writing romance mastery summit part two
11 Sep 2024
Here I am, back with the second part of this write up. It’s been a busy few days, but I’m getting back into my normal schedule after a short break that I spent with a good friend.
There were two other tidbits from this summit that I found useful, and I would like to talk about them a bit.
Specificity of character leads to universality and giving a character a monkey
This is a bit of a combo along with the idea of giving the character a monkey. It’s a way of conceptualizing how to write characters that I haven’t quite seen explained in this way before and like a lot. The universality example given involved trying to imagine a brown-haired woman versus trying to imagine a pink-haired punk girl. Everyone knows the latter and can imagine exactly who this person might be, while the brown-haired woman could be anyone.
The speaker talked about how the specifics of the pink-haired character made it easier for more people to imagine that person compared to a more generic description that should have been the more universal one. I liked hearing about that idea because it was, in a strange way, far easier to picture her compared to a more generically described brown-haired woman.
In the same vein, one of the presenters discussed giving a character a monkey as a means of adding interest. This was in reference to the work, Y, The Last Man, if I remember correctly, where the main character is an otherwise normal guy, but he has a monkey. The monkey itself isn’t that interesting to me, but the idea of giving a character some offbeat detail is a fun one. It’s something I’ll definitely keep in mind as I’m developing my characters.
Having to write vs. getting to write
The last of my favorite bits from this summit was from a discussion of mindset. To be honest, I’m usually pretty good at keeping up my positivity when it comes to writing and not kneejerk treating it as though it’s torture, but I really did like this particular idea because I do sometimes take the tack of thinking, “Oh, I still have to write today,” or something similar. It’s never been an issue for me precisely, so I’ve never analyzed the language too closely, but it does imply that writing is a chore one must get through rather than an artform in which to find satisfaction. It also takes for granted that it’s actually a pretty incredible thing to have the time to pursue such a passion.
As a result, I’ve begun to reframe my thoughts around this topic. It has reminded me that what I’m doing is something I love to do, that it’s not a chore to be endured. It really has helped me enjoy the work more than before. Maybe it’s a little cheesy, but I can’t find it in myself to mind that fact too much.