|| Three Ways Museums Make You a Better Writer ||

The day dawned at an early 7:50. For me, at least. I pressed snooze several times on my alarm, turned over in bed once or twice, and finally rolled out. It wasn't a grey day, but the wind promised a chill. 

I rushed to be ready by 8:45, when I would leave for the train station. It was the day I would venture into the city. 

The original visit was meant for frolicking around at German Christmas Market. However, one does not simply go to the city for one event. We made a few other stops. Parks, a coffee shop, and museums. 

Ah, yes. Museums. Those buildings of history and art and culture and the present and the future all combined under one roof. Beautiful things, are they not? I love museums. There's so much to see and learn--no matter how many times you visit. 

My friend and I went to a museum based off of the current state of architectural designs. We were passing by on our way to the next destination, and it was free to the public. So we thought, why not?

As we walked through this place of beauty, there was so much that struck me as story inspiration (which can be anything, really). Nonetheless, there's numerous lessons to gather from visiting a museum:

1. People-watching

This one is pretty obvious. As writers, our job is to people watch. But because it was a cold day and the museum was free to the public, there were all sorts of persons sitting around in the lobby just being them. There was this one guy who had a huge colorful crocheted hat wrapped around his hair. Trust me, this thing was ginormous--it was as if he had an animal hiding under there or something. But he just sat on one of the couches crocheting away at another project. He seemed joyful and friendly. But, being the introverted writerly sort that I am, I just observed and walked away. But that picture is stored in my mind. You can also find large groups of schoolkids running around museums, prissy higher class folks who walk around in their high heels and stand at a piece of art for fifteen minutes, and the everyday joe who meanders along whilst sipping a cup of joe. Use these people to populate your books. 

2. Setting

Museums are often works of art themselves. The architecture is intricate and often not something you see on an everyday basis. Take lots of pictures in these unique places. You never know when you'll want to pull something from a real-life setting scene to use in your fiction. Even just a detail like the gemstone colors used in the tiling. Or maybe the antique lanterns that adorned the walls. Museums are chock full of treasures like these. 

3. Inspiration

Yes, the people and setting are inspiration themselves. But the actual art or history displayed grants extraordinary amounts of plot-bunnies. One usually walks out of a museum with more knowledge than before of something. And abstract pieces of artistic genius fill the walls with questions that you can very well answer in your next novel. Jus' sayin'. 

I might have to venture to the city more often to step into another of these capsules of life.

What about you? Are there any settings/plot/characters of yours that are inspired by trips to a museum?

Please Be Weird {Creating a Fantastic Villain III}

You meet two people during the course of your day. One is talkative, eyes lighting up as they tell you about their passions, observations, and how they know at least fifteen bird calls by heart.
The other, however, keeps the conversation limited to day-to-day stuff. Weather, shopping, watching TV. Dull.

Which one is more unique? Which one is intriguing? Which one would you want to talk with again?
Uh, probably the first one.

The fact that the person knows at least fifteen bird calls is quirky.
And the most interesting people are usually the quirkiest.

I'm here today to talk about your villain.
To read the first two installments of the post series click here:
Back Story Time {Creating a Fantastic Villain I}
GIVE IT TO ME {Creating a Fantastic Villain II}



Let me just say a few things:
Please, please, please don't make your villain another run of the mill villain who spouts off their entire plan before executing it, or cackles maniacally after revealing said plan, or who's just evil for the sake of being evil. (I know we all know--or should know--these rules by now, but they're rules we need to remember.)
I'm not talking from just a writerly point of view, but a reader's as well. Anything in that list is generally a sign of laziness and/or bad character development.

Those are the boring villains. I don't like boring villains.
I'm interested in the quirky villains. I want them to act like real, interesting humans (or...whatever race they happen to be).

You might not think that well rounded, intriguing villains are important, but they can make or break your story...and your other characters. Think Loki from the Thor movies, or the Winter Soldier...they're so well developed and their actions actually matter.
And (guess what?) they have their quirks.

Maybe they're insecure, maybe they adore red squirrels with such a fiery passion that they sedate them every time they see one and take it back to their secret lair (so they end up with a menagerie of just red squirrels and they have, like 500 of them so that's why the hero needs to stop them so the red squirrels don't go extinct), or maybe they absolutely have to have coffee from their favorite coffee shop before doing anything heinous for the day (think Gru from Despicable Me--no, I am not condoning utilizing freeze rays on people just to get coffee).

It's important to give your villain quirks. If your hero has quirks, your villain should have nothing less.
If you, as the writer, have quirks, your characters should have no less.

I'm not going to type out an ol' long list of random quirks for you to pick and choose from--there's tons of resources around the internet for that. If all else fails, observe the people around you (I know, scary!)--that's the best place to get the best quirks. Real life...it's a gold mine.

Quirks are important. Quirks are human. Quirks make people lovable and rounded.

To make your villain relatable and adored by readers, they need quirks.

I mean, mine is obsessed with donuts.
And not just any donuts.
Cake donuts with pink frosting and candy sprinkles.
And my villain is a guy.
They're just really good, okay?

God Bless!
Rachel Lester

Are there any other topics regarding creating villains that you'd like me to cover?
Please comment! And it doesn't just have to be about villains. It can be about life, or your dog, or red squirrels, or your blog.

For a personal update:
Sorry I've been gone for so long! I've hardly written anything in over a month. I know, it's driving me crazy. Although college is approximately a week.5 away, I'm getting back into writing even though this next week.5 is full of packing, shopping, and VBS, I'm
trying my best to become involved again before school starts. Prayers welcomed. Immensely.

A Paradoxical Personality { Characters Who Aren't Hanging Over a Cliff I }

In the series I'm currently working on (A Different Kind of Legacy), I follow the stories of some...humans. With super abilities. I have a sound manipulator, light manipulators, a mindreader, an invisible girl, a guy with Sherlock Holmes type powers, and a girl whose families are trait borrowers.

Ruby Cacera's family are experts in the realm of borrowing personality traits from people they touch. It's like they have this little extra container space in their brain for 'stolen' personality traits. They can pull out any trait at any time and combine it with others to create a whole personality. This is handy for undercover missions. They can become a completely different person from who they really are. Expert actors...and it doesn't really require any hard work. It kind of just happens.

As you might imagine, this can cause conflict between characters who interact with this family. My main protagonist, Darcy Wood la Van, often wonders if Ruby's being completely real with him. She can be anybody she wants...so who is she really? She can easily hide things.

Tragedy happens.

Ruby hides what she's really feeling. Everybody thinks she's doing great. She's laughing, having fun--being her normal weird self. Okay, so she's over the bad stuff. She's moving on. She has God and she's all good. That's what onlookers think.

False.

She's actually really depressed. She isn't eating much of anything. She doesn't know what to do or how to get over this. She would love to just sleep and eat cotton candy. But she pretends for the sake of others.

While Ruby has the superpower to become anybody she wants, whenever she wants, I think we can take away something from this for everyday normal characters.

A person can be scared but brave at the same time. A person can also be humble while proud. Somebody could be a cold-hearted killer...but...still be a warm-hearted parent or friend. Hmm.

Ruby's a naturally brave person. She is, at times ( a LOT of times), reckless. I mean, she goes off into the woods by herself. And at night, no less. She gets hurt all the time, but she takes it all. She's seen worse. She's always seen worse. But...that doesn't mean she isn't scared. Just because she has like 100% bravery, doesn't mean she isn't deathly afraid.

There's tons of things she's afraid of. Maybe she accidentally borrowed fear as a trait...and she just can't shake it. Maybe she's just afraid and can't help it. Maybe it's false fear and there's no need for it. But it's there, nonetheless.

Paradoxical Personality Traits are important to keep in mind while forming a character. It gives depth. Instead of being way over the edge one way, it can add balance.
It's something to think about. What does it mean to have paradoxical personality traits? How will that affect somebody?

Does this make sense? I don't know if I had a plan on where this post was going. Anyway...

I LOVE comments!
So I have a question--do you have any characters with paradoxical personality traits?
What are the traits and how do they come into play?

Picture courtesy of Pinterest and Pixlr...:D And, yes, that is Ruby! (In case you were wondering...)