L.M. Nelson's Blog, page 40
October 26, 2016
Meet the Characters – Part 10
Today you will meet Nathan’s best friend, Mike Lynott.
Full name: Michael (Mike) Lynott
Age: 18
Physical Description: 6’8″, 215 pounds. Lean, athletic build.
Hometown: Kirkland, WA
Family: Only child, but doesn’t get along with his parents. Spends more time with his friends than his family.
Education: Currently a senior at Lake Washington High School. On the varsity basketball team. Struggles to maintain minimum grade point average required by athletes.
Career Goals: Uncertain. Wants to attend college and pursue a Health degree.
Hobbies: basketball, video games, water skiing, hiking through the woods
Favorite things: basketball, camping, cheeseburgers, getting out of the house as often as possible, hanging out with friends
Favorite Places: the woods, the lake, arcades, and the basketball court
Music Preference: Rock, Heavy Metal
Relationship Status: Depends on the month
Weaknesses: Opinionated. Tends to jump into romantic relationships too quickly and has difficulty maintaining meaningful relationships with the opposite sex. Takes rejection hard.
Pet Peeves: Nosiness. Doesn’t like being told what to do.
Character traits: Develops strong connections with select few. Dedicated and loyal to those he trusts and only reveals personal information to his closest friends. Has a competitive spirit and works well with others, but can’t handle negative confrontation.
For other character bios, see links below.
Jane Randy Jim Bruce Mandy Nathan Gabby
October 25, 2016
Meet the Characters – Part 9
We continue to meet the characters of Beyond the Hardwood. Today I introducing you to Nathan’s girlfriend, Gabby.
Full name: Gabriella (Gabby) Renee Pervis
Age: 17
Physical Description: 5’1″, 108 pounds. Petite, athletic figure. Sapphire blue eyes and golden blonde hair.
Hometown: Kirkland, WA
Family: Only child of a single mother.
Education: Currently a senior at Lake Washington High School. On the varsity cheerleading squad. Wants to attend the University of Washington and hopefully make it on the coed cheer team. Good at grammar and spelling, but does not like Math or Science.
Career Goals: To be an Elementary teacher.
Hobbies: cheer, gymnastics, dancing, water skiing, arts and crafts
Favorite things: cheering, tumbling, M&Ms, Diet Coke, watching Nathan on the basketball court, hanging out with friends, walks on the beach, and comfortable shoes
Favorite Places: dance clubs, a gymnastics mat, being on the sidelines of a football field or basketball court, cheer camp, the waterfront
Music Preference: Dance/ club music, Pop Rock
Relationship Status: Committed
Weaknesses: Poor relationship with her mother and constantly battles to gain independence. Overly sensitive to criticism and tends to trust people she shouldn’t.
Pet Peeves: Gossip, unjust treatment, arrogance, and cliquey people who are unwilling to accept others for who they are.
Character traits: Bubbly personality. Cheerful disposition. Spunky and energetic. Gets along well with others and fits in with most social groups. Patient, kind, and very tolerant of others’ beliefs. Although she’s competitive and has a high self-esteem, she sometimes struggles with self-confidence.
For other character bios, see links below.
Jane Randy Jim Bruce Mandy Nathan Mike
October 24, 2016
Meet the Characters – Part 8
With the release of book 3 in my series, Beyond the Hardwood, drawing nearer, I would like to introduce you to some of the new characters you will meet in this book. I’ll begin with Nathan.
Full name: Nathan James Hanson
Age: 18
Physical Description: 6′1, 185 pounds. Muscular, athletic physique. Charcoal grey eyes and brown hair.
Hometown: Kirkland, WA
Family: Oldest child of a prominent OB/GYN. Father’s name is Dr. Randal Hanson. Mother is Jane Hanson. Has two younger twin sisters, Lauren and Lacy.
Education: Currently a senior at Lake Washington High School. Plays point guard on the varsity basketball team. Wants to play in the NCAA for the University of Washington. Is dyslexic and speaks fluent Spanish.
Career Goals: To get accepted into college, hopefully on a basketball scholarship, and major in Biology. Eventually plans to attend medical school. Has career aspirations of being a doctor like his father and grandfather before him.
Hobbies: Fishing, basketball, water skiing, snow skiing, hiking, photography.
Favorite things: basketball, classic cars, food in any form, Mom’s cookies, watching his girlfriend cheer, hanging out with friends, traveling, anything that has to do with Science and History.
Favorite Places: the beach, Lake Washington, Science and History museums, being on a basketball court
Music Preference: Rock
Relationship Status: Committed
Weaknesses: Dyslexic. Not a good writer and a painfully slow reader. Knows nothing about romance, although it isn’t from lack of trying. Sometimes plagued with severe self-doubt and has difficulty balancing his responsibilities.
Pet Peeves: Gossip, drama, and people who are mean to others.
Character traits: Excels at Math and Science. Strong people skills. Respectful to authority, but doesn’t always follow rules. Natural leader. Dedicated student athlete, hard-working, doesn’t give up without a fight. Extremely competitive, especially on the basketball court. Willing to go out of his way to help others and is open to new ideas. A team player, confident most of the time, but can become consumed by crippling self-doubt if under intense pressure.
For other character bios, see links below.
Jane Randy Jim Bruce Mandy Gabby Mike
October 23, 2016
Deborah Ratliff: The Lonely Writer
Writing is lonely work. At least, that is the opinion of friends of mine who are not writers. They ask, how can you sit at a computer all day and not talk to anyone? Somehow, telling them, I’m never alone, that I talk to my characters would likely not reassure them being alone is good for me.
The fact is that despite the witty or testy or romantic conversation we have with our creations, writing is lonely work.
My career provided a writing outlet. I wrote research papers, training, operations, and policy manuals, newsletters, print and broadcast advertising copy. While necessary within the scope of my work, and writing advertising was certainly challenging, I never felt fulfilled. When time to write presented itself after a corporate downsizing resulting in a layoff, I took the plunge. I started writing fiction.
As an only child, the solitude of writing was never a…
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Dan Ellis Crime Fiction: Why Your Character Might Commit a Crime – What Can Social Science Tell Us?
I current have an adult crime novel in progress, so this was quite informative.
“He was slouched in a worn armchair positioned in the centre of a cluttered dingy living room. The amber streetlight permeated through the yellowed net curtains. The flicker of the TV screen gently illuminated his motionless face. A burnt out cigarette was wedged between his bloody fingers, and his other hand gripped an empty bottle of scotch. For hours he hadn’t moved, contemplating what he had just done.”
If you write crime fiction, there is no doubt you’ve had a character in a similar scenario to this. They have just committed a crime, attacked someone, killed someone perhaps? The reasons why they may have done this are probably tied into specific events in the character’s life or their personality. Or maybe the plot is to blame – the treacherous conditions you have forced them to go through?
But if you are looking to base the characters’ actions in reality. To…
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Don’t Stop Believing
Don’t give up on your dreams. They may take time to achieve, but they are attainable if you work hard to make them a reality.
This is for all you start up actress/actors, singers, writers, etc; NEVER GIVE UP. Don’t stop believing, you WILL get there. It will take a lot of time and dedication to get there. You may think you do not have the time to get out there and try to make yourself known; because, you may have a job or two, kids, whatever it may be, that does not mean you have to put aside your dream or just completely get rid of it. I don’t have kids, so I cannot relate on that part, but I do have 3 fur babies that are quite a handful, I have a job that I pretty much work day in and day out and it is pretty exhausting. But I still make time to get on my social outlets to say hello, what I am about and what my dream is and that…
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Write Your Own Story
Because sometimes we all need a bit of encouragement.
October 22, 2016
Why Do You Write? (The Madness Behind Being a Writer)
A writer & her adolescent muse
Why do writers write?
The answer seems obvious, and the reasons are similar among most writers.
It’s because we must.
It’s who we are.
We have no choice but to write…
or go stark, raving mad.
There has to be more to it than that.
In my mind, at least.
We must dig deeper.
There is a reason other than the ones we give to people (even to ourselves).
What is it?
Be honest.
Why write at all? What’s the true driving force behind this passion? This innate desire to put words down? To create?
There has to be more than just “I need to write.”
Is it because we are already mad?
Insane?
Mentally ill?
Perhaps we need to be crazy enough to dig deep into our mind, the deepest, darkest parts of our psyche in order to pull out our masterpieces.
To share openly with…
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EDITING 101: 08 – Using Song Lyrics in your Manuscript…
Good information to know.
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog
Originally posted as the Dun Writin’—Now Whut? series on this blog, EDITING 101 is a weekly refresher series for some of you and brand new for others.
Courtesy of Adirondack Editing
Using Song Lyrics in your Manuscript
You’ve just written the most perfect restaurant love scene imaginable. As your two main characters unite on the dance floor, the haunting strains of “Unchained Melody” play in the background. The lovers gaze deeply into each other’s eyes as the song’s lyrics pass through their ears, melding their souls together in acoustical rapture:
“Oh, my…”
Wait! Stop! Halt!! Turn off the radio, unplug the phonograph, and disconnect your online radio station! Are you crazy? Are you looking for a lawsuit?
“Who, me? Now what does this woman want me to do? Eliminate the perfect words from this scene?”
Yep, that’s exactly what I want you to do. You’re not…
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October 11, 2016
Four Writing Lessons from Stephen King
Some useful writing advice.
I finally had the chance to read On Writing by Stephen King and I highly recommend it. King’s memoir has plenty of hilarious anecdotes from his life, and his book is also full of wisdom about the craft. I pieced together four points which stuck with me in particular:
“If you write … someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that’s all.” King feels he wasted time being “ashamed” of what he wrote, and he thinks this feeling happens to many writers. Bottom line: write what you want. There will always be people out there who try to convince you to write about a different topic, but they’re not the ones writing the story. You are.
“The job boils down to two things: paying attention to how the real people around you behave and then telling the truth about what you see.” Tell the truth – whether it’s…
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