Writing Journal - Outlining & Getting to Know My Characters

Deciding to focus on my novel at this turbulent time in my life was not an easy choice. My muse can be an elusive little bitch. One moment she's tugging at my brain to write a particular scene, then as soon as my fingers touch the keyboard, she's nowhere to be seen. Not a very reliable sidekick, my muse.

"How's writing going?"
"I finished all my work tasks, progressed in 3 woodworking projects, reorganized half my closet, went for a jog, watered my balcony garden, did my nails and made meatballs for dinner. I also stared at a blank page for a while."

Unleashing focused creativity is particularly hard when you don't live in a bubble. It's why most people aren't artists. There are just too many distractions and "important" things demanding attention. It's called life, and it's the number one enemy of consistent creative writing. 

Since life isn't going anywhere, I decided to take a different, more structured approach.

After browsing through quite a bit of infographics and lists of tips and templates for novel writing, I picked the ones that seemed suitable to my habits and the novel I am working on.

Outlining a Snowflake

Looking for a method to outline the novel, I came across "The Snowflake Method", which is an interesting way to write a novel. You basically start small, and expand your skeletal description into a novel. So to get started, I wrote the single line description, then expanded to a paragraph, and now I am tackling my character profiles.

Never really learning to write a novel, my approach was always "sit and write and worry about the results later". This has not worked, which is why I have yet to complete a single manuscript. This approach to writing also has other shortcomings, aside from not working for me personally. 

In my attempts to run forward with my plot, I left my characters flat in my own head. Instead of speaking and acting in the way THEY would, they just did what I felt would progress the scene and plot. It's quite amazing to think that I've written thousands of words of dialogue with a character whose motivations and history I didn't bother to fully explore in my mind.

Nice to Meet You, I Might Kill You

So this week, I am taking the time to write out the character pages of my main characters, with details including everything from physical appearance to family members, motivations and hobbies. I am actually really enjoying this process, and I am feeling the characters come alive.

Next step: Expanding the synopsis and listing scenes in a spreadsheet. In the meantime, something tells me that drafting and then expanding my character sheets will give my characters the power to sit me down and make me write scenes.