ACFan

Bill, I just got caught up again, and I'll yell out loud that the stories of the Curries just keep getting better! Keep up the great work!

Comsie, you're my hero..... (by the way, I still owe you one for talking me into starting writing....... )

**** UPDATE AVAILABLE **** There is an update to the program available at http://www.paddedroom.us/Site/Felis/FelisMain.htm Some new features have been added and a few bugs have been exterminated. Thanks for all of your input! AC *Vista User Note:* The check for updates function has issues unless you change the permissions on the installation folder. I don't have Vista, so I can not tell you what settings need to be made, if someone can post the required adjustments it would be appreciated!

All the good ones are taken already -- so I'll add an off-the-wall one: Brain completely shuts down after meeting an honest politician! Would you settle for an Elven Curse instead?

I actually started a story (Life Renewed) in first person -- and scrapped everything after I reached the end of the first page. My hat is off to anyone who can write in that mode; I feel way too limited by it. I ended up making it third person from the start! Back to the topic; I think the "break and italics" method is the best route to use when you find yourself in a situation like that. In my "Memories" series, I occasionally use just that method when, even though it's in third person, I want to interject something into the story as a narration from one of the characters I keep around just for that purpose. Limited and creative use of it enhances the story for the reader; habitual use of it means you need to really look at the characters you are using to ensure they are really accomplishing the things that you need for the storyline to progress.

I think the secret is that the character has to be convincing enough to put the reader in his shoes. A story that is just being 'read' is not being enjoyed; it takes the story inviting the reader to open their thoughts and imagination to the author for the written word to have impact. Personally, a story that leaves nothing to the imagination turns me off. A writer that points my imagination in the way he / she wants to go then just gives an occasional hint along the way to make sure I'm on the same track as he / she is will usually grab my attention and make me want to continue reading. A perfect example for me is the club in GFD; I can picture it in my head right now because Com gave just enough of a description as the characters interacted in there to be able to piece it together into something real. He didn't give us a detailed floorplan; he dropped hints after the initial quick description the first time they entered the club. Over the lifetime of the story the reader's imagination filled in the gaps and turned it into a familiar place. The same effect is used on characters; you get the basics and then hints to help them become real. Once the imagination is opened up in a story, anything that happens no matter how slight will affect the reader as if they were actually there; the key is already turned on so no attachment is required to make what would be a dry or trivial event by itself into something that grabs the reader and drags them along for the ride.

Just a note on the comments I've seen above! The only fields that are required entries are the ones that are used for the Search and Index function. These are First Name, Last Name, and Story. Since First Name and Last Name are indexes they have to be filled with unique values -- personally I'd say that for unnamed characters I'd use the chapter number they first appear in (One, Two ...) as a last name and ascending letters ( A, B, C ...) as a first name. Then if at some future point you decide to name the character all you have to do is edit it and you have everything already done. That will also help you find them. Another way would be their job (Clerk, Policeman) as a first name with a letter after the name to make it unique - if you have three policemen in a chapter it could end up like "PolicemanA Three" "PolicemanB Three" and "PolicemanC Three" as their full names. If you are working on chapter 27 and need to know how many policemen were in chapter three you would have the info in about ten seconds just by looking at the list sorted by last name. Everyone will use it slightly differently; get creative and you'll find that you will save hours of searching for the tidbit of info that seemed to be useless at the time you wrote the character. AC

One thing that any author runs into is remembering the stats on their characters. With over 80 characters in my story alone, my notes were getting rediculous! Akeentia developed a program to help track the characters in the universe that has sprung up around Memories, one that became so successful that he released a public version for any author to use. After discussing it, we've decided that we will make it available to the writers at GA. The program is called "The Felis Character Roster Program". You can enter specifics and notes on all of your characters, even breaking down by story for those of us having multiple stories. You can make a 'locked' copy of your database available to your readers if you wish; all we ask is that they get the program itself from our site to ensure that they get the latest version and are able to update the executable. You can also save your information as a text file and convert it to a web-readable page if you wish. Here is the official overview: Overview: This is the Felis Character Roster Program. It was designed and programmed with standard default character profile information such as: Name (first, middle, last, nick), Age, Birthdate, Gender, Preference, Eye Color, Hair Color, Original Story, Significant Partner, Race/Species, and an extra section just for character notes. It allows you to view a list of all the characters entered and their information and has advanced search methods that allow you to search by first name, last name, nick name, or by story. The design allows for multiple stories to be entered and easily sorted. When you are finish adding character profiles the program saves it as an encrypted file that's even lockable to prevent others from modifying the file. It also allows you to export the file as a text file. The program is available at the link below; click on the 'Felis Programs' button to get to the software download area. Note: Vista users need to set the permissions on the installation folder to allow the update function to modify files. Since none of the CSU Productions staff has Vista yet, I can't give you a step-by-step on how to do it! Download link: http://www.paddedroom.us/Site/Felis/FelisMain.htm The Felis Character Roster Program executable and storage methods are copyright 2005-2007 Author Development Inc. (AKA Felis Software), a division of CSU Productions. Distribution to authors who are members of the GA Community is approved by the creator of the program and CSU Productions. Moderator: Could you please pin this so it is available for future new authors? Thanks, AC

Glad to hear you got reunited! I'm sure that if someone I know was to look close they could find themselves in Memories -- but they would be spread over three characters. I never use the full real name; instead I'll use a nickname on one character, the first name on another, and the last name somewhere else. To really mess with things sometimes I'll see a kid that reminds me of a character I'm planning to add, I'll hear his first name, so I'll put the new character in with that first name and some random last / middle name.

I tend to research mainly to ensure that what I have in my head is really possible. If I run into anything medical or something which might affect the story later on I'll research and keep notes so that when I do come back I have the same reference available. The big thing I've found is keep lots of notes, and use utilities to track anything you can. (Oh, one big thing -- REMEMBER where you put your notes!!!! Ask any author that has worked with me; some times it'll take a half-hour for me to dig through a half-terrabyte of files to find one little note that we suddenly need!)

The fix I found for that issue is to set CSS to make the text body 90% of the width of the area it is in. That usually 'fools' MS into getting rid of the bottom bar (You have to use percents though) this is my body CSS code: body { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; color: #66FFCC; background-color: #000000; text-align: justify; margin: 5%; }

My latest one was a real doozy -- the <sarcasm> nice reader </sarcasm> actually even tried to tell me what nickname I could use for a character! On top of about 15 other things! I wrote a nice flame back to him in Notepad, saved it on my desktop, and promptly ignored it. If he had repeated the offense, he would have got two replies, neither of which would have had less than an "R" rating. Since he wisely dropped the subject, I saved the reply I wrote but never sent in my archives for occasional reading whenever I need a good laugh!

I've put 'personal' experiences into "Memories" in multiple places; what has helped me get through it is breaking them into small manageable sections. If you deal with the effects of one part of the event that troubles you in small parts with other happenings between it helps you to provide the situation without having to re-live the entire thing at once. I did find that I felt better after "putting it to paper"; the added benifit is you can act out what should have happened in the story if you so wish. That's what I've done; it seems to have helped with closure on some things which I've kept inside for far too long.

I must be weird! (One second; I need to remind some characters that they could be deleted for agreeing with that!) Okay, as I was saying ... I pretty much started my second story (while still working on the one I started in 2002) the same way I start new chapters; I let the ideas bounce in my head for a day or two, write the first few paragraphs, close it immediately for a couple of days, then open it again, edit what I wrote before for flow, then continue on from whatever I left it off at. For me, that gets rid of the "push" I feel with starting a new chapter (and now story). When I come back to it, it's no longer 'new'; so I'm just continuing on previous work. I guess you could call it playing mind games with myself; but it works out pretty well for me.

Hi Dom; You actually have touched on an area I agree on -- I have *serious* trouble with writing females! (I also have trouble keeping my straight characters straight, but thats a whole 'nother thread ..... ) I do have one straight couple in Memories (besides a few supplementary adults) that I ended up making "expecting" so that I had an excuse to keep in the storyline (sooner or later .... ) What works best for me when writing any female parts is to use my Mom as an example of the personality differences between men and women. I won't guarentee it'll work for everyone, but it does give you a basis that will give quite a bit of realism.