Photo-A-Day: July

"Character is story." --Elizabeth George

July's photo-a-day project came with a twist, an historical twist that is. My WIP, a middle-grade historical fiction, is set in mid-1800s Ohio. The challenge? Step back in time and attempt to capture images of things my character might have seen, smelled, tasted, touched, or heard. Such an exercise held out the promise of getting to know my character better.

And help bring her to life...

"It takes a long time (to write YA)...I have to let the characters live inside my head awhile. You have to know what's on your character's walls and what's in their closet--even if you're not going to use that in your book. It's a way of bringing your characters to life before they're on paper." --Paula Danzinger

"When characters are really alive, before their author, the latter does nothing but follow them in action." --Luigi Pirandello

"Once we have begun it, we continue reading a novel largely because we care about what happens to the characters. But for us actually to care about these actors in the drama on those printed pages, they must become real people to us. An event alone cannot hold a story together. Nor can a series of events. Only characters effecting events and events effecting characters can do that." --Elizabeth George, Write Away

So without further ado, here's July's photo gallery, sample images of what a young girl might have encountered in a similar month 150 years ago--except that they were captured through the lens of a 21st century camera!

Of course I'd loved to have snapped a slew of others. A mule for instance. A hand-crafted checkerboard. A pontoon bridge and a hollyhock doll or two. But I'll leave that for the imagination--and the finished book :-)

Enjoy.

_______________________

Name, Please

A name is part of who a person is. It's the label that stands for everything you've done

 and everything you are. --Orson Scott Card, Characters and Viewpoint

I have this pretty vine growing next to the house, and I've loved watching it flourish this summer. It started out as a couple of tiny sprouts and tendrils then shot forth into tangled leafy runners that sometimes seemed to grow inches in minutes. The bright red blossoms are small but spunky. This is the first year that we've trained the plant to climb a trellis, one which sits just under our porch room window. From inside looking out, you'd think we have a window box out there. It's  a summer bright spot for us--especially when the hummingbird visits!

But the problem is, I don't know the flower's name. The neighbor lady who gave us our first seedlings didn't either. And the not knowing is bugging me. What should I be calling it, besides my "pretty little vine with red flowers"? What is its name?  

I'm in a similar quandary with characters in my next project, especially my MC. I don't know her name yet either. What I do know is that she, too, is spunky. I know she will have to climb and stretch. I also know that she will grow--and maybe sometimes so fast it will take her breath away. But just what is her name?

I'm on a quest to find out.... 

And so, as I embark on this challenge, I'll ask you: how do you come up with names for your characters? Any tips? How do you know when it's a perfect fit?

And, please, can  anyone tell me the name of my flower?

Characters and Story

As a child, I had dolls, my own little rocking chair--and books. And I loved my books. I'm told I thought I could "read" at two years old--except that, as I parroted the story, I held the book...upside down.

Later I'd happily skip off to school with a bit of money Mom gave me for the Scholastic book fair. And my grandmother contributed by way of a membership in a children's book-of-the-month club--some of which I still have. In the early teen years, friend Kathy and I frequented the town library and toted numerous books back and forth.

Some of my favorites when I was little? The Secret Garden, Heidi, Little Women. As I got older I loved Mitchell's Gone with the Wind, Catherine Marshall's Christy, and a title from my grandmother's shelf, The Edge of Time, by Loula Grace Erdman.

As I begin the journey into my next book, I'm anxious to get to know my main character. Who is she? What does she need/want? What conflicts will rise up to block her way? What's her story? I have a couple of ideas, but not enough yet.

And so I'm revisiting some of my favorite books and reacquainting myself with "old friends," seeking the threads as to why their stories have endured. I continue to read new titles, and explore their threads--to glean and grow and go forward.

What about you--who are some of your childhood book "friends," and why?

I've always sort of believed that these people inside me--these characters--know who they are and what they're about and what happens, and they need me to help get it down on paper because they don't type. --Anne Lamott