A good prompt indeed!
Well, during NaNoWriMo I always wore a pair of greyish wool fingerless gloves that my mom made. They're cool because they have cables on them. Cables are cool. I wore them 'cause they kept my hands warm and kept tendonitis at bay (mostly), but they looked good too.
Something I do on a regular basis is talk to myself. Or, rather, my characters talk to me through me. That sounds a bit bonkers, but 'tis none the less true. Letting them borrow my voice gives me insight as to how they would say something. It may be something as simple as "My name is Viola" (that one's been going through my head A LOT lately) or an entire monologue. It's like I can hear them say it. The tone they use, the voice inflections, the sarcasm, the smile that comes from their words as well as their facial muscles, the disgust, etc. It makes me look crazy, but the strange looks are worth the payoff. Of course sometimes I start talking to myself without realizing it or using the hand motions my character is using, which can get a bit awkward.
Sometimes I act out the scene that's going through my head. This can be weird, since about half the time I do it without realizing it. I'll be plunging a dagger at a bad guy when I realize that my fist kinda hurts from hitting the sheet cabinet (the "bad guy") a little too hard. Or swinging a cheese grater around like a sword only to turn and see my sister giving me a weird look. Yes, I turn cheese graters into swords. I've turned just about every kitchen utensil my family has into a weapon of some kind. It's quite fun.
A habit I just recently discovered I had is to open a story with a bit of back story. This one can be a bit problematic, since the current trend is to start in the middle of the action. We'll see how that turns out. I may just have to find clever ways of employing the use of a prologue.
Something else I just noticed is that lately I have a thing for redheaded warrior princess type characters. Weird huh?
Another thing I like to do is to mash two things that don't usually go together together and give them to a character as a quirk. Like Shakespeare and spray paint. Or wearing purple Goth style clothes and playing lead guitar in a country band. Yes, I've done both of those, and they're some of my favorite characters.
Well, I think that's enough of my brain for you today. Be sure to visit the gift shop and come back soon!
Here's a map of the blog chain, day by day:
(Sorry about the white background. The BFDs [Blogger Formatting Demons] have done something weird)
April 5– http://correctingpenswelcome.wordpress.com–Comfy
Sweaters, Writing, and Fish
April 6– http://towerofplot.blogspot.com —
The Leaning Tower of Plot
April 7–http://lilyjenness.blogspot.com–Lily’s
Notes in the Margins. YOU ARE HERE!
April 8–http://weirdalocity.wordpress.com–
From My Head
April 9–http://insideliamsbrain.wordpress.com–This
Page Intentionally Left Blank
April 10–http://thewordasylum.wordpress.com–The
Word Asylum
April 11–http://rachelsbookreviews.com–Rachel’s
Book Reviews
April 12–http://noveljourneys.wordpress.com–Novel
Journeys
April 13–http://delorfinde.wordpress.com–A
Farewell to Sanity
April 14–http://swordofink.com–Sword of Ink
April 15–http://thedreamersadventures.blogspot.com–The
Dreamers Adventures
April 16–http://incessantdroningofaboredwriter.wordpress.com–The
Incessant Droning of a Bored Writer
April 17–http://herestous.wordpress.com–Here’s
To Us
April 18–http://teenscanwritetoo.wordpress.com–Teens
Can Write Too! (We will be announcing the topic for next month’s chain)
