MICHAELHAWKE

Creating believable characters is something I find immensely fun. The curious thing for me is that sometimes it can take me a long time to do a simple genogram and timeline for even main characters. This is a tool I cobbled together to help visualise and guide the mind in developing histories and family trees of characters. I use Office 2010, and with that program you can create simple family tree like structures using smartart. You can download it by clicking this link. The

Here is an example of the imagination process for me. In the second book of my trilogy Gabriel will visit the house of Ullender, a man who lives in the city of Halas. When i did my first draft the house was poorly formed in my mind, if Gabriel needed to exit a room, suddenly there it was in my mind. When he heard a sound from someplace else, I was never sure why the sound was being made etc. Enter some cardboard, tape, blutack, and a figurine or two. It took me a few hours to

It’s something I know I should be doing. As I wait for my own novel to find a home I part entertain and part torment myself by watching the journeys of others. At present it is Lynette Noni’s story that is engrossing me most. Watching her current excitement at the second installment of her Medoran Chronicles is a joy. When she sends out a post I read it and wonder whether I should be doing something similar: it’s a three course meal of envy, curiosity and inspiration. Chuck S