When is a character a character and when is it, in fact, a chicken?  Watch this week's video to find out!



OK, I may have lied somewhat: it's entirely possible that the answer to my question is not found within the above video.

This week is our third writing week, as part of which we were required to discuss characters and character development.  I actually found it quite difficult, mostly because hash reality popped up and informed me that, hi, you don't think about character development at all.  My approach to it is all rather blasé - I just throw a bunch of people into a story and hope for the best.

Then get all cranky when some characters turn into jerks and others decide to take over the story when they were meant to stay discreetly in the background.

I mean, seriously, how difficult is it for characters to do as they're told?  They're essentially just words on a page... you'd think they'd have the decency to behave.  But no.  Oh no.  Instead, they insist on thinking they're alive in their own right and that they can boss me around.  That they can dictate the way the story should go, in defiance of all my plans.

The fact that they're usually always right is neither here nor there.

How does everyone else go about the business of developing characters?  Do you adopt a hope-for-the-best attitude like me, or do you go with something more practical and less prone to failure in interesting ways?

Also in news this week: I was awarded Best Juxtapostion in this week's best sentences at getyourwordsout.  (For those who aren't members of the comm and can't see the post, the sentence in question is: No more looking in the other direction and coughing in a genteel fashion in order to cover the unfortunate sound of bombs dropping.)  It's from last week's LorF.  Speaking of which, some LorFish characters are talking to me and I believe I should go off and pay attention to them.

Well, they are!

And by everyone, I mean sopdetly and momebie. Which is pretty much everyone, when you think about it.

And what, exactly, is everyone doing? Well, from what I can gather, everyone is having slight panics about recording themselves, thinking about what to say while recording themselves and then uploading said recordings to the internet.

At which point, we run away screaming and hide in a corner while quivering in abject fear.

Or something.

Because, for some reason unknown even to myself, I agreed to take part in a regular vlog as an addition to this whole GYWO thing. There are five of us: surferartchick, sopdetly, momebie, theemdash and myself. You'll be able to see us by watching or subscribing to the YouTube channel here: FiveDotNerds. The first one's up already! I'm just off to watch it myself.

But before I go - here's me making my test video. Just in case you've ever wondered what I look like or how I sound or if I look like a complete idiot while staring into a webcam. The answer to the third: why, yes, yes I do.

Oh, and I talk too quietly, so the volume needs to be turned UP right after the intro.



P.S. I wrote actual words last night! :D

Happy new year to everyone! Quite frankly, 2008 was a little bit too sucky for my liking so I have great hopes for 2009. So far, it has gone thusly:

• Celebrated.


• Woke up at 7:30am due to cat. When staggering about, mostly asleep, to feed said cat, noticed that there was sunshine and blue sky outside and thought, Huzzah! 2009 is going to be lovely.


• Slept in ever such a tiny bit and woke up to grey clouds and rain.


• Ranted a bit about the weather. In my head, anyway. No-one ever really listens and it doesn't exactly achieve anything.


• Ate breakfast at 2pm.


• Panicked a wee about the prospect of vlogging AS EARLY AS NEXT WEEK HELP.


• Failed to come to a consensus on whether antiwpa.dll is malware or not. Also failed to understand why it's on my computer, considering I have an official Windows sticker and an official Windows authentication code and official Windows installation CDs...


• Twittered. Actually, all I did was sign up a Twitter account, but it's close enough

And then I wrote a list, apparently. Is anyone else out there Twittering? Let me know so I can stalk you in 140 words or fewer. Strangely, I'm Katiefoolery there.

The first of January also marks the start of getyourwordsout and I'm off to a slow start so far with my grand word count of zero. However, there are still some, oh, six and a half hours left of today and I'm sure I can manage a good thousand or so words by the time that's passed.

How's the new year going for everybody else?

I did something crazy over the weekend.  Insane.  Possibly ill-advised.  Only time will tell...

I pledged to write 200,000 words next year.

Considering I wrote maybe a couple of hundred words this year, this aim seems both hopeless and overly optimistic all at once.  And yet, it comes at almost a perfect time, since I've been thinking a lot about writing lately.  Thinking.  Not doing.  But still.

However, I don't believe I should be the only one engaging in such craziness.  Forget NaNo - a mere month of writing like a possessed thing surviving on caffeine and shared suffering.  This is where it's at.  Don't just write one dodgy novella... write five!  Write a great, long, sprawling saga!  Swim in the stream of consciousness.  Or, uh, actually decide on a project and work on that instead.

Just DO EEEEEEEEEEEET.  Get your words out.

And then blame theemdash and sopdetly, because it was all their idea in the first place.




Also, crazedturkey did this, so I'm going to do it, too...

Meme instructions:

1. Reply to this post and I will pick five of your icons.


2. Make a post (including the meme info) and talk about the icons I chose.


3. Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.


4. This will create a never-ending cycle of icon glee.

( On the seventh day of Christmas, Dr Turkey gave to me... )