Writing Wednesday: Drowned Character Bio - Rina
Rina concept art watercolor.
Rina: Independent and feisty, with a thirst for knowledge. Her life was forever changed when her parents were killed by humans. Since then, she’s been searching for the answers to their mysterious deaths.
Rina’s grandfather became her guardian after her parents’ death, and his tight grip stifled her. She has an innate ability to manipulate and control magic, but in her society, only the mermen are allowed to practice spells. Oh, but Rina doesn’t like hearing the word no. She slithers into her grandfather’s study to try and teach herself magic.
Rina’s confused about life. Her grandfather just wants her to live simply, and most importantly, away from the surface. Rina watches as her neighbor, the dreamy Merrick, is living his dream as the lead singer of a local band. He gets the opportunity to leave and see the ocean, while Rina is stuck. She’s not sure who she wants to be, but she knows it isn’t what and where she is now. Maybe the surface has the answers she’s looking for…
Tip Tuesday: Create a Character Graveyard
Hello fellow writers. As we know, great stories come from great characters. They stay with us long after we’ve put a book down or stopped watching the show or movie. Honestly, pretty often it’s the characters we miss most when we finish something.
As important as it is to create fully-realized, dimensional characters, it’s also important to know who is needed to tell the story and who isn’t. How does this character help or hinder the protagonist? Is it possible this character is serving a similar purpose as another?
I grew up in a small family. I always dreamed of having lots of siblings. I find in my planning stages, I often have more characters than I need. I either end up axing them, or giving their scene or characteristics to someone else.
When I was working on my first screenplay, a fantasy, action-adventure film, there were a lot of family members. Not quite Encanto level, but enough to make me take a pause. I ended up cutting 3 of the siblings, keeping only the one who was in direct opposition of my protagonist. While it was fun to create the others, they honestly didn’t serve a real purpose except to fill out the family. Sadly, they died on the editing floor.
There are instances when the characters serve a purpose, like Encanto, where each family member’s power aids Mirabel in her search for answers or advances the plot. It’s important to know when enough is enough, and when you can chop some heads.
Combine characters if they are serving the same purpose. Give the scenes of the axed character to the other one. This will help streamline your work and make it less muddled. Make a character graveyard. Put all your cut characters in a document with their character bio. Who knows, maybe one day you’ll revive them for something else.
Monday Motivation: You Will Fail
This is something everyone faces, writer or not. Job interviews unanswered, break-ups, and of course, rejection letters. Creative types can take these failures pretty hard. I know I did for a long time, and depending on the rejection, I still do.
I remember going on an interview for a now-defunct animation studio. They made some of my favorite non-Disney animated movies. I completely BOMBED the interview. They asked if there was anything I wasn’t willing to do. I said there was nothing, as every job is important, but a task I don’t like doing is picking up dog poop.
Yes, I talked about dog crap in a professional interview. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? Of course I left the interview feeling like a moron. But still, I held out hope I would get it. I wanted it so bad.
I got a rejection email maybe a week later. I floated aimlessly in the intex blowup pool in my parents’ backyard. I was… the absolute worst. I would never get a job in the entertainment industry. I was a LOSER. I am a wallower.
A few weeks later, I got an invitation to join the app Episode. It was my first paid writing gig, and had I accepted a job at the animation studio, I would never have time to write for Episode.
So yes, rejection sucks. It hurts. When I’m querying my novel to agents and managers, I’ve kind of become numb to the noes. Sometimes when I thought an agent would be a really great fit, I wallow. Most times I just go to my spreadsheet and highlight the agent’s row in red, signifying a no. I’m hoping in the future I can highlight one green.
Every success story has failure, and a lot of it. Eventually you will develop a callus. And yes, even with your hardened skin, sometimes arrows will pierce through. But just keep going, knowing this is all part of the process. Whether you’re a writer, musician or just another college graduate trying to navigate the job market, remember, every no gets you closer to a yes.
Throwback Thursday: Childhood Inspiration
The year, 1998. Wide-eyed, glued to the wooden tube TV, is an almost 10-year-old Gina. On the screen, a little girl’s family is brutally murdered. She’s saved by a young boy, who helps her through the servant quarters. Fast-forward ten years. She’s now a beautiful, independent and feisty woman, with no memories of the past, and he’s a sarcastic con-man with impeccable hair.
Damn, just writing this is giving me the feels. Have you guessed what it is yet? I can tell you, there’s a rumor in St. Petersburg. Yes, it’s Anastasia, a masterpiece of film by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. This film shook my girlhood. I was immediately in love with Dimitri. I watched this VHS over and over, and then the DVD over and over, even as a teenager. Their unspoken growing attraction, their enemies to lovers romance, ugh, it was perfection. His need to protect her, but her ability to protect herself, hot damn! This influenced me as a writer more than any other work has.
Enemies to lovers is hands-down my favorite trope, with friends to lovers coming in a distant second. I will absolutely admit most of my work features this trope. Nothing gives me more butterflies in my stomach than this. That look Dimitri has when he first meets Anya, and she is lined up against the royal portrait. Swoon. I love looks. Looks can tell you so much more than words can. I could do a whole post on my favorite looks in movies (many of them animated). This film has so many looks, so many small moments between them. It rivals any live-action romance.
I could go on forever about this film and its impact on me. But I won’t. I should. But I won’t.
Tip Tuesday: Kill Your Darlings
Slash and burn, baby! Take a machete and just slice through that bad boy. Editing your book may be even harder than writing it. You’ve got to put your critical glasses on; your editor hat. As writers, we can be superfluous. During the first draft, go ahead, be as wordy and fancy as you like. But when it comes down to editing, you’re going to have to get your hands dirty.
This is something I learned a long time ago when studying screenwriting, and fifteen years later, it still hurts. Your heart bleeds onto the page. Your characters say something so perfect, God himself couldn’t have written it better. But guess what, you don’t need it.
Yes, I said it! I know, I’m the worst. The truth is, if the scene is not pushing the plot forward, you don’t need it, no matter how beautiful it is. As writers, we are actually builders. Since I’m a mom, I’ll use Legos. Each brick has a purpose. You build and build until ultimately you have some sort of Ninjago creature. It’s the same thing with writing. Each word is a tiny brick, and those bricks need to amount to something. They need to be working towards the final product. If they’re not, ax ‘em.