Lately I've been pondering the question "What makes a character feel real?" In other words, what makes a character come alive, jump off the page, feel like a full-fledged human being. Here are five thoughts for this Friday:

        

I'm back! I hope everyone has been enjoying the last bit of summer. My younger child went back to school yesterday and it felt like a very abrupt end to summer. But before that, I had a really relaxing and rejuvenating couple of weeks. One of the great things for me about getting away is that I really give myself permission to put absolutely everything I usually worry about on the back burner. (I highly recommend doing this from time to time -- what a gift!) Here's some of what I did and where it led me:

        

Yes, it's true, I'll be taking a blogging hiatus for the next couple of weeks. I know -- you're heartbroken Here are five ways I'll be spending my time while I'm not blogging:

        

It's been a while since I posted an interview with one of my 2009 Deb buddies. But today we are fortunate to have Shani Petroff stopping by. She's here to tell us about her third book in the Bedeviled series, which came out in June. I love that Angel never gives up. She always has a new idea or brainstorm to get her out of a problem or to help a friend--even if that involves using the powers she inherited from the devil. Powers that often get her into loads of trouble!

Very entertaining trouble If you were spending the day with her what would you do together?

        

When you think about your childhood home, notice how imbued with meaning and memory every item is -- the couch that you slept on when your grandparents were visiting, the dining room table where holidays were celebrated, your bookshelf that held all your treasured toys, books, yearbooks, etc. It's almost impossible to think of the place or its objects without thinking also of how and when they were used or special memories you associate with them. So when you build a home for your characters, the same must be true. You can give them a bedroom or a home with things inside of it. But if you don't take the time to create the surrounding memories, your character's home will be hollow. Is this time-consuming? Yes. Is it worth it? Definitely. Here's a Friday Five list to get you started:

        

I hate to admit it, but sometimes having to wait for what you want can be a good thing. Like in the summer I don't have as much time to write. In fact, before this week, I'd gone several weeks without any writing time at all. But THEN, when I got a couple of mornings to write this week, everything that had been brewing and percolating during my hiatus came pouring out. And in just those few mornings, I wrote over twenty pages on my work-in-progress! This story is flowing in a very different way from other stories I've written. It's more plot-based (as opposed to my usual character-driven stories.) Because of that there is much less detail and texture to this first draft than I'm used to. In some ways that scares me because I worry about whether I'll be able to "fix" it. But it's also exciting to watch the plot unfold so quickly. I've also been doing a little reading on the craft of writing, in part to reassure myself that many writers write this way and that I will be able to go back and deepen characters, flesh out details, etc. I recommend Writing The Breakout Novel by Donald Maass to anyone looking for a good book on writing. Here's a quick list of revision steps I'll take once I get to the end.

        

I just finished reading a YA novel called Sorta Like A Rock Star. There were things I loved about it and things that got on my nerves. I also cried buckets of tears, half of them while sitting on a bench at my son's mixed martial arts class, surreptitiously wiping the tears so people wouldn't come over to see if I was okay. One of the things I liked about the book was this character who was a Vietnam vet who wrote haikus. His way of dealing with life and the trauma of what he'd been through was focusing on the present moment, writing haikus that captured one moment. I've never written haikus, but it's something I might play with. In the meantime, in the spirit of present-moment appreciation, here are five summertime moments I appreciate:

        

Since it's the 4th of July weekend, I thought I'd do a list this week related to independence, not our nation's independence, more like individual independence. What does independence mean to you?

        

It's Friday Five time! Here are five prompts to jump start your writing:

        

Just for fun, I thought I'd post the playlist for my manuscript that is out on submission right now. Most of these songs are referenced in the story, although a few of them were just songs I listened to a lot while writing the manuscript.