Creative Writing: Characters

With two audio books out in a week: The Office Zoo and A Short Course In Creative Writing, I thought I would share an insight into writing characters. The Office Zoo is an observation of all the different characters I have witnessed within the office. At one time I was not terribly busy at work and had a weekly 'call of doom'. This was the most monotonous and painfully dull call in the history of mankind. With that in mind, I used to write a character blog which carried painfully truthful blogs of all the office characters - The Office Slug, The Office Pervert and The Office Hotty, to name but a few. Over a few months it became increasingly popular and had thousands of hits... I found a new office fame and was often accosted in the lavatory to find out who I was referring to. Of course work got word of this and I had to stop. I then took my observational meanderings and turned them into a book under a different name... Clever eh? At the same time I taught evening classes in creative writing while still working full time in the office. The creative writing class is where I shared how I observed and noticed quirks and oddities to generate authentic characters... So here is one of the character lessons which is now read by Erin in the audio book. She has done a fantastic job! Thank you Erin!

A SHORT COURSE IN CREATIVE WRITING LINK: Link: http://amzn.com/B01390THLK

CHAPTER 4

 

Character construction and consideration.

Characters are the crucial to the writing of excellent fiction and non-fiction. Characters who are dull, two dimensional and lifeless do not engage the reader, that is, unless there is purpose behind the dullness or lifelessness. Readers are usually fascinated by quirks, mystery and curiosity. A level of identification is also useful to enable identification with the character.  One of the easiest ways to create an interesting character is to create a biography (a character history) of that character. You may like to consider the following when building your character:

 

 

Note: you can use these considerations for real or imagined characters.

·         Attitude

·         Posture

·         Tattoos

·         Accent

·         Origin

·         Gender

·         History

·         Wealth

·         Religion

·         Height

·         Build

·         Job/career

 

·         Addictions – drinking, smoking, coffee, sex or food?

·         Hairstyle

·         What activities do they do?

·         How do they maintain themselves?

·         What is their choice of clothing?

·         What period of time were they born?

·         What do they eat? What is their favourite food?

·         What are their ambitions?

·         What motivates them?

·         Who are their friends?

·         Have they made any sacrifices?

·         Have they suffered hard times?

·         What makes them who they are?

·         Who would they like to be?

·         Where do they go on holiday?

·         How do they cope with stress?

·         What makes them stressed?

·         Do they exercise? What sort of exercise?

 

 

·         Inner world/outer world.

·         What kind of house do they live in?

·         Are they single or married?

·         Do they have children?

·         Do they suffer from any ailments?

·         Victim, rescuer or persecutor?

·         Why are they interesting?

·         Are they overweight or underweight?

·         Why would anyone want to read about them?

·         What are their fears?

·         What is the worst situation you could put them in?

·         If they had to confess one thing what would they confess?

·         What are their quirks?

·         Do they fall into a stereo type or cliché?

·         What are their flaws?

·         What are their hobbies?

·         Satisfaction level – happy and content versus angry and discontent?

·         What would their friends say about them?

·         What would their mum say about them?

·         How do they justify their behaviour?

·         What makes them laugh?

 

THE OFFICE ZOO Link: http://amzn.com/B013N51MNC

 

Consider the below approaches:

1) Sometimes it is easier to find a picture that resembles the character you intend to create. Try browsing through art books that feature portraits. Family photos, magazines and the Internet are great resources for finding inspiring faces.

2) When writing about the character consider all the senses. How do they appear? What stands out? How does the person talk? Accent, tone of voice, stutter? What smells come to mind? What aftershave or perfume would they choose? How would you describe their skin, hair, clothes and posture?

3) Consider the people around you including friends, relatives and co-workers. When you write what you know it is more convincing. Real life is often more interesting than the imagined. Using what you know, try combining character traits of those who you like and dislike.

 

4) An individual exists beyond the moment and so should your character. Build the personality outside the story. Consider their past, present and future. Accumulate as many details as possible until you really know that person. Consider them in different situations, on a train, in a lift, at a party or dealing with a crisis.

5) Look at the inner traits of the character versus how they are appear. What the character conceals makes them interesting too. What is the character’s inner dialogue? What is the character trying to conceal from the world?

All of the above will help you develop a more three dimensional character.

 

 

6) A basic character sketch can include:

·         Physical description

·         Career

·         Partner/Ideal partner

·         What makes them angry and what makes them happy

·         Strengths and weaknesses

·         Hobbies

·         Fears & Hopes

·         History

·         Family

·         Dreams

·         Quirks

·         Attributes

7) Consider using metaphors and do your best to avoid stereotypes. The most vicious bully could be in the guise of the sweetest little girl instead of the more obvious bulldog-featured man. Also the character who is willowy can be considered metaphoric for flexibility and lenience. The rigid character can be considered stubborn or resistant.

8) It is often the case that the best loved characters have the most obvious flaws. A character with flaws, quirks and emotions is far more interesting than those who are perfect. Consider positive and negative traits. The villain who evokes sympathy because of their flaws is far more powerful and interesting than someone who is simply vile and rotten to the core. Imagine a character who desperately wants to be kind but when the kindness is not noticed they become angry.

9) Avoid being too obvious. It is all very easy to re-create characters that we have been influenced by; however, the fun is pushing them and making them more interesting.

10) The general consensus of opinion is that perfect characters are not that interesting. So have fun using contradictions and polarities. Take for example the cleaner who does not wash or the gourmet chef who lives on fast food.

EXERCISE FOR CHARACTERS:

Write two positive traits such as kindness and compassion. Now write one negative trait such as anger or jealousy. Use these traits to describe one of the characters you have in mind.

To make the characters more complex write three positive traits like cheerful, optimistic and gentle with two negative traits such as a compulsive liar and manipulator. Take these to a character you have in mind and write the character with these traits. See what happens and where your character leads you.

MONEY FARM: Link: http://amzn.com/B012FAYI5U

 

 

LABYRINTHINE: Link: http://amzn.com/B010F04W9O

Do you have one of these in your office? The Office Feeder

In celebration of The Office Zoo - A Field Guide to Office Animal Observation being released on audio today, I will be posting five of the Office Animal Types that may well inhabit your office. I hope you will find the series highly amusing and look forward to feedback:)

OFFICE ZOO AUDIO Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B013H91D56

TO LISTEN TO A SAMPLE:

SOUND CLOUD SAMPLE: https://soundcloud.com/ruby-allure/officezoortlaudsmp

 

The Office Feeder.

 

Cake boosts moral, cake is comfort and at any opportunity people bring cake into the office. There is a cake for all occasions - cake for birthdays, a wedding, a promotion, a leaving do or just a general celebration of cake with cake. Someone farts and someone suggests a cake to celebrate. That is just how office life works. With this in mind, where is the best place to have a feeder? If cake keeps moral up – what better way to be the source of that moral by providing cake? The Office feeder’s cantankerous cake creations provide her with endless adoration, approval and appreciation. What’s more, she will keep the gym in business as people attempt to cake-offset on the treadmill.

The Office Feeder is usually a buxom sort who likes to bake and see people happy. She has a husband suffering from extreme cholesterol levels. He needs a forklift truck to lift him from the bed in the morning. The unfortunate truth is for her husband to survive, the feeder has to turn her attention elsewhere and feed teams instead. In the back of her mind she knows if her humongous hubby tips the scales any further then widow-dom looms.

With an atmosphere reminiscent to a farmer’s wife who has planted one too many pumpkins, her cake feeding has a precise weight-gain plan. Those skinny waifs in the office will be tempted. She could advertise the anti-thesis of a diet - From firm to fat in ten weeks! A new diet fad – or fat. The thing is the Office Feeder gets away with it because she is jovial, friendly and very persuasive. The Office Feeder wants her fellow office women to grow fat to make her feel better. Her punch lines are ‘life is too short not to.’ ‘Well it is only one.’ ‘I wouldn’t want you to miss out.’ ‘Oh treat yourself...’

 

The Office Feeder is very persuasive and worst of all she is the Office Dieter’s main saboteur. She has a natural  talent for determining who is on a diet and searching them out with the next calorific brownie. The sludgy bottom brigade will try to resist by saying ‘oh I can’t – oh I already ate... They will finally give in to the mesmerising smile and the fear that all the cakes will go. They will find themselves in a trance and muttering ‘oh go on then… just a little bit.’ They will take one bite and that will be it – all resistance has gone. They may as well apply that beautiful cake straight to their posteriors as they jam their ever-expanding behinds into the chair. If you are very aware, you might notice that the Office Hotty and the Office Fitness Fanatic have the willpower of steel. They can resist her charms. While many grow in girth over the years through cake consumption, the Hotty and the Fanatic will survive.

Learning: If you are clever, you can use the office greedy as the first line of attack and send them in to wipe out the cake before it reaches you. It just depends how svelte you wish to remain and whether you love cake or not.

OTHER AUDIO BOOKS BY RUBY:

LABYRINTHINE:Link: http://amzn.com/B012FAYI5U

 

A SHORT COURSE IN CREATIVE WRITING Link: http://amzn.com/B01390THLK

MONEY FARM: Link: http://amzn.com/B010F04W9O

 

 

 

Money, Health and Wellbeing

Money, Health and Wellbeing.

 

Who would have thought that money, a metal lump, can actually make you sick? Can you imagine worrying over a shell, how many shells you have and whether you will survive without those shells? You then dedicate the hours of your life accumulating shells and work yourself into the ground to survive. Over time you accumulate a mass of shells so that you can feel as though you have more shells than others because the more shells you have then the more important you are. What makes the illusion worse is that your peers view you in esteem according to how many shells you have. In fact if you have over a million shells your sense of power enables you to be viewed as something special, someone important. Then one day someone comes along and takes away your shells. Suddenly you are worth nothing in the shell view of the world. You then descend into depression because your life has collapsed because you have no shells. Your partner leaves you because you are shell-less and goes for someone who has plenty of shells to support their way of living. You realise he or she was actually a ‘Shell-digger’.

 

When you replace money with shells you become very aware how ridiculous attachment to money really is and how we define ourselves through it. Yet money is a reality we have to deal with. What’s more, money is one of the biggest causes of stress, anxiety and worry. If you consider the fact that these three negative states affect your immune system then why would you be surprised that money can directly affect your health?

 

About twelve years ago I was transitioning from working on cruise ships and returning to land to study my Master’s Degree. The transition resulted in me worrying about how I was going to survive financially - and boom – my lower back went. My fear that I would not be able support myself got me right at the base of my spine. It was so bad that I could not walk for two days and during the time I was in laying on my back I noticed the churn of thoughts about money streaming through my mind. Was it any wonder that this mental pattern had migrated to the base of my spine?

 

It was during a random conversation that someone told me that the lower back ‘going’ was a classic sign of financial worry. Me being as analytical as I am, thought ‘rubbish’. Yet the more I looked into it then the more I realised that during times in my life where I was financially worried then my back would go. It seemed that this was more common that I realised. Such a revelation made me realise that people’s bodies responded to their thoughts. It was then that I discovered somatic psychology and the relation between thoughts and illness.

 

Later on in my career I became a business analyst and worked trending financial patterns. At the same time I watched colleagues go through different wealth related phases. I noticed when they were under financial strain a number of them developed back issues. When they wanted to avoid money issues they developed stiff necks. Others got stomach aches when large bills came in. The most simple of all was when they had been worrying about finances they developed colds. Obviously there are far more factors involved yet money seemed to be a trigger for many of their health issues.

 

One of the main causes of relationship break-ups is down to money. With this in mind is there anything we can do to improve our wealth health?

Here are a few questions I asked myself to enable movement beyond the financial flus:

Am I willing to be completely responsible for my finances?

Have you ever looked at how you view money and how much of your money is you?

How can you separate your identity from how much money you have?

How can you demonstrate your self-worth without using money?

If you have debt why do you maintain it?

If you have debt what do you need to do to pay it off?

How can the action of paying off debt be stress free? Note: a tip is to automate the pay off on your pay day so you the debt gets paid off without you having the temptation to touch the money.

What if money was simply an object or a tool?

What thoughts do I have about money?

How do my thoughts change when I start feeling stressed about money?

Where do I feel this in my body?

Have there been times in my life when I have become ill due to financial worry? Where did that turn up in my body?

 

Once one becomes aware of the patterns then one can take action. I read numerous books on finance and money management: The Richest Man in Babylon, Think and Grow Rich, The Rules of Wealth and The 4 hour Working Week. These were excellent books and provided plenty of information on how to make and manage money. Yet I had not fixed the actual issue – my attitude to money.  Nor had I looked at the health aspect. So a few more books later: You can heal your life, healing body healing mind and numerous other somatic psychology books, I realised that the body, the mind and our monetary situations were all linked.

 

 

 

I needed to understand how money made me feel and what emotions I experienced. So there I am feeling guilt when I go into an overdraft. I then felt angry when I received a huge bill. I felt levels of excitement at purchasing a new dress. I am sure you don’t need to my emotions about buying new underwear. The emotional money diary is revealing especially when you write down how you feel, the thoughts and why you need to buy something.

So I may as well share this with you – I realised that quite often that spending money compensated for boredom and made me feel free. After I had bought an object (that I did not really need) I would then descend into a cycle of guilt. After a few weeks patterns emerge and you will see what you are really up to. Through the money diary you may well identify beliefs such as ‘money must make me miserable.’ ‘I will never have enough money’. It is worth writing these beliefs down and affirming the opposite. This can make you feel quite queasy when you really hit an in-depth belief. When you do an affirmation over such an issue do it until you either feel free of the belief or you make a large exhale. Once you are clear of old beliefs then it is time to take action. Learn how to manage money, monitor your thoughts and shift them from worry to positives. It is amazing how the development of self-awareness relaxes you. The more relaxed you are then the less likely you are to become ill due to money.  

 

I hope the above inspires you. If you have any examples of how you shifted attitudes to money then please share in the commentsJ

 

MONEY FARM Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B010BJOYFQ

LABYRINTHINE Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B011LX0WUW

A SHORT COURSE IN CREATIVE WRITING Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B012OV8JPU

 

An Amazing Week!!!

This week has been quite amazing really. Labyrinthine came out on audio, numerous reviewers took on both Money Farm and Labyrithine to review. At the same time sales increased and word of mouth began. I have had some wonderful emails asking how I came up with the ideas in the books. That would be telling!!!

LABYRINTHINE AUDIO LINK: Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B011LX0WUW

The Office Zoo and a Short Course in Creative Writing made it through the quality control processes and will reach audio in the next couple of weeks. Love Hunt has been recorded now and being audio edited in France. So the writing is progressing!!! Yipee. Yes it is time for a little dance.

On Monday I went back to work after my 3 week holiday and stimulated the corporate blog with my bizarre humour. I was not allowed to post a film of goats riding horses. It was not corporate enough. When I suggested we put the goats in suits I received 'one of those looks'. I was also invited into a creative project which is creative and innovative. Hopefully I will be able to get sign off on space ship drones and specially designed balloons to replicate planets so that I can build a helium solar system in our corporate atrium. I will be honest I was happy to go back to work routine, although I started reading the book the 4 hour week. It has made me re-evaluate how I approach work and why do we all accept 9-5 as the 'norm'? In addition I intend to be more efficient so that I can have more 'fun' time.

Oh and I was asked the question this week: why don't I just work as an author?
Answer: Where do you get your material if you don't interact? The work place has an abundance of characters, mad incidents and fun stories. How else do you think I could have compiled all the characters in The Office Zoo? Reality is often far better as reference than reality.  What's more, twelve years ago, when I worked in a bookshop, I was given some excellent advice by an author: don't give up your day job unless you have paid off your mortgage and have the earning capacity of 5K a month and 100K in the bank. This came from an author who had received a huge advance, had her work hyped and was labelled the next J.K. Rowling. She sold around 40,000 books in total and her second book did not make sales and she was dropped. If she had given up her job then where would she be?

Money, Sex & Financial Conflicts

Money, sex and financial conflicts.

 

Money is more important than sex in a relationship? I have to be honest, that was a horrifying revelation that I discovered whilst researching this blog. It seems that sexual technique can be adjusted and discussed more easily than finances. So why is there such an issue with partners discussing money? There is a level of shame and vulnerability associated with how much money we have and how we value ourselves. In our society our value is often placed on how much money we have in the bank. If you are in debt does that mean you are worthless? If your partner earns more money than you then does that mean they are worth more?

  

Another interesting finding was that quite often how we handle our finances directly relates to how we handle our emotions too. The stingy miser is likely to hold onto emotions in the same way as they spend money. The financially generous and expressive often replicate the same emotional behaviour. So what happens when we partner these two together? Well it seems that it won’t last. The miser will develop resentment to the financially gregarious.
 

How we handle money and what we believe about money comes from our upbringing and background. If your parents struggled with money while you were a child then it is likely that you will do what you can to save to feel safe. If money was never an issue then financial flippancy might be the call of the day and you may well see money simply as a flow. We have all established habits and financial techniques over our life time and it is only when we enter relationships that we become aware of how some people work in a very different wealth management ways.

Another interesting finding is how money affects the power dynamic of a relationship. One partner may want to control how much money is spent whilst the other wants to be free to enjoy money. This is when secret accounts and monetary stashing begins. Financial affairs result in monetary mis-truths and secrecy. This is where an underlying trust issue can raise its ugly head. Financial conversations and understanding early in relationships contribute to the longevity of relationships. How much do you really know about what is financially important to your partner? How do you both prioritise your money? Is it more important to have things now or save? Is that flashy car more important than a reserve in the bank for a rainy day? If so do you feel financially robbed or financially vulnerable? Remember that not everyone appears to be what they say they are? An ex-partner of mine appeared to be financially abundant yet after a few conversations and a gut feeling, I discovered that he was over 600k in debt. For me that was horrifying; however, he was a risk taker and made back the money within a couple of years. His attitude to money was that it was something to play with. Mine was that money provides stability and security. Neither were right, they were just attitudes.

The money and relationship facts have intrigued me and you may well find these interesting too.  The higher the salary of a man in a relationship the more likely the relationship will last. Although if the individual falls on financial hardship it is likely that the relationship will dissolve in a year. Men with higher wages have a lower divorce rate than lower earners. On the counterbalance – the higher a woman’s wage is in comparison to her partner’s then the more likely they will divorce. For some reason the disparity of a woman who earns more creates relationship issues.

Do you have any advice on money in relationships? If so please comment below…

 

LINK TO MONEY FARM AUDIO: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B010BJOYFQ

Feeling Proud? Self-celebration, the Bottomy Dance and its Benefits!

Let me guess the 'Bottomy Dance' in the title made you curious... Smirk! Okay this is not going to be a monumental post of great epiphany. Instead, it is a simple suggestion for self-celebration. The thing is - how often do you stop and allow yourself to feel proud of yourself? How often do you allow yourself to let go and do a random bottomy dance that involves a lot of posterial shaking to celebrate all the hard work and hours you have put into something that means a lot to you? Let me guess - not enough?

This is it - when we work hard then how do we actually reward ourselves? So many of my friends work and work. They reach their goals and do not pause and take in their achievements; instead, they simply construct the next goal and start working towards that. Where is the motivation to succeed? With that attitude there is an endless treadmill of work, goal achievement and then more work. The way I see it is that life is more than work. So surely the pleasure is in the celebration. When you achieve something that is great for you then why not pause, feel proud, shake your behind and enjoy that moment?

I have noticed the world is in a state of continued rush. It grows faster and more complex day on day. In this state of rush we do not take time to 'sniff the roses'. Life, in my opinion, should not be a conveyor belt of achievement but contribution, celebration and shared moments of joy. So with this in mind I am feeling proud. Money Farm on audio is selling, I have just completed the audio edit for the production of CLAN DESTINE and The Office Zoo is in the pipeline to hit the audio market. I have to say Ray, the producer has a voice which will have you in stitches. Already people have contacted me to say they have discovered Office Stinkers and Office Freaky but definitely Geeky! Love it!

 

So today is that day of celebration where the bottom dance has been shimmied around the writing room and resulted in a few Jazz hand motions too! Some people may view such self-celebration as madness. Well if madness comes in the form or joy and misery is demonstrated by contained lack of self-appreciation and continued effort with no reward then the bottomy dance will win every time!

So how do you celebrate? I would love to hear how people reward themselves.

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http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00SZFEQIO

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00H7MRV5G

 

Money and Your Value as a Human Being...

What inanimate object can determine your life decisions, your attitude to yourself and how you relate to others? What object can evoke, fear, worry and a sense of feeling controlled?

 

 

 

Answer: Money.

If you think about it most of our life's decisions are based on the Money concept. Can we do this or that because we have the money? Do we have a enough money to buy the house, the clothes, pay the bills or the buy the car? The unfortunate truth is the money concept carries a value and that value merges with your 'self.' Money correlates to freedom and experience. Consider this - what if money were shells. Would you care how many shells were sitting in a pile? Would you work yourself to the extreme to accumulate a shell? Would you desperately need to show off your shells to others? When you shift the object of value then you realise how ridiculous the illusion is that we have been persuaded with. Yes money makes the world go round but that is because we believe that is so.

 

With the above in mind: If money is how you value yourself then how can you value yourself more without money as the gauge? How can you demonstrate your true value to yourself? What makes you feel rich inside? Well these are some questions that have crossed my mind since writing Money Farm and having it turned into an audio book by the brilliant Helen Lloyd. The thing that I have realised is that so many people often feel that their  intrinsic value is directly proportionate to how much money is sitting in their bank account. Those that are in debt often experience a sense of financial shame. They feel worthless because they are stuck in financial ruts that they can see no way out of. When I was researching the debt figures related to Money Farm I heard the expression 'Nillionaire' - someone who has little or no money. That expression, albeit amusing, made me think of how many Nillionaires there are in the world. Can you imagine someone saying that person over there is a Nillionaire? How many would be proud of that title instead the tar of shame would be coated upon them.

Whilst writing Money Farm I looked at other systems of exchange and it dawned on me, in times gone past, when we had to eat we went out to hunt. We caught food and ate it - we cut out the 'money' as a middle man. When we needed other forms of food we traded. Values were applied to grain, cloth and other goods. I wondered how the world would exist without actual money and looked at alternative spheres of exchange and how values were applied. It was all so fascinating yet the truth is culture and civilisation need an exchange mechanism. We can't all take to the forests and hunt or forage. The truth is we need that exchange concept, although that exchange mechanism does not need to be intrinsic to the person. Money is not the extension of self, instead, it is simply a tool that can be invested, accumulated or spent. Once emotion and attachment is removed from the financial equation then there is a sense of liberation. Once you stop being your money and your money stops being you then that is where the fun begins. I am not saying stop earning money, what I am saying is that you are more than your money. You are a phenomenal person existing in time and space. I am sure that if you asked your soul what you were worth then it would not determine it in terms of money.


With that in mind, I will ask the question: how you can you value yourself without having money as a device for your self value? How can you demonstrate your own vast value to yourself without applying the concept of money? Finally how can you feel rich inside so that is shines into the world?
Enjoy:)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B010BJOYFQ