Characters

"Easy reading is damned hard writing." - Nathaniel Hawthorne

I've been reading the Grant County books by Karin Slaughter. I may have already mentioned this, but I'm going to do it again. If you like crime drama/suspense stuff where you don't know whodunnit, you like forensics and the requisite romance, you'll enjoy these books. I highly recommend them -- but keep in mind these are primarily suspense books NOT romance.

She's done a great job with her characters, though, and that's what always draws me in to a book. 3-D characters who are all distinctive and clear. It's what I want to do and feel like I fail miserably at. In this one thing, I know I set the bar too high -- I compare my work to the masters and don't measure up.

We all want to be perfect. At least I assume I'm not unusual in this respect. We all also realize that perfection is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve in any part of our lives. So why am I frustrated when I don't get there?

I've been writing forever, but haven't been studying writing forever. I really hunkered down to learn and practice the craft about four years ago. I think I've learned and improved quite a bit since then. I should pull out the two novels I have from fifteen or twenty years ago and look at them. Maybe it would make me feel better.

Some days when I write, it feels like everyone is the same. Camilla and Laurie and Liv and Tish are interchangeable. Maybe not really, but I think that they have many similarities. And I wonder if I forget to keep those things that make them unique at the forefront so that they get on to the page as individuals.

I want to write a character driven story because that's what I love to read.

You?