I’m not sure where the idea of prehistoric pizza came from, but the more I worked on this video spoof of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, the more crazy ideas just seemed to pop up. Originally there was a large pot of primordial soup with the various figures emerging from it, but the limitations of my tripod prevented me from getting the exact shot I wanted. In the end I deleted that scene altogether.

It was a lot of fun to make this video and it’s my hope that people will enjoy it. And it’s less than six minutes, much shorter than the original movie.

Sort of Real?

A few weeks ago someone (who shall remain nameless) decided it was okay to dump verbal garbage over my dreams and plans. Basically she told me none of my plans had ever worked out and none of them ever would. She claimed I was deluded to think any different. Fortunately, my future is not up to her.

My first career failed to materialize. I graduated, did practical work experience and waited. I contacted various departments and districts and participated locally, only to finally realized all the paid positions were kept for…let’s just say, other people. Now, if I wanted to continue to do massive amounts of work for free, that was just fine with them. I still believe nepotism and sexism were firmly entrenched, which didn’t help with the limited number of career positions available.

So I went through the grieving process and collected myself. What else can you do when a dream dies? I asked myself what else I wanted out of life. It turned out that was the time to become an author. My study of the publishing industry helped me to realize that the story I wanted to write was outside of the parameters of what traditional publishing houses were looking for. Besides, with fresh psychological wounds still present I wasn’t about to leave my fictional world in someone else’s hands. I found iUniverse, a self-publishing company that provided a lot of the services of a traditional publisher. No matter what my detractor said, there’s no denying the fact that my first three novels are in print, and in the way I wanted.

But dreams that get fulfilled have a way of growing, as does talent that receives an education. My life didn’t end with publication. Good writers find ways to grow their gifting. I felt the next step was to learn to write screenplays.

Last year all I could find was local theater. So I took the Tom/Phyllis/Leslie role in AR Gurney’s Sylvia. It was a great experience and allowed me to see what a theater script looked like. While I never wanted to have an acting career, it’s one of those things I wouldn’t refuse if I was ever ‘discovered.’ But there are people who dream of and work really hard for that. I wish them well.

This year I took the Film 100 course at the local college. It was great! I finished with 81%. Now I’m more aware of what’s out there, have credits that are transferable and know more about the work of filmmakers. I’m also working on my own short film. It’ll be a spoof of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. The ape shot above may or may not be in it…or they might all have pizza.

Once the film is complete and uploaded to YouTube I can get to work on writing screenplays. No, it’s not a living, not yet. But it’s progress. More importantly, this is part of bringing my dreams into the real world.

The only thing I feel for the lady who derided my hopes and dreams is pity. Her life never came to much. As for me, I’m over the disappointment of the career I originally trained for. Her comments surprised me, but that was all.

Dr. Who is one of two scifi phenomena you can thank–or blame as the case may be–for my becoming a science fiction author. The other is Star Trek, and the two series do have certain parallels in their history.

It used to be part of the Canadian identity to feel as if one was somewhere between being British and being American…stuck in the middle, as the song says. No offense. Canadian humor tends to be a bit offbeat and not always understood. Star Trek was an American creation, while the British Broadcasting Corporation kindly gave us Dr. Who. Canadians liked to watch both.

At least, as much as they allowed us. There were years of reruns of the original Star Trek series while Dr. Who just kept changing actors. The problem was that the doctor wasn’t allowed house calls during the day, ie, episodes were played late at night when much of the intended audience (made up of children) was already in bed. In Canada new episodes tended not to be aired until some time after their original broadcast in the UK. And it seemed like we never got all of them.

Between all those things I always wondered what the dear old ‘Beeb’ was protecting us poor, innocent Canadians from. We live next door to the United States. We’ve seen it all. Heck, we even tossed it a towel to cover its naughty bits.

By the time I began watching the doctor was already being played by John Pertwee, the third actor. Slightly before that a teacher had tried to get me interested in a book that featured the second doctor. She thought I might like it. In a strange and somewhat appropriate twist of fate, that novel made it back to me decades later. The scribbling in the front pages is unique. (Not my writing, I only sign books I’ve written.)

If you don’t watch Doctor Who you need to know that the doctor is a Time Lord who regenerates into another man when he’s dying. He can do this a total of twelve times. The current actor is the eleventh if you count the movie, which many North Americans have never seen. According to the original storyline the doctor becomes the ‘valyard(?)’ for his last regeneration and tries to cheat an earlier version of himself (the 6th doctor) out of the regenerations No. 6 still has coming.

When Tom Baker took over as the fourth doctor it was shortly before my father passed away. I was ten. The church I was raised in preached about life, death, Heaven and Hell quite often. I had a solid grip on the difference between fantasy and reality but on one level it didn’t quite seem fair that the Doctor got to come back when my dad wouldn’t be returning from Heaven any time soon. And few physicians could make that phrase “don’t worry, I’m a doctor!” come across quite so eerily. I confess, it took me some time to start to like Tom Baker in the role. Happily, a person does get over these things.

During those years I came to realize that the wonderful thing about fiction is that you can rewrite what you don’t like about reality. Not only was regeneration a handy device to keep the storyline going, it allowed the producers and writers to make alterations to the character that wouldn’t have been possible any other way. The same man, yes, but slightly different. Sort of like cloning with variations.

When I came into my own as an author I decided to write some Dr. Who episodes to see if I was ‘ready.’ For a twist I wrote several episodes for some of the earlier actors to play the role. They were surprisingly easy to write and I placed them all in a file called Dr. When. They’ll never be made, it was just a bit of fan fiction. It did help me to realize that what I need most from writing is the personal enjoyment I get from the creative process. When it stops being fun I’ll no longer be a writer. Apologies to those of you who have to work so miserably on it but we all have our talents and our daily grinds. I hate editing. I do it, but I hate it.

One thing has always bothered me about the Dr. Who series. He often gets blamed for deaths that occur when he’s around. Of course readers and viewers get to see the whole picture but it surprises me that so many of the other characters can’t seem to see past the dead and realize the doctor has just saved the day, the planet, the universe, time and space itself, etc. And is it ultimately wrong of him to bring about the extinction of species that are Hell-bent on destroying everyone else? It’s not like they’re willing to stay put for peace talks.

So, who’s my favorite Dr. Who actor? I’m afraid I’m a bit fickle on this one. Who’s on at the moment? What about you, who’s yours?

The Poster

Community Theater tends to be one of those things people sort of fit into life. It also tends to be one of those things that draws other distractions our way, ensuring either a high level of commitment or none at all. Those of us involved with the local Dionysus theater group got lucky.

All the actors in our recent production of AR Gurney’s Sylvia managed to juggle work and personal commitments to participate. When an actor couldn’t make it to rehearsal we practiced the parts they weren’t in. Our production crew members were also fun to work with. I’ve heard of productions that were derailed by the ego of one or more of the people involved. Instead we got to know each other a bit and eventually parted as friends with good memories.

My particular involvement was the Tom/Phyllis/Leslie role. The play was written to have one actor portray those three characters. Tom appears in two scenes. While Phyllis is definitely a female role, Leslie tends to be excessively in touch with her masculine side. She also counsels in a manner that would have a real therapist thrown out of the position, possibly with an injunction to never practice again.

I think that’s what attracted me to the role. In fiction you can do things you’d never get away with in real life. The humor was irrepressible.

I consider it a huge compliment that audience members said they were asking themselves whether it was the same actor or not, playing those three roles. Apparently I had given entirely different mannerisms and voices to all three, something I had only given passing thought to. My own way of distinguishing the three roles was more through the jewelry–a plain wedding ring and huge watch for Tom, a flashy wedding ring, necklaces, brooches and a delicate watch for Phyllis, a leather tie and medium sized black watch for Leslie, worn on the opposite wrist.

Of course Tom wore baseball caps and hoodies, Phyllis had dressy clothing and Leslie’s shirt was buttoned up to the top with a masculine looking vest and leather tie. For the ease of costume changes, Phyllis and Leslie wore the same slacks and boots. An appearance by Tom in between helped to put space between them.

Somewhere along the line it dawned on me that we would actually be performing Sylvia in the TheatreBC festival in Fort St. John. They said it at the start but it took a while to sink in. Fortunately my role required fewer lines to memorize but it still took a while.

What I really needed was to record them, then listen to them repeatedly. Unfortunately I’m not comfortable with using the computer that way and my tape recorder has been put away in a safe place—safe from me, as it turns out. Since I had very little extra time to be alone anywhere I ended up ‘rehearsing’ mostly inside my own head. This left very little opportunity for reflecting on the roles and developing ideas for interaction. One particular movement the audience loved—spurning the dog hair covered couch in favor of the chair—came to me during the first performance.

People seemed surprised by how easily I switched personalities. As an author I’m constantly shifting viewpoints as I write dialogue between characters. If I don’t keep them separate the reader will be confused, a disaster for the novel.

What was difficult was learning how to smoke or how to appear to smoke for Tom’s character. I’ve always been a non-smoker and never realized how challenging the whole thing can be. Not only do you have to hold the cigarette in the right spot it’s tricky to hang onto when you put it between your lips. In addition I wasn’t even allowed to activate the lighter, only to open and close it. After weeks of rehearsal that thing was looking pretty limp and they had to give me a new pack since I’d crushed the first two. Nasty habit.

It seemed I was the newcomer. Everyone else had previously been involved in Community Theater in some way. My experience was limited to school and church plays, where one of my most notable memories was falling down a set of church stairs because of the length of my dress as the archangel. I might have been about six. To this day it’s rare that I’ll even consider wearing a dress. Once a fallen angel…

The adjudicator at the festival was kind to my Leslie and Phyllis characters. I would have loved to have been at the discussion on Sunday but an urgent family matter intervened. However, our main actress, Amanda O’Leary, won Best Supporting Actress! I thought she’d win an award, although I wasn’t sure which one.

It didn’t end there. We performed Sylvia twice more on the following weekend, to standing ovations. Part of the proceeds went towards the SPCA. It is a play about a dog, after all.

(The local performing arts center has a much smaller stage and one has to be careful not to accidentally appear in the background. If you’re building a theater remember to put an accessible wall and hallway behind the full length of the back curtain. Everyone from the actors to the stage crew will thank you for it.)

Out of the three performances Friday night was my favorite. At the point where Phyllis finishes her Scotch and is about to get up to leave I managed to choke on the ‘Scotch’ (iced tea.) My fellow actor said my eyes glazed over and iced tea was coming out my nose and mouth as I sputtered. Although somewhat annoyed with myself, I decided this fit right in and continued with my actions and lines.

Later he told me he was wondering how to get me off the stage without ruining the play. I assured him I was never in any real danger; as someone who plays flute and sax I can hold my breath for quite a while.

The next night I messed up Tom’s lines so badly I wondered if someone slipped me artificial sweetener. (It’s highly toxic, at least to me.) Fortunately we all thought on our feet and managed to make the unexpected ‘revisions’ fit right in. I don’t think the audience suspected a thing. One thing our director had always been pleased with was the way we all coped with unexpected moments and wove them into what we were doing. Perhaps it’s part of the play taking on a life of its own.

So now it’s over for a while. I did catch myself rehearsing a few days later. And I hear someone may want to produce another play with Dionysus later this year. They have my number.

Was it worth the effort and inconvenience? Definitely! I’ve been self-published three times, picked up by a smaller publisher in Arizona, and expect screenplay writing to be the next step in my literary career. I know writing for theater and film are different but I see involvement in local theater as an intermediary step. I’m also something of an opportunist, and the script reading series at the college (which led to being in the play) was within my current budget: free.

While many modern women might not even notice International Women’s Day the sad fact is that many others have nothing to celebrate. Sexism is even worse than racism in that it dehumanizes people across all racial lines. To be a member of a minority may cause one grief but to be a female member of a minority can result in even worse treatment. And all because of some stupid, archaic prejudice.

Unfortunately the right to refuse an unwanted marriage has yet to be enshrined within the current catalogue of human rights. Many women in sexist cultures are offered up as bridestock by their own families. This is nothing short of human slavery. Where money or property is exchanged for a female–who’s often underage, it’s also prostitution.

False legitimacy for these practices is often sought from religious or cultural mores. The woman generally has no right to divorce or faces inhuman consequences if she tries to obtain one. She might quite literally be persecuted to death.

There are also horrid cases of stalking and killing that take place in modern cultures. An ex-husband or boyfriend may decide to make life miserable for a woman he once ‘loved.’ The archaic idea of owning one’s mate has resulted in numerous crimes against women. Children and pets are often endangered when the abuser is on the warpath. Though it’s not as common some men stalk women who have celebrity status or other means to fight back.

Some would argue that men feel threatened by newer definitions of their role in society, that strong women are threatening to their self-esteem. (If that’s all it takes, the fellow really is pathetic.)

Yet most modern men behave responsibly and support women in their newer roles as equal citizens. Abusers will always find excuses to commit crimes against women. There is no justification.

That’s not to say all women have accepted their own equality. Some still cling to an archaic idea of being the submissive, useless princesses who need white knights to rescue them. This places them and their daughters at a severe disadvantage, beginning with the fact that white knights are few and far between.

Under the guise of being more traditional some unenlightened women oppose modern females who want more out of life. This can spawn jealousy where no offense exists and break up friendships.

Becoming a wife and mother should be a personal choice of one’s own–it should not be used to judge women who are single or juggling a career and family.

Women have so much to offer. It’s a shame centuries have been wasted by not allowing us to participate fully in all aspects of society. Most of world history could have used a woman’s touch.

It may be tempting to moan the past but it’s more productive to celebrate the opportunity to make the future better for everyone. Education and opportunity should be available regardless of gender. It’s a thought.

Yup, there’s plenty of people posting everyday stuff. From their perspective little Timmy’s tummy ache should have made the evening news but this is the next best thing. Unless you personally know Timmy you probably don’t care. And unless he’s the only heir apparent to the kingdom most of his fellow citizens won’t care either. But those who know and love him will be sending their best wishes for his speedy recovery.

One banality is the surprisingly high number of posters who think Twitter is an opportunity to post lewd pictures or comments. They soon succumb to the brilliant ‘account suspended for strange activity’ function. (Possibly the function most appreciated by those of us who’d rather not see all your stuff. And who would prefer that no little boys or girls see it either!)

However if you have any kind of interests, hobbies or business at all, Twitter is great! Twitter gives you a huge amount of control. First there’s your personal profile. You choose what you want others to know about you, decide whether to include a link to your web site and pick what kind of picture you’re going to post. Some prefer to post a pet photo and others put their business logo. The worst decision is to leave the default bird icon as your avatar. People assume that either you have no computer skills or perhaps have something to hide.

You don’t have to be on Twitter all the time. Personally I avoid following individuals who are posting more often than a few times an hour…it prevents me from seeing tweets from those who post less often. There are probably at least a dozen ‘tweeple’ who were interesting enough for me to follow…except for that. One person who looked interesting at first quickly became enamored with little tummy aches. That’s when you discover the ‘unfollow’ option.

One of the great things about Twitter is that you can use it to filter much of the Internet. Since you’re following people who share similar interests you’ll find some of their links contain the information and contacts you’re after. Like baking? Simply go to the ‘find friends’ page and enter baking or cooking in the search blank to find out who else wears an apron. Another way to find topics of interest is to click on the hash tag(s) in a posting. (#baking #cooking #pasta, #salmonfishing, etc. Hash tags only highlight one word so two words must have the space eliminated.) You don’t have to feel like the only Trekkie in town. On Twitter you can look for other Star Trek fans or widen your scope to include anyone who likes to create science fiction in general. (Yes, think @ScifiAliens and thank you.)

Don’t forget to look through the lists of people following those you follow. This is often an easy way to find even more tweeple you have things in common with. Over time people who share your interests will begin to find you as well. Some will be worth checking out and following. Others will make you wonder. If you find them offensive you can unfollow or even block them which means they won’t be able to see your tweets. You won’t be able to see theirs, which is half the point. For myself I try to only block people who really do cross my personal moral boundaries. Lewd behavior is automatically unacceptable. Merely annoying is usually not a big deal.

It seems most people only post links to things they find interesting, which may include their own web sites and blogs. This is fine as long as there’s something worth reading or seeing. Over time you may discover you prefer the kind of links certain people post. This is another way of cutting down the data overload since you’ll quickly learn which links to ignore.

You can use your own updates to ask questions when you need information or feedback. Most common is the practice of putting ‘Thoughts?’ or ‘Anybody?’ or a request to ‘DM (direct message) me.’ You can also expand the number of possible responses with the use of a hash tag in front of your most relevant word or words.

Oh, and by the way, tell your dad to never twitter the twaddles on a dicky bird. Just something I once heard on the radio. Relevant? No. Misquoted? Definitely! Funny? Depends on your point of view, doesn’t it? But that’s a lot of info for less than 140 characters. That’s the whole point. Twitter is succinct, sometimes in the extreme. It can help you zero in on your topic and allow you to find people you’d otherwise miss. Like most technology it’s as useful as you make it.

1.  Childhood

You find other children mildly entertaining but don’t really relate. You’re much more comfortable in the company of adults. You prefer to help assemble things or solve problems than play with your own age group. Solutions that may elude adults are obvious to you.

2.  Education

You’ve skipped at least one grade and still get some of the highest marks in your class. The school system places you into a program for gifted kids. (By the third year of the program the teacher and loosely defined curriculum are no longer entertaining.) You’re the youngest member of your graduating class.

3.  Idealism

You have an expectation for people and the world in general to live up to their highest potential. You’re disappointed when they often don’t and sorely tempted to point this out to them. (Don’t. Just don’t.)

You understand what could be and may even know how to bring it about but you’re only one person. This may lead to a feeling of isolation which can lead to loneliness if you’re not careful.

4.  Attitude

You exhibit more of an interest in the things that keep your mind engaged even to the point of avoiding what others expect of you. Social interaction may suffer since you often don’t find equals to talk to or people who share your interests. Or you choose to discuss less complicated topics with them.

Early on you should choose to interact with people because, really, what else is there? Without the people everything falls apart including the future you want.

5.  How Others Treat You

They don’t bother looking up spellings or definitions, they just ask you. They also ask you an odd variety of questions about history, mathematics, science or other offbeat subjects because they expect you to know. “Hey, define ‘quark’ for me.” The odd thing is, most of the time you do know the answer. The surprise only comes when you don’t.

It can come as a surprise to you to find others acknowledge your area(s) of giftedness. They may push you to excel in that area; that’s what friends are for. Or they may mock you; that’s what enemies are for.

6.  Strange Abilities

You’ve never seen it before and it arrived in pieces but you’ll put it together in working order without leftover bits while others are still looking for the instructions. Things that break down often are brought to you because nobody else  has the patience to fiddle with them.

You may have no computer skills but people still ask you how to fix their problems because you usually can. You sometimes buy things to put together because you’re bored.

7.  Offbeat Sense of Humor

Somebody else looks at the sign, ‘no shirt, no shoes, no service,’ and considers their own outfit. You think ‘great, the guy behind the counter with no shirt and no shoes won’t serve anyone either.’ And then you smirk as you decide it’s for the best.

If you suspect you are brilliant you should avoid most personality tests. Either you’ll outwit them or they’ll consist of multiple choice options that you never would have chosen. The results will not be accurate and you’ll end up thinking, ‘that doesn’t sound like me.’ Because it isn’t.

As a young Canadian I realized North Americans don’t go around talking about their yearly income to all and sundry. Even those of us who have done the math tend to talk in terms of ‘net worth,’ not necessarily how many dollars are in the bank or stuffed inside the mattress. I kept watching those old black and white productions and wondering how the young ladies knew their prospective suitors’ yearly income…not to mention, why? Even today a woman wants to know if her future husband will be able to support the family or if she’ll have to work as well. But this went much further than data you might acquire through legitimate personal contact. This was the stuff of gossips.

Aye, there’s the rub. It’s still very much the stuff of gossips. And the world still has people who love to listen to and pass on gossip. Not just any gossip, but juicy gossip made of tawdry rumors, second hand hearsay and outright lies. (If Dr. Phil was on death’s door I doubt he’d let the tabloids break the news to the world.) An additional aspect of juiciness is the degree to which (mis)information can harm a reputation, hurt innocent bystanders such as children and other family members or just wound the spirit of the gossip’s subject, AKA, the victim/villain.

On a personal level most of us face relatively harmless gossipers. However it’s best to head off potential trouble before it can develop. Some people will lie about you no matter what you do but those who know the real you will be able to give you the benefit of the doubt if you have behaved otherwise.

Remember, just because they ask doesn’t mean they have a right to know. Here are a few seemingly innocent questions that are best deflected:

1.     “What time do you get off work?” If you know the individual this could be a legitimate question. Otherwise it’s best to assume the person asking has the intention of lying in wait for you. It’s okay to shrug and answer with something vague like, ‘I might have to fill in for someone,’ or ‘I’m not allowed to divulge that information.’ You haven’t lied and you may have spared yourself a world of hurt. This is particularly true for young women. Questions along the same line include; “Are you going home now?” and the especially dangerous, “Where do you live?”

2.     “How much do you make an hour?” This is rarely anyone else’s business but your own. A few people may ask because they’re considering your field of work but if that’s the case they can find the information on the Internet. Responses you can offer include, ‘It varies,’ ‘The company considers wages confidential,’ or (my favorite) ‘That’s really none of your business.’ These should also be standard responses to Internet phishing scams. If someone doesn’t know you well they have no reason to know all of yours.

3.     Any intimate or personal question that the person has no right to ask. Many a celebrity starlet has been thrown into the volcanic flames of criticism and mockery for revealing she was still a virgin. The Internet can bring out the extremely vicious and unprincipled who thrive on sniping against anyone who wishes to project any kind of morality. Some of this unwarranted crap even made its way to my email junk filter. Unacceptable questions of this type are best ignored or treated as an opportunity to change the subject.

On the other side of the argument is learning how to answer painful questions that might come up in an interview. Remember that anger will tend to cause you to say things that will not be in you favor. One television interview focused on the celebrity’s recent legal troubles instead of the products she wanted to promote. There were several points at which she could have segued into product promotion, any of which would have required some self-abasement and a healthy dose of humor. Did she really think the interviewer wanted to focus on her new lines of product when she’d recently been in jail? She could have anticipated the entire discussion and planned her responses accordingly instead of just reacting negatively.

Among the most embarrassing questions I’ve been asked were the ones posed by a local interviewer. I honestly had not considered the fact that the title, Been Blued, might be suggestive of ribald content. Risqué, perhaps… That interviewer seemed to enjoy my spirited defense that my aliens were not frat boys out on a kegger even if they were after the women.

(If you’re interested in Jim Cherry’s summer review of Been Blued, here’s the link: #mce_temp_url#)

By keeping my sense of humor about the whole thing I received a wonderful write up in the local paper, a second interview when the sequel came out and another fan for my series who’s now eagerly waiting for my next book signing.

So, what do you think? Feel to answer…or not.

The minimum requirement is to define your genre. Yes, you can mix them, for example, with something like a mystery/romance or a horror/comedy. Don’t make the mistake of thinking your manuscript will have ‘universal appeal.’ There’s no such thing. People come with preferences, not just needs. We all eat, but we don’t all buy bookcases of cookbooks. It doesn’t matter if you claim to be Dickens incarnate (in which case we’ll think you stark raving mad!) Not everyone likes Dickens, either, and chances are you’re not him.

Another misdirection authors tend to fall into is the idea of ‘author lists’ and author/publisher social networking sites. The former is largely useless (think back at how often you went looking through an author list) and the latter is better suited to networking, support and advice on the various aspects of writing and publishing. Other writers and publishers are there to engage in discussion, not discover new reading material. You might find the rare connection with a publisher who wants your manuscript, but this is extremely rare. My personal favorite for author networking and discussion is www.Goodreads.com

While book marketing sites can be helpful, chances are that you’ll again be engaging other writers and publishers, not your target audience. However, if you’re having trouble defining your genre these are the sites that can offer advice and help with lists of publishers who may be interested in your manuscript. It’s pointless to send your deep, dark mystery to a romance publisher. That rejection would be automatic and entirely predictable, a waste of their time and your effort. (And it would possibly burn bridges if you should ever decide to switch to writing romance…) Even if you use a reputable self-publishing company they’ll need to know what genre to assign your book. (If they don’t care, RUN AWAY!)

Your choice of genre will help you find your real audience. My most avid readers are science fiction fans, although I sold one book on the basis of the romantic aspects of the story. This genre is no accident. I’m a huge Star Trek and Dr. Who fan. Once I’ve won over all the Trekkies (one of my most eager readers wears a B’joran earing, no matter where he goes…) guess who I’m focusing on next?

As an author who plans to keep on writing my thought is that doing so is a bad idea. The more the ‘author’ character is revealed, the less I have to work with when being interviewed or promoting my work by other means. Why would they talk to me personally when they can ‘read me?’

Accidentally writing yourself into the story can be detrimental in other ways. First, it could be a shock when a person realizes his ‘created’ character seems all too familiar.

Second, this could lead to some nasty and unnecessary introspection. It’s a better idea to know yourself before you begin writing.

An easy way to write yourself in is to write in the first person. Your novel may be full of things like, ‘then I raced down the stairs,’ or ‘the blood oozed out of his neck when I checked for a pulse.’ While not all first person manuscripts have the author as character it’s a good idea to distance creation from creator or you may end up with your own biography. Writing in the first person is supposed to allow the main character to draw the reader into the story.

Of course you can write yourself in as a background character who ties up all the loose ends for the reader. This is the modern equivalent of an ‘aside’ or even a narrator. It’s more acceptable to ‘show’ instead of using this ‘tell.’ Even readers seem to prefer action to lengthy dialogue or soul searching.

As the creator of your own characters it’s worth noting that most of them will have something in common with you. They’re human, if I’m not assuming too much.

We tend to write from snippets of our own experience which allow us to create believable behaviors and personalities. Readers have their own life experience to draw upon and are quick to recognize when writing seems unreal. The trick is to allow them to see themselves in or be able to relate to your fictional characters. It can detract from their experience to spot the author hiding in the shadows.