Just what DOES that angel mean, anyway…?

How did you do with the ‘unlikeability’ challenge? Did you find one truly unlikeable element with which to humanize your character…?

Hope so!

And now, a change of pace. You know the old adage — nothing kills momentum like backstory. [Isn’t that an old adage? Okay, maybe not, but it should be]

Of course ‘what happened before’ is important. It may even be pivotal. The problem with backstory is not what it is, but WHERE it is, and HOW MUCH of it is hanging about. Too much backstory too soon = snoozefest, because it gets in the way of what is happening right now. And right now is what the reader cares about.

Tomorrow’s challenge…throw your 100 words at a scene in which backstory is important. Really significant. And find a way to NOT reference it at all. Don’t have one character explain it to another. Don’t let your players in on the backstory in any way. See what happens…maybe things will head in a direction you didn’t anticipate. Maybe your 100 words will magically become 1000. WHO KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN YOU DON’T EXPLAIN THE BACKSTORY?????!!!!!

[Ahem]

Go for it. And let me know how it all unfolds, if you feel like it! Comments are below and as always, I am sweetly tweeting @kcdyer.

 

More soon…

 

~kc

 

[If you are reading this post and wondering just what the heck is going on, you might want to click HERE to read the genesis of the ‘kc 100 word challenge’. And if this challenge isn’t for you, another route to jumpstart your writing is the Famous Yahtzee Method! Either way….This Day We Write!]

…unlikeable!”

photo by Muhammad Mahdi Karim, CC share alike licence

Last winter I spent some time in Edinburgh, and is my wont, I read a book by a local author while I was there. It happened to be ‘FILTH’ by Irvine Welsh.

I loved it. Could NOT put it down. That part of it was narrated — nay, almost DICTATED — by the main character’s tapeworm just added to the charm.

What was most interesting to me was how much I loathed the main character. Loathed and loved. I was completely compelled by Bruce Robertson, and turned the pages as fast as I could, gobbling them up to see what foul circumstance would next arise.

A problem often faced by new writers is when main characters suffer from excessive likeability syndrome. The inclination to make them too heroic, too capable and adept is always there. And that…takes away reality. Everyone is unlikeable at some point. Familiarity may breed contempt, but excessive likeabilty breeds flat characterization.

Now, Irvine Welsh is a genius, and a lunatic of a writer with a brilliantly unique voice and a penchant for taking on the near-impossible. He has a rare gift. But…here’s a thought.

Can you do it, too?

Are you at least willing to give it a shot?

Here’s how I invite you to spend your 100 words tomorrow:

Find an opportunity in your story to make your main character — even for a short while — completely unlikeable. And no fobbing it off on your antagonist or a mere tertiary, either! Look into a part of your character’s psyche that you haven’t yet explored. Can you do it? [And don’t think I didn’t see you picking your nose just then…yeah, I saw it. It was gross.]

Go on — I dare you!

 

More soon…

 

~kc

 

So.

You’re planning to bring a new character to the page. Somebody important to the story. Significant.

Now, this person can always just walk into the scene, pirouette in front of the reader and you can proceed to describe them top-to-toe. Outline their entire family history. Detail their last meal and their preferences in weaponry. Give your readers the power of your descriptive abilities on Full Firehose Flow.

Or…

What if, instead of the klaxon horn approach, you consider something else? Can you introduce your new character — with a whisper? What if you isolate a single, unforgettable characteristic. Something so defining, so unique that knowing anything else about them — at least at that very moment of introduction — is superfluous.

Can you do it? Can you bring this new character into your story and have them shine withOUT resorting to exhaustive description?

Give it a try — it’s your 100 word challenge* for tomorrow.

And if you like let me know how it worked for you! You can leave a comment below, or seek me out on twitter @kcdyer.

Good luck!

 

More soon…

 

~kc

*Missed the post on kc’s 100 word challenge? Find it HERE.

Ahh, springtime. Time for a fresh start on the world, aye?

I am deep in the midst of a project that has consumed varying percentages of my brain since 2006. When I work on something that long, and it becomes a part of me. I walk in that world — or, as in the case of this particular story, those worlds — every day. And lately, as momentum is gained, it means less writing elsewhere, including here.

Time to change things up a little.

Many of the questions people who are just getting started in this business ask me are often centred around motivation. “How do you get your ideas?” “How do you find time in the day to fit writing in?” “What inspires you to write?”

What it all comes down to, in the end, is fingers on keys. Or pen to paper, if that’s your particular poison. Where you find your inspiration is up to you — it’s what you do with it that counts. Ideas are legion, and an ephemeral collection of random whimseys they are, too, eh?

Regardless of where you are on the journey that is story-telling, at some point you’ve got to write ’em down.

And then follow through right to the end.

So for the rest of the year, I’m going to try to help you with that, by posting a question here for you to answer. Every day. Use it as a starting point. Use it as a writing prompt. Work it into a scene.

Whatever clacks your keys.

All I ask is that you write out whatever it inspires in you in 100 words or more.

Take the ‘kc 100 word challenge’. Today is May 17, 2014. If you make the time to write 100 words — just 100 little words —  EVERY day for the rest of the year, you will have 22,700 words towards a finished manuscript by December 31.

Now, if that ain’t enough for you, set yourself a higher goal. But if you say to yourself — PROMISE yourself — that you’ll at least write those 100 little words, anything else is gravy, right?

The idea is to pin down some of those amazing ideas, while building yourself a healthy writing habit at the same time.

Set the parameters that work for you! Can you do it?

Will you?

Let’s start now and see what happens, okay? Here’s your first question:

What real-world event is happening to your main character right now? It can be geologic [earthquake!], meterologic [monsoon!], astronomical [meteorite!] or something even more bizarre. In the face of this event, how does your character react?

There you go; your challenge question for May 17th. Can you get 100 words out of it?

[And if you want to let me know how you’re doing, as always, the comment section is right below this post. I love to hear from you!]

Fingers to keys, pen to paper — GO!

 

More soon…

 

~kc

…to Sean Cranbury and all the folks at the Stormcrow Tavern for sponsoring my reading last night and feeding me the best veggie burger I’ve had in ages!

Thanks also to Kathy, Jeff, Dan, Sarah, Rob, Tanya, Kallie, Luke, Alice and Michael for coming out to cheer me on through the madding crowds!

You can see a shot taken by Sean HERE.

A couple of my creepier Bedtime Stories were on tap — picked to suit the ambiance of the place —  and I always like reading aloud. It was fun!

More soon…

I’m gonna do an AMA* in real life!

I’ll be doing a reading at The Stormcrow on Thursday night, right around 7 pm.

Details here on the Facebook page.

It’ll be short, ’cause I don’t want to interrupt anyone’s Settlers of Catan [Star Trek edition] game for too long!

I’ll have a few books to sign and sell, and promise to answer any questions asked. See you there?

 

More soon…

 

~kc

 

*Ask Me Anything. For those who don’t know what Reddit is, and therefore have no idea how they’ll manage to forget it

 

 

 

Not able to travel too far today.

 

More soon…

 

 

~kc

2014. Can you believe it?

Somehow the final third of last year caught me up in its whirlwind and swept me away from the blog, so I’ve a fair bit to catch up on. Need to catch up with the folks in Bella Bella and see how their fundraiser went, and catch you up on some pix of our own contributions.

But first, the end of a year often is a time of assessment, and it’s no different here at kc dyer central. This year has not been without its challenges, but it’s held a few triumphs, too.

This was the year I finished walking across Canada.

Can one ever really walk across this country? I mean, one straight-ish line can’t do justice to the many and varied landscapes; the far north, the three oceans, the islands…?

All the same, a couple of years ago, I decided to try. I started using my treadmill desk way back in March of 2010, and recording the mileage as I [very slowly, as a rule] made my way –virtually — across the country. If you look back through the blog, by the end of 2013 I was in the middle of Ontario, having made some good progress. This year was even better, helped along by some decent running mileage along the way. Measured out, by December 31, 2013 I’d run and walked a total of 6,374.2 km since that first walk in March, 2010.

With the vagaries of the Trans-Canada Highway, and a refusal to take even virtual shortcuts through the US, this has brought me from my wee village of Lions Bay on the shores of Howe Sound in British Columbia to the [these days icy] beaches of the Atlantic Ocean right outside Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Should I have taken a left turn at Edmunston and headed for Cornerbrook via Bathurst? Should I have turned north way back at Highway #2 in Alberta and headed for Yellowknife via Fort McMurray?

So many choices!

At any rate, one thing I’ve learned while walking from one ocean across to another is a pearl of wisdom especially for the writers out there.

The best ideas I’ve had have come while walking. Walking the dog, walking on the treadmill while on my computer, hiking up a mountain. Oxygen helps the ideas flow. Added benefit — less self-loathing as a result of exercise-induced endorphins. It’s been quite a journey.

So, what would the world come to with a bunch of writers who don’t hate themselves?

Join me in 2014 and let’s find out!

 

More soon….

 

~kc

It’s fall, so lots of stuff is goin’ down — and I’m not just talkin’ leaves, man. Literary events abound, and if you want to connect in person, here’s where I’ll be in the next little while:

From North Van City librarian Heidi Schiller:

North Shore Stories is back! This time, we are featuring storytellers from the North Shore Storytelling Project, who will share their experiences as immigrants and/or refugees, on Friday, Sept. 27th. For more info and to register, visit: northshorestoriesseptember2013.eventbrite.com

I’ll be emceeing this event as my alter-ego, the North Shore Culture Days Ninja writer. It’ll be fun — come out and share your story!

Sunday, September 29th I’ll be down at Library Square in downtown Vancouver for the whole day. [It’s supposed to rain, so come keep me company, okay?] I’ll be hanging out at the SiWC booth, hopefully tucked under the overhanging walls of the library, and later in the afternoon I’ll be emceeing again, this time in the Kids Tent for writers from 4 ’til 5 pm. 

That same day, I’ll be appearing [in absentia, but my books will be there!] at the Lions Bay Culture Days event down at Lions Bay Beach Park.

As I said, lots going down. Hoping it’s not only raindrops — see you there!

 

More soon…

 

~kc

My friend Bonnie Nish launched her very first full-length book of poetry last night. The launch was a huge success and way more than 100 people showed up to celebrate. Bonnie, through her work with Pandora’s Collective and Summer Dream, through the workshops she offers to teens and those in need, to the nights without number that she has emceed Open Mic events — this is a woman with a passion. She has helped so many writers — poets and otherwise — through the years, and her new book [which I devoured whole last night] is just wonderful.

Bonnie wants to take this book on the road. She wants to go on tour, and tours are expensive, so she’s launched an Indie-go-go campaign to help her take her book to San Francisco, Toronto and Calgary…and you can help. If you care about poetry, if you care about a poet who cares about other poets, then this is the campaign for you to support. Bonnie’s won a ton of awards for her work in the writing community, and I would love to see her be able to take her act on the road, and celebrate her Love & Bones in style.

Click HERE for the campaign link. And I hope you enjoy the beauty and joy this book embodies as much as I did.

 

More soon…

 

~kc