Cupcakes and Writing: Pumpkin

For me, cupcakes are kind of like my writerly mascot.  I decided to combine two of my favorite things, cupcakes and writing, and each Wednesday another cupcake flavor will be compared to an aspect of writing.  Well, until I run out of flavors, or inspiration, whichever comes first.  Bon appetit!   

If you've missed the first two Cupcakes and Writing posts, check them out here:  

Red Velvet: The Messy Writing Journey

Classic Vanilla: Writing Authentically

Pumpkin: Character Development

I LOVE pumpkin flavored stuff.  Bread, muffins, spiced lattes, pie, cheesecake, and of course cupcakes!  Now, I'll admit I'm not much of a cook, but I do like to bake, and I especially love to bake in autumn, when I can make pumpkin flavored goodies.  Something about the smell of pumpkin and spices wafting through the house just makes me smile and brings back happy memories.  And pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting is right up there as one of our family faves.

Now, when I bake anything pumpkin, I always go for the canned pureed stuff.  The thought of carving a pumpkin, digging out the goopy pumpkin pulp and seeds, ugh, just doesn't sound like fun to me.  I like to avoid work and avoid messes.  So, I take the easy route and buy the canned stuff.

Unfortunately, we can't do the same for our characters.  Taking the easy,  non-messy route in developing our characters does our story absolutely no favors.  This is something I've always struggled with.  When I create a character, I care about them.  I want what's best for them.  I want them to have a happy ending.  Sure, I give them flaws and quirks, but I want their life to be easy.  And that makes for a weak story and no true character motivation.

Donald Maass recommends thinking about your character's greatest fear and then make it happen.  That's how you give your character motivation and up the stakes.  That's how your character will grow and develop.  It's not easy.  It's meant I've had to kill characters and kill other characters' dreams.  But I have a much better story now.

While you may not want to get your hands dirty and have a pile of pumpkin pulp and seeds on a newspaper so you can make pumpkin cupcakes, you do need to get messy with your characters.  Don't baby them.  They need some baggage, some pain in their life, something to motivate them.

Here's to the a-ma-zing scent of pumpkin and spices wafting through our kitchens, and realistic characters bringing life to our manuscripts. 

Monthly Musing: How Do You Feel About Villains?

"I like villains because there's something so attractive about a committed person - they have a plan, an ideology, no matter how twisted. They're motivated."  -Russell Crowe


I find this quote interesting, since I think we're raised to dislike the villains and root for the princess or the hero or whoever happens to be the "good" person in a story.  I know many a writer who has struggled with creating their villains.  I am one of those writers.

I looked up the definition on dictionary.com and they seem just as confused about it as well.  One definition says a villain is "an evil character in a story", another says "a character who opposes the protagonist, whether intentionally or unintentionally".   In my WIP, my villain isn't out to destroy the world.  He isn't evil.  He's just a disillusioned guy who thinks he's trying to do good.  But since he's unintentionally opposing the protagonists, he's a villain. 

Who's your favorite villain?  For me, it has to be Snape from Harry Potter.  I guess Voldemort is the evil villain, but Snape is one too since there are times when he opposes Harry and his friends.  I think what I love so much about him is I never was sure if he was a bad guy or a good guy.  I saw glimpses of both in him.  And I think that's what makes him intriguing.  He wasn't all evil.  There were times he'd help Harry out.  And that's what makes him so unique.

So, your turn.  What do you think about villains?  And who's your favorite?

My Monkey Turns 2!

Two years ago today, this little dude showed up in our life:

And what a joy he has been!   Two years later, he keeps me busy.  I don’t post a lot of personal family stuff on here, but since today is special I figured I’d let you in on the awesomeness of my little birthday boy.

• He LOVES to play outside, so whenever you mention the words “bye bye” or “outside” he runs to bring you his shoes and drops them at your feet, then runs to the closet where we keep his jacket.  Even if it’s like 100 degrees outside.  If we don’t mention those words, well he’ll let us know when he’s ready to play outside.  He’ll bring you his shoes.  If you don’t get the clue, he’ll bring you YOUR shoes.  And if you still don’t get the clue/ are ignoring his obvious clues, he’ll bring you another pair of your shoes, just in case he brought you the wrong ones.  One time he brought me two pairs of his shoes, a pair of my flip-flops, my tennis shoes, and my dress shoes before I finally gave in.
• He loves to collect leaves and sticks.  Sometimes he hands them to me proudly, and before our outdoor adventures are over, I have a little bouquet.
• Every time he comes across a sewer man-hole cover he plops down.  It’s like it’s his own little seat or something.  And if it just rained recently, well then, he's in heaven.  He won't sit on it, but he'll splash around in the water resting on the cover for a while.  Who knew rusty water could be so much fun?!
• He loves figuring out how things work.  If you give him a new toy he has to figure out how it works before he starts to play with it.  We call him our little engineer.
• He won’t let me fall asleep while we’re watching his fave show, Word World together.  If I start to fall asleep he’ll put his weight on me and make a loud noise and the first thing I see when I startle awake is a huge grin and wide eyes right up in my face.
• Oh, and speaking of TV, I think he’s addicted.  We’ve had to hide the remote because he would turn on the TV himself and plop himself in front of the TV and watch whatever happened to be on.  We now keep the remote high on a bookshelf.  When he wants to watch TV he goes over to the bookshelf, and signs “please”.  I’m afraid to teach him the sign language for TV, so we’ll just stick with this polite phrase for now because who knows what will happen if he knows how to ask for TV any time he wants….
• He has a ridiculous number of books, but it’s the same two he wants to read EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
• He loves to color so much that after I showed him the sign for it twice, he had it down.  It's the fastest sign he's ever mastered. 
• He sleeps in a nest of receiving blankets.  He cuddles with one, and the rest just form a little cocoon that he nestles into.  Anytime I can’t find his socks, I just look through the nest. I’m bound to find a few pairs in there.
• The Hubster and I have been teaching him to clean up his toys before bed.  He does this fairly well some nights.  Most nights though, he realizes he’d rather just go to bed than clean, so after picking up one or two things he’ll just toddle off to his bedroom and wait for us to put him in bed. 
• When he waves bye-bye he waves backwards, like he’s waving at himself.  I guess that’s the way he sees it, so it makes sense.  And then after the wave, it’s accompanied by him proudly blowing a kiss.

Happy birthday my little buddy! 

Mommy loves you so much and is so proud of you!