Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Standing Naked in Front of the World

Good morning, fellow book lovers!






Today, I want to discuss the vulnerable author. By vulnerable, I mean a writer who is not afraid to stand naked in front of the entire world.





How does one do this? Through their words.






You see, Imperfect and Impeccable are books that allow me to stand naked before all of you. The emotions are real. The personalities are real. Everything in this story has a tremendous truth to it. Though the storyline isn't my own, it is me. Those are my emotions, my personality. When you read about these characters, you read about me.






Characters are obviously key in storytelling. Without strong characters, you have no story. Strength, however, does not come from super-human strength. It comes from ethics, conversation, flaws and abilities. If you were to fill a room with several people, they'd all have their own way of speaking. They'd all have their own beliefs and ethics. They all have their strengths and weaknesses, abilities and inabilities. So do we all. So must our characters.





Our characters must have insecurities, things they have to learn; they need to be REAL people. So, look at yourself in the mirror. Allow yourself to see the good and the bad. Then take that, and apply it to your characters. Make them who you want to be, who you are right now, and who you used to be. Characters from your own past are great sources of inspiration, but no one makes for a better character than you.





Just remember that as you write and allow your weaknesses to be seen, that you are standing naked in front of the world. Instead of being scoffed, though, you are being admired! :)









That's it for me this weekend as I will be away. However, please do not forget that I will be on myimmortalstories.blogspot.com on Saturday, 6/5!










Happy reading! :)


1 comment:

Malcolm R. Campbell said...

We write what we know and, hopefully, we know ourselves better than any other subject.

Malcolm