writing – Page 41 – Linda Nelson

Currently I am taking part in an online YA writing workshop. Tonight’s topic is Passive/Aggressive Behavior

Discussion:

Depict a character that is of a passive aggressive with pint up energy. Do they vehemently go into a rage when they just cannot take it anymore or do they hide from their obstacles by becoming vacant?

Oh, this would be my character Karla in my Wings of Ashes series.

Her mom never really pays attention to her except to criticize her and find fault with her. As far as Karla is concerned she hasn’t done anything wrong and does not deserve any blame. She sees herself as a victim of which ever circumstance she is involved with.

She never speaks out for fear of rocking the boat even when friendships are concerned. She is more likely to end up in an abusive relationship due to her denial of her self-worth. She appears to be a kind and caring individual but deep inside she harbors strong anger issues that she has learned to suppress.

Her friendship with Carol shows her Passive/aggressive behavior when she knows that Carol is shoplifting but refuses to say anything about it. And when she thinks about introducing Carol to her old friends, Sarah and Jody, she is hesitant due to the fact she is afraid they will voice their disapproval of the type of person Carol could be, even though they know nothing about her.

There is a new question; will Karla eventually lash out at anyone when her suppressed anger comes to a boil? Will there ever be a heated confrontation between Karla and Carol over the trouble Karla gets into because she lacks the desire to stand up and say No?

Could a possible fight break out at the jail when Karla reaches her boiling point when she discovers her home phone has been disconnected and she can’t call home to get bailed out of jail?

This will add another chapter to the end of Road Salt – Woot!

So far I love this online workshop and most likely I will be signing up for others in the coming weeks. I also have a strong feeling I will be joining the YARWA chapter too.

I can’t wait for tomorrow’s topic.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving Holiday.

I know I did. This was the first year in a long time that my son has been home for the holiday. It was so good to have him here.

Main Aisle, Macy's 1st Floor, Black Friday — Main Aisle, Macy’s 1st Floor, Black Friday (Photo credit: LarimdaME)

On Thanksgiving night we went out and did the unthinkable and went Black Friday Shopping. What an insane idea that was. I didn’t know that there could be that many people living in the area to fill a store up the way it was that night. I mean everyone was parked everywhere, on the grass, in the road, and up on the highway. Then there wasn’t one single shopping cart to be found in Walmart. People were sitting on them waiting for 10 o’clock to come around so they could turn in their tickets to get their TVs they were waiting for.

I only managed to find three out of nineteen items I had on my list. I should have printed out a map of the store before going. Then I would have known where everything was going to be. Maybe next year, even though Mike said there won’t be a next year. I guess he didn’t have a good time being my personal shopping cart. But he was a good trooper none the less.

ROW80 Update:

This year I did not officially take part in NaNo WriMo. I was too busy struggling to get the first draft done for Road Salt.

So, I am happy to announce folks, the first draft is done. I made it to the end of the story. I even formatted the file for Smashwords and I think it passed the vetting process on its first time around. Now I have to begin the edit process. Hopefully I can have the first edit done by Christmas.

I did not make my end goal for word count on the first draft. One of the problems I have when I write is that I tend to write very tight, almost too tight. When I go back through the story I am sure I will be able to make my end goal after answering the same questions for each chapter.

Who
What
Where
When
How
Why

If I can answer all the above I am sure that there won’t be too many gaps in the story. This is what I did when I did the last edit on Friends of Choice. Just by answering those questions I was able to add another 14k words to the manuscript.

If anyone is interested in being a beta reader for me and giving me some constructive criticism on Road Salt you can view the first draft on Smashwords for free… https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/258513

The more ideas I can get on this story the better. I do know that I need to delve deeper into my characters for this story. That will be what my main focus will be on while I do the first edit.

It really isn’t supposed to be an entertaining read, but if I could make it entertaining that would be all the better.

Stop by to support other Round of Words in 80 Days participants found here on the Linky List of other ROWers