Splendors of Writing

To all the writers out there, from my mind and through my keyboard comes a question aimed at your eyes: Why do you write? Do you feel it a duty to bless the world with your stories? Do you have something to get off your chest? Perhaps you feel that you can add your own paint to something that is so routine and normal that its original color has worn away. Maybe writing serves as an outlet for your creative genius. How about 'all of the above'?

So what's my answer? Should I answer with 'all of the above' and be done with it? That'd be too easy, and I'm far too long-winded.

The fact is that writing doesn't make any money for me and actually takes a good portion of the little spare time I have. So why do it? Yes, it is an outlet. Yes, I like to tell stories. Mostly, however, I do it because I find it amazing that words, when put together in that perfect sequence, are capable of pulling the reader into my world...my splendid world that was born from nowhere else but my own mind. With a little effort, our dear reader is breathing the same air as my heroes, my villains and any other creatures/characters that didn't dare to exist before I came along.

Watching my characters come alive is another reason that I love to write. I simply give them a name, a face and a little dash of persuasion. After that, I stand back and wait for them to surprise me, and I am rarely let down. Try as I may to contain them in an outline, they find a way to bend and stretch it into one that better fits them. 

So again I ask, why do you do it? What are your most cherished reasons for writing?

Thanks for reading!

-- Tim

The Walking Dead and Complex Characters

Today I was thinking about The Walking Dead series. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's because there's a lack of things on to watch now that all of the reality shows my wife and I watch are over for the year, and it's been a while since I saw a zombie's brain get splattered into a red, gooey mist behind him/her/it.

I really enjoyed that show, not because of the zombies or the special effects (though they were both bad ass) but because of the characters in Rick's group. They each came with their own stories, their own flaws, their own beliefs. Let's face it...a zombie flick is a zombie flick. Don't let them bite you, shoot them in the head and it will all be okay. There has to be something special to pull me in, and with this show, it was the constant interaction between the characters that did it. It was how they dealt with the loss of the only society familiar to them. Here they are, their families dead, their lives up heaved, the game changed forever.  Yet they manage to carry on and work together in order to survive in a world where they are the pray.

Without a doubt, my favorite character was Shane. Yep, Shane...the one who slept with his best friend's wife and tried to steal his family, the one who sacrificed Otis to keep his own skin from becoming zombie fodder, the one who tried to kill our hero Rick. Yes, he was an ass...no doubt. But more than that, he was a very complicated character. I could never justly place him in either the evil villain or good guy category.

Everything he did, no matter how much we despised him for his actions, could have been rooted with just cause. The intriguing thing is that we will never know. Before leaving Rick's hospital room, he blocked the entrance so the zombies couldn't get in...a gesture of someone who clearly means to protect his friend the best he can in that moment. At the same time, he beds Rick's wife and takes on the role of husband and father. But if he truly believed Rick to be dead...is that such a bad thing? Only Shane knows his true intentions.

He volunteered to go with Otis to the high school to get the life-saving supplies to save Rick's son. He didn't have to, but he cared enough for Carl, Lori (and even Rick) to go. If Shane didn't kill Otis, both Shane AND Otis would have surely met their end, and without the supplies Carl would have probably met his too.

Throughout his time on the farm, it seemed that his goal was to protect the group and especially Rick's family. Yes, his ways were often crass and/or inhumane, but he felt the situations that faced them deserved such cruelty. He truly believed Rick's methods were inferior, and that they put the group at risk. A lot of times, he seemed to be right. For example, if he didn't kill the zombies in the barn, they could have escaped and infected the group, and zombie-Sophia, the missing little girl who they were searching for for the entire season may never have been found. Shane was one of my favorite riddles to try to solve every episode.

As I said before, my favorite part of writing is fleshing out these types of characters, giving them the ball and having them run with it in a pattern that only they understand. Maybe they will get to the end zone...maybe they won't. Regardless, it is one hell of an experience trying to get them there, as I hope it is for the reader to bear witness.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading!


- Tim

Character Development

I think one of my favorite parts of writing is character development. Before I start writing anything, I have a clear picture of my characters in my mind and a decent idea of where they are headed throughout the story.

What always ends up happening is that they surprise me! Through the dialogue and their actions...they almost write their own story. It's as if they really have their own personality and no matter what I have in store for them, they'll take it on in their own way. More than a few times, I try to make a character do something, and I can't make it happen. I can write it a million different ways, but it never fits because the characters have a say.

A good example is from my short story "The Death Bump". The main character, Justin, was meant to just be a regular kid with amplified problems...problems that were heavy enough to make him want to end his life. He's also a kid that couldn't stand his family, including his sister...at least that's how I originally planned it. His little sister Rosie wasn't supposed to play an important role in changing his mindset within the story. But somehow his love for her forced its way into the plot and drove his actions accordingly. I didn't initially write the story that way, but once I gave into it...everything fit and fell into place like it couldn't nor shouldn't be written any other way.

The same type of thing is happening time and time again in my novel, and it adds to the excitement of writing it. Though I know the story's final destination, my characters are telling me how I'm to get there. Neat stuff!