#writerrant

Can we talk for a little moment about character profiles? I feel like they’ve fallen out of vogue but I still recommend them frequently to authors when I read their manuscripts and see places their characters need work.

Reasons to still use character profiles

1. Consistency

Are you writing a series? Then character profiles are a part of your series bible you should not be skipping. Will you remember the colour of your character’s mother’s eyes after she’s been absent from the page for three books and they’re dramatically and emotionally reunited? No, no you won’t. But that fan who has read your series nine times will notice if her eye colour changes. Don’t force yourself to go back and find where a character appears on the page, make a character profile. 

Every piece you write should make you wet, twist your guts, make you angry, or make you laugh. Not everything is bloody or rough. But everything should make you feel something.

The whole point of all of this is to FEEL. If you ain't feeling that piece, it ain't done yet. If it feels wrong, put it on the shelf and try something else. Ask for help.

But don't you DARE give me, give yourself, something that doesn't make you feel anything.

Getting the stakes, the “what’s at risk” factor of a story right is SO important. Will the world end? Will their mother die? Will they lose the love of their life? 

Whatever the stakes it’s important that a character can’t simply walk away. If “they might die on their quest” is the height of the danger for the character you’re not thinking deeply enough about what motivates a person. Okay, they might die, that’s some tension. But why would they go on a quest that might kill them? To do the right thing? That’s a bit vague, almost meaningless really. For a character’s motivation and stake in the outcome of the plot to really grab the reader with both hands it needs to be personal. 

That’s rule number 1: Make sure every character has something personal at stake. 

Inspired by a recent reblog titled “words to use instead of crying,” I want to talk a little bit about physicality. 

So often in my critiques and beta reads I see authors using fanciful words in an attempt to express emotion where a physical description would work better.

Crying is the perfect example of this. 

Crying is a physical expression of emotion and it leaves traces all over the body. Sobs shake the body. Tears make the eyes sore. Extended crying gives the crier a headache. Loud crying/sobbing makes the voice ache. Crying thickens the throat and makes the breath come quick and shallow. Already you can probably think of several ways to describe each

Telling your reader that “grief washed over” a character, that they “cried hysterically” or “broke down in tears” is just that. Telling. By giving the reader an insight into the way the emotion makes a character feel inside their body you provide a link to the reader’s own experiences with the same emotion. You trigger memory of a time they felt the way the character is feeling, a memory they can use sympathetically to feel as the character feels. If the reader can relate, they can empathise, and if they can empathise you’ve got them right where you want them. 

Afterwards, I felt like doing what they wanted me to do. For a second, it excited me because my brain automatically justified is as something that would help me challenge my craft. But later that evening, I realized how I almost just set myself up to please one person again, over doing something that I ‘actually’ loved... well, at  least, currently. The suggestion given to me was up my alley, but these days, that isn’t really my cup of tea. Yet, I was made to feel like I should do that just so they would be on the same page with me.

There needs to be more legal protections for content creators of all stripes. The internet changed the game. Now, it's time to change the rules. We're still in a "wild west" situation right now.  However, what we do is a legitimate career/job and we are entitled--yes, entitled--to labor protection. Just like you see in the Hollywood entertainment industry. Even extras on a film set are given protections. This goes for Youtube content creators, authors/writers (Like me! Check the sidebar--shameless plug!) and any other content creator making money for a distribution business.

I realize people hate the word--union and all of the scaremongering it entails. Maybe it doesn't have to be organized that way.

But we need to organize.

Distributors are making millions of dollars off of us--billions in most cases. Once distribution markets (Amazon, Youtube,) start amassing in excess of a billion dollars, then what we do is no longer "cute" or "a hobby"--but a job.

Authors invest a lot to produce well-made content for their readers. And unfortunately, books don't contain ads like Youtube videos (well, at least that we get a cut of). Plus, I think the way ads work, in this day and age, is terrible anyway. Users avoid them like the plague...

Plus, Indie writers/authors are truly in a game of "sink or swim" with minuscule revenue sharing for book streaming services. Yes, "book streaming" services are in fact, a thing.    

To anyone that says get another job if you want to make money...

To them I say, don't ever read a book/comic or manga either, watch a TV show/movie or listen to another song--ever. 

Yeah, that’s what I thought. 

People love to be entertained they just don't like to pay for it. But that's another subject, sticking to the matter at hand...

Nothing ever changed without someone standing up to change it. This subject, legal protections for content creators, is definitely going to be more important in the future.

Why I wrote this? I don't know. I haven't made my morning coffee yet. I'm just frustrated to see fellow creators--of all stripes--get shafted and exploited.

We are valuable.

 We are worthy.

We deserve rights.