Show Some Author Appreciation From Your Characters With This #WritingPrompt

We are only a week and a half away from finishing out National Novel Writing Month 2020!

I don’t know if you are anywhere near as excited as I am about that, but I am ready to be done with this book of mine.

You may be feeling the same about your current work in progress, regardless of when you’re writing it.

It’s easy to get frustrated with first-draft manuscripts, which was why the first half of these writing prompts had us letting out our frustrations.

Today, we’re going to keep the love going and return to letters from our characters.

The first prompt of this category had our characters telling us everything they didn’t like about us, but it’s time for them to show some appreciation for the people bringing them to life!

How much do they love the story you’re putting out there?

How are they adjusting to the spotlight?

Just how thankful are they for you taking the time to write their story?

Let your characters shower you with the love of everything you’re doing right, then get write on in to your daily session.

See you tomorrow!

My Response

Dear Andrew,

Thanks for everything you’ve done for me. I know this struggle has been hard for you. I know that, since the start, you have rattled your brains trying to figure out who I am and how to tell my story. If it were up to me, I’d have told you everything you wanted to know from the start, but, as with any other book, is it not just part of the journey? If I’d have given you everything you wanted to know would you have treated this with less sincerity?

I doubt it, of course, because you always give your all to every project. That’s what I chose you. I knew that, even though you’d enter into this with an idea of me being an “example” story that you would treat it as more than such. And you have, haven’t you? You’ve cared more about this story than you’ve let on, and it’s gotten you into more than one temper tantrum along the way.

But that’s why I’m here with you. I picked you because of that passion. I knew you were going to throw yourself into this, look sleep, and get out on the internet looking like a raccoon. But I chose you because I knew you could do it. And would you look at that — you’re almost done.

-Vaeda

Use This #WritingPrompt To Promote Your Main Character to Your Best Friend

I hope you have decided to push through the first half of National Novel Writing Month 2020 and join me for the second.

Even if you’re not in NaNoWriMo, sometimes you just need an extra boost when it comes to your writing.

Our last few plots have let us get out all the frustrations we’ve had toward our characters, plots, and settings, but we’re going to brighten up everybody’s days a little and do the exact opposite.

Today, I’d love it if you could focus on everything you love about your main character or characters.

They’ve been with you from the start, so there has to be some redeemable qualities to them, even if they drive you crazy every so often.

What about them still intrigues you?

What about them makes you love more than characters in books you didn’t write?

If you could spend a day with them, what would you do?

Strengthen that bond with your character by sprinkling in some honey with your words, then get write on in to your daily session.

See you tomorrow!

My Response

I’ve obviously had my up and down struggles with Vaeda, my main character, especially if anyone has read what I’ve written about him so far. Since crafting him from the nothing, I feel like he’s given me a complete run for my money as far as being a writer goes. But the thing is, the more I get to know him, the more I find myself channeling him. I’ve been struggling with self-deprecation and depression during the writing of this novel — standard considering the themes — but I think of him any time I want to give up. Vaeda is in a position where he has to be the only person who has any hope and belief in what he’s doing, and in some ways, I’m in the same position.

He has those close to him, and it’s not like I’m completely alone, but I feel like Vaeda understands what it’s like to carry a burden you don’t want. I think he’s a much stronger character than I had anticipated when I first started writing him. He’s pretty quiet and reclusive, which allows me to spend a lot of time in his head, which is also kind of cool. I think he’s very connected with his mind, despite what’s going on, and I’m trying to find that all within myself, as well. Any time I want to give up hope, I remember how he carries on and how I have to carry on for him.

For someone I felt like chose me instead of the other way around, he could become one of my top five favorite characters by the end. I’m excited about the rest of his adventure and to see what he does. It’s still difficult to explain to non-writers how characters and stories take a life of their own. I’m just grateful that, the more life that’s breathed in to Vaeda, the more I like him. Otherwise, Lord knows I would have given up on this bitch after chapter 2.

My Main Character Drives Me Nuts

If you’re closing in on the halfway mark of National Novel Writing Month 2020 like I am, it’s hard telling how you feel right now.

Even if you’re on a novel writing journey of any sort, it’s hard to tell where you’ll be at.

Some of these prompts have had our characters looking at us as the authors with the magnifying glass.

Letting us know everything they didn’t like about us our how we were representing them. 

Today, we are going to turn the tables on them!

Today, we’re going to let our pesky little characters know just how much they annoy us.

Are they not doing what you’re telling them, even though you’re the one that’s supposed to be in control?

Did they give you too much attitude when you started to let them run free in your mind?

Are they just making your story that much harder to write?

Let them know how they can be a better character, then get write on in to your daily session.

See you tomorrow!

My Response

Vaeda is becoming very cyclical I feel. Or I fear, rather. He’s responsive enough to the things I tell him to do, and for a character that’s been constructed and designed out of the either, he’s not doing such a bad job. Apart from the fact that he’s really refusing to connecting with me, though. I’m doing a lot of effort and spending a lot of time trying to picture him, but he’s really taking this whole “I can’t see” thing seriously and not even letting me in on what he looks like.

These black energies that I’m writing about in my book are because of how distant I feel toward him. I want to feel more connected to him. I think he’s actually a pretty strong character, and I’d like to connect with him on a deeper level. Such is life, as with every other man, there is no deeper connection. Nothing more than whatever surface level crap he’s ushering me that’s supposed to help me make this into a good story.

Doesn’t he want to be represented better? Doesn’t he want people to be hanging on to every word of his story, scared they’ll miss a detail? He’s too focused on figuring out how he’s been wronged to think about ways to make his story more interesting. Only one of the two of us involved here actually cares about that. Sounds like he and my dog would be great friends.