Have you ever watched a play, tv show, or movie where background characters did nothing but stand around and watch? It gets old and boring quick. The same is true for background characters in your writing.

How your characters react in everyday situations is as important to how they respond in the “big scenes”. Without secondary responses, the pages of a book take on the same droll sense that watching someone on stage just standing there has. Boring.

We would like your thoughts and advice on how to up the background, yet still keep it in the back. Because even though it’s necessary, it still must not over power the importance of the scene it is in.

Okay, Anica had such a great comment, that I decided to add it to this post.

I think a lot of it is about knowing how your point of view character would look at the background characters and their activities. That’s the level of detail they should get.

Sometimes scenes seem to stop while the protagonist describes everything that other characters are doing – as you say, the background overpowers the scene. Mostly, I think the issue is that showing activities (e.g. what some character in the background is doing) implies (a) the passage of time, and, (b) that your protagonist spends the aforementioned time being aware of these activities, which means s/he’s paying enough attention to describe them at the level at which they’re described.

This can be especially problematic in big fight scenes. Often the author has introduced a bunch of characters over the course of a book or even a series, and s/he then wants to show the reader what all of them are up to during the big fight, but reading paragraphs on what other people are doing during an action sequence makes me think, “What about our protagonist? Is she just standing there watching?” (If so, there had better be a good reason, because that isn’t a very active or interesting course for her to take.)

Background details can be included; they just have to make sense in the context of what the POV character is doing at the time. In the fight scene example, maybe she could be fighting her way across the room, trying to ask each of her friends an important question, which would mean she would see what each of them is doing.

Thanks, Anica for your thoughts on this subject, I agree completely!

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Sarah is writer looking for an agent. She is currently working on novel # 4, editing novels 2 and 3, and querying novel # 1. For more insight to her work, visit: http://legendoftheprotectors.wordpress.com/ or http://legendoftheprotectors.blogspot.com/

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Most writers love to read. I’ve noticed through reading, that many characters love to read as well. It must be the book lover in authors.

So my questions to you are: What books do your characters read? Who are their favorite authors? What genre is their favs? What kind of characters do they relate to?

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Sarah is writer looking for an agent. She is currently working on novel # 4, editing novels 2 and 3, and querying novel # 1. For more insight to her work, visit: http://legendoftheprotectors.wordpress.com/ or http://legendoftheprotectors.blogspot.com/

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The rain has been non stop, the fall chill has finally started to settle in.  I climb out of bed and begin my daily task of waking the kids, making a hot breakfast, and sending them off to school. 

Superhero of the morning I then busy myself feeding the cats and dog.  I allow my medium black mutt Jenna to run the yard as I find all 8 of my cats to feed.  Not exactly ready for fall I walk the backyard in my flip flops.  My toes begin to turn a nice shade of pink as the soaking, cold grass brushes against them. 

I can’t find all my cats so I set off to the front yard calling for them.  In the distance I can hear a cat’s meow.  Fluffy is notorious for climbing on my roof and getting stuck so I look up to see if I can see her.  Nope, no sign of her on my roof.  I hear her cries become more insistent as I scan the nearby trees.  I use my imperfect ears and follow her meow across the street, I must be getting closer because she is getting excited and her meow is more frequent.  I am praying she isn’t stuck in my neighbor’s huge 200 foot tree.  how will I ever get her out of that?  I can’t see any sign of a feline in between the branches.  I keep moving toward the sound as a furry grey face peeks off the roof of the grumpy old man across the street. 

“Great”, I exclaim.  A bit of a whine in  my voice.  I walk to the side of my house as Fluffy is meowing for me to not leave her.  I grab our old simming pool ladder, it has been lying out in our yard for two years now.  I sigh and begin the walk back to grumpy old man’s house.  “What is he going to think when I go walk up to his garage with my ladder?”  I mumble under my breath.  I set it as close to the garage as I dare.  My stomach is twisting and turning.  “Please don’t see me, please don’t see me.”  I reach up and grab my cat.  I lower her closer to the ground and drop her.  She runs off toward my house.  I grab my ladder and chase after her, not daring to look behind me. 

I reach the safety of my yard and drop my ladder back in it’s place.  Fluffy is rubbing across my legs in gratitude of her rescue.  I pick her up, look her straight into her yellow eyes and whisper, so my other neighbors don’t think I am nuts for talking to my cat, “You are not allowed to go to grumpy old man’s house.  Just stay here in my yard.  If you get stuck on his roof again, I will not save you.”  I pat her head and return into my house.

This scene played out this morning, I was thinking of using it because to me it was kind of funny after all was said and done.  Just wanted other opinions on it.

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Writing Routines

“If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favor.” ~ Edgar Rice Burroughs

The age-old writing advice: write as often as you can. Where you can. When you can.

I was talking to my local writing group friends the other day and it dawned on me that I write in snatches. At the time, I hadn’t thought much about how and when I write.

But it is important, I realize now, to be aware of this, because then it is possible to improve the routine for a better quantity and quality of writing.

I wake up first thing in the morning and write for ten minutes before I freshen up. Dream journal, whatever.

I write while waiting for a cab I have called. Write while waiting for the pasta to boil. Write a post based on writing prompts.

I do sit down and write an hour or so every once in a while, a few times a week, and usually get an average of 4000 words written a week. So, I have learned not to complain.

I know I haven’t yet made it to the stage of discipline where I sit down and write every single day at a particular place. My favourite writing days are those when I get a lot done in snatches, finish a story, for example, or do a series of writing exercises.

I’m getting a few short stories published in Antologies here and there, but I wonder if my sort of writing routine would be any good for longer stretches of work. Since most of the girls on this blog are novel-writers, prolific ones at that, I’m curious. Is it possible to write a novel in snatches?

How do you write? How often? What is your writing routine?

Okay, rarely do books start out that way, but I want to see what you can come up with when it starts like this:

It was my worst nightmare coming true, my parents…

You finish the sentence and let us know in 100 words or less what the nightmare is.

Have fun.

Sarah is writer looking for an agent. She is currently working on novel # 4, editing novels 2 and 3, and querying novel # 1. For more insight to her work, visit: http://legendoftheprotectors.wordpress.com/ or http://legendoftheprotectors.blogspot.com/

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On my writing desk, I put up things that help me write from time to time. Recently, I found a book by Stephen Wilbers, called ” KEYS TO CREATIVE WRITING” and the two pages I find most helpful, I have photocopied and laid down on my desk where I can see them as I write.

I have scanned them for you, in order to share. You can read few pages here. But I would urge any writer be it fiction, or non-fiction to go and buy the book. This would probably be a good investment for all writers and writer-wannabes out there, because it contains detailed info not only on writing a piece, but more importantly, on re-writing and editing it to perfection.

So here you go:

Excerpt from "Keys to Great Writing"

Second Excerpt from Keys to Great Writing