Hyperink.com Question of the Month

What makes a compelling character in a book or movie?
Compelling characters are a key element in successful books and movies. People want to get lost in a book or a movie and part of what transports them is a strong character. Think of Scarlett O'Hara in the movie Gone with the Wind. She isn't always nice or fun, but she's certainly interesting. She has depth to her. We see her true nature as she struggles to survive. She is at times polite and coquettish, and at other times downright nasty and distasteful. But we as viewers can put ourselves in her shoes and relate to each struggle, even though we've never experienced anything like it. And in the end, we root for Scarlett to get a happy ending. Despite how things turn out for her, we want her to have everything she desires. She compells us to continue watching, despite her failings. We may not want to be her, but we want to see how her story ends. We can't look away.

NaNoWriMo 2011

For those of you who aren't familiar with it, NaNoWriMo is a month-long writing exercise that encourages writers to reach for the goal of writing 55,000 words, the length of a short novel in the month of November, which is National Novel Writing Month. So, with my usual trepidation mixed with excitement, I have leapt aboard the writing train. I've attempted this feat before, but have never gotten far. This year, I figure if I tell people about my journey, it gives me some accountability.

So far, progress is slow. I have trashed and restarted this story numerous times and really feel strongly that it should be written. I just have a hard time with the direction of the plot. I'll get it going in one direction, then hate that direction and start over again. Well, no more starting over! This time I'm going to follow those rabbit holes all the way to the bottom. Then, once I've got something finished. I'll feel better about it and really will be able to make revisions. So, I've included a link to my Word Count Widget below. No a great deal of progress so far, but hopefully it will start picking up. Tonight, basketball (go Wolverines!) followed by writing. I'll check in tomorrow with my progress.