Greetings and Salutations!

Hello,

My name is Kay and I am one of your contributing bloggers. Before I post any articles, I thought I’d tell you about myself and my writing. I’ll keep it brief.

 I am a 26-year-old college professor from the Midwest. The course I teach right now is English Composition II, but because of my MFA I can also teach remedial English (or whatever it’s called), English Composition I, and creative writing.

I love animals, photography, TV and movies, music, reading, video and photo editing, history, and doing rafts (I sew, knit, and the like). I also enjoyed wearing braces and getting homework. I’m also gluten free and Asperger’s autistic.

What do I write about? Just about anything would be a good answer. I’ve done some horror and some historical stories. I also blog about writing, business, and technology. My dream writing job is being a fantasy novelist (at the moment, I’m working on 2 fantasy series).

Well, that’s about it! At least for now it is. I shall be posting again soon.

Kay

Colourful Characterization

If you're looking for some interesting way to characterize the players in your story, think about giving them a signature colour.  When readers read our stories and create ideas and images of our character, often they are just as influenced by themes, motifs, and the actual actions of the character as they are by their physical description.  They are not just a physical entity, they possess layers of personality, spirit, whatever you'd like to call it.  So, if we attribute a signature colour to our characters, this colour's mood will add the reader's overall perception of our characters.  For example, in my current work in progress there are three powerful women, each of whom wears a signature gown.  The colours of these gowns were selected with certain moods and emotions in mind; the gowns act as representations of their character.  The repetitious mention of these gowns and their specific colours also helps readers create a unique identity for the women, instead of being confused and mistaking them for one another.  So, if you're looking for interesting and capturing ways to characterize the players in your story, add a splash of colour and I think you'll be surprised by how vivid they become :)

Oh, and a great example of how this was used--Gandalf!  Gandalf the grey, then became Gandalf the white, you know ;)

Into the Mind of Ricky

I'm Ricky Schaede, a new contributor here at Into the Mind of the Writer.  I'm from Ontario, Canada, and write primarily fantasy and science fiction.  My foray into novels began with 'A Saga of Seven', what was intended to be an epic trilogy taking place in the fantastical world of Stethoss.  I wrote a four hundred page manuscript and then decided to shelf the story in favour of other projects.  This began Annagella, my current project, a fantasy / sci-fi novel into its fourth draft.  I'll be contributing here with nuggets of wisdom I uncover during the writing process, and hope I can both teach and learn during my time at Into the Mind of the Writer.

Check out my blog and facebook pages if you're interested in my writings !
http://rickyschaedewrites.wordpress.com/
http://www.facebook.com/RickySchaedeWrites
...and follow me on twitter @RickySWrites !

Daily Prompts

     Did you know that as a writer you should write a little daily? By writing daily, you keep yourself in a routine and raise your expectations of yourself. Self-confidence is the key because if we believe that what we write is 'crap' and that no one will read it, there's no reason for us to write. So, make a little time each day to write a couple of pages. If you feel that you have nothing to write about, look online for writing prompts. There's always something to write about and to create. By setting the goal of writing daily for yourself, you are helping yourself and your readers. Practice makes perfect. Why put it off? Start practicing now.

~Aris~