Set Your Sights On Things Above
We so quickly get our eyes off God. Let's get back into
perspective.
perspective.
1/30/2015
January 30th, 2015So I've been going back and forth lately about cliches and overdone characters. I'm currently in that stage where I'm trying to figure out which project I want to focus on most right now, but deciding what characters I use is a big part of that process.
And I realized, lots of types of characters are used over and over again, in every genre. There's the hardened, embittered police detective in crime novels, the naive young girl in romances, the spunky and outspoken woman in historicals, and the handsome debonair guy in any genre. There's the abandoned, the hardcore, the too-stubborn-for-his-own-good... All of these are qualities of characters that everyone seems to want to put in their books because frankly, they make action happen. But none of us as authors want to be cliche, we don't want to do something everyone else is already doing. So how do we make a unique impact when everyone else is doing the same thing in order to do something 'different'? So how do some authors get away with using elves (again)? And how do some get away with using a genetically enhanced animal as a main character? (Rocket - #GOTG) And there are tons of other examples. How is it that the Sherlock-type character is being used over and over again right now, in several different successful series? How is it not cliche and stale by now? Here's my theory - because these creators have made an individual character that we like. That character might, on the surface, fit into a cliche'd category - they might be an elf, might be a genetically engineered raccoon, or a sentient tree. They might be the outspoken woman in a world that didn't accept women who spoke their mind (again)... but it's about the individual. We care about the person, so we ignore the fact that he/she is part of a group that everyone else is portraying as well. This is why some people are still writing vampires, or werewolves. It's not about the stereotype, it's about the individual, what he's gone through, and how skillfully the creator can portray that PERSON. A quote I saw said that as authors we are creating PEOPLE, not characters. Characters are caricatures... We care about people. So I might be off to write a hyper-observant detective girl who sees auras, but all that is trapping...character. I'm essentially supposed to be writing a person...emotions, thoughts, hopes and dreams. That's a person.
1/22/2015
January 22nd, 2015
She's about six months old, and has already wedged herself into the routine quite securely.
Our two dogs, Buddy and Dixie, are still not sure about her, but they're learning that Loki wants nothing more than to play with them. Her new pasttime has become climbing the Christmas tree...(don't judge - yes we still have ours up - though now we've taken the breakable ornaments off.) |
AuthorI'm Sherry Chamblee, aspiring author of Christian fiction, mom of six, wife to a cool dude, and caregiver to his granny. Besides that, I am just little old me - it's just a phrase, I'm not really old, honest. Check out my new release!
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December 2019
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