Category Archives: writing

30 Days of Writing #26-27: Art and Appearances?

Posted by Gary W. Olson on

26) Let’s talk art! Do you draw your characters? Do others draw them? Pick one of your OCs and post your favorite picture of him!

I did one drawing of a couple of my Superguy characters, and another of them has been painted by an artist friend of mine, but I know not where the former picture has gone, and would have to get permission, dig out, and scan the latter. And none of my Brutal Light characters have yet been drawn, though I hope to change that between now and December. So… no pics, sorry.

27) Along similar lines, do appearances play a big role in your stories? Tell us about them, or if not, how you go about designing your characters.

In Brutal Light, they do… in the sense that one character’s self-image, both physical and psychological, is a driving force for the story. I don’t put a lot of work into ‘designing’ characters before writing them, beyond establishing some basics. I like to return to the initial description and revise it to better fit the personality that emerges during the writing process.

30 Days of Writing #25: Characters With Pets?

Posted by Gary W. Olson on

25) Do any of your characters have pets? Tell us about them.

It’s kind of rare for my characters to have pets, now that I think about it. Neither Brutal Light nor True Places has any. The main characters in my serialized novelette nihil nations: Electricity in the Rain had a cat, but it was mainly a background detail. My other short works are notably petless. Some pets show up in my Superguy and SfStory writing, but these are also fairly minor (with the notable exception of Lucky, a six-foot-at-the-shoulder mutant cat who is actually someone else’s character anyway) or Not What They Seem.

My most notable usage of ‘pets’ comes in Onyx Fire, the kids book I co-wrote with my wife, Kristyn. It has various animals, domesticated and otherwise, who end up talking during the course of the story–my favorite being Jitters, a hyper-caffeinated, self-absorbed black squirrel… not a pet, okay, but still my favorite.

30 Days of Writing #24: Willing to Kill Characters? Most Interesting Killing?

Posted by Gary W. Olson on

24) How willing are you to kill your characters if the plot so demands it? What’s the most interesting way you’ve killed someone?

I’m always willing to bump off my characters if that’s what the story involves. I’m also willing to maim, stab, defenestrate, mutilate, burn, and otherwise seriously inconvenience my characters — if it’s part of the story. Otherwise, their reps complain.

Also, I’m not going to tell you the most interesting way I’ve killed someone. Haven’t you ever heard of the statute of limitations and how it doesn’t apply? I mean… oh. You mean what’s the most interesting way I’ve killed one of my characters. Riiiight. Well, let’s see. There are some juicy ones in Brutal Light, but I’d rather not spoil them. Same for True Places. My published short fiction is low on killings. As for Superguy… well, to count as being killed, do the characters have to stay dead? (And let’s not even mention SfStory, where getting killed leads to an exciting new career in Hell’s space armada…)

30 Days of Writing #23: How Long to Complete a Story?

Posted by Gary W. Olson on

23) How long does it usually take you to complete an entire story — from planning to writing to posting (if you post your work)?

Depends on the story. A typical short story for me might take a month — possibly more, if I decide to let it lie between drafts for a while so I can come back to it with fresh eyes. My novels (Brutal Light and True Places) have taken two years each, though that was with the luxury of not having deadlines to meet. When I do have deadlines, I can make things go a lot quicker, believe me.

30 Days of Writing #22: Never Written or Revealed Scene?

Posted by Gary W. Olson on

22) Tell us about one scene between your characters that you’ve never written or told anyone about before! Serious or not.

Okay, this is just a very odd question. ‘Never written’ I get. There are scenes that go unwritten all the time – sometimes because it’s more effective if such events take place ‘off-page,’ or because of pacing requirements, or to heighten suspense, or… you get the idea.

‘Never told’… is the part that makes less sense. Sure, there are scenes that I haven’t ‘told’ anyone about. Usually these are scenes that are, as yet, unwritten, though I know just what is going to happen in them. There may be scenes in a given character’s backstory that won’t ever get written and may only ever get teased out to readers, but I doubt that’s what the question writer was getting at.

So… I’m taking a pass on this one. Sorry.

30 Days of Writing #21: Writing Children?

Posted by Gary W. Olson on

21) Do any of your characters have children? How well do you write them?

With one major exception, I have largely avoided writing child characters. As far as my Superguy writing goes, only a couple characters have kids, and I didn’t write much featuring them until they were at least in their mid-teens. My adult novels and short stories have not featured child characters in any capacity–they just weren’t relevant to the stories.

The one exception is Onyx Fire, the children’s fantasy book I co-wrote with my wife, and which is currently in search of a publisher. That one featured an elementary-school age girl as the primary protagonist, with assorted other kids and talking animals in other roles. I like to think I wrote them well, but the credit likely belongs more with her.