Writing Tip Tuesday!!

Write what you want to write not what others want you to write. If you try to get into this idea you want to write what’s popular now it’s not going to be popular when your book is finished.
Also, listen to your characters, because when you listen to your characters instead of everyone else, I think that’s when you write a good story. ~~Elizabeth Kolodziej~~ 

I believe writers have a sixth sense. We are the wizards who conjure characters from the salts and spices derived from the gardens of our souls. We are the modern day explorers of the human psyche, often pushing ourselves to the brink of maddness in order to bring to life the very beings we conjure.

A good writer listens to characters that don't exist accept for in our minds. It is this reason I believe we are all a little mad on some level. Each character we create has a personality of their own. They have a past that makes them who they are. They have their own perception to the given situations we put them in.

There are times when we have trouble knowing what our characters will and won't react to. That's when it's time to step back and take a look at who they are. See who they are as individuals. Getting to know your character is also called a character study. There are many ways to do this.

One way is to make a list of the character traits for each individual being you create. Is this person quick to temper? Is she a love struck follower? Is this person compassionate and caring? Is he abusive?

This list can help decide how the character will react. When we listen to our characters, we are in fact listening to ourselves. We are getting to know other sides of who we are. There are small truths taken from our own lives that we give to our creations. It is in those truths, we are able to develope a relatable individual our readers will laugh and cry with. It is then that we have done our job.