I wish you the best on your falling and flying this weekend. Have a happy Friday.
Friday, June 24, 2016
Friday Inspiration
I wish you the best on your falling and flying this weekend. Have a happy Friday.
Thursday, June 23, 2016
Throwback Thursday: How I Used to Plot
So... how I used to plot. I have to think back to 2008, because, before that... I didn't really plot. I was a pantser, who just wrote what I thought would work, and didn't think there was anything wrong with it. Heck, I still don't think anything is wrong with it, because I will pants short stories vs outright planning them, and I like it. So, again, nothing horrible with pantsing. I am a former and current one.
But, thinking back to 2008, for my first NaNoWriMo win, I don't think I really had an outline? It's been eight years (jeez!) and I had a lot going on. For starters, I was a volunteer in the field for the OFA. I was doing long days and I didn't start until day 5 of the month. Also, I had one of the worst flus of my short life and I don't think I wrote more than 500 words a day until I was better. But I put my head down and wrote, getting to 50,000 words. I then put the novel away until marathon writing to get a free proof as part of the winner goodies. I still have that proof.
As for if I had an outline, I did. I finally found it, in the deep dark depths of my computer, and see that I was doing a back and forth between the good guys and the bad guys. It's something that I've only tried once again, with Mystery of the Dark going back and forth between Kate and Justinian, but it didn't work. I feel like going back and forth can work, considering A Song of Fire and Ice, but you have to make sure that your plot is strong enough. It should also be consistent, which my plot was not, as I had three or four chapters before it changed sides. I feel like the plot of Power is strong enough to go through that, but I need to go back and edit. The writing... well, it's horrible. I love the plot but that writing from 2008 is horrible. I don't even feel bad telling on myself.
So, looking back, I was a lot more rigid in how I wrote with the outlines. There was no "Hey, side mission looks cool" fluidity. It was point A to point Z with nothing stopping them. I don't think I could write like that now but it would be an interesting challenge to try. So, readers, how much have you changed from when you finished your first novel and now with planning? Have you not changed much? Gone from pantser to plotter? Plotter to pantser? Leave your comments below and, until next time, keep on writing.
But, thinking back to 2008, for my first NaNoWriMo win, I don't think I really had an outline? It's been eight years (jeez!) and I had a lot going on. For starters, I was a volunteer in the field for the OFA. I was doing long days and I didn't start until day 5 of the month. Also, I had one of the worst flus of my short life and I don't think I wrote more than 500 words a day until I was better. But I put my head down and wrote, getting to 50,000 words. I then put the novel away until marathon writing to get a free proof as part of the winner goodies. I still have that proof.
As for if I had an outline, I did. I finally found it, in the deep dark depths of my computer, and see that I was doing a back and forth between the good guys and the bad guys. It's something that I've only tried once again, with Mystery of the Dark going back and forth between Kate and Justinian, but it didn't work. I feel like going back and forth can work, considering A Song of Fire and Ice, but you have to make sure that your plot is strong enough. It should also be consistent, which my plot was not, as I had three or four chapters before it changed sides. I feel like the plot of Power is strong enough to go through that, but I need to go back and edit. The writing... well, it's horrible. I love the plot but that writing from 2008 is horrible. I don't even feel bad telling on myself.
So, looking back, I was a lot more rigid in how I wrote with the outlines. There was no "Hey, side mission looks cool" fluidity. It was point A to point Z with nothing stopping them. I don't think I could write like that now but it would be an interesting challenge to try. So, readers, how much have you changed from when you finished your first novel and now with planning? Have you not changed much? Gone from pantser to plotter? Plotter to pantser? Leave your comments below and, until next time, keep on writing.
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Writer Style
Me? I go between jeans and a t-shirt or my PJs when writing. You've got to be comfy or you're not going to be happy when writing. If comfy is dressing up, then dress up, but some nice slouchy jeans, a loose t-shirt, and I'm happy.
Oh, you mean something else. Well, most do. Writing style can mean what you're wearing when you write or how you write. Since we've got one out of the way, let's go to the second part of how I write.
I... well, sometimes I write a lot like I write here on the blog. I like to think that this style is a bit of conversation more than throwing information at you. I've been known to throw information at people in my novel, aka a info dump, which is not the best thing to do. Tuesday's post is an example of an info dump, where I gave you all that information, but not much of anything else until near the end. It's something you want to get away from as a writer but it's also not the worst thing to get out and then edit down.
Then there are times when I write when my fingers cannot catch up to my brain no matter what I do. It's messy and I try to clean it up, but there are things that escape my attention. It's where my beta readers send it back and say "Liz, you need to work on your grammar" because it's true. I'm not known for crisp clean grammar, which is why I have readers and an editor and everything else. So, again, not the worst thing in the world, but you've got to be willing to edit.
I guess that's what I'm coming down to. No matter what you do, you're going to have to edit. It's a way of life, a circle of writing if you will, and one that's it's hard to step out of. So, dear readers, what is your writing style? Clothing or otherwise.
Until next time, keep on writing.
Oh, you mean something else. Well, most do. Writing style can mean what you're wearing when you write or how you write. Since we've got one out of the way, let's go to the second part of how I write.
I... well, sometimes I write a lot like I write here on the blog. I like to think that this style is a bit of conversation more than throwing information at you. I've been known to throw information at people in my novel, aka a info dump, which is not the best thing to do. Tuesday's post is an example of an info dump, where I gave you all that information, but not much of anything else until near the end. It's something you want to get away from as a writer but it's also not the worst thing to get out and then edit down.
Then there are times when I write when my fingers cannot catch up to my brain no matter what I do. It's messy and I try to clean it up, but there are things that escape my attention. It's where my beta readers send it back and say "Liz, you need to work on your grammar" because it's true. I'm not known for crisp clean grammar, which is why I have readers and an editor and everything else. So, again, not the worst thing in the world, but you've got to be willing to edit.
I guess that's what I'm coming down to. No matter what you do, you're going to have to edit. It's a way of life, a circle of writing if you will, and one that's it's hard to step out of. So, dear readers, what is your writing style? Clothing or otherwise.
Until next time, keep on writing.
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Plotting Time!: AKA How I Plot a Novel
Yesterday, I talked about pants vs plotter and showed a bit of the hybrid going between the two. Today, we're going to go into what I usually do when I am plotting a novel and the steps I go through before I get to plotting.
Before I can even get to plotting, I like to set up what is called the basic stats of the novel. I like to have a title in mind, even if it's mystery novel, more than any sort of real title. I put which genre I'll be writing in, a subgenre if needed, how many words I plan to write, if there's a challenge involved such as NaNoWriMo, and a summary. You're probably wondering how I can have a summary before I have a plot, but the summary isn't all that in depth. Sometimes it'll just be a few lines of the idea that I have and then I'll come back to fill in the summary after I've got the plot outline done.
If you're wondering how long your novel should be, LitRejections has genre guidelines that can be found here. For fantasy, I always try to shoot for 90,000 and to not go above 100,000. It seems like a lot but, at the end of the novel, I'm always right in-between 90 and 100 thousand words.
After you have your basic stats, I then create the world through worldbuilding. If you're setting something in the real world, you don't have to create a whole new world. However, you do need to know where your characters are going to be at any given moment. To take Chicago as an example, you'll want a map or two in order to see where your characters are going. Are they going to travel by car or are they going to take public transport? If it's public transport, are you going by bus or L? So, it does take a bit of research and visiting the city that you want to set your city in. I know that we have Google and other ways to look, but sometimes the best way to know your setting is to visit it. How else are you going to know that the best way to get across town as quickly as possible? You won't unless you go and see for yourself. If you are creating a new world, I highly recommend Patrica C. Wrede's Worldbuilder Questions, 30 Days of Worldbuilding, and Anna Staniszewski's World Building Through Character. I've used the last link a lot as it springboards into creating more of the fantasy world in different ways than the other two.
So, you've got your world, now it's time for characters. There are a lot of character sheets that you can use out there. However, I find it easy to boil down the characters to the following:
Name:
Age / Apparent Age:
Appearance:
Background:
About (Personality):
Weapons, Magical Ability, Misc:
Now, I sometimes do this before I get into world building. It helps to have an idea of the characters I went to set in the world vs creating a world and then putting the characters into them. You can write as little or as much as you want, but that's the basic formula I use to create my characters. There are also various places where you can get appearance ideas, but I recommend just taking a look around you when you're out and about. Sometimes you get the best ideas by seeing people in Starbucks and deciding that their mohawk works perfectly for the character in your head.
So, now we're at the outline. You're probably all thinking "thank Deity of Choice". Since we have everything all together before getting to this point, there are some novels where the outline writes itself. All one needs to remember is the classic where you have a start, the middle, and the end. I like throwing in a little curve or twist near the end, before you get the clear ending, as a way to put in a bit more plot. It's usually used with police procedural, when they think they've got the killer, but it turns out to be someone they suspected but discarded. It's not rocket science and this outline type has gotten me through a lot of different novels.
So, that's how I plot out my novels. It takes a while, so I like to give myself a month or two before I sit down to write. That way I can make sure that everything is in order and I don't need to change anything. Plotting is a lot of work but it is nothing compared to trying to write the novel itself. So, you want to make sure that you like what you're about to write, you like the characters, and you know the world. If you've got those three, then you're going to be all set.
Would this method work for you? I'd like to know, if you feel like leaving a comment, or if you've got a method that works better. Until next time, keep on writing.
Before I can even get to plotting, I like to set up what is called the basic stats of the novel. I like to have a title in mind, even if it's mystery novel, more than any sort of real title. I put which genre I'll be writing in, a subgenre if needed, how many words I plan to write, if there's a challenge involved such as NaNoWriMo, and a summary. You're probably wondering how I can have a summary before I have a plot, but the summary isn't all that in depth. Sometimes it'll just be a few lines of the idea that I have and then I'll come back to fill in the summary after I've got the plot outline done.
If you're wondering how long your novel should be, LitRejections has genre guidelines that can be found here. For fantasy, I always try to shoot for 90,000 and to not go above 100,000. It seems like a lot but, at the end of the novel, I'm always right in-between 90 and 100 thousand words.
After you have your basic stats, I then create the world through worldbuilding. If you're setting something in the real world, you don't have to create a whole new world. However, you do need to know where your characters are going to be at any given moment. To take Chicago as an example, you'll want a map or two in order to see where your characters are going. Are they going to travel by car or are they going to take public transport? If it's public transport, are you going by bus or L? So, it does take a bit of research and visiting the city that you want to set your city in. I know that we have Google and other ways to look, but sometimes the best way to know your setting is to visit it. How else are you going to know that the best way to get across town as quickly as possible? You won't unless you go and see for yourself. If you are creating a new world, I highly recommend Patrica C. Wrede's Worldbuilder Questions, 30 Days of Worldbuilding, and Anna Staniszewski's World Building Through Character. I've used the last link a lot as it springboards into creating more of the fantasy world in different ways than the other two.
So, you've got your world, now it's time for characters. There are a lot of character sheets that you can use out there. However, I find it easy to boil down the characters to the following:
Name:
Age / Apparent Age:
Appearance:
Background:
About (Personality):
Weapons, Magical Ability, Misc:
Now, I sometimes do this before I get into world building. It helps to have an idea of the characters I went to set in the world vs creating a world and then putting the characters into them. You can write as little or as much as you want, but that's the basic formula I use to create my characters. There are also various places where you can get appearance ideas, but I recommend just taking a look around you when you're out and about. Sometimes you get the best ideas by seeing people in Starbucks and deciding that their mohawk works perfectly for the character in your head.
So, now we're at the outline. You're probably all thinking "thank Deity of Choice". Since we have everything all together before getting to this point, there are some novels where the outline writes itself. All one needs to remember is the classic where you have a start, the middle, and the end. I like throwing in a little curve or twist near the end, before you get the clear ending, as a way to put in a bit more plot. It's usually used with police procedural, when they think they've got the killer, but it turns out to be someone they suspected but discarded. It's not rocket science and this outline type has gotten me through a lot of different novels.
So, that's how I plot out my novels. It takes a while, so I like to give myself a month or two before I sit down to write. That way I can make sure that everything is in order and I don't need to change anything. Plotting is a lot of work but it is nothing compared to trying to write the novel itself. So, you want to make sure that you like what you're about to write, you like the characters, and you know the world. If you've got those three, then you're going to be all set.
Would this method work for you? I'd like to know, if you feel like leaving a comment, or if you've got a method that works better. Until next time, keep on writing.
Monday, June 20, 2016
Pants vs Plots
Last week, if you didn't notice, we had a lot of talk about characters. I thought we'd continue with trends and go into talking this week about plotting. Now, this won't always happen, mostly because it was random last week and this week I planned this, but I thought it would be a nice little continuation. I'm more than happy to also do a week about world building and please feel free to comment below if you would like that sooner rather than later.
However, this week, there's plotting. Plotting can involve a lot of things. Making character sketches is a form of plotting, even if you don't think it is, because you're thinking out ways that your character has a form and background. World building, even if you're using the real world around you is another form of plotting. So there are a lot of little ways that you can plot without even knowing it. For the purpose of this post, we're going to talk about the traditional form of plotting, an outline, versus going by the seat of pants, aka pantsing.
Disclaimer: There is nothing wrong with either. I have done both and both have strengths and weaknesses. I've even done a hybrid form of pants and plotting, which I will explain, but I am not bashing one way or another. Both have their place in the writing world and both can work and not work for you. That out of the way, let's talk.
Pantsing is exactly what it sounds. You are going by the seat of your pants, wherever you want to go, and you write your plot. This frees you up to write the story as it comes to you and it is quite freeing. You don't have a road map and you can go all over the place. This is really nice if you have these great characters and just want to throw them into a situation then go from there. So, character A and character B walk into a bar and they can meet up. They can get in a fight and then go through how their lives intersect before possibly getting together in the end. One of the more popular ways to pants is to take on dares from other people to further your novel, like include a trip to a taco bar, and go from there. Like all things, there's also challenges to this because you have to be self disciplined. You have to be willing to just write, no matter what, and hope that you're connecting all your plots in the end. I feel this also needs the most editing after you've completed a draft.
Plotting is also the same thing as it sounds. You create an outline, a road map, where you go from point A to point Z with your characters. To take the example of the two characters walking into a bar, you'd probably have all the reasons stated for why one of the characters are there. You have a setup and a background and probably a few chapters before that character walks into the bar. This is great and, while there will still need to be editing, there's less chance for having to edit for stray plot holes. However, you're locked into what you're doing. You can't really have a random taco bar meeting that you would if you were pantsing unless it's already in your outline. You are set in that outline that you have put forward and you need to get through your plot.
Now, there is a third way, which I think a lot of plotters do that's a hybrid of plotting and pantsing. Basically, you have the outline, but it's a fluid one. Say you like the idea about the random taco bar meeting and you have a place where it could go in your outline. So, you put it in and, while writing, character C becomes involved and you have a love triangle. You go back to your outline and change out what happens in the chapters going forward. The outline, while still your road map, is now changed and possibly for the better. This might be the way for you, if you do need that bit of plotting, but want the freedom of pantsing. I've found that it helps, especially when I get in the middle of a story to completely change a character, and it helps to make sure that all the tendrils of the story still goes together to make a complete story.
There are a million other ways to write and make sure that your story is complete. What's the way that you decide to go forward with writing your novel? Do you plot, pants, or something in between? Feel free to leave comments below and, until next time, keep on writing.
However, this week, there's plotting. Plotting can involve a lot of things. Making character sketches is a form of plotting, even if you don't think it is, because you're thinking out ways that your character has a form and background. World building, even if you're using the real world around you is another form of plotting. So there are a lot of little ways that you can plot without even knowing it. For the purpose of this post, we're going to talk about the traditional form of plotting, an outline, versus going by the seat of pants, aka pantsing.
Disclaimer: There is nothing wrong with either. I have done both and both have strengths and weaknesses. I've even done a hybrid form of pants and plotting, which I will explain, but I am not bashing one way or another. Both have their place in the writing world and both can work and not work for you. That out of the way, let's talk.
Pantsing is exactly what it sounds. You are going by the seat of your pants, wherever you want to go, and you write your plot. This frees you up to write the story as it comes to you and it is quite freeing. You don't have a road map and you can go all over the place. This is really nice if you have these great characters and just want to throw them into a situation then go from there. So, character A and character B walk into a bar and they can meet up. They can get in a fight and then go through how their lives intersect before possibly getting together in the end. One of the more popular ways to pants is to take on dares from other people to further your novel, like include a trip to a taco bar, and go from there. Like all things, there's also challenges to this because you have to be self disciplined. You have to be willing to just write, no matter what, and hope that you're connecting all your plots in the end. I feel this also needs the most editing after you've completed a draft.
Plotting is also the same thing as it sounds. You create an outline, a road map, where you go from point A to point Z with your characters. To take the example of the two characters walking into a bar, you'd probably have all the reasons stated for why one of the characters are there. You have a setup and a background and probably a few chapters before that character walks into the bar. This is great and, while there will still need to be editing, there's less chance for having to edit for stray plot holes. However, you're locked into what you're doing. You can't really have a random taco bar meeting that you would if you were pantsing unless it's already in your outline. You are set in that outline that you have put forward and you need to get through your plot.
Now, there is a third way, which I think a lot of plotters do that's a hybrid of plotting and pantsing. Basically, you have the outline, but it's a fluid one. Say you like the idea about the random taco bar meeting and you have a place where it could go in your outline. So, you put it in and, while writing, character C becomes involved and you have a love triangle. You go back to your outline and change out what happens in the chapters going forward. The outline, while still your road map, is now changed and possibly for the better. This might be the way for you, if you do need that bit of plotting, but want the freedom of pantsing. I've found that it helps, especially when I get in the middle of a story to completely change a character, and it helps to make sure that all the tendrils of the story still goes together to make a complete story.
There are a million other ways to write and make sure that your story is complete. What's the way that you decide to go forward with writing your novel? Do you plot, pants, or something in between? Feel free to leave comments below and, until next time, keep on writing.
Friday, June 17, 2016
Your Friday Five
Hello again to the Friday Five. The following are important stories that happened in the week to things that I think you might want to know to sometimes bizarre.
1. Pulse, Orlando: Deadliest Mass Shooting to Date. That's an updated article and my heart goes out to the families of those lost and the victims who are trying to heal. Here's one of the ways to help - GoFundMe to Support Victims of Pulse Shooting - but, if you can and live in the Orlando area or Florida in general, please go give blood.
2. Dogs Probably Hate Hugs from self.com. The funny thing is that Cookie is the complete opposite. She leans into me, not turning away, there's no licking, and she's happy to be held. Then again, she's a Cavachon and half of her is lap dog. Well, no, all of her is lap dog and wanting attention. Brat (said with love).
3. In the UK: Supreme Court to Hear Wheelchair vs Buggy Case. Buggy meaning stroller but this is so foreign to me. Where I live, it's a law that you have to give up your seat if someone disabled comes on if you're sitting in that area of the bus. I wonder if there was ever a case similar to this and that's where it comes from. It's something to wander down the Google hole with over the weekend.
4. If you're in Philadelphia, there's now a soda tax. As someone who used to drink soda, I think this is strange and not needed. You get taxed on so much depending on where you live and it can be expensive - Cook County, where I live, is up to 11% - so I don't like it. As something that could possibly get people to be healthier and drink less soda... I think it's going to fail. People are either going to want to drink soda or not drink soda. I don't want to, as it's just not what I do anymore, but thinking that making people pay more money thinking they'll stop drinking the stuff? Well, people still smoke and taxes on cigarettes are insane.
5.
via GIPHY
Have a good weekend everyone!
1. Pulse, Orlando: Deadliest Mass Shooting to Date. That's an updated article and my heart goes out to the families of those lost and the victims who are trying to heal. Here's one of the ways to help - GoFundMe to Support Victims of Pulse Shooting - but, if you can and live in the Orlando area or Florida in general, please go give blood.
2. Dogs Probably Hate Hugs from self.com. The funny thing is that Cookie is the complete opposite. She leans into me, not turning away, there's no licking, and she's happy to be held. Then again, she's a Cavachon and half of her is lap dog. Well, no, all of her is lap dog and wanting attention. Brat (said with love).
3. In the UK: Supreme Court to Hear Wheelchair vs Buggy Case. Buggy meaning stroller but this is so foreign to me. Where I live, it's a law that you have to give up your seat if someone disabled comes on if you're sitting in that area of the bus. I wonder if there was ever a case similar to this and that's where it comes from. It's something to wander down the Google hole with over the weekend.
4. If you're in Philadelphia, there's now a soda tax. As someone who used to drink soda, I think this is strange and not needed. You get taxed on so much depending on where you live and it can be expensive - Cook County, where I live, is up to 11% - so I don't like it. As something that could possibly get people to be healthier and drink less soda... I think it's going to fail. People are either going to want to drink soda or not drink soda. I don't want to, as it's just not what I do anymore, but thinking that making people pay more money thinking they'll stop drinking the stuff? Well, people still smoke and taxes on cigarettes are insane.
5.
via GIPHY
Have a good weekend everyone!
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Character Studies
I just watched Person of Interest's penultimate episode, .exe, and I'm in awe of all the complex characters they have. There's the Machine, who only wants to help humanity because that's what she was taught by her creator, Harold Finch. Harold, himself, is shrouded in mystery and we've gotten very little about who he really is over the seasons. There's John Reese, not the first lost soul that helps Finch help the Machine, but as the series comes to an end next week, it looks like he's going to be the last. He's got a military background, a CIA background, basically he's your Jack of All Trades who's signature is shooting the bad guys in the kneecaps. Then there's Sameen Shaw, who also has a CIA / spy background, who likes killing people and can't feel emotions. At all.
And that's just the good guys. The antagonists are just as complex, make me want to know exactly what make them tick, and yet I want them to fail. I want them to fail in such a way that everything they want is burned to the ground and the good guys win. They've got a Machine too - Samaritan - and an evil Harold (John Greer) and Greer has different Johns and Shaws to help him out in his own ways. I want to know more about why Greer chose his path, even though they did show us in a background episode, but I feel there's more. There's got to be more.
I bring this up, mostly because I'm in awe of the writing and the acting, but because we can learn from this. It's not easy and you have to love, unconditionally, what you decide to take to study. If you don't love the thing you're going to unpack, then it's not going to work. You're going to get frustrated and you're going to hate it in the end. You won't take anything away from it. On the flip side, you might unpack it and end up hating the thing you love. I went down this hole with Grey's Anatomy, in trying to understand how to work out romance and chick lit, and I had to take a break from the show. So, make sure that you want to do this and you won't end up hating what you're unpacking.
Simply put, you take the character that interests you the most and unpack why. It can be as simple as you like the actor playing the character to the character giving an impassioned speech that makes you rethink what you know about them. If it's more the actor than the character, then you need to look to the actor. Is it the way they're delivering the lines? A little twitch of the head that seems to bring the character together? Or is it simply the whole package that the actor shows everything the character could be? For example, I'll watch nearly anything with Tom Cruise in it due to how he plays his characters. Same goes for Matt Damon. It's more how they play the character than how the character plays them, if you get my meaning.
Now, if it's the character, what about them? Is it that they're leading from behind? Or is it that they're the best leader of the group? What is the trait that draws you to them and, once you find it, are you going to be able to write it? Or, when you dive into what makes the character tick, do you regret doing so? Do you realize that he or she would make a better villain? You can still use what you find but put it into the villain file instead of the hero pile.
For those of you who are wondering what to do if you realize the plot is the reason you love your favorite show... well, do the same thing. Find the one thing in the plot that you love and figure out why. Is it the plot twists that you can't seem coming but feel completely natural? Learn how to write like that - it's hard but it can be done. Or do you like how there are a million plot threads that lead to one conclusion (or at least we hope so, Game of Thrones)? I recommend a big white board where you can connect A to B all the way to Z.
So, character studies, of characters that you love, is one of the easier things to do. As I was told recently, if you don't love it, then don't do it. There's no reason to force yourself to do anything that isn't going to help you in the long term. I hope that this helps someone. If you try to do a character study in the way above, feel free to hop in the comments and say how well it worked or didn't work for you.
Until next time, keep on writing.
And that's just the good guys. The antagonists are just as complex, make me want to know exactly what make them tick, and yet I want them to fail. I want them to fail in such a way that everything they want is burned to the ground and the good guys win. They've got a Machine too - Samaritan - and an evil Harold (John Greer) and Greer has different Johns and Shaws to help him out in his own ways. I want to know more about why Greer chose his path, even though they did show us in a background episode, but I feel there's more. There's got to be more.
I bring this up, mostly because I'm in awe of the writing and the acting, but because we can learn from this. It's not easy and you have to love, unconditionally, what you decide to take to study. If you don't love the thing you're going to unpack, then it's not going to work. You're going to get frustrated and you're going to hate it in the end. You won't take anything away from it. On the flip side, you might unpack it and end up hating the thing you love. I went down this hole with Grey's Anatomy, in trying to understand how to work out romance and chick lit, and I had to take a break from the show. So, make sure that you want to do this and you won't end up hating what you're unpacking.
Simply put, you take the character that interests you the most and unpack why. It can be as simple as you like the actor playing the character to the character giving an impassioned speech that makes you rethink what you know about them. If it's more the actor than the character, then you need to look to the actor. Is it the way they're delivering the lines? A little twitch of the head that seems to bring the character together? Or is it simply the whole package that the actor shows everything the character could be? For example, I'll watch nearly anything with Tom Cruise in it due to how he plays his characters. Same goes for Matt Damon. It's more how they play the character than how the character plays them, if you get my meaning.
Now, if it's the character, what about them? Is it that they're leading from behind? Or is it that they're the best leader of the group? What is the trait that draws you to them and, once you find it, are you going to be able to write it? Or, when you dive into what makes the character tick, do you regret doing so? Do you realize that he or she would make a better villain? You can still use what you find but put it into the villain file instead of the hero pile.
For those of you who are wondering what to do if you realize the plot is the reason you love your favorite show... well, do the same thing. Find the one thing in the plot that you love and figure out why. Is it the plot twists that you can't seem coming but feel completely natural? Learn how to write like that - it's hard but it can be done. Or do you like how there are a million plot threads that lead to one conclusion (or at least we hope so, Game of Thrones)? I recommend a big white board where you can connect A to B all the way to Z.
So, character studies, of characters that you love, is one of the easier things to do. As I was told recently, if you don't love it, then don't do it. There's no reason to force yourself to do anything that isn't going to help you in the long term. I hope that this helps someone. If you try to do a character study in the way above, feel free to hop in the comments and say how well it worked or didn't work for you.
Until next time, keep on writing.
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