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CHARACTERS

This week we paused to honor the men and women who have stepped up and accepted their position in military service for our country.  We all know someone (spouse, parent, child, neighbor) who has worn the uniforms of their Corps.  I am blessed to live with such a person, my husband, Col. Hayward Doyle, Jr. Army Retired.  His perspective on the multiple benefits of a robust and ready Military goes deep.  From the first days of training young adults are provided with invaluable structure in their lives.  This prepares them to not only defend our country and freedoms, but to continue thinking logically and strategically while developing themselves into exceptional citizens.  Col. Doyle is also sadly aware of the past and present shortcomings within the “systems.”  Thus it is that I am using the example of “characters” within any military-life-environment to introduce the concept of developing living characters in our writings.

Drill Instructors. They are given the task of “indoctrinating” recruits into the “customs and practices” of military life.  They, themselves, are examples (or should be examples) of excellence in all aspects of the practices and values honored by that Corps.  However, they are also human beings—with faults

The concept of this character-type is a good starting point for your main (protagonist) character.  The ethics, integrity and faith beliefs of this character must be as clearly defined as the rules and regulations demonstrated by a DI.

In spite of the unified structure of military units, the fact remains that each person is an individual who acts and reacts differently.  Although the pattern of Boot Camp and other types of training (character development) remains exactly the same for everyone, the DI (Drill Instructor) assesses each individual and “pushes” them in different ways in order to bring out their best efforts.

So it is with the writer.  You are developing a “unit” of characters who must work together within your storyline in order to bring about the exciting conclusion you’ve planned.  Who are they?  What were their lives like before stepping onto the pages of your story?  Who is the rebel among them?

Conflict. This element is always present in life—and military life—no matter how much education and training is involved to avoid it.  So the Military Police (MPs) became a unit to themselves.  Their main mission is to provide security support, compliance with “law and order,” and restraint (or detention) as needed.

No matter the level of conflict within your plot (minor or major), you will need one or more characters to solve or resolve the problems.  Their backgrounds should include a propensity toward discovery and investigation and a real need to bring about peace.

The next two or three blog entries will offer more ideas about character development. The ideas I’ve offered you today are (I hope) a different perspective that will jog your own skills and abilities as you create marvelous characters who will lead you into successful writing and publishing!

ABOUT ROYALENE DOYLE: Royalene Doyle is a Ghostwriter with Outskirts Press, bringing more than 35 years of writing experience to authors who need “just a little assistance” with completing their writing projects. She has worked with both experienced and fledgling writers helping complete projects in multiple genres. When a writer brings the passion they have for their work and combines it with Royalene’s passion to see the finished project in print, books are published and the writer’s legacy is passed forward.

CRITICAL THINKING—IV

“Knowledge is the advancing retrieval of clarity from uncertainty and confusion.” I may not have quoted that exactly (nor do I remember where I heard or read it), however, I love the concept of “advancing retrieval.”  Tis’ a bit of a paradox, which intrigues me and requires me to tap into my objectivity abilities to separate what is from what I imagine or believe.

One of my best childhood and young-adult friends (who is not a writer) was a master at stating his opinion in absolute terms. That was a trap I fell into way too many times, especially when restating his “fact” in term papers.  I could have gone the way of several of our other friends who discounted everything he ever said.  However, in some rather miraculous way, I came to appreciate his often unfathomable views and utilize them as a point of comparison with what I was discovering to be reality.  So it is that I offer you my final (for now anyway) points to consider on the topic of Critical Thinking.  Together with the previous three blogs, I hope these concepts will help you produce superb writings and reader-recognition.

• Withhold Judgment. If a piece of information “tweaks” your ear and you immediately want to deny it—or accept and promote it—DIG DEEPER. Do the research. Go the extra investigative mile and put the puzzle pieces together. When the “fit” is natural, you’ll have your answer.
• De-pressurize the Pressure. If editors are pushing you to complete a book or article and the words “just get it done” fall into your ear, STOP! The immediate temptation to follow that direction could produce a written work you will not be happy with and—as we know well—it remains “in print” forever—everywhere. It’s okay to remind the editor that their reputation is in play, too. If they don’t care, you may not want to work with/for them again.
• Check and Re-Check the Facts. The journalistic rule of “two-or-more” sources is a good place to start. However, depending on your topic and the motive behind writing about it, building a chain of “evidence” that is good, better and best leads to a well-built and believable piece of writing.
• Don’t Fear Questions. If uncertainty remains in your mind, it’s okay to include those in your writing. Readers appreciate being included in the discovery process and will buy your next book on that topic to “see” what you’ve learned that they missed.
• Avoid Rationalization. I’ve listened to some “creative writing” instructors who insist that decisive writing is a technique that must be mastered and used in all written work. In the marketing arena everything is stated as “fact” and rationalization is a trap door used against the reader. Writers who employ this technique often fall into the consequences of poor decision-making themselves.

• Appreciate Your Own Intuition. Hunches are those intriguing and sometimes logically-illogic threads that lead to great discoveries. Never hesitate to listen to them and follow their paths until you’re satisfied with what you find.

All of these elements of Critical Thinking serve the writer in “advancing the retrieval” of pieces to the puzzle of their writing projects—big or small.  Join the adventure! Retrieve that remnant of an idea and start advancing it!  Soon you’ll have it published and be writing the next one!

ABOUT ROYALENE DOYLE: Royalene Doyle is a Ghostwriter with Outskirts Press, bringing more than 35 years of writing experience to authors who need “just a little assistance” with completing their writing projects. She has worked with both experienced and fledgling writers helping complete projects in multiple genres. When a writer brings the passion they have for their work and combines it with Royalene’s passion to see the finished project in print, books are published and the writer’s legacy is passed forward.

CRITICAL THINKING CAN BE FRIGHTENING

Realizing that this blog entry will land on the day most commonly known as Halloween, it seems appropriate to demonstrate how frighteningly scary conclusions can be when using the elements of strict critical thinking.  I’ve known authors who tell me that they have built all their projects according to “effective critical thinking based on reality.”  That statement always intrigues me because it appears to leave no room for the writer’s personal thought processes and creative skills and abilities.  So it is that I ask for their definition of the word “reality.”  Without exception, they fall back to the dictionary (scientific) definition: Reality is objective and exists independently of our desire, wishes, whims, and motives.  Can anyone really write within that framework?  The box it creates—in my subjective opinion—is a very constraining and frightening place.  Below are several “critical thinking” elements that I hope will FREE every writer to be the most creative they can be.

Appreciate the “realities” known today.  As a plot is developed and character “birthed” into the storyline, the creative thinking process benefits from research and the accuracy delivered from “understood reality.”  Even the most commonly stated “facts” are viewed through the perspective of writers who, in turn, bend those perspectives toward the viewpoints of their characters.  This requires a lot of finesse to make every element in the book believable.

Accepting facts at “face value” creates closed minds and lost opportunities. There is a quote that goes something like this: When I was a child, I thought as a child; now that I’m a man, I must think like a man.  REALLY?  As I’ve grown older, I’ve become aware that people expect me to think (and believe) the widely held opinions of my community (state, country).  There seems to be a “comfort zone” in that majority of consensus-thinking and it is an easy path to follow.  However, writers are cut from a little different cloth.  We need to chew on things a little longer.  We need to dig a little deeper and come to our own conclusions—even if they cause a bit of friction or seem frightening to others.

Be not ambiguous! I’ve come to accept that every piece of writing—whether fiction or nonfiction—that comes into my hand causes me to question something.  Most often, the question relates to the main topic such as the unknowns of outer space or the intimacy between God and man.  If the writer presents the topic with multiple shades of gray, I quickly lose interest and rarely complete reading.  However, if the author presents “the truth” (as they see it) I’m intrigued and consider those points for days, months even years to come.  Truth withstands debate and brings readers back to read more from a particular author.

Be productive! Writers MUST write.  It is literally IN our DNA.  We must also slay the self-doubt dragons and the bad attitude-ites.  If you’ve never had the thought that “this book is stupid,” or “no one reads this genre anymore,” then you must be very new to the craft.  So it is that I offer this strategy:  IMMEDIATELY dismiss those feelings and replace them with WORK at the keyboard.  TURN your fears to dust and your focus to the topic at hand.  Shake hands with your characters and bring their stories to LIFE on the page before you.  And when the writing is done—PUBLISH!

ABOUT ROYALENE DOYLE: Royalene Doyle is a Ghostwriter with Outskirts Press, bringing more than 35 years of writing experience to authors who need “just a little assistance” with completing their writing projects. She has worked with both experienced and fledgling writers helping complete projects in multiple genres. When a writer brings the passion they have for their work and combines it with Royalene’s passion to see the finished project in print, books are published and the writer’s legacy is passed forward.

CRITICAL THINKING-WRITING II

Someone once told me that my true vocation was as a CSI (crime scene investigator) in the writing field because I question everything and look for better answers.  That particular person’s tone was a bit thick with sarcasm.  However I accepted it as a moment of “constructive criticism.”  Since then, I’ve developed several “rebellious” elements to my writing career that have greatly enhanced my editing techniques and (in my opinion) bring out the best in the manuscripts I’m editing or ghostwriting.  The following four points are part of those strategies.  I hope they will also help you fine-tune and enhance your projects.

1. IF A CONCEPT is presented as “the accepted wisdom” or the “the way things are always done,” don’t hesitate to challenge it! Our society—humanity in general—and the thousands of cultural groups within it have, indeed, developed what is referred to as “conventional wisdoms.” They are established rules based on general assumptions that have proven to be accurate “the majority of the time.” These suppositions beg to be questioned and, in many instances, can be used in a storyline or the development of a character to demonstrate the harm of blindly believing the accepted wisdom or statement of fact—facts that the next generation discover to be untrue.
2. Automatically accepting all authority is the other side of the following-conventional-wisdom coin. It is up to us (writers) to weed through the authority-maze, research viable options, and write about them. It is worthwhile to demonstrate the many levels of “authority” in our lives that protect us and our property, keep our cities and country functioning and guide us spiritually. However, it is even more valuable to expose the traps set by the PR firms of the world—ploys that are too often exploited in other areas of life to manipulate and deceive us.
3. Don’t JUMP on the Bandwagon! If a certain genre has become popular and you see other writers turning their efforts in that direction, STOP! Should you be joining them? Ask yourself whether or not that genre peaks your interest. Check your passion quotient. If you’re not attracted to that field of writing—and research—stick to your own area. While other authors are drawn in by the intensity of the moment, you will be at the cutting edge of the genre you enjoy most. THIS will get the attention of readers, while the others will be lost among all the other instruments on that bandwagon.
4. Lastly, resist the pull of emotionalism. Each of the three strategies mentioned above involve elements of emotional connection to our human automatic response systems. Emotions often blur clear vision. If there is anger toward an authority figure or establishment, a writer’s thought process can become jumbled. The “accepted wisdom of current thought” can supersede what really needs to be written and bandwagon-emotionalism will lead a writer down many wrong “rabbit trails.”

BEING an author and living the life of a Career Writer is so much more than a job.  If you’re like me, your friends think that “all you do is sit around and play on the computer.”  Yet the playing we do becomes STORIES peopled by unique characters who accomplish GREAT THINGS and INSPIRE others around the world.  So, WRITE your stories, my friend.  GET PUBLISHED!  And, enjoy the accolades of your friends and neighbors.  Your TIME is NOW!

ABOUT ROYALENE DOYLE: Royalene Doyle is a Ghostwriter with Outskirts Press, bringing more than 35 years of writing experience to authors who need “just a little assistance” with completing their writing projects. She has worked with both experienced and fledgling writers helping complete projects in multiple genres. When a writer brings the passion they have for their work and combines it with Royalene’s passion to see the finished project in print, books are published and the writer’s legacy is passed forward.