Wednesday 21 December 2016

Behind the Scenes Series Part One: Casting a Story

Myth-Smith has been out of commission for a while, but that changes now!

I intend this place to be hopping from this moment forward! I don't want to make any grand promises about how often I post, but I will generally be trying to get something up every other day. It may be short, it may be long... but by thumb, I am really gonna try to have it up here. So, as you may have noticed, this isn't Wishcharmer. Well, don't fret on that score. There is more Wishcharmer coming next year, but what I am going to do is take you along for the process on how I write it. I know there are a lot of people telling how they write, but I'm not going to tell how YOU should write. I am just opening up my compy-screen for you to see what I do. You may not like it. You might hate it with a passion that burns deeper orange than the lava rivers of Mustafar, but that's okay. That's on you, ya crazy person!

Anyway, today is going to be the first in a whole lot of content coming your way. This first part is about a process I use to get me going when I start a book. I don't always use it, but when I'm having trouble, it's one of my go to things. Maybe everyone does this, but again, I am just telling you what I do, and opening up the conversation.

So, when I get working on a book, I start building the story and everything, but when I finally get to the fun part... I mean the writing ... I sometimes have difficulty getting the characters moving. Sometimes they just aren't there. This becomes a problem for me, since I kinda need these folks to exist for anything to be worth it. So, to get these people on the page, I sit down and start to picture the story in my head. I am a visual dude, and I think of my stories like a movie or a TV show. I see it play out in my head like that, and then I try my hardest to capture what I see. Because I write like this, I like to have a clear picture of my characters. I want to be able to see their faces, hear their voices, know how they would lean up against a wall when they talk to an old friend.

So I cast my book. I cast the heroes and villains from the vast catalog of actors and actresses that I've had the joy of watching.

This can be a tricky thing, because I don't necessarily want  Air America Robert Downey Jr. walking around my story. What I do want is a character that lives and breathes in my world. So, I may ask Robert Downey Jr. to step into the role. Once cast, that character leaps to life in my mind, and in a few short scenes, they begin to grow past that casting and begin to blossom into their own person, who knows the story and they world the inhabit.

That, to me, is the amazing part. It feels so good, and I almost feel like Doctor Frankenstein. As I add a spark of life to my inanimate character, they rise from nothing into a majestic beast! ...Hopefully without all the other stuff that goes along with Frankenstein. I am really hoping so, anyway! I don't wanna die at the hands of Jack Lantern, or Rajhu or Will... And then I don't want them to go drown a girl in a lake or something... That would be... Bad...

Anyway, that's that! Just a glimpse of what is to come. Hopefully I will be more entertaining in future outings together. Maybe if I wore a tie... rode an elephant bareback, with no shirt, chopping wood... With a chariot of fire breathing pigs, all named Stanley.

Yeah...

Let me know if any of you do something similar. Writing or reading, do you tend to put a familiar face and voice to the character?

Peace out, peeps!

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