Humanizing Your Characters

Just a quick blog post this morning. I have been thinking about this the past few days and wonder just how human are your characters.

I know we describe our characters. Fat, thin, short, tall, brown hair, etc. And we give them little traits such as nail biters, or gigglers, coffee drinkers, but where do they get that cup of coffee they are always carrying around? But the question is, Do you actually make them human, with basic day to day habits? Do they ever do the dishes, run the vacuum, strip the dirty sheets off the bed, and do a load of laundry? Or do they have a magical housecleaning fairy that comes in while they are sleeping? (I have really got to get me one of those!)

I know if the heroine is out fighting zombies, she's not going to stop and realize she forgot to shave her legs last night, and the zombies aren't going to care if she has a sink full of dishes, but not all stories are about zombies invading.

I really got to thinking about this when I updated my facebook status the other day. Telling everyone that I had to wash my hair and go to the grocery store. Yes I know I lead a boring life, but these are some of the day to day things we do without ever thinking about them.

I'm not saying throw everything in and make your story dull and boring, but certain things can be addressed that your reader can relate to. Yes we all want to live that perfect life where the kids don't come in while you are on the phone and yell at the top of their lungs, "Mom the dog just pooped all over the living room rug." But it's part of life and part of being human.

Well back to my perfectly boring life of cleaning house, doing, laundry, humanizing my characters and yes I really should shave my legs today! (Can't wait for short season to be over, jeans here I come!)

Happy Monday Everyone!

Epilogue or Happily Ever After

Do you write an epilogue? Or do you just write the Happily ever After? I've been doing a little research on the differences but would like to know what other writers feel about the two. See the ending of my story will partly be a summary of what happened in the character's lives. It takes place 17 years in the future. And it is told mainly in the second person point of view.
I did find some info here http://www.ehow.com/how_5001509_write-epilogue-novel.html
But by  #4 Avoid the "happily ever after" trap. Happy endings are uplifting, but they should not be used as a way to minimize the conflict that occurred in the novel.


 I am thinking they are telling me not to change my "Happily ever after" into an epilogue.


I will continue to do more research, but I would love your viewpoints on the two.


Wishing you all a great weekend and as always, "Happy Writing"

Heroes and Heroines

I was reading a friend's post this morning on facebook how the heroine is so bad she makes your eyes bleed. Yep she really did say that. And I told her that's what I was going to blog about this morning.
You can check out her FB page here!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001562406287

What makes a character so bad that you roll your eyes at them? Are they too sweet? Too demanding? Too emotional? Or just plain ditzy?

Most of the reviews I've read where they complain about the characters, they are referring to the heroine and not the hero.

Also, Do men view the characters the same as a woman does? Maybe we need to have a review contest of sorts and compare the results. :-)



I know when we watch movies we will make comments like,
 "What did he do that for?"
"Why do they make these people so stupid?"
" I could have done a better job of acting!"
Well you get the idea....

And I'm not talking a specific genre, I'm talking all of them.
I know characters are going to different in all genres,
but overall character traits are basically the same.
We all have the same emotions, sadness, happiness, sexy, soft, tough,
no matter if you are reading a romance,  paranormal, horror, or comedy.


What traits endear you to the characters?
What do you want to see in the characters?
Do you want to see the softer side of men?
The tougher side of women?

As always would love to hear your viewpoints!
Have a great day! And keep writing!

Adding Characters

   I was reading a book review the other day about how a writer threw in a new character on page 170 and the reviewer wasn't happy about how the writer added this new character. I haven't read the book so I don't know exactly how the character was introduced into the story line. But what I'd like to know is, "Is there a certain protocol or etiquette a writer should follow when adding new characters?"

The reason I'm asking is because I too have added new characters further into my current novel, but have introduced them in a way that lets the reader know who they are and why they are there. I find that these new characters are important to the story line at this point, but they also might not make another appearance in the remainder of the story.

I look at it as watching a movie, you might have a character be there for 5 minutes and yet they are a vital part of the story line.