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?