Driving down the street during an election year (and when
isn’t it an election year), I found a self-evident truth. WAIT – this is not about politics, honest!
Most tree lawns have one or two signs. Some have six or
seven. Those signs are the ones I’m talking about. If I look at the main sign
(say the presidential race), I get the idea of what the lawn owner believes in.
Now – that means that the rest of the people whose signs litter that lawn have
about the same beliefs. So I don’t have to research (well, I still do but this
gives me a definite leg up.) All the people on the lawn kind of follow the same
philosophy and believe in the same values.
WRITING – I told you this wasn’t about politics. I am trying
to make the same thing true in my book. I look at my characters and those who
hang out together. They should pretty much share the same likes, dislikes, beliefs,
etc. If they don’t, then I best have shown why. For ‘Blue,’ I know that
Kathleen and her friends, though from disparate cultures, still have the same
beliefs, follow the Code of Chivalry, and guard each others’ backs. For my antagonists,
ah ha! They should be doing the same.
I’ve been tempted to put sticky notes all over my walls.
Have one wall be protagonists, another antagonists, another sundry characters.
It might make my life easier. I used to be known as the sticky note person at
one job. I now use spreadsheets and notes at the bottom of my chapters to keep
me in sync. But sticky notes have an allure. Ah, bright yellow or pink all over
my mauve walls. Nice.
Some other stuff I found as I searched for signs.
A sign is something which stands to somebody for something
in some respect or capacity. From ‘Signs of Writing’ by Roy Harris.
'Six Signs It’s High Time To Give Up Writing. That teetering
tower of rejections,' In my mind, if you’ve got a teetering tower of
rejections, that means you’ve got brass, chutzpah, and a fair amount of passion.
I wouldn’t think it was time to give up if I had the guts to keep sending out
letters. Hurray for you!
One that’s pretty self evident is 'DailyWritingTips 12 Signs
and Symbols You Should Know.' I expected things like signs an editor uses. Not
so. These are asterisk, the cent sign (you can’t even find the cent sign on a
modern keyboard) and others. Not very substantial page, but I’ve liked some
articles I’ve read here, like the '35 Synonyms for ‘Look.’ I do so love
synonyms. I’m compiling my own list.
Life is signage.
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