Score a good impression for your characters

Today I am going to write a about translating character data into palatable, delicious morsels for your would-be readers.

Like me, you may tend to struggle with translating all of that juicy data into something tangible and to the point for your readers. If the urge to dump information about a character, his country, habits, etc. wiggles its way down to your fingers, beware o_O!

We want to write about our characters in such a way that the reader will be able to meet them and gradually get to know them. You know, like how it happens in real life.

The one-on-one “convo” when it comes to touchy subjects

Have you ever tried to convince someone about something and find that he or she just wasn’t interested in hearing what you had to say? Even before you opened your mouth?

I’ve had this happen many a time with people on the internet (forums, fb, or comment areas), with fellow employees (and bosses), and, especially, with my parents.

When it comes to having one-on-one convos with people about touchy subjects, hackles tend to get raised and nasty, prickly quills come out. Touchy subjects include things like politics, philosophy, religion, and/or football teams if you live in the South, etc.  In these kinds of conversations, we need to tread carefully…unless we’re interested in becoming human pin-cushions.  

So how are we to go about communicating our opinions and beliefs without getting our feelings hurt (or hurting someone else’s)?

In this post, I’m going to share 3 things that have helped me get past barriers and avoid those dastardly porcupine quills.

Strategy applied to the reading list (sort of...)

I’m one of those people who has always loved tactics more than brute force. I think that strategy is more effective, efficient, and, well, cooler. If you’re not one of those people you need to stop reading right now. 

Not really. Brute force people have an incredibly good sense of humor that the world would be most sad to lose. Well at least I would....Besides, who’s going to beat up the bad guys?? Part of strategy is deploying those most suited to handle a situation…which means we need brute force people! :)

Letting Go

Have you ever listened to the song “Sad Beautiful Tragic” by Taylor Swift? As short as it is, the chorus of the song is surprisingly poignant:

“We had a beautiful magic love affair—what a sad, beautiful tragic love affair…”

Everyone who has ever walked this earth (except Jesus) has had one of these beautiful, tragic love affairs, and I don’t mean in a strictly bf-gf relationship sense like Swift does in the song. I mean that everyone has chased after something or someone that broke their heart, crushed their dreams, or promised fulfillment and didn’t deliver.

We've met before...that one time...

Although I love writing, I was hesitant to start a blog featuring it. The main con about choosing writing to be one of my blog themes: there’s like, a bajillion (even more than a bazillion! I guess. I dunno) writing blogs out there!!! Yikes.

How can I possibly add anything?

As Juicy Fruit has claimed, Sharing Is Caring ^_^

So...sharing is caring....evangelism is sharing...evangelism is caring! 'Merica. 

You might ask: If I’m not a Christian and/or if I’m not interested in becoming one, why should I bother reading these posts?

Me: Good question. Welp, for one, everyone evangelizes.

You, raising eyebrows: I’m going to suppress my skepticism for 10-20 seconds.

Being a Reader in Today's Reading Market

Sometimes being a reader in today’s market is tough. When practically every synopsis out there promises the book in your hands is 100% genius--aka 100% worth your time and money--it can be difficult to determine which books are actually going to be worth your time and money before you sit down to read them.  

Until I gained a keener readerly intuition (yes. Readerly), I'd grab books with great synopses/blurbs that did not deliver what they promised, and I'd get frustrated. *sideways glance*

Ok, I still grab books like that on occasion...but I've learned to be more discerning when reading a back cover.

My point is, there are thousands of great books out there, and I know I'm not the only one who wants to get what a book advertises--before reading 5 mediocre novels that seemed promising but weren't. We want the gem that advertises AND delivers.

Blog Theme(s)!!

I think that I have finally come to the same conclusion I had when I first started the blog (not the conclusion that I can’t do it but still need to): I can’t write about one topic. I’ve decided to try blogging twice a week on Day 3 and Day 6 or 7 (Tuesday and Friday or Saturday)…and I’m going to write about reading/writing and evangelism/discipleship. Confused? Yeah, it doesn’t make much sense. Onto the explanation!