The Name Maketh the Man

I'm working on stuff, I swear. I'm just not making a ton of progress that would be exciting to hear about.

I've done a little bit on plot stuff since last time, mostly I've been figuring out character stuff. Like giving them names. And faces.

So in my rough draft of Cold Blooded, I gave the serial killer a name, but it only mentioned once, kind of after the fact, and I kept forgetting what it was. So I've given him a new name and started to figure out his place in the story.

The vampire hunter never got a name at all. Until now. And just by giving him a name, I've started to understand his background, and where he's coming from. It's like a jigsaw puzzle. It's all a big mess of pieces, but once you snap a couple into place, you start to see where the others go around it.

I've also been casting my characters. I had a couple in mind from before, but I've added some more. This just helps me, being the visual person I am, to choreograph the scenes and put the dialog into actual mouths. Sometimes this is just something I do when I'm procrastinating from writing. But sometimes it actually affects the story. I'll have a character in mind, but it's not until I imagine someone in the role that I'll really get them. I was browsing along, trying to picture someone as a placeholder for my serial killer. I came across one who actually made me laugh, because it was so ridiculous. But then I thought about it and realized that was exactly what I needed. Someone who you wouldn't automatically peg as a murderer. And now I can't imagine anyone else.

I kind of hate to bring it up, because I'm not going to tell you who I have in mind. Partly because I'm afraid of being judged (why? I don't know, that's how my brain works), and partly because I want my character descriptions to be able to stand on their own, if/when this ever gets published. I want readers to be able to form their own impressions without what I had in mind getting in the way.

I mean, you ever read a book, and you have all the characters in your mind, and then it gets turned into a movie and they're all wrong? I don't want to do that to you. I want you to be able to picture whatever you want, whatever my description conjures. And considering I give only the vaguest physical descriptions, you may well imagine something very different from what I did.

And that's okay. This author/reader thing is a collaborative arrangement.

But anyway, I'm working on characters. There's no point in having a solid plot if you've got cardboard cutouts occupying it. I mean, the holy trinity of storytelling is plot, character, and theme (so I'm told). So next, maybe I'll figure out theme. Maybe.

I'll see you… next week? Probably.