Writing Wild with Verna McKinnon

Okay, the thing is, I am always in a better mood when I write. It does keep me sane in this loopy world. When I am there, it flows and things are good. Much of my flow comes from a good organization of my characters and world for my tales. As I have been putting together the goods for my next two novels, there are a some writing commandments I would like to share with my readers and hopeful writers, so that it may help you create worlds of your own. 1. Character Outlines: This includes name, age, basic physical points like hair and eye color, race, importance in story, relationships, and anything that would be important to your tale. A good character breakdown list is a good thing to work with. 2. Go with the impulse: A few of my favorite characters were not planned at all. They were meant to be very minor characters or not even in book at all, but they popped in head as I was writing and they basically came to life. Go with this-it is your inner muse giving you a boo

This is a dreadful Monday. I learned this morning via phone call from my husband Rick that one of my favorite actors, Edward Woodward, has passed away. Mr. Woodward's voice was the inspiration for one of my major characters in Familiar's Tale series, Belwyn the Owl, familiar to Cathal the sorcerer. I know it may seem odd, but I imagine very specific voices for my characters in my "Familiar's Tale" series. Edward Woodward (who had been a fav long before I conceived of Belwyn the Owl) was a wonderful actor and someone I wished I could have met. The minute I put his voice to the character of Belwyn the owl, he was truly born. Those of you that have read my book Gate of Souls know who Belwyn is, and what a great character he is. I hope that pays the great actor some small tribute. Edward Woodward will be missed.

As a writer, it is an important skill. You need to focus to get all the great imaginative stuff jumping about in your brain into print mode (be it paper, computers, whatever) and it is often so damn tough because you get distracted by the idiocy of the world. It is easy for writers to get lazy too-I have been working on 2 books and editing Tree of Bones for my second "Familiar's Tale" book. But my focus has been dreadful. I keep getting distracted by trivial things, the way Mellypip gets distracted by a drobba-chip cookie. I have much of book 3, Fires of Rapiveshta, running scenes in my head. As I try to write it I keep getting scrambled by which part of book to write. It is very annoying because I have the last half of the book worked out but the first half is still taunting me. I have resolved to be made of tougher metal-because when I am focused and writing- I feel better . My mood is less glum. I am less cranky. I even stay on my diet better (though drobb