Life in progress

Tag Archives: character development


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#JusJoJan the 10th/23 – My dear Periwinkle

First, I want to say thank you to Maggie for her wonderful prompt of the day, the word “periwinkle.”

I’ve never had a periwinkle plant.

Nor do I believe I’ve ever owned a piece of clothing in the colour periwinkle.

But I’ve always wanted to write a story about a character named Periwinkle.

Periwinkle would be a man of medium stature and medium age.

He would wear wire-rimmed glasses … or a monocle.

And he would have a posh British accent.

Periwinkle would often wear brown woolen suits and speak with his forefingers linked behind his back.

He would be polite, to the point, and smile infrequently.

At home in his quaint English cottage, he would have a collection of frogs in all shapes, sizes, and made from all different materials. But his pride and joy would be the ones he stuffed himself.

Yes, dear Periwinkle would wish he’d been a taxidermist. But not of large animals, but rather, small things. Like frogs, and mice, and even crickets. Thus, the need for a monocle. But I digress.

Periwinkle would have had only one love, a girl named Daisy, in his third year of school, when he was eight. But during a science experiment, he would have managed somehow to turn her into a frog.

Which would be where his obsession with frogs comes from.

Periwinkle would be a fascinating character.

So says I.

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This post that somehow got away from me is brought to you by Just Jot it January and Maggie! Thanks so much again, Maggie, for the amazing prompt. Please be sure to check out her blog here.

For Just Jot it January, click the following link to see how you, too, can join in! https://lindaghill.com/2023/01/10/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-10th-2023/ It’s fun!


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#JusJoJan the 2nd/23 – Constellation of characters

As I contemplated what I could write on the subject of Willow’s excellent prompt of the day, I decided to go to the dictionary to see what beyond the stars I could write.

And as I thought about it some more, I came to realize that I tend to write the same sort of characters in all my books. That is to say characters all of a sort that have deep issues. Issues of longing, of hardship, of loves lost.

Some of my characters deal with their issues with laughter—they tend to end up in my romantic comedies.

Some of my characters deal with their issues in a more angsty way, as in my paranormal series, “The Great Dagmaru,” and another dark romance that’s been gathering steam in my imagination.

But they’re all part of a constellation in my mind. They’re with me constantly … perhaps helping me sort out my own issues.

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This contemplative post is brought to you by Just Jot it January and Willow! Thanks so much again, Willow, for the great prompt. Please be sure to check out her blog.

For Just Jot it January, click the following link to see how you, too, can join in! https://lindaghill.com/2023/01/02/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-2nd-2023/ It’s fun!


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One-Liner Wednesday – Creations

“…it is delusion to assume that the creator controls his creations and that an attempt to exert such control while ignoring the true nature of those creations is doomed to failure.”

~ Diana Gabaldon, as William on page 470 of An Echo in the Bone, in reference to writing fictional characters in a play.

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Anyone who would like to try it out, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do, you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure. As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday, if you see a ping back from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.

The rules that I’ve made for myself for “One-Liner Wednesday” are as follows:

1. Make it one sentence.

2. Make it either funny or inspirational.

Have fun!

 


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Random Update

I spent a fun-filled day playing Scribblenauts Unlimited on the WiiU with Alex, John, and John’s youngest daughter. That’s only slightly sarcastic – I could do without playing the game again, but we did have a few laughs. Alex is generally glad to be back home. He enjoys playing with his half-brother at his dad’s but routine is routine.

On the Camp NaNo front, I was within 1,600 words of completing my goal of 25,000 and there are still ten days left so I upped my goal to 30,000 words. I know I’m not going to be able to stop writing this one until I’m finished but I am forcing myself to take a break occasionally and edit the first one.

However, I’m having a bit of a difficult time with genre issues – or at least theme. The issue is with my new villain. She’s oversexed so of course the topic of sex keeps coming up. Where the first novel has its erotic moments, (and okay, a couple of decent sex scenes) this one is beginning to compete with 50 Shades of Grey, if not with the constant porn then at least the mention of body parts and, let’s say, warmer feelings. I may be able to tone it down but I can’t cut it out and keep my character in character. You can see my dilemma, right? What would you do? Have you ever read a sequel that strayed far away from the tone of the first… and did you like the second one? Or is this just a recipe for failure?

On that note, and in the spirit of randomness, here’s a picture of the sun setting over Boston Pizza.

 

sunset

 


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One-Liner Wednesday – A Truth

I stay sane by writing characters who are insane.