Setting

As most of you know, I write mainly supernatural sort of things. The only major difference is the fact that my characters and their opponents are super powered. The world remains the same. I do this for too reasons.

1.) I like to keep my world easy to recognize.

Second.) I think the most fun is to alter something you see on a regular basis and make it new again.

What are some of your favorite things in the settings of your books? Do you like a real world or do you like to play with the reality? Do you set it in the past, future, or present?

Deadlines?

I have been working hard on my current project, trying to get it finished before my self imposed deadline of the end of march. I'm currently at about 17,000 words. I have found myself taking it slower than I normally do because of it being critiqued as I write it, so I go back and edit previous chapters as I get feedback.

Have you ever set yourself with a personal deadline? What did you treat yourself to when you reached it? What did you do when you missed it? Should you set deadlines like this?

Writing Strong Male Characters

Continued from Monday, I wanted to flip the coin and write about strong male characters. I have written the male character from the macho doesn't fear anything POV, as well as the timid and reclusive boy. The one thing that I noticed in both of these characters is that they both reach a point where they have to make a choice to either be the same or make a change to overcome the obstacle.

For the hero it was realizing that he wasn't at his strongest until he learned to accept help and together they were stronger than he was by himself.

The reclusive boy was that to make things write in his life he would need to journey outside of his comfort zone to realize his full potential.

I enjoy writing male leads for a different reason than female leads. They can be strong, confident, yet have a softer side, I don't usually give them any sort of special powers, except for what they are capable of based on that character. Also it's fun to write a male character because I can share some of my experiences and can relate to them on a different level.

What are some of the things that you think make a strong male character? They don't have to be super macho, but my genre usually has one of them in there somewhere. Who is one of your favorite male characters?

Writing Strong Female Characters

Even though I'm a guy, I like to write female leads. Maybe because my older sister and mom made sure that I always respected women. I treat them like ladies regardless of how they really act.

So I think that is why I like to write from a female 3rd person POV. It's also challenging because I'm male and have to personal experiences as a woman. :)

The possibilities of making a strong female character in my sort of stories, supernatural, are fun to play around with. My current project I have a few female characters, but one of the protagonists is a telekinetic. It is a strong power and at the start she isn't strong enough to control it, and it controls her more and more until she gets over the barrier of no return. I have another story where my female character is a cat burgler who is possessed.

So one of the things that I think makes a strong female character is the vulnerability that they can start with, not that men can't either, but I like to watch them grow and become self confident. Someone to be reckoned with despite them being female. I also enjoy writing them having an older brother or father that continues to treat them like "their little princess" which they shatter by the end of the story.

What are some of your favorite strong women characters? What makes them appeal to you?

Passive Voice

I recently had my first chapter critiqued by an agented author. It was a contest that I won over on The Operation Awesome blog. If you haven't checked it out, the website is operationawesome6.blogspot.com and it is completely awesome.

Besides that, after I recieved my feedback, one thing that was absolutely clear was my use of passive voice. My book is an action book so having a first chapter riddled with passive action isn't so interesting.

I took a hatchet to my first chapter looking for those passive verbs, "was" "as" "were," etc. and after done that I realized that it does work better if I use the active voice. It had more punch, more immediacy, more power. All good things when writing a book. Now I am going through my first few chapters punching them all up like this.

So my question to you is, what is your pet peeve in terms of writing first drafts? Do you use a lot of passive voice, too much telling? What makes you look at your book and go, "What the heck was I thinking? I know better."

Let me know in your comments, because I'm curious what my blog buddies think are their flaws, since I might have some of the same ones.

WiP Update

My current project is going along smoothly. Being critiqued at the same time I am writing the first draft is helping me out. It's making the draft go slower, but I am really fixing some of the major issues in the earlier chapters, so that I know details that are important.

For example: The father of my main character is the mayor of the city. So I've been trying to show two sides to him, and have been failing pretty bad. I get it right sometimes, but after getting some excellent feedback recently on a chapter, I think I know how to proceed with him that will help him become a better character for the rest of the book.

Have any of you guys written a first draft while having it critiqued? What did you think about the change to your process?

Handling Feedback

I've been writing and getting feedback for the better part of my life and I have noticed one thing...

You can't take it personal. I've been reading a lot of blogs and tweets about people reacting to their negative feedback. It's okay to feel down and bummed out. It's natural, but really it's not about you. It's about your product. I know you put your heart and soul into it, but it's still not directed at you.

Now I've never received a comment saying that I suck, but maybe other people have. If I received someone saying that to me in a group setting or directly, I would pretty much never respect their opinion because they aren't critiquing the product, but they are critiquing me.

Granted it is all in the way that it is worded, and some people can't make the negative constructive than I don't think they are worth your time.

Right now I have an awesome crit group who I've been with for a few months now. Nothing but good has come out of their feedback.

How do you react to someone who gives you back negative comments? Do you take it personally? Do you talk to them privately? What to do?