Writing Update: Life Gets in the Way

This week probably hasn't been my best week in terms of writing/editing. I've been trying to get used to a new schedule at work and I've fallen behind. And tomorrow is CampNaNo. I'm actually really excited about it, and I'll be finished up my novel Hourglass. My goal is to read 70k by the end of my month.

It's going to be hard to hit with my other obligations. I have work, of course, and then there are my critique partners. I have to edit their things. I will probably put my work on hold until the end so that way I can edit what I have so far. I really need to work on it.

Lately, I've been behind on my critiquing, and even emailing my critique partners back. Work has picked up and I'm trying to adjust to a new schedule...it isn't working. It will take time. I don't know what I'm going to do when I start school up again. That's just going to be a mess. I'm working on a schedule. It will sink in eventually.

Writing Update: Critique Partners

So this week has been interesting. I've been participating in a lot more Twitter chats and meeting other writers. Putting myself out there. It's strange, but I like being able to talk to other writers. They are fun to talk to and it interesting to see what everyone is writing. 

Earlier this week, I decided to post something on Goodreads about needing a critique partner. And I found two. I'm so excited to be able to do this. One of my CPs already sent back the chapters I sent him and gave me great advice. Admittedly, I was a bit nervous. I knew there were things that were lacking. I'm not a perfect writer, after all. I already see where I need to improve and I can't wait to get started on fixing my mistakes. Which I have a lot. 

Whenever I got back and edit a sentence, sometimes I forget to make sure it all fits right so my sentence ends up being a mess. Yeah. Well, that's something I need to be more aware of. Unfortunately, I can't go through and make my changes until after I finish with his work. It won't take me long but these last few days have been crazy. I need to get these to him by tomorrow. At least I started on them.

I did notice my use of filter words has increased. It's bad. Though, I do use them a lot in daily life, especially when working with kids. Small kids. I emphasis on certain things with the use of these filter words. I'm getting better - kind of. I'm making a conscious effort to not transfer it into my writing. That's easier said than done. Oh well, I'm working on it at least.

Next week, I'm hoping to have my first two chapters of Survival Agreement polished and ready. I'm planning on publishing one of them here on my website after I clean them up. 

WriYe Blogging Cricle: Characters and Names

Characters: How do you come up with your characters? Do you pull from real life and people you know or someplace else? Do you have a hard time with characterization or find it a breeze? 

Bonus: Names: How do you come up with names? 

They kind of just come to me. I usually figure out the plot first and the characters fall into place. Sometimes a name really sticks with me or a picture I see on Pinterest and it starts an idea that grows. My character develops with it. There are times when I have the characters in my head but they don't have names so I give them a temporary name until one finally fits the character.

I don't pull characters from real life or people I know. A character might have a certain trait, but I would never base a full character off of someone I knew. It would be too weird for me because I don't feel like I know people well enough to actually write about them in my story and it makes me a little uncomfortable. So, I stick with creating my own characters with maybe a trait or two from someone I know. Do this makes it less complicated.

Sometimes I do have a hard time with characterization. My MC for Hourglass was a lot harder for me to get into his head but after a few exercises I was able to do some. Also, the writing group I'm a part of really loves doing character building so I pulled a lot from that as well. I might not have joined them for their fun but I certainly learned by reading back on what they did. Maybe next time I'll join them. 

Bonus Answer: Sometimes I meet someone with a really cool name. I work with kids and some of the children that pass through the center have some interesting names but I don't always use them. I usually get my names from a baby names website. The one I've been using a lot has been Nameberry. I've also been "collecting" names in a file called "name bank" that I can reference if I need a name quickly. I can access it anywhere so it makes it easy to add more names to it as I hear them.