Voice Journal

I was supposed to post yesterday, but I remembered that fact at 11:58 pm, so I decided to put it off until a more appropriate hour today.

The Harry Potter film was good. I re-read it that week before the release so it was all very fresh in my brain. I think they did a great job – it was very exciting and epic. They glossed over some of the sub-plots, but I guess that is to be expected. I love going to the midnight showings with my dad. It has been a fun tradition. My mom and her friend decided to go this time too, since this was the last shot. We saw it in 3-D, but my mom thought that might make her sick, so they stuck to the old-fashioned way. I warned them not to worry about how loud the theater was, that as soon as the movie begun the theatre would be silent.

Afterwards, they said it was so quiet they were afraid to sniff! I loved the cheering when Bellatrix was finally snuffed out and the clapping at the end of the movie. I’m glad I had the opportunity to be a part of this fun again and have special Harry Potter 3-D glasses to boot!

On to other writing fun. I have been reading a handy little reference book called The Art of War For Writers by James Scott Bell. It’s a great easy read that has some wonderful tips for all stages of the writing process. One of the best suggestions (in my opinion) is the idea of using a voice journal to communicate with your characters. I have read other writers suggest this, but I love Bell’s suggestion of keeping this journal where you can dialogue with your characters. It helps to work out issues in the plot and helps to keep each character unique and less like you.

I’m starting one today for one of the characters in my wip. His name is  Charles and I’ve decided that he is the first character I’m going to tackle. I’ll be writing his arc first. He has been leaving me little bread crumbs about his background and his motivation, but I think the voice journal will open up the channel even bigger.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

How do you communicate with your characters?