Friday, March 31, 2017

*sits at desk*



It’s the last episode of our character series… That makes me a little sad, to be honest. I’ve had so much fun working on this series, researching characters and coming up with fun character traits to talk to you about. I honestly haven’t decided yet, what we’ll be talking about next week – but don’t let that stop you from checking back in on Monday! It’s guaranteed to be a fun series, whatever it ends up being.

Also, don’t forget that preorders for Dwr open TOMORROW at the RAD Store! You’ll definitely want to get your hands on a copy of this one.

But, let’s talk about characters.

If you’ll recall, last week we talked about the Average Joe Who Does Amazing Things, and the problems that occur with that character in general (even though he can be a lot of fun to read, at times). This week, as promised, I have somebody much better for you to focus your attention on.

The Real Guy


Okay, so this is going to seem like it has the most obvious answer known to mankind, but I need to ask it anyway:

Who is he?


Well, he’s a real guy. But I wanted to talk about him because he’s the one very few writers actually want to use in their stories, and I’m not sure why.

So, the Real Guy is a guy who does real guy things. He has insecurities, strengths, weaknesses, pride, joy, the usual things that most people ever have. And he’s very normal about all of it. He goes to work five days a week (maybe), he goes out with friends (every once in a while, at least), and he shops at Walmart or Target (because really, who doesn’t?).

But if he’s so normal, then…


Why should we read him?
What’s his purpose in life?
What is his draw, for the reader?

This is the part that writers get hung up on, and possibly the reason why he’s not written very often. We think that he’s so normal, too normal, and that he couldn’t possibly be interesting, because he’s so stinking normal. But remember when we were talking about female characters? The most interesting ones were the ones created to be the most like real women!

Surprise, surprise, it’s the same for men.

Readers like him because they can relate to him. He makes sense, we understand him, we can justify his decisions because we probably at the very least know someone who would’ve made similar ones in his shoes.

His purpose is to show humanity for what it is, to remind readers that not everyone is epic, that not everyone gets to be Iron Man or Neo. He’s the normal guy, who sometimes gets called on to extraordinary things, and who does them in the best way he knows how – which is all any of us could ever ask of ourselves, when it comes right down to it.

And that, my friends, is why everybody loves him. Even if he doesn’t get written a lot, even if we see him all the time, we never get tired of him. Why? Because he’s real, and if we got tired of him, it’d mean we were tired of living.

We’re not that.

Especially if we’re reading. ;-)

[love]

{Rani D.}

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

*raises eyebrow*



Happy Wednesday, everyone! So happy you could join me again today. Don’t forget to hit up RAD-Writing.com this weekend and preorder my latest novel, Dwr: People in the Water! (I told you I was going to remind you all week long – you should’ve seen this coming)

It’s a really great book, and one of my absolute favorites that I’ve had the pleasure to write. I’m SO excited to get it into your hands!!

Okay, okay, onto the topic at hand.

Last week, we talked about the Guy Who has it All, and how overdone he is in popular media these days. He seems to be in every other book and movie, and he’s getting to the point that he’s really old and ready to be retired.

That’s where this guy comes in. He’s a character I really like to use, and one I got to experiment with recently in my Earth-Space series (coming in the 2020’s).

The Guy Who Knows Himself (and that’s it)


Ever seen him before? He’s not all that common, actually, and that’s one of the reasons I like to use him. But let’s look a little deeper, eh?

Who is he?


Well, he’s pretty much who his name says he is. He’s the type of guy who knows exactly what he’s about. He’s a pretty strong character, in that he knows what he wants or needs, makes a plan, and gets it. The fun part is, he really knows nothing about anyone else. Other people baffle him, and the more time he spends with them, the less he understands them.

In that way, he’s a little bit like the nerd. But because he knows himself so well, because he’s so mentally strong, he’s in a category of his own.

So let’s look into some more detail about him, to see if he’s who we want to write:


Why should we read him?
What’s his purpose in life?
What is his draw, for the reader?

People like this guy because he’s real. He’s like the guy who doesn’t understand women, because he doesn’t realize that if he listened, he would understand women pretty well. The Guy Who Knows Himself is just so focused on getting his own ducks in a row that it never occurred to him to think about anyone else.

That also just so happens to make him an awesome villain, which is something we haven’t talked about yet in this series, and one of the reasons why I wanted to talk about him today.

Because The Guy Who Knows Himself only really knows himself, he might just assume that everyone thinks exactly like he does, and that if they don’t, he should make them think like him. And the fact that he only really knows one person (himself) makes him far more interesting and volatile when it comes to villainy.

Friday, we’re talking about the last character in our series, the last guy I think you should be using in your novels. At least, for this series. There are a ton of characters out there, just waiting to be created, you know. 

It's okay to stay away from cliche. 

[love]

{RD}

Monday, March 27, 2017

*laughs like Urkel*



It’s the last week of our series! And that means it’s the last week of March, which means preorders for my latest novel open on Saturday! Don’t worry, I will be reminding you all week long. You know, so you don’t forget to go order yours ahead of the official release, May 16.

Today though, I’m going to do my best to focus on the topic at hand. He’s the first of the male characters I think you should use, to replace the ones we talked about last week. And he’s also a lot of fun to write, in my experience.

The Nerd (who’s not sexy at all)


In this day and age, we all know them. Admit it: you might even be one. Nothing wrong with it. 

But who is he, really?


Well, the nerd is just that. See, last week we talked about the Smart and Sexy Guy, who I think just doesn’t make any sense when it comes right down to it. The Nerd, however, is someone who makes real sense. How? Because he’s not so perfect as the Smart and Sexy guy.

Unlike SSG, the Nerd is just a guy who likes nerdy things. It probably means he’s exceptionally smart in more than one area (I’d say at least four or five), and that he spends a lot more time inside than out. And if he’s a white guy, then that means he’s probably pasty white, because he never sees the sun. It also means he’s probably not great at talking to people in person, an effect of spending so much time on a computer.

Let’s look at the rest of our series’ questions, to get an idea of whether or not he’s a guy we should really write:


Why should we read him?
What’s his purpose in life?
What is his draw, for the reader?

This, to me, is where the Nerd gets really interesting. There are a multitude of things that could’ve caused him to become the way he is, nerdy to a fault. And there aren’t a massive number of writers who have really explored those reasonings. So there are a ton of things we can do with him—and that makes him interesting, for our readers.

His main purpose in a story, if he’s your main character, is probably that he’s smart and needs to overcome something to do with that smartness. If he’s a minor character, he might be used as comic relief. And because we all know nerds these days, it makes him an even more interesting character to use.

He has draw for the nerdy folk, because we know what it’s like to be like him. And he has draw for the not-so-nerdy folk, because we frequently want to know what’s going on inside the heads of the nerds. Trust me, everybody does. Even if they don’t admit it.

That, in and of itself, is enough for me. The Nerd is an awesome character, and one you should definitely use.

[love]

{Rani Divine}