FanDays 2015

Running late on my post. DOH!
All my plans went kaput when I popped off my tire trying a new way to go home in the middle of a giant storm. Yeah....
Been one of those months...

While I missed about half of FanDays due to work, I still made it in time to get a few pics. Yay!

My daughter had not made one of these triple layer flowers in forever. Someone saw it on the banner and asked for one. I think they are super cool!

Look at the awesome detail on her headdress. Fascinating!

Her weaponry and the buddy with her also had it going on!

Hawkwoman! Lots of nice detial.

See what I mean? Came out great!

The armor looks awesome!

Master Splinter and Raphael! Master Splinter is in the original comic style. Poor thing.

Talking of originals - here's the Penguin! Qack qack qack. (He looked awesome!)

A young Poison Ivy was hanging around too. Her necklace is super cool!

Pic my daughter sent me that Friday. She had my back while I was slaving at the day job. My bro came too, so he had her back. :)

Hope you have a great Wednesday!
While I missed about half of FanDays due to work, I still made it in time to get a few pics. Yay!

My daughter had not made one of these triple layer flowers in forever. Someone saw it on the banner and asked for one. I think they are super cool!

Look at the awesome detail on her headdress. Fascinating!

Her weaponry and the buddy with her also had it going on!

Hawkwoman! Lots of nice detial.

See what I mean? Came out great!

The armor looks awesome!

Master Splinter and Raphael! Master Splinter is in the original comic style. Poor thing.

Talking of originals - here's the Penguin! Qack qack qack. (He looked awesome!)

A young Poison Ivy was hanging around too. Her necklace is super cool!

Pic my daughter sent me that Friday. She had my back while I was slaving at the day job. My bro came too, so he had her back. :)

Hope you have a great Wednesday!

Secondary Characters

I moderated an interesting panel discussion at Archon 39 this past weekend. "When Your Secondary Characters Demand Their Own Stories", with panelists Jacqueline Carey, Adrian J. Matthews, Cindy A. Matthews, Henry Melton and myself, started with examples of just those times. At first, these seemed to point out the differences between "plotters" - those who plot out their stories beforehand - and "pantsers" - those who write by the seat of their pants with no initial plan. "Pantsers" had characters who seemed to wander into a story while "plotters" didn't allow their characters to stray outside their predetermined roles.

But, as the discussion went on, it turned out that there wasn't that much difference between the two sliding scales of writing. What mattered was the character. Some background characters could appear, speak their lines or carry a spear, and vanish in the next paragraph. A secondary character could stay in the shadow of the main character, never moving out of the role of the main character's best friend or supporting team. But then there are those, that due to either being so well developed or with such an interesting backstory, that somehow catch enough interest (either the author's or readers') that people demand that more be told. Cindy Matthews found it happened with just one throwaway line spoken by a character. Henry Melton noticed one secondary character had become so interesting that he realized that the story should be about that character, the father of the main character, rather than the son.

Several of my short stories in Agents and Adepts are due to my own "secondary characters want their own story" issue. While looking for a publisher for my first book, The Crystal Throne, I found my Fleet Ones, a race of talking horselike beings in that book, rather pushy in that regard. Renw's story of how he teamed up with an elf to become a scout was something I had to explore, as well as how Elin left the herd to learn magic. Elin even pushed his way into Talking to Trees.

Is this something you can plan? The panelists were divided on that. In order to make a story interesting, you have to have interesting characters. One way to make a character interesting is to mention details, such as what the character likes or dislikes, mannerisms, etc. The more details we know about the character, the better. The problem comes with knowing so much about the character that she or he takes over the story. The panelists did agree that, if a character doesn't fit a story, no matter how interesting he or she is, for the sake of the story it might be best to move him or her to another file to save for another story.

Patricia Wrede covers this dilemma well in her tips on writing about secondary characters.

What secondary characters are you aware of that have gone on to their stories?

INSECURE WRITER'S SUPPORT GROUP AND BASEBALL

Welcome October, one of my favorite months. So much is going on, such excitement in the air. Today I'm cross posting from my other blog http://beverlystowemcclure.blogspot.com. If you haven't heard of INSECURE WRITER'S SUPPORT GROUP, take a look. You're all welcome to join.

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Awesome Ninja Alex J. Cavanaugh is the founder of IWSG. His awesome co-hosts for today are TB Markinson, Tamara Narayan, Shannon Lawrence, Stephanie Faris, and Eva E. Solar!

Our Twitter hashtag is #IWSG

Am I insecure? Doesn't that just go along with being a writer? We wait and hope for a contract. When we get it (yes, I have a contract for my YA contemporary novel, yay), we worry about getting the edits just right. We worry if anyone will read it once it's published. I say "we", maybe it's only me. So ...

I'm taking a lesson from my favorite baseball team -- go Rangers. They started the season so badly most people gave up on them from the beginning. I didn't even watch their games that much. But the team members worked together. The coaches worked with them, and in spite of one injury after another that sidelined some players for the season and others for many games, they never gave up. They worked hard. Every win was a victory. A loss made them more determined to make it to the playoffs.

Well, they did. They won their division, and it went down to the last game of the regular season. They never gave up. How far they'll go in the playoffs no one knows. But they achieved their goal.

I hope to be like the Rangers. Bring on those edits. I'm ready. And the rough sketch I saw of the cover is fabulous. My family will read the story. What more could a writer ask for?

So don't be insecure. Never give up.

Happy Writing!