Winter is Coming . . . .

Okay, not here in FL, where it is melt-your-face hot.

But it is on Game of Thrones and I. Cannot. Wait.

Even if it means this guy shows up -

From HBO.com

In preparation for Season 7 - starting July 16th! - my husband and I have been re-watching GoT from the very first season, and I am still blown away by how amazing it is.

One of my favorite things about the show is how no character is safe. No one. Anyone from a butcher's boy to a king is fair game. You only have to watch the end of the very first episode to see that. It drives the suspense so far up I watch every episode on the edge of my seat - even though I already know what's coming!

This brings me to the characters. Characters I love to hate - Cersei! Joffrey! Ramsay! - and ones I love to love - Brienne! Samwell! Davos! I know what all of them are about to do. I know the horrible decisions they're about to make and yet I sit on the couch yelling at the TV, begging them to do something, anything, differently this time. (Sansa, you're killing me! And Theon, please don't go back to the Iron Islands!)

And the dialogue! The clever quips! The names! My husband and I walk around quoting lines from the show, and in our house I am known as Mother of Tortoises. (It doesn't have the same ring as Mother of Dragons, I know, but I make it work.)

Yes, I am an adult (supposedly) but stories of all kinds - GoT, movies, books, my own creepy ideas  - make me feel like a kid at Christmas. It's like opening a wonderfully wrapped, giant box full of dragons and detectives and old women who see ghost children. People I know in "real life" often don't understand that but you all do.

It is known.

Are you a Game of Thrones fan? Do you have a favorite character? Line? Scene? Episode? (Just be careful of spoilers, please!) And if GoT isn't your thing, what is? I can always use more stories in my life. 

The Pursuit of Passion . . . and Possibly Salt and Pepper Shakers.

Back in July, I read an interesting article by Maura Rhodes in Parade Magazine called "Robots, Gnomes and Beatniks - Oh My!" about people who collect things.  One person collects desk service bells. Another, exotic beads. An eight-year-old boy is really into garden gnomes. 

My Dad collected salt and pepper shakers. They were on shelves all over the house. He would buy them at garage sales. People would bring ones back from trips. Some were from my grandparents' time. My sister and I rolled our eyes and teased him, saying when he died we'd have a fistfight over who would get them. That didn't happen, of course. (Although I could take her. If I had to. Just saying.) But some came home with me, just as a keepsake. I don't think I'll start collecting them myself, but I guess you never know.

After all, my Dad didn't collect salt and pepper shakers until he was older. I don't know why he started when he did and why this particular thing. A lot of people in the article seemed to get started almost by accident. The person with the service bells originally bought one as a gift then ended up keeping it. The boy with the gnomes discovered them at an environmental center.

I don't really collect anything. Sure, I've got lots of books, tons of seashells, more beads and crafty things than I know what to do with, but none are true collections. I'm missing out! I want that passion, that drive, so many collectors have. I want to go on a hunt! 

Hmm, maybe I'll pull out those salt and pepper shakers, give them another look . . . .

*****

Do you collect anything? What do you collect? Why? Do you enjoy the hunt? How about your characters? Are they big collectors of anything? What do you think it says about them? 

Point of View Problem

The original title of this post was "How Many People Can Live In My Head Before My Brain Bursts" but I figured that was too long.

As I get cracking on this new novel (don't even ask about the other one,) I find myself struggling with POV. I told myself I was going to stick with one POV. I wanted something more streamlined, more focused than my usual mess of two, three or more (yes, more!) POV characters. Now, Character A was all set - she was my one and only . . . until Character B decided he wanted to tell his story. (Okay, it's really me who wants to tell his story but whatever.) And don't get me started on Character C. 

Could Character B's and Character C's stories come out through my original POV character? Sure. Is that the best way for the novel to unfold? I don't know.

I'm concerned I'm falling back into my usual way of doing things - too many POV characters - because it's easier, meaning comfortable. (And really, it hasn't worked all that well for me so far - do you see a novel with my name on it anywhere?) I want the story to be told in the best way possible and right now, I'm just not sure what that is.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Any suggestions or advice for deciding who your POV character is or how many you'll have?

As a reader, do you prefer one POV or more? I don't really have a preference as a reader but I will say that with multiple POVs, I usually find myself "liking" one of the characters better than the others, looking ahead to that character's chapter, etc.

Thanks in advance for all your help! 

Living, Breathing Characters . . . in a World of the Undead

If I can learn about character development, then I am there. Even if there are zombies. (Okay, especially if there are zombies.) I am a huge fan of the TV show, "The Walking Dead." Partly because I love a good zombie show/movie/book, but mostly because I'm intrigued by how these complex characters survive in a world where right and wrong is no longer black and white.

Take the character of Daryl Dixon (played by Norman Reedus.) Daryl is a cranky, racist redneck who struggles between being a loner and being a part of the group. In one scene, he's wearing a necklace of zombie ears. In another, he's risking his life to save an African-American member of their group. In a recent online article, Reedus says, "Daryl is this guy who needs a hug, but if you try to hug him, he'll try to stab you. He doesn't want to talk about his feelings, but you can tell there's a lot of feelings bottled up."

Former small town sheriff, Rick Grimes (played by Andrew Lincoln,) is the "everyman" who struggles with doing the "right" thing in this new world where doing the right thing could get himself, and everyone he cares about, killed. How do you justify that? How do you choose? His best friend and former partner, Shane Walsh (played by Jon Bernthal,) believes there is no longer a choice: you do what you need to do to survive and you take care of your own. That's it. And yet, you can see the struggle, see a little bit of who Shane used to be die each time he goes down that road.

Look at the "walkers" (zombies) themselves. They were once people - neighbors, friends, family. Early in the first season, a man points a gun at what used to be his wife. He knows he should pull the trigger, put her - and himself - out of their misery. But he can't. He still sees his wife in the zombie lurching in front of him. 

Excellent characters can be found anywhere and everywhere. In this case, it's a testament to the writers and the actors: they've created living, breathing people in a made-up world full of the undead.

Are you a fan of the show? Who's your favorite character and why? Who are some of your favorite characters from books/TV/movies? What makes them so vivid, so real to you?

How to Apply Reality Show TV to Your Writing

Hello. My name is Madeline and I admit it - I enjoy watching reality TV. Not all of it. Just enough to make me feel guilty that I should be doing something - anything - else more productive.

I watch Project Runway, Top Chef and Survivor. Three shows I would never go on - I can't sew, I can't cook, and I am not about to eat some critter's eyeballs. My favorite reality show is The Amazing Race. It's probably the only show I would consider trying out for, although my husband and I would most likely be the team that never makes it out of the airport.

But, to justify my reality TV show watching, I've discovered something I can apply to my writing: Characters are all around us. Real people, real characters. Now, I know all those shows are edited. I know we're not seeing the whole/real person in their normal surroundings. I know some of those back stories are cut and colored a bit. But so what? The essence, the idea, is still there. The nice guy who grew up in a small town, who loved to draw and sew, who never went to design school makes us root for him. The plucky stay-at-home mom who loves to cook goes up against culinary school grads. The father and son who have trouble communicating decide an around the world race will either make or break their relationship. Come on, how can we as writers not see the potential for story after story in these real life people?

And they're not just on TV. They're everywhere - in the coffee shop, the grocery store, the construction crew around the corner. They're the clerk at the post office, the guidance counselor at your child's school, the homeless man at the bus stop. They're your friends, your family, yourself.

Speaking of yourself/myself, I better go check the TV schedule. I think Survivor is on a different day this week...

But They Didn't Say Cheese

Larry and Mrs. Larry (our tortoises) welcomed some visitors the other day. My nephew (2 1/2 years old) got a real kick out of them. He stood by their tank, toy camera in hand, snapping away as if he was on a photo shoot. We asked if he liked taking their pictures and he said, "Yes, but they didn't say cheese."

Of course, that cracked us all up, but then I started thinking (something I either do too much or not enough, depending on who you talk to.) What happens when your characters don't do what you want them to do, when they don't want to "say cheese?" What if they want to run away screaming from the monster instead of fighting it? What if they don't want to fall for the geek but would rather be treated like dirt by the jock? Bargaining might work: you can run away this time but you'll have to kill the creature later, you can kiss the football hero but you're going to the prom with the geek. Do you force them to fit the story or do you let the story fall around your characters?

I don't have any actual answers, but one thing I've learned is I need to listen to my characters. Sometimes there's a real reason they don't want to do something. Sometimes their way is better for the story. And sometimes they're going to have to just suck it up; their picture is going to get taken even of they don't want to smile, even if they don't want to "say cheese." I'm the writer here. I'm in charge...

Okay, characters, you better stop laughing now or I'll be forced to delete you...