When writing a story, it is useful to have an outline of your character on paper.  Here's an example of one that I've used before.

Name:                                                                                    Age:                                                                                                        
Height:                                                                                   Weight:

Fitness level:

Eye color:                                                                               Hair color:

Distinguishing Features:

Schooling:                                                                              Background:

Family/Friends:

Talents:

Quirks:                                                                                    Bad Habits:

Pet peeves:

Attributes:

Beliefs:                                                                                    Fears:

Things embarrassed by:

Hobbies/Interests:

Likes:                                                                                      Dislikes:


The list can actually go on and on, but these are the ones I usually answer right away and use to start my writing process.

For a more comprehensive list, pinterest has some good examples or check out books like Marc McCutcheon's Building Believable Characters which includes many useful ways to develop characters.

I try to always be reading a middle grade or young adult book (since these are the two age groups for which I write). Reading widely in your chosen age group and genre is essential for anyone who wants to be a published author. This way, you can see how successful (published) writers tackle subjects and get examples of writing that resonates with the target audience.

As I mentioned in my last post, though, my family just completed a cross-country move. During the weeks of disruption, I really needed some comfort reading—something I didn't have to think about or analyze—so I turned to several of my favorite dog-eared women's fiction novels.

It was surprisingly enlightening. Even though these books were obviously written for adults, with plenty of bad language, violence, and even a sex scene or two, they shared many elements with my kidlit favorites. The writing is spare, without any unnecessary words or overly flowery descriptions. Witty asides are just as funny for kids as for adults. And my favorite characters were fully developed, with believable motivations and understandable reactions.

I'm going back to my writing with a renewed sense of what's important. Although I'm going to be switching back to MG/YA for a while, I'll try to read outside my usual age groups more often. Good writing is good writing, no matter where it's shelved in the bookstore.

Note from Triona: Since my current WIP is upper MG rather than my usual YA, I've been immersing myself in the world of MG lately. So I'm cheating a little with this month's YA Book Pick and making it an almost-YA book pick instead!


Once a month, we choose an outstanding YA book to review. We want to spotlight books of interest to aspiring writers, as well as highlight some of our favorite books and authors!

So you want to write a book, eh?! 

Well, you know all about characterization by now, but here is some more fun ways to add a little more layers.  At some point in your novel, your character may wake up and need a morning routine and I have three fun sites that will reveal some interesting personality traits.  (Not sure how accurate they are, but they are entertaining).






I'll start with my favorite site -  How you cook your toast says a lot about you - and give a summary.

Burnt toast = patient people

Perfect pack = motivated by appearances and high standards

Light = spontaneous.

You get the idea and it makes some sense, but for more detail check out
www.then.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/how-you-cook-your-toast-says-a-lot-about-you

Next, dress it up baby.  I could have a lot of fun with this topic, but I think I'd bore my readers.  Thus, here's a sample run down.

You are what you wear - Dr. Baumgartner

Always in work clothes - you value yourself in terms of work
Logos and labels - broadcast your wealth to be treated well
Neutral colors - stuck in a rut or not want to draw attention to self
Baggy clothes - not realistic perception of self

For more check out:
www.forbes.com/sits/learnvest/2012/04/05/what-your-clothes-say-about-you

Okay this last one came up on facebook and I thought it was funny, inappropriate, but funny. 

What body part do you wash first in the shower? What it says about your personality?

Chest = practical
Face = money
Armpits = dependable
Hair = artistic

There's more and I don't agree with it all, but it was worth a laugh and could make for some interesting YA characters.

Check out more at your own risk at:
http://1003thepeak.iheart.com/onair/ryan-800/what-body-part-do-you-wash

I think with some more research and maybe just plain observations, you can find some pretty entertaining morning routines to make your characters extra special.  Happy creating!

When something big (or small) happens in a scene, a writer may use interiority to allow a protagonist to process the event. Other characters' reactions are often limited to dialogue (very unreliable) and action. While some actions may be overt and necessary, if a writer wants to create a more nuanced reaction, it might be fun to try using research into body language and micro-expressions. I've compiled a list of some fun sites to learn about how we use subtle actions to convey our heart's true desires. I believe that this intel has potential to be good for both writing and first dates :). Enjoy reading and happy Monday!

• Article on How to Read Eye Movement:

• Basic Article on Body Language:

•  Intel on Microexpressions:

Confession: I may (or may not) have filled out a Bachelor application for one of my friends in the past...possibly without his permission. In doing so, I might have learned that through answering the questions a strong sense of who a person is romantically comes across in the answers. 

Soooo....if you're feeling a bit of post-Bachelor depression and missing all the Juan-puns of the past few months (Juanuary, anyone???), and are looking to up the romance in your novel, feel free to run your characters through one of these little applications (the first few pages you'll need to skip or shrink down to YA, though, as they probably have not been married with children yet :) ). 

Here is a link to the actual application

And here are a some additional questions I'm going to add for you to answer from the perspective of your character:

1. Do you like Pina Coladas (virgin or not)?

2. Thoughts on getting lost in the rain?

3. When you daydream about a perfect first kiss where is it? 

4. During said kiss, what would you be thinking about?

5. Have you ever lied and told someone you loved him/her when you didn't?

6. Most romantic movie of all time?

7. Describe your parents' relationship. Do you want to be with someone like your mom/dad?

8. That secret thing you're sure he/she will dump you for if he/she finds out?

9. When was the first time you realized you liked someone? Grade? Why?

10. Thing a guy/girl could do to lose your love faster than you can say you "love pina coladas and getting lost in the rain"?

The Passage meets Ender's Game in an epic new series from award-winning author Rick Yancey.

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it's the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth's last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie's only hope for rescuing her brother--or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between hope and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

First Line: "There will be no awakening." This is the first line of the prologue. Although many agents and editors advise against beginning your novel with a prologue these days, this one really works. The author keeps it to half a page, and what occurs in that half page is chilling enough to hook the reader instantly.

The first line of Chapter One: "Aliens are stupid." This does a good job of establishing the young adult voice immediately (not many adults would put it quite like that) and setting up that the aliens are, in fact, already here.

Highlights:
I'm a big fan of well-written sci-fi, and this book delivers. As the description says, it definitely has a similar feel to Ender's Game (reviewed by fellow blogger Jenn here), in that the kids and teenagers in the book are dealing with situations and events that would make most adults curl up in a ball on the floor.

Although it's not mentioned in the Goodreads summary above, the book also includes kids and teenagers going through military training and then deploying on missions to fight the aliens as a major plot point. I loved this section, as it was very reminiscent of one of my favorite classic sci-fi novels, Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein (insider tip: read the book, but skip the movie!).

Notes for Writers:
Correct pacing is important for all types of books, but it's vital for sci-fi. If things unfold too slowly or there's too much time without much action, the reader gets bored. If the pace is too fast (what the movie trailer guy likes to call "Nonstop Action!"), the reader can feel like the characters aren't well-developed or that they'd like to put the book down to get a break. The 5th Wave has perfect pacing: not too fast, not too slow. I couldn't put the book down.

The characterization is also excellent. The main characters have been changed and hardened by their environment, but there are still flashes of the people they were before the invasion. It's this humanity that ends up propelling the plot forward.

A Good Read For:
Fans of sci-fi. If you're working on pacing or characterization in your own writing, this would be an excellent book to study.

-Ernest Hemingway

I'm working on a new first draft. For the first time in over a year, I'm sitting down in front of my computer and staring at a blank page. Sometimes the words appear in my mind and flow seamlessly through my fingers to the screen. Sometimes I feel like I'm wrestling them into place. But either way, I'm pretty happy with my progress at the moment.

A few years ago, I wouldn't have called myself a writer by any stretch of the imagination. I had written a few short stories, but I was a perfectionist. This meant every sentence got dissected right after it was written—and more often than not, it got deleted because it sounded stupid, or I freaked out about it not having the right lyrical flow, or I thought of a better idea for the beginning ten pages in and deleted the whole thing to start over.

The idea of writing a novel crossed my mind and was immediately dismissed. I made up stories in my head all the time, but I knew writing them down would mean years of arduous deleting and rewriting.

Then came the turning point. My husband suggested something that had never occurred to me: why not just write the draft, without any changes? When I protested that I couldn't let the words sit there like that, he said I could use a separate document to note changes to go back and do later--but in the meantime, I could carry on with the draft.

On the second Monday of every month, we choose an outstanding YA book to review. We want to spotlight books of interest to aspiring writers, as well as highlight some of our favorite books and authors!