You know, I've never had characters get that disobedient. You should consider disciplining them by writing them into a disaster.
I kinda wish most of my characters felt that real, though...
I guess the vital question is not "what DID so-and-so do?" but "what WOULD so-and-so do?"
Happy Memorial Day BTW!

I've learned quite well that characters have a nasty habit of doing whatever they want even if it's not what you intended for them, and to me it only seems forced if you try and stop them. I write pretty much for a hobby, and the main couple in my story had a major fight about 5 chapters in, and 10+ chapters later, I'm like Come on you guys, you've had more than enough time to be stupidly stubborn, just kiss and make up so I can get on with the story!, but they didn't want to listen...

Haha! I have the same problem sometimes. It turns out my main character isn't very likeable at all. The good news is you have room for development. Think of some other external circumstances which may make your characters realize that being stubborn over little things isn't worth it long term. Or have the fight backfire on them. Or put them in a situation where they are forced to work together. Lots of options, lol.

Do you find that you need to guess what your characters are like, before you write about them, or do their personalities just unfold as you write?

My current piece has a brother and sister, whose names were not chosen for their meanings (as I have done in the past) but from another source. This has meant their personalities were not pre-set, so I have begun by listening to their thoughts as they tell some of the story.

Do you find that you need to guess what your characters are like, before you write about them, or do their personalities just unfold as you write?

You know, even though I don't believe that circumstances alone make a person what they are, it seems like my characters develop personalities based on the circumstances that I already placed them in. They have to be the kind of person that would make such-and-such a decision, because it's vital to the plot. That can be a pain later on because they might have to do something totally out of character for the plot's sake without any room for a reasonable explanation for what made them change.
I also get these dramatic lines stuck in my head for the characters to say, and it feels like they HAVE to say them... so the characters evolve into the kinds of people who would say those big, dramatic lines.
So I guess you could say their personalities unfold as I write.
Does anyone else have these sorts of problems with this method?

Hey everyone, just thought I'd introduce myself and find out what you guys are talking about here. It looks like the thread has gone a bit quiet, but as a writer (or at least a blogger and text game writer/programmer) it's always cool to talk shop with other writers. What kinds of stuff are you guys into? Narnia type adventure/fantasy stuff? Or some other genre? What have you been up to lately?

Welcome, Geekicheep! You're right, this is quiet right now. Things may pick up as we approach NaNoWriMo later this year (often that event gets its own thread).

Usually I write fantasy or soft science fiction, but haven't written much lately. Still banging away on an earlier NaNo project that isn't finished but has been fun to write. It's in a fantasy/swords and sorcery type setting.

I write mostly historical fiction and epic medieval fantasy (hence my fascination with Narnia). Basically anything involving a good swordfight... or dragons. Never done Nanowrimo, though. I just have half a dozen "works in progress" right now.
What kind of things do you write, Geekicheep?

Welcome to the forum, Geekicheep! I'd definitely love to hear you talk about what it's like to write for text games! I tried to write a grand, sprawling RPG once upon a time, heavily inspired by both Knights of the Old Republic game... but it should be noted I was maybe 15 at the time and I seriously underestimated how much work that was. I never made it out of the opening scene. But I am really curious to hear how game writing differs from more of a novel-style. I still entertain ideas of making games from time to time... I just wish I had time.

I typically write fantasy, though I'll admit my fantasy style tends to fall somewhere between fairy tale and action cartoons. I'm constantly at war with the part of me that wants to write an epic worthy of LOTR, and the other part that just wants to let the 12-year-old in me loose on the world. It'd also help if I'd stick to one book/project for more than two weeks at a time.

Something I've been debating lately is trying my hand at a simple children's chapter book. My 6 1/2-year-old nephew has an obsession with sea monsters at the moment, and I've thought about writing him a short story that has... well, something to do with sea monsters, I haven't figured out quite what. I think it'd be a fun way to get some creativity going, and by the time I'm done he'll be old enough to read it! Now to just figure out what kind of story it's going to be....

Hey guys, sorry for the late response.

Stargazer - I've heard of NaNoWriMo, but didn't really know what it was; I have a friend who is a writer, and she was starting to tell me about what she was doing with it, but then she went off to college and disappeared faster than Polly in MN. So thanks for the info! I think I might just have to give it a shot this year!

Cleander - I am right there with you on the "works in progress". And if you do historical fiction - and especially medieval historical fiction - you've got to check out a channel called "Shadiversity" on YouTube! This guy out of Australia does really deep, detailed analyses of how the medieval period is depicted in fiction (misconceptions, historical inaccuracies etc.). He also does stuff related to how that translates to a fantasy world with magic and dragons, like what weapons would be best suited to centaurs, minotaurs, etc. how to fight giants, orcs, etc. as a human, and all kinds of great stuff. Sorry, you mentioned historical fiction, and then dragons, which reminded me of one of his funny slogans: "what about dragons?" (you'd have to see it to get why that's funny ).

And last but certainly not least, Ryadian - I could say so, so much about what it's like to write text games! It's the perfect balance of writing and coding, two things I love to do. I have one I plan to finish by Halloween, so I'll tell you what: the week it comes out, I'll talk about it over on my blog. This post is getting long enough already, so I probably shouldn't do it here.

And I really like your idea about writing kids' books! My mom said she wanted to do that a long time ago, and hasn't written a word. Her idea was awesome, and I wanted to help her get started, so I wrote a few short stories about her characters. She and the rest of the family loved them, though unfortunately she didn't run with it like I'd hoped. But kids' books are fun, and very memorable - so memorable in fact that we're all members of a forum talking about a 60+ year old series of kids books! Seriously though, if you're looking for inspiration, look no further than the Voyage of the Dawn Treader! I love the part where Eustace breaks a sword on a sea monster! So I'm sure he would too.

And to answer the question (sorry I don't recall who asked), I write short stories mostly. I'm kind of in the same boat as Ryadian, fighting between writing something big and epic and something a 12-year-old would enjoy. I threw a kid from our world into a fantasy realm where everyone has magic... and he used it to create pizza and turn his brother into a monkey! I've got this epic plot outlined, and my characters have only made it to chapter 3 or 4.

In terms of genre, I do fantasy, sci-fi, and also fan fiction (including several about Narnia). I've dabbled in horror (well, Goosebumps type kid-friendly horror), and occasionally I'll mess with writing music, but sci-fi/fantasy adventure stuff is my favorite.

The truth is, having a day job, I just don't write enough to maintain a consistent train of thought. I'll come home after 10 hours of writing code, grab a bite to eat, and get in the mood to write. I'll write a bit, and it's fun and entertaining, but has continuity problems - it's not consistent with what I wrote last week, or what I will write the following week. That's why most of my attempts at a novel end up as a collection of short stories. And I don't even know if I can technically even call them that, but that's not gonna stop me from writing!

That's also why I'm finding the text game format works for me As long as I keep track of all the different directions the plot may go, continuity is not an issue. A player may board a ship heading for the Lone Islands one day, and hike to Ettinsmoor in another (and no, I haven't done a Narnia game - YET).

Anyway, I never even thought to look for writing forums until I saw this one, so I'm looking forward to when things pick up again. Even if I don't do NaNoWriMo - maybe for me it'll be NaNoTxtGMo - I can't wait.

Cleander - I am right there with you on the "works in progress". And if you do historical fiction - and especially medieval historical fiction - you've got to check out a channel called "Shadiversity" on YouTube! This guy out of Australia does really deep, detailed analyses of how the medieval period is depicted in fiction (misconceptions, historical inaccuracies etc.). He also does stuff related to how that translates to a fantasy world with magic and dragons, like what weapons would be best suited to centaurs, minotaurs, etc. how to fight giants, orcs, etc. as a human, and all kinds of great stuff. Sorry, you mentioned historical fiction, and then dragons, which reminded me of one of his funny slogans: "what about dragons?" (you'd have to see it to get why that's funny ).

Ah yes, I'm a bit familiar with Shadiversity! He does reference Narnia quite a few times, so that's a plus!! I remember seeing his reviews on the combat and castle design in Walden's Prince Caspian... and was pleased to hear that he liked it! Interestingly he seems to think the best weapons for giants would be heavy spiked boots... so it looks like C.S. Lewis got it right!
And I've seen his "What about Dragons?" T-Shirts. I need one badly. That and the one that has his channel's war-cry on it: "MACHICOLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATIOOOONS!!!!"

I look forward to when you reading that blog post, Geekicheep!

My mom said she wanted to do that a long time ago, and hasn't written a word. Her idea was awesome, and I wanted to help her get started, so I wrote a few short stories about her characters. She and the rest of the family loved them, though unfortunately she didn't run with it like I'd hoped.

Oh, fun!! It's too bad she didn't follow up on it, that would've been a great collaborative project. But hey, at least you got the short stories you did write out of them .

But kids' books are fun, and very memorable - so memorable in fact that we're all members of a forum talking about a 60+ year old series of kids books! Seriously though, if you're looking for inspiration, look no further than the Voyage of the Dawn Treader! I love the part where Eustace breaks a sword on a sea monster! So I'm sure he would too.

Very true! VDT is my second favorite of the Narnia books (right after The Horse and His Boy), so I suspect I'll be stealing ideas from it intentionally or not.

I remember watching a couple of Shadiversity videos. I was particularly interested in one he had on merfolk (or other underwater humanoids) and what kind of weaponry they would use - I have a story, not even counting the one I'm thinking of writing for my nephew, which involves merfolk. I was a little disappointed that the video was more interested in what merfolk would use against humans, instead of what they'd use against each other. Buuut, my writing doesn't tend to be very research heavy anyways, so maybe they'll just always use magic on each other, or I'll conveniently gloss over those details.

I can't remember if I have ever posted in here before, but I am working on a fantasy trilogy for middle grade readers. I'm three drafts into the first book and I decided I would take a break from it over the summer, so I have been working on the first draft of the second book.

But kids' books are fun, and very memorable - so memorable in fact that we're all members of a forum talking about a 60+ year old series of kids books!

That's part of why I want to write for children. The stories I loved when I was a kid have resonated with me and shaped me more than anything has since around the time I left high school. My two biggest story passions, Narnia and Star Wars, were both things I first experienced as a child. There's something about being a child that allows you to dig into stories and experience them almost as if they were real that you seem to lose somewhat as you get older. I would love to provide a similar experience for readers.

I've been writing for a long time, mostly non-fiction articles and things of that nature. Recently, I've been testing the waters with short stories, trying to work up the courage to tackle something on a much bigger scale.

I recently posted/published a short story over at the website I help manage. I don't have a lot of avenues to share my writing, so I figured I would share it with you lovely people here. The last time I posted something I wrote with this group, the response was very kind. Hopefully at least a few of you will enjoy this little story.

http://ramblingeveron.com/2019/08/27/the-invitation/

Hey, Phill Lytle, thanks for sharing! It's always nice to meet another blogger and writer. Your blog has an even wider variety of topics than mine, and that's saying something (and that's a good thing IMO)! I do a lot of nonfiction stuff too, mostly related to technology or hockey; my blog has a third topic, a catch-all "all things geeky" (which works great when I want to write something about fiction or share a story, or thoughts on a movie etc.). But you have everything from theology to sports to news and I don't know what else. Very cool!

Now as far as your story is concerned, it's not exactly my thing, but I really like the format! Right from the start, we get a sense that this story takes place in another time, back when people wrote letters on paper instead of a keyboard, back when people actually spoke with that more formal tone. I must admit I only got four or five paragraphs into it, but it feels very real. It's as if I were actually reading some family's letters, which is not something I've seen in a story before. I'm sure it's been done, but from my perspective it's a really cool, unique way to tell a story. My only suggestion has nothing to do with content - I would suggest not using that squiggly font. Sure it looks more like handwriting, but I found that font very hard to read. I had to copy it into a text editor to get past "Dear Mary".

Anyway, keep up the good work! I'll be checking out this blog of yours again soon.

Thanks, Geekicheep for the kind words! We really went back and forth on the font. We wanted it to look like actual handwritten letters. I'm sorry it was hard for you to read. I haven't heard anyone else have an issue with that, but it's possible it has been a problem for a few.

I would like to encourage you to read the whole thing. I think you will appreciate the story as a whole better if you finish it.

Again, thanks for the comment. I'll have to check out your blog as well. (Rambling Ever On - my site - is a collaborative work by a handful of friends. It's definitely not a one person show. I could not handle that kind of workload!)