbelina, and I was actually thinking of attempting a modern day retelling of it for NaNoWriMo last year. I also love The Snow Queen by him.

I finished my first essay for college. It was more of a story, really, describing a very emotional moment in my life. Interesting work, let me tell you!

My characters never talk to me, and I never speak back. They're very real to me, but it's as if, when I'm writing, I pull back the canvas that covers their world and see their lives. Then I'm able to tell their story. It's also rather like I'm force-sensitive . I can feel what they feel or how they think, or what they'd say.

But I'm glad to know that its not just me that thinks about my characters being real, and pretends they are.

Hahaha, that last bit made me grin! Because it sounds very familiar. There are times I am one of them. (but which one switches, depending on what's going on, or who is the focus) There are many, many times I'm just observing. And most of them don't mind, it's like I'm a silent "unoffical member" of the gang. But yes, one of them is VERY wary of me. It's rather funny, actually! It usually goes like this:

I'll be talking of writing it or something, and he'll get this look on his face. Or the others will be referring to me, and he'd get the same look. Both ways, it ends up with him looking over at me with this very distinctive, wary and harsh look. And he'll pipe up: "Don't know why she's always saying how she's writing it. Tony wrote it. Don't even know how she found it"

Oh my goodness, those are all so funny!! Sounds like they are quite a handful for you. Just based on the characters, your book sounds wonderful! I would read it just to get to know those guys better.

I don't know if any of you all have ever watched the Andy Griffith show, but there's an episode where a stranger comes in to town who seems to know absolutely everything about everybody. The citizens of Mayberry think he's an alien or something supernatural. I often think that's how my characters must view me.

Anyway, welcome! I'm so glad you came in here!
And I like the sound of your idea. Are you willing to say which fairy tale?

Oh good grief, I forgot to mention which one it was. It's The Wild Swans. I've had the idea of turning it into a novel since I was around fifteen, but I've been thinking about it more and more during the past year. It's been a while since I've read the story itself, though, because my collection of Andersen fairytales is in storage. Thankfully, they have it online—not the most appealing alternative, because I love the look and feel and smell of a real book —or hopefully I'll be able to find my copy without too much trouble. I'll probably find out that all of my plot ideas are defunct because I've forgotten a few of the story details.

I have a cat-like creature character who frequently visits me while I'm bored in math class. She'll sit on the windowsill outside and stare at me, but when she notices me staring back, she'll narrow her eyes and say, "What is the square root of 263, rounded to the nearest whole number? Pay attention, human!" and bound away.

Wow. That would make an excellent character for a story!

After having my first days of classes, it is now official that my work on my final editing phase will be greatly slowed down. My weekends will be my only real chances. But I have to get as much done this weekend as possible because Lighthouse is waiting for it. It's going to be a crazy semester, but once my book is finished, that will be out of the way.

Good luck with the editing! I've read about your book in the previous Writer's World threads, and it sounds like it will be very good.

It's marvelous to have you here. Cool about your Hans Christian Anderson idea. He's my favorite fairy tale author. My favorite story is Thumbelina, and I was actually thinking of attempting a modern day retelling of it for NaNoWriMo last year.

Ooh, that sounds really clever! I hope you try to write it someday; I'd love to read part of it!

Here's a question I have for you all: what do you think about symbolism? Do you include it often in your writing, whether intentionally or unintentionally?

I see symbolism in everything—it's often the way I get messages from God. Picking up on connections is something that comes naturally to me, so it winds up in my books quite a lot. I really like it—I think it adds an interesting depth to a story, and I love it when, as a reader, I pick up on symbolism in a favorite tale.

I’ve been so busy lately, I have so much to catch up on, so here it goes.

@SilvertheWanderer: I’m glad you had a good time at your meeting!

We talked a lot about point of view, so if anyone is having trouble with that (unintentionally shifting back and forth between different characters' point of views, or shifting from third-person limited to third-person omniscient, etc.) I can pull out my notes.

I’ll have to take you up on that when I get to that part in my story.

For my original copy, I have one binder for my first book...

I have binders for my books too!
I tried to make them like a guide book to help me remember each persons stories and how they all connect. I have one Character book, and one Creature book, I drew each character and all the different creatures from my story. I’ve managed to draw more from my story then actually write.

Here's a question for you all: Do you think of your characters as "characters"? or as real people? Mine haven't really seemed like characters to me, for some time now. It's only occasionally that I remember "Oh, they're just pretend"

My characters are very real to me! For me I feel like I’m in the middle of my story right there with my characters in whatever situation they are in and vice versa.

Whenever I hear a song, I'll try to somehow relate the lyrics to my characters. If it's an instrumental song, I'll figure out what part of my book it sounds like. I'll look at clothing or jewelery and say, "Oh, that looks like something so-and-so would wear!" I'll stare at random people, trying to decide which of my characters they resemble. Whenever I'm bored, I'll play over scenes in my head (I also do this before falling asleep every night).

That’s funny because that is exactly what I do!

Another one of my favorite things to do is put on my Ipod when I’m in the car and look out the window. I can picture my characters on their horses, or the dragon from my story flying overhead, sometimes jumping from building to building.

My characters never talk to me, and I never speak back. They're very real to me,
but it's as if, when I'm writing, I pull back the canvas that covers their world and see their lives. Then I'm able to tell their story. It's also rather like I'm force-sensitive . I can feel what they feel or how they think, or what they'd say.

This is another way I see my characters, I get why they act the way they do, or what they are thinking about what a different character is saying or doing.

I haven't actually written anything original in earnest for a long while—mostly just scribbles here and there, and some fanfics along the way. Plenty has been bouncing around my head for years, growing and gaining detail, but writing hasn't been able to be a priority for most of my teenage years. Things are finally starting to settle down a little, though, so I feel like I can start taking up some of the old dreams again.

Welcome The Rose-Tree Dyrad!
I didn’t find this thread until recently either.

This is exactly where I’m at. I’ve been attempting to write since I was fifteen too.
I’ve thought of multiple stories, My favorite is the one I’m currently working on.
I have all these characters and stories in my head and I really need to get them all on paper.

Here's a question I have for you all: what do you think about symbolism? Do you include it often in your writing, whether intentionally or unintentionally?

I like symbolism! I do include it often in my writing.
My Love for God gets the most symbolism in my stories.
I think it’s fun not to make it totally obvious what you are symbolizing (in some chases) but let the reader discover it for themselves.
I like that when I read books.

*copy-and-pastes Fencer's advice from page 14 to print it*
Thank-you, thank-you so much for that! It's very insightful and helpful.
Hey, you could write a writer's help book which would become a best seller fast, I'm convinced.
Thanks a lot, again!

*skims and views the discussions*

It depends on my mood for whether I write first or third person. Right now I'm doing third person, because I'm going for a L.M. Montgomery/Louisa May Alcott type thing but it quite depends. On my NaNo book, I switch from first person to third person just to cover battle issues and secret, sinister plots more personally.

Lately I haven't been able to write much; words are there, but plot is lack. I was wondering why I couldn't plan out my upcoming plans for NaNo, but then remembered that I have hardly touched last year's NaNo... I guess that was a way God could make me finish what I started. So I guess I'm going to start seriously editing my NaNo now. The books seems so...clichè, but I must finish what I start. *sigh*

Was that from page 14 or 11? If you want battle scene advice, look at page 11. Also, don't tempt me to get started on another book. I'll do it. But I wouldn't write a 'how-to-write' book because everyone has different writing tactics and styles. I would rather do something that would be based on my experiences with writing. But that's not for down the road and I get published and established.

The feedback I've been waiting for is starting to come in and now I am just about ready to do my final editing. I don't expect a huge homework load except for one class, (tomorrow) and I have from 3:00pm tomorrow with Friday and Saturday free to work heavy on my novel. It is so close and I want to get this done before my homework load really takes off.

Unfortunately, I don't have time to work on my book right now, because I have this paper that's due on Monday and I've only typed a third of it.

Here's a question I have for you all: what do you think about symbolism? Do you include it often in your writing, whether intentionally or unintentionally?

Although my book isn't classified as "Christian fantasy", being a Christian myself, it'd be impossible for my beliefs to not somehow make it into my writing. Whenever I need a random number for one thing or another, I'll often choose symbolic numbers (three and seven for good things, six for bad things). There's also a council of twelve lords, and one of them betrays the rest. Sort of like LotR, I don't mention religion anywhere, but there are a couple of events that could be considered "supernatural". However, I'd like to leave it up to the reader to decide for themselves whether the events were miraculous, magical, or just natural phenomena.

@SilvertheWanderer: I’m glad you had a good time at your meeting!

We talked a lot about point of view, so if anyone is having trouble with that (unintentionally shifting back and forth between different characters' point of views, or shifting from third-person limited to third-person omniscient, etc.) I can pull out my notes.

I’ll have to take you up on that when I get to that part in my story.

Thanks! And yes, go right ahead.

Another one of my favorite things to do is put on my Ipod when I’m in the car and look out the window. I can picture my characters on their horses, or the dragon from my story flying overhead, sometimes jumping from building to building.

I do that too! Hehe!

Good luck with your editing, Fencer!

^ They're cheering for you!

Unfortunately, I don't have time to work on my book right now, because I have this paper that's due on Monday and I've only typed a third of it.

That sounds like me, but on a Sunday night.

It is amazing what kind of power and symbolism that lie in numbers. We know of the common Christian numbers of 3, 7, 12, and 40 and as well as an evil number like 6. But so is 9. Tolkien lists nine black riders known at the Nazgul. Nine is a very demonic number and almost always associated with some kind of demonic entity. Ten is also associated with world domination as the symbol of the beast with ten heads and ten crowns. But it is also interesting to note that you don't see numbers like 8, 11, 17, 29, or other random numbers like that used very often if at all. Usually the ones that use those try to do so to explicity avoid using the other numbers.

So in writing, you almost need to be careful about choosing numbers in random because there are powerful connotations behind them that we may not know about. It will get your mind thinking.

Now off to editing. I have very little homework this weekend other than reading and I have no classes tomorrow (or any Friday for that matter). But next weekend, the homework load kicks off from what I hear.

I was wondering what everyone thought about putting different cultures in your stories?
Peculiarly In Fantasy, like Asian, or African? Lewis included the Calormen, and it got me to wondering if any one has every used any Oriental, African or Indian or any other culture you don‘t normally see in fantasy? (at least that I have never seen)

Princess Anna wrote:
Here's a question for you all:
Do you think of your characters as "characters"? or as real people? Mine haven't really seemed like characters to me, for some time now. It's only occasionally that I remember "Oh, they're just pretend"

Haha this may sound really strange, but I like to act out my characters. I love to act and do theater so it gives me a chance to practice for both my writing and my acting. If I can't go to sleep, I'd try to come up with scenerios and try to act them out. Most of the time I'd fall asleep within minutes because I'm so tired or other times I'd have very good ideas and have to wake up to write them down. I have to be careful though because sometimes I do get a little out of character and I have to do a lot of editing.

7chronicles wrote:
I was wondering what everyone thought about putting different cultures in your stories?

I take different aspects of different cultures and put them in my stories, but never completely use a specific one.

Was that from page 14 or 11? If you want battle scene advice, look at page 11. Also, don't tempt me to get started on another book. I'll do it. But I wouldn't write a 'how-to-write' book because everyone has different writing tactics and styles. I would rather do something that would be based on my experiences with writing. But that's not for down the road and I get published and established.

From page 14, when you answered the questions I had. Ah, thanks, that was one of the things that was in the air for my writing-- I'll definitely go check that out.
Ahaha. Well for now, thank-you for sharing your tips from experience with some of us amateurs. It's a big help.

Do you think of your characters as "characters"? or as real people? Mine haven't really seemed like characters to me, for some time now. It's only occasionally that I remember "Oh, they're just pretend"

I'm so embarassed here because I can't relate with any of the "My character are talking to me!" things. Probably because I write one-page drafts of an idea with some agreeable characters and then forget about it. I can relate, however, to the plot hankering me to introduce places, times, and things like that.