A Tale of Two Weres: Character Interviews

First page of Gisella’s Interview

This is the first of several pages of my interview with one of my secondary characters. Although I have to say the more time I spend with her, the more I like her. She has a story to tell, I really hadn’t thought of a second book. However it is becoming more and more likely. And I haven’t gotten into my actual story writing yet. Crazy writer walking.

Currently I have two character interviews and the more I write about my MMC, the more I hope something happens and either redeems his flaws or … Yeah I don’t know. We will have to wait and see.

I think I want to do one more interview with another secondary character that has popped up while trying to get a feel for the story. She is Caleb’s assistant, Paula. At first she seemed more his secretary, however I am getting the feeling he views her as an equal, his partner. Hmmm might be some romantic tension in play.

If you are curious about my process for conducting these “interviews”. I sit with my notebook and think of my character and then think of my question. Sometimes random tidbits pop in here and there, like the whole Area 51 thing. Gisella was chatty, while Cody was not. Like with most interviews, some questions are skipped over or completely ignored. Just be patient and open yourself up to your character. You never know what might be on their minds.

Cheers, james

Plot Complications

I seem to have developed a complication already in four pages. A subplot just developed between Gisella, my Female MC’s little sister and the Male MC’s best buddy, Cody. Seems they are romantically plotting together. Hmm didn’t see that coming. This could explain why he was a little more tip lipped in his interview than she was. He didn’t want to say much, and I misunderstood his reticence. Once he was done getting his buddy to back to civilization and then the buddy not remembering anything about the camping trip. That would be the last we saw of him. This is how I originally saw his character play out.

The more I write him, the more I like him and that fact there is already romance in the air. He’ll get to hang out a little longer than I originally thought. He provides the serious to Keith’s manic personality. Whew, wonder how in the world I am going to deal with a manic were-beastie. However I have to rethink the role he has given himself. This might just turn out okay after all. Wonder what else is going to crop up.

There is also the fact my sisters, Glory and Gisella. And then Cody and my maverick government hunter Caleb. I usually try to avoid naming characters with the same first letter. Except these developed naturally. I am hoping there will be enough distinction in the names and the characters so I won’t have to change them.

Cheers, james

Outlining A Tale of Two Weres

Outline for A Tale of Two Weres

The above is a picture of my outline. Already you will notice some changes between zero to 1k words. I started writing my opening scene with my guys talking about the camping trip. One was so focused on spring break and girls, and the other one was trying to reel him in. So there is some work to be done before that can get off the ground.

I am thinking about showing Glory interacting within the tribe or maybe Giessella. Then going for the ill fated run through the forrest. Or possibly a view of Area 51 as the school and maybe checking out Caleb, our gov’t hunter. I am chomping at the bit to write about this guy for some reason.

Look it over and let me know what you think. Cheers, james

A Tale of Two Were: A Comedy-Part II

So I have been working and plotting on my werewolf comedy. See my first post about it here and here.

I have sucessfully “interviewed” two of my minor characters and gotten a better feel for what my world looks and feels like. I must say Giesella was much more informative than my other character. Although part of it I think, is once the story really gets rolling he fades out. I don’t know for certain and he may crop back up. At this point in the outline he does fade out after the camping trip/doctor visit. I haven’t tried to “interview” one of my three main characters. I am torn between wanting to keep building the background and wanting to jump into the story.

I have mapped about 27k words of my story so far. I am shooting for between 50k and 75k, if I can keep the story going. And by keeping the descriptions pretty simple: Camping trip, last weekend of summer, pick a fight, etc. Enough to say this is what needs to happen, but not so much as to stifle anything that might grow from it. I hope. This is my first time actively trying to plot a story vs jumping in and letting the words pull me along. Thank you Mr. Russell Nohelty for offering suggestions on how you outline and write via your Masterclass.

One of the more interesting aspects of this story is going to be how Glory loses her were-soul and the other guy gains it. So I have been playing around with the were-soul as I have termed it. I see it as either the essence of the animal, neither male or female. Or it is the opposite sex of the host, ie Glory is female therefore her were-soul should be male. I did briefly consider having the were-soul the same as the host and then retain the female when it jumped bodies. That would have given a male werewolf femine instincts. But I decided that would be harder to keep up in the long run.

That is all I have for now. I will post as I progress and get to writing soon. Cheers, james

A Tale of Two Weres: A Comedy

So I have kinda gotten behind a little bit last week. I have some fun news for you. Since I posted about my Werewolf story idea, I got a lot of positive feed back from you guys. Thank you.

So I am trying my hand at writing comedy (no clue) and a werwolf story. Also I have been trying out some new skills, outlining (not as scary as I thought, thank you Russell Nohelty) and getting a firm idea of the story before starting to write the story.

I am currently in the middle of an interview with a young were, as of yet unknown. And one very interesting thing she said was Area 51 isn’t aliens, but werefolk. It is a were/gov’t school and training facility. I am interested in finding out what they learn at “school”.

So we have covered some ground, but there is still quite a bit to go. She is a Team Jacob fan and vampires don’t exist in her world. And there are more weres than ice cream flavors at Baskin & Robbins.

I am still on the hunt for names and keeping a random name sheet. So far the most interesting name I like is Colwym, a river in Northern Wales.

Cheers and happy writing, james

Story Idea: Werewolf/Human Plotting

Hello dear readers. Thank you hanging out with me as I have tried to wander my way through a writing life. Some days are more sucessful than others. I was listening to Writing Excuses, Brandon Sanderson’s podcast. Something they said in Season 1 episode 2 was marry a mundane thought with an extrodinary thought. I tossed it around and looked at it as they were talking and I got hit with an idea.

What if a werewolf was bitten by a human on a full moon night?

Mundane thought: werewolf/human interaction.

Extrodinary thought: human bites werewolf

So next question I asked myself is Why?

Why would a human bite a werewolf? How would the human even have a snowball’s chance in Miami if the bite was delivered? How would the human know they were biting a werewolf in the first place?

So the answers I came up with lead to two different stories. One a comedy, “hold my beer and watch this” kinda of accident, with the werewolf becoming human and trying to fit in the human world while trying to get back the werewolf part. And the human becoming a werewolf and having to figure out being wolfy.

The second one is darker. Dying human thinks health and vitality will be restored by stealing a werewolf’s curse. Then sending henchpeople out capture a wolf, susprise they actually grab a were. The night of the full moon, set up a ritual and the dying person steals the were’s curse/power/mojo. Bad guys releases the former werewolf while the bad guy gets healthy and goes on to do bad guy things. And at some point the werewolf would challege bad guy to get their mojo back.

Still in a plotting/thinking stage, however it is more writerly behavor than I have had in months. Both stories appeal to me. I think the second one would have a better chance of making it. While the first one seems to me to be the more unique.

I belong to the NaNo group on fb, and I posed to the idea to them. Biggest response I have ever had to anything. Most thought it was a sound idea as long as I took a humorous approach. Nobody much commented on my second theory on the idea. Some were completely turned off by the whole idea and some were like “Yeah, I’d read that”.

So now the work begins with seeing if I can cook up an outline for one, both or possibly merge the two ideas in one story. One commenter said to set the tone similar to Terry Prachett and Neil Gaiman in Good Omens.

So wish me luck as I go off to plot and see if maybe I can get some writing mojo back. Cheers, james