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Home » Archives for Tamela Hancock Murray » Page 25

Tamela Hancock Murray

That Look

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon November 15, 2018
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This blog is part five of six in a series designed to hone character development of protagonists in your fiction.

I once tried to leave the house with bare lips. This did not go over well with my husband.

“Where is your lipstick?” he asked.

I applied some immediately. In red.

Yes, the lipstick has to be red. I can get away with a reddish burgundy shade if it matches my clothing, but only then.

When venturing out alone, I once left the house wearing sparkly gold lipstick with sable lip liner. All the women loved it. When I returned home and my husband saw my new look, he wanted to know what was going on with all the lip liner.

If I were to forget my lipstick when traveling, the situation would be classified as a beauty emergency, meaning an immediate trip to the nearest cosmetics counter. Since this has, ahem, happened, last week when my husband and I went away, he made sure I had packed my lipstick.

Cell phone or lipstick? That, my friend, is the question.

 

Your turn:

Has your character adopted a certain look? What is it?

Why does your character have this look? How does it make your character stand out or be special?

What do the people in the character’s life think of this look? Are their feelings positive or negative? Why, and does your character care?

What would make your character change this unique look?

 

Character Development Series:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six

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Category: Writing Craft

Vegan?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon November 8, 2018
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This blog is part four of six in a series designed to hone character development of protagonists in your fiction. Pity the poor body under dietary restrictions. And haven’t we all been there at one time or another, for one reason or another? At home, we can manage. Never mind that the grocery store demands steep prices for specialty food. Because they can. Dining in public? An adventure but not …

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Category: Writing Craft

Busybodies and Redheads

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon November 1, 2018
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This blog is part three of six in a series designed to hone character development of protagonists in your fiction. One of my elementary school teachers, a blonde, gave birth to twin boys with bright red hair. Her husband was dark-haired. Perhaps in this day and age of sensitivity and multiracial adoptions, no one would flicker a proverbial eyelid at this development. Or at least they would blink …

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Category: Writing Craft

Character Quirks

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon October 25, 2018
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This blog is part two of six in a series designed to hone character development of protagonists in your fiction. When on its own and free to be itself, my hair curves into waves that the Atlantic Ocean would envy. Prodigious effort must be made to tame it. That prodigious effort originates in the form of a professional blowout. When trying to preserve a blowout, I have found that the perfect room …

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Category: Writing Craft

Prized Possessions

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon October 18, 2018
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This blog is part one of six in a series designed to hone character development of protagonists in your fiction. I own a few possessions that I prize though they aren’t worth much moneywise. These possessions represent the love someone has for me. That love is far more valuable to me than the few dollars I could earn from selling my memories on eBay. Take the small trinket box my grandmother …

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Category: Writing Craft

Caution: Loose Platform Planks

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon October 11, 2018
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I love learning about authors on the internet. And as a literary agent, I enjoy the internet and find connections there that would be otherwise difficult to find and maintain. But as professionals, we must be cautious about what we share on any level. One reason is that we all know the internet is forever. Consider Blake Shelton’s recent woes over old tweets. He is not alone. When I was …

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Category: Branding, Career, Marketing, Platform

Why I Left My (Insurance) Agent

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon October 4, 2018
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The number-one complaint I hear from authors about their agents is that they don’t communicate with them. My understanding of this was renewed when I was on the side of needing an insurance agent to respond to me. I needed an adjustment to my policy that will mean I’ll pay the company more money. Alas, and alack, the agency I’d been with for decades (which has been sold twice, by the way) never …

Read moreWhy I Left My (Insurance) Agent
Category: Agency, Agents, Communication, The Writing Life

Planning Ahead

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon September 27, 2018
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Conference season is coming to a close as we approach the holidays. Our local Lowes store had Christmas trees up last weekend. Does this mean I’m already too late for fall cleaning? Because a budget of time and money is involved in considering whether to attend any conference, it’s not too early to think about your travel in 2019. Don’t miss early-bird savings that conferences may offer. Another …

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Category: Conferences

Keeping Grounded

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon September 20, 2018
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As I move in publishing circles, I notice that those in and out of our profession tend to grant some of us larger-than-life personas. Writers admire agents. Agents admire publishers. Publishers admire readers. Readers admire writers. With this circle of admiration, everyone should be happy, right? Maybe, but only in moderation. In His wisdom, God didn’t allow me to become an agent until I was …

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Category: Agents

Why I’m Not Mysterious

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon September 13, 2018
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I don’t believe in being mysterious, especially as an agent. Since I used to write books for publication, I know what it’s like to put your career in the hands of others. As a writer, I wouldn’t want to send off my precious work and then hear no updates or any word from my agent. I realize any agent will update a client when a contract offer is made. And I realize that, technically, that’s all the …

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Category: AgentsTag: Agents, Contracts, Rejection, The Writing Life
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