What are your characters' likes and dislikes?  This topic has come up as I've started a new series for Chandler's Ford Today called 101 Things to Put into Room 101 (the latter is, of course, based on George Orwell's 1984).  Now I know the reasons behind my 101 things (which I'll share over about 6 to 7 weeks) but what are the reasons behind your characters' choices here?

Also listing said likes and dislikes can help enormously when outlining.  You should get a much clearer picture of who your characters are and what really drives them in just listing these things.  In the magical world, there is generally a massive dislike of human interference (which is understandable.  What we would do with such powers, given what we have done to our own planet and indeed to each other especially in times of war, is something that could be the stuff of nightmares).  In your created worlds, what are the common things most people/alien beings/even dodgy wizards like/dislike?  How was this consensus reached or was it forced on people?

Even relatively trivial likes and dislikes can tell you something about a character.  A character who loathes broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage but can eat sweetcorn all day long if allowed to do so shows someone who can be picky (and who clearly has a problem with members of the brassica family!).  This could be exploited for comic effect or be used against them.  (An enemy poisons the sweetcorn supply possibly!).

My Chandler's Ford Today post this week is called Writing Sayings - Truth or Nonsense? and I think some of the well-known sayings relating to writing really are nonsensical! See the post if you want to find out which I debunk!

It is a sad fact of life that truth so often is not welcome and that many people pay a very heavy price for it. Does this mean we shouldn't portray this in fiction?  I think not.  Where it is appropriate to the story to do so, I think you should portray it.  Indeed, it would be difficult not to given every hero has to have something to be a hero about and so often it usually is fighting for the truth about something to come out etc.

So the story here then is what is the truth as it relates to your characters and their world?  Why is it being suppressed and by whom?  How does your hero/heroine ensure the truth does come out?  What price do they pay for doing this (and there is bound to be one, probably a very heavy one at that.  I always liked the ending of The Lord of the Rings where it is made very clear Frodo has been changed so much by his adventures, that more change, another journey, is necessary for him.  I don't really want to say more than that in case you haven't read it or seen the films).

One of the topics I discuss with crime writer, Val Penny, in Part 2 of my interview with her for Chandler's Ford Today this week is research. We talk about the resources that are available for crime writers and I go on to mention that even for writing fantasy as I do, some research is useful.

Strictly speaking, for any fiction, of course you don't have to carry out research.  You make it all up!  However, I've found that to root my characters so readers can identify with them, I need to know how we react as people and why (so a basic knowledge of how humans "work" is useful).  Also when it comes to world building, knowing how we work is a building block for making up your own  universe.  After all if you decide your world is going to be nothing like this one, you've got to work out in exactly which ways it will differ.  So you do have to bring some knowledge to the writing desk to be able to write effectively.

I've also found that researching (whether I do so via the internet, a book or what have you) helps me extend my knowledge (obviously!) but the knock-on benefit of that for my fiction writing is it also expands what I can write about.  Write about what you know is good advice so expand what you know and you can expand what you can write.

I mention this topic as part of my interview with crime writer, Val Penny, on Chandler's Ford Today this week looked at what triggered her wish to write.  It is one of those questions I often ask writers I interview and the results are always fascinating.

Also, it is interesting to note that, while there can be similarities, I believe most writers have triggers to begin writing that are unique to them.  Mine were turning 30 and having given birth to my son, two major life changes that made me face up to the fact if I wanted to be a writer, I had better get on and write then!

I also love writing triggers in the form of opening lines, photos, closing lines etc that encourage you to write something around them.  They can make you really work your imagination.  The theme for competitions can also act as good triggers (and can be useful for writing practice even if you don't enter the contest.  If you do and win it or are shortlisted, even better though!).

I find the ideal opening line writing trigger is one that can give you all kinds of possibilities to work with.  For example, I would find the line "He refused to cry again" a lot more interesting to work with than "The starship crashed into a crater".  I could write stories on both and have fun doing so but the first one you could set in any time, any world come to that.  The second is an immediate sci-fi or fantasy story, which is fine, but you are getting your genre and setting in one go here.  (That can be useful when I want triggers for my flash fiction though and that is when I will want a line that does a lot of work for me!).