FFC #63 - Concerning an overabundance of lumber

TGRF's Fan Fiction Chronicles - Entry # 63

I've had to temporarily pause the writing of Valkyrie. Don't worry; nothing major has happened, and I don't need to do any major reworks of the plot or anything. The story was missing a component which I should be able to add in with only minimal tweaks to the outline. It will, however, take me a few days to add in said component.

So what's the component? Emotion. Reaction. Feeling. Basically, the bit of the story I've written appears to center on lifeless pieces of wood.

Here's why: I've detailed elsewhere how I learned writing backwards, starting with what already-published authors get wrong, and only now arriving at the basics. Well, it appears that that has applied to all aspects of writing, not just character arcs and plot.

One thing it seems I don't know how to do (yet) is go beyond the backstories and collection of traits which usually make up my characters, and somehow discover what they are feeling at any given time, and how they react to any given situation. I have a basic understanding of how to show the emotion; that's not the issue. It's just that there isn't much emotion there to show.

So anyways, that's the update. I'm off to research methods of character creation. If you know of any excellent resources on the subject, I'd be grateful for the link(s).

I'd say this research will take at most a week. After that I should be able to get back to writing, which I'm now estimating will take between 2-3 weeks. I'm going to start over, because besides being devoid of emotion, I didn't like the opening chapters very much and have since had an idea on a better way to do it.

Until then, keep reading.

~TGRF.