kirstyes

V is for Victor versus Victor

(Post 22 on my WIP)

No this isn’t a ‘Catching Fire’ reference for fellow Hunger Games Fans.

Victor Faber is the field survival teacher and medic at the time police academy. Because of Jane’s diagnosis of bipolar disorder she has to meet Victor regularly for check ups so they have a good relationship; Victor sees beyond her condition and recognises her potential.

Now when I was searching online for actors/actresses/people who look like how I imagine my characters, or who I think could play them personality wise, I chose James McAvoy to play Victor and posted this to Pinterest.

Then came the reVelation, the controVersy that has left me a bit discombobulated (really love this word but not necessarily the feeling). A number of my beta readers had pictured Victor as being middle aged or older and there was the feeling from them that perhaps he should be. Now I’ve read back through and I actually don’t really give any indication of age at all; Will Eisner suggests a ‘doctor prototype’  is often ‘drawn from both social experience and what the reader thinks a doctor ought to look like.’  Also I suppose Victor acts as a sort of Mentor to Jane throughout this book. Perhaps the stereotype of doctors and mentors are that they are older and wiser (my friends and I are still relatively young). But, to me, although Victor has an old soul, and a love of pudding, I still see him as not that much older than Dylan and Jamie. I think to be the academy doctor he would need to be relatively young and fit (btw I’m not saying that older people can’t be fit).

So, what do I do?
Do I put more clues in about his age as I see it?
Do I bow to beta reader opinion and make him older?
Do I leave it as it is, without the clues and just writing who I perceive Victor to be and accept that readers will see him how they want to letting some see him as older, some as younger?
Do you think as writers we always have to spell out the age, look etc etc of characters or is it OK to be ambiguous? I said that I’d failed by not making my intentions clear but is this always essential – surely readers are allowed their own interpretations.
What if I’m ambiguous and then do something that reveals his age as I see it later (not necessarily intentionally) – will that throw readers off, make them angry at me or will they accept it?
Would I be happy if a film was made about casting choices if I left it ambiguous? (Rhetorical question unless you happen to be a mind reader ;o))

I repeat again, I’m discombobulated about this and not 100% sure how to move forward (as a side note I experienced discombobulation in relation to my PhD this week too so not really sure who or where I am).

The perils/opportunities of sharing an incomplete first draft. Any advice gratefully received.

U is for Uniform

(Post 21 on my WIP)

The uniforms consisted of:
Badged shirt and smart pressed trousers on a hanger for formal occasions including passing out at the end of the year.
Trousers and plain black shirt for most sessions and field shadowing.
Black joggers and grey T-shirt for fitness and combat classes.
10 pairs of black socks
Black trainers and black shoes.
Black pyjamas.
An empty holster.
Jane thought sadly that the only way they could express their individuality would be through bras and pants and they would be completely covered up. They even had guidance on how to wear their hair and make-up. That is there was to be no make-up and hair below the shoulders was to be tied up.
What she was currently wearing was not regulation.

I really wish I could draw better – please don’t snigger too loudly I only had 40 minutes or so to draw this tonight. This is how I imagine Jane could look if she reaches passing out. Badged shirt, hand raised – vowing to uphold her duties as a Time Cop but sneaking in her non-regulation red kitten heels. Jane is really not one to follow rules!

T is for Timeline

(Post 20 on my WIP)

Now I wonder if you’re thinking ‘Hey, this girl’s writing a novel about time travel, surely her T post will be on Time Travel.’ Under normal circumstances you’d be right but I did that last year – so see 2011’s T is for Time Travel post here.

I am writing about something time related though – creating a Timeline. As a pantser who didn’t really do all that much planning I, and my beta readers, have already noticed some issues with the timeline in the draft so I have decided I really need to get this all much much clearer. To me this seems like a huge complicated time-twisting task so I keep putting it off. I did buy a big roll of white paper to try and do this (I may still use it) but this week I found something new that might help. I’ve not had time to do anything except set up an account but still want to share this with you.

http://www.timetoast.com/

TimeToast allows you to make timelines that you can keep private or publish and share. You can view them either in timeline or text view.

I’ve just found a link to a number of Harry Potter timelines (one for each book) and will show the series one below so you get an idea of what I’m aiming for.

Personally I think this is going to be very helpful (even for linearly plotted books) and because I’ll literally be jumping through time in the plot I think this electronic version might be easier to manage than a huge big bit of paper. I hope I don’t open up a time vortex though when I start moving my characters back through time so that there is more than one of them (*holds head and ponders why she ever though time travel was a good idea).

Who else has tried using timelines?

Do you find them helpful?

What format do they normally take?

S is for Skye Rain

(Post 19 on my WIP)

Jane and I didn’t know each other before the academy, we met on the first day. I think we’re both here for similar reasons though. The right ones involving justice and not power, some people here are most definitely more concerned with making themselves look good. Jane is a great girl, a fantastic friend and she’s already saved my life.

Skye Rain is the petite girl that becomes Jane’s best friend in the academy. I wonder whether I am just imagining Rainbow Brite in human form when I describe Skye with her rainbow hair and sunny personality (Skye describes her parents as hippies which is why she has the name she does but I don’t think that my Skye would quite wear this get up though!).

The idea of rainbows is very appealing to me at the moment – something to look forward to on miserable days. I spotted one just this week in fact.

 
So who remembers Rainbow Brite?

R is for Rebecca Trainer

(Post 18 on my WIP)

Mums are great, aren’t they? And Jane’s is no different. After her father passed away it was just Jane and her Mum for a couple of years until Rebecca met and married Benjamin Trainer. Jamie’s Mum had died when he was very little and he is very grateful for Rebecca’s influence, and cooking!

Rebecca doesn’t play a huge role in this book but she will be more prominent in subsequent books. Mums know just when they are needed!

I’d love to see Emma Chambers in a more ‘straight role’ – no Teletubby bridesmaids at Rebecca’s wedding.

Just spent the afternoon/evening with my Mum (which is why my blog post released empty earlier – sorry about that). We visited my Dad in hospital (he’s fine), buying a new iPad case, tidying my spare room and then I cooked her tea and we watched ‘A Little Bit of Heaven’ with a great mother/daughter pairing in Kathy Bates/Kate Hudson. It’s a beautiful film but have tissues handy. Ended the night with a hug.

Who’s is your favourite fictional (Book, Film or TV) Mum and why?

Q is for  Questions Answered

(Post 17 on my WIP)

On my Facebook Page I asked for Questions to answer about my WIP or my attitude to writing, life, the universe or anything. Thanks to those that responded.

Nicola King asked

‘What attracts you to the YA genre?’

I actually made an attempt to answer that for my Y post last year – here – but I’m going to try and expand on that here.
Firstly, because it’s the genre I mainly remember reading and enjoying and I suppose I’m still a teenager at heart.
Secondly, because I think generally it is really well written and lacks the ‘pretension’ of some adult fiction. The books are not just about the writing or the message but are about the story. I think story and creating characters that you care about are vital.
Thirdly, because I think reading literature is a fantastic way to learn about the world and to test out your opinions. Teens are forming their identities and their worldview and are potentially more open to possibility – this brings with it a certain amount of responsibility in writing for that audience though. There was a really interesting blog post about this, and specifically the topic of incest within YA, on Serendipity Reviews yesterday.. Nicola Morgan says though (in the comments on this post here) ‘NOTHING is too dark for YA! (Though it does have to be handled properly.)’

Stacey Woods asked

‘How many books to you envisage in this series? Would you limit yourself and set it as a trilogy, or would you like it to be seven books for example?’

It was interesting that Stacey asked this the day after I had spoken to another A-Z blogger KC – here -  about investment in a series and wanting to know how many books it was likely to be up front. I have to be aware that I do like to know up front and do get a little bit irritated when just one, or two or three extras are added so I need to be careful what I say here because I may be tying myself to it. I am starting to come to the realisation that I am a bit of a control freak and I like some certainty in my life.

So I would want to set some sort of limit and I’m going to say 4 (I have some kooky reasons why) – I think any more and I may run out of fresh ideas for the series but any less and I’m not sure I can say everything I want to about particular events. It seems like a nice balanced number too.

Jay Sawdy asked

‘As a reader I get very attached to characters and can feel annoyed if unpleasant things happen to them. Is that also a problem as a writer? Do you find yourself wanting to give everyone a happy ending even if that’s perhaps less realistic?’

Hopefully you can see from my Names post that I am already attached. Already some pretty unpleasant things have happened to Jane. Of course I feel bad for her and want her to have the happy ending but, if she gets it, it won’t be an easy ride. When learning about writing you learn that characters grow through the challenges they face. There are certain things I won’t put her through but I do have a tendency to find darker ideas easier to write. I think for me it is a way of working through certain issues that I do or would find challenging.
Who doesn’t love a happy ending? But bittersweet ones can work well too. I’m not sure I can do the whole wrap everything up in a neat bow and have everyone walking into the sunset together thing but on balance I hope the good outweighs the bad, who knows I might be feeling all sappy when it gets to the end.

And

‘How do you go about doing research for writing ideas?’

The way I’m reading this question (sorry if it’s not the right interpretation) is that Jay is asking that once I have come up with a general idea how do I use research to develop that idea. I guess as this is my first attempt at a novel this is tricky to answer. I do mostly try to do the whole ‘write what you know thing’ but there have been times when I have researched elements of a story. I mostly use the internet or buy books or watch films maybe that will give me the information I need. Like I said I took the forensics course to find out some things but may well once the first draft is in the can ask to work with some of the students on the forensic science course at the uni I work at. I’d also like to do a ‘Castle’ and spend some time with the police – I think that would be really interesting but not sure how feasible that would be.
This is going to sound odd and isn’t really relevant to the WIP but I kind of have always wanted to go to a huge library and sit sifting through some microfiche. Maybe I should add that to my Bucket List. Actually maybe I could look up something from the 1960s for this book (an era I did look at on one of my OU courses) – anyone fancy a trip?

Finally, Catherine Donald asked

‘I’m interested in the way you write the characters. Do you already have their personalities pre-formed in your mind before you start writing, or do they develop as you write the story?’

I don’t know if you saw the Ideas post and the comments http://kirstyes.co.uk/2012/04/10/i-is-for-atozchallenge-2012/ but Teresa, I believe correctly, identified that I am more of a ‘pantser’ when it comes to writing. This means that, although I have some rough snippets of plot and some ideas of general personality traits, that I make it up as I go. I’ve only got very basic character profiles which at some point I’m going to have to fill in to ensure consistency. Like I said in answer to Jay’s question it is through the challenges that the characters face that we learn about them – I learn about them  when I put them in those situations too. For instance I originally had one character doing something that they told me they wouldn’t do thank you very much and so I gave someone else that function. I’m really not sure where they come from but they seem to arrive fairly formed or at least I hope it seems that way. I think I’m going to have to start making notes to myself about why I make certain decisions so that I can answer questions like this easier.

Any more questions?