Write like a Character!

As of recently I have gotten into a new genre of video games referred to as MUDs. This stands for Multi-User Dungeon. It's basically a fantasy role playing game genre that is totally text based. Essentially I am writing a story for a single character over a long period of time. Admittedly combat is decided by the game engine but the point is its very similar to when one develops a character for a story. Specifically I'm referring to the MUD called Armageddon. Its a highly involved  and highly roleplayed game where the players decide realm changing events. However the game is very dark and dangerous place with a very dune esque desert planet feel. Yet it got me thinking. How often have you read a book where the main character simply has to win? There are so many books that cater to the younger populations in that the main character always wins, the knight arrives just in time, turns out she was pretending she was dead, the list goes on and on. I am more impressed with the writers who say a central character has died. How many story options does that open up? Endless. The next time you write a short story or just exercise your imagination try role playing your characters. What would you do in that situation with those experiences and these possible consequences? I'm not saying you should just roll dice or flip a coin to decide story elements. Just consider their actual consequences. Don't be afraid to kill off, hospitalize or seriously injure main characters!

Dynastic Novelists

I was just trawling through some of the news sites I use to find out about current writing news when I stumbled across, not literally I don't use stumbleupon, this wonderful little article about Stephen King's family.  The article talks about how the King family grew up in an environment of writing and how it has defined their family dynamics. Personally, I really love the part where they talk about when the children were growing up they were told to tell their parents stories before bed instead of the other way around. This dynamic instilled a love of story telling and imagination in them at a very young age and has led to many of them becoming world class writers. King's wife is a successful writer with 8 novels to her name and their children have many novels of their own with some of them receiving best seller accolades and a substantial fan base. I believe that this is a prime example of a household raised in literature and thriving from it. (though I wouldn't suggest asking your children to record The Raven for you while they're still quite young as King did)