Zan Nim

Well, I don’t know about you folks, but I’ve had quite the eventful year. Stuff happened, things occurred, women slammed and doors screamed in the dark and stormy nights… I’m getting a little silly there.

Anyhoo, I’m continuing to search for a good (as in, not terrible) microphone that I can use for future podcasting, thinking of topics for future episodes, and already brainstorming a few ideas for the next NaNoWriMo, among other writing projects. There’ll be more on that with the new year. I picked up a new electronic doodad, a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, a 7″ wifi-only tablet running Android Ice Cream Sandwich. Other than the lack of cellular access (I’d like to access useful things like maps while away from a wifi bubble, for example), I’m quite happy and besotted by this device, and I’ll probably be relying more heavily on that for writery things than the iPad in the coming year, especially if I can find a suitable bluetooth keyboard and cover combo for this smaller device.

I’ve just finished up my annual seasonal employment, and am looking for a more permanent position to help pay for subsequent electronic doodads, and a few other material things I feel would make life more enjoyable.

I started this entry not to babble about myself, but to impart a quote that I found recently that I’ve found true not only in writing works of fiction, but reading the blogs and other words of everyday people through social media networks like Facebook or Tumblr. It behooves everyone to keep these words in mind whether you’re talking about coworkers, acquaintances, or distant relatives, or even friends in your closest social circle, loved ones, or family members.

A character is never a whole person, but just those parts of him that fit the story or the piece of writing. So the act of selection is the writer’s first step in delineating character. From what does he select? From a whole mass of what Bernard DeVoto used to call, somewhat clinically, “placental material.” He must know an enormous amount more about each of his characters than he will ever use directly—childhood, family background, religion, schooling, health, wealth, sexuality, reading, tastes, hobbies—an endless questionnaire for the writer to fill out. For example, the writer knows that people speak, and therefore his characters will describe themselves indirectly when they talk. Clothing is a means of characterization. In short, each character has a style of his own in everything he does. These need not all be listed, but the writer should have a sure grasp of them. If he has, his characters will, within the book, read like people.

–William Sloane
Source

tl;dr Don’t assume that everything you see is all that there is. And don’t feel it’s necessary to go into excruciating detail regarding a character’s traits or quirks that don’t have something to do specifically with your story.

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