Life at the Beach

How I've Grown as a Writer

Skye Taylor — Sat, 15 Aug 2026 00:02:00 CDT

How have I grown as a writer? Has my writing changed? What have I learned?

I guess the first question might be how far back should I go?

I wish I still had the essay I wrote for my Junior year English teacher in high school. To be honest I thought I was doomed at the time. He assigned us a 500 word essay on an odor and I had zero idea how I’d pull that off. Like maybe 50 words on something I could smell, but 500? But being diligent and not wanting to appear like a loser on my first day, I sat down and began. I chose the smell of sheets dried on a clothesline outdoors. Likely few people today would have any idea how fresh and clean and wonderful sheets dried in the sun and wind was given everyone pretty much uses dryers today, but laundry day was the best day ever to climb into bed at night. I loved that scent. I got an A+ which is why I wish I’d saved the paper. Who knew??

But I digress. My first novel was written before PCs appeared on the scene so it was written in pencil and today resides in a file at the very back of my file drawer. Actually, it’s not even in a file drawer. It’s in a file box somewhere at the back of my storage unit which currently is in desperate need of sorting and purging. But since this blog post is about how we have grown and our writing changed, I went and dug it out.

It begins with this: Chapter 1 – A Hasty Betrothal

The day was very cold and overcast and did nothing to life the spirits of the tall young man hurrying across Oxford Street on his way to present himself in Cavendish Square. Lord only knew what it was his grandmother wanted to rake him down for now.

Not so bad as I’d feared. Setting up my presumed hero with a problem right off the bat. Something I am always careful to do today. But that was followed by a lengthy description of his grandmother and her habits which really didn’t drive the story along all that much in those first important pages.

That was one of the many lessons I’ve learned over the years since that was written. Since that day I’ve attended many conferences and workshops, been a member of a number of writer’s clubs and participated in brainstorming and critique groups. I’ve also published 13 books, and had short stories included in several collections. Also the world of writing, publishing and books has changed so much it’s barely recognizable.

In the fifty years since I wrote those words, we went from an average of 30,000 novels published in the US to over 4 million. That’s just a starter. Also the world outside of books has sped up. Instead of just 3 channels of television to watch we’ve gone to hundreds. Then there are all the electronic games to divert our attention. The classics, many published a couple hundred years ago or more were the only personal form of entertainment. Those books could ramble on for a hundred pages and not lose the reader’s attention because there wasn’t anything else. Today a book has to grab your attention in the very first paragraph or it’s doomed.

So, I’m happy to see that my first effort did just that. Maybe not with quite the cliffhanger intensity I aim for today, but it was a decent start. Other things I’ve learned along the way was how to create compelling characters. Not just ones I personally liked, but the kind that engage the reader and have the reader gnawing on their knuckles when things go bad for them.

I’ve also learned the value of research. Either fictitious or real – taking the time to learn what the AREA is like if it’s fictitious and everything possible to know about a real setting. I have learned that physically going to the area or the setting is more than just seeing what it looks like, but what the people are like. Are they friendly or snotty? Is it busy, or quiet? Talking to people who live and work there for insider information makes the settings in my books today far more real feeling than that first book which got all its substance from my reading the Georgette Heyer novels.

I’ve learned to people watch, as well. I can base some of my character development on my personal experience. I am a mother so I know what babies, toddlers and teenagers are like basically. But times change. The things I recall being interested in as a teenager, for instance, and those of my own kids are so far in the past, it’s important for me to talk to a few teenagers today if I have a character that age in my books. Eavesdropping on conversations gives me great ideas about how different characters might speak, how they leave things out, express anger, or joy etc. It’s also a great way to get a visual for how people move.

Early on, I was told to write what you know. That included things like jobs, but after a few books, the careers need to branch out. So, another area of research. Talk to a teach or visit their classroom to find out what the job is really like. Spend a day in an ER if your character is going to work there, whether they are a nurse, doctor, orderly or the intake desk. I took the Citizens Law Enforcement course, took two ride-alongs and made a friend of the only female on the major crimes squad when I was preparing to write a police procedural.

In addition to learning more before I start to write, both about people and places, I’ve learned to parse my writing. Instead of long and perhaps boring descriptions, I try to make my people and places come alive by showing instead of telling. Readers can learn so much about a character by seeing them in action rather than me describing them and bogging the story down with narrative. I’ve learned to give the reader a peek into the past through dialog and thought rather than bringing the action to a halt by dumping tons of backstory. I’ve learned how to effectively use a thesaurus for two reasons. One is to avoid repeating the same word over and over. The other is to search for nuances that a different but similar word can bring to the scene, which also lets the reader feel what the characters are feeling and experiencing.

Lastly, I have learned that first draft is the FIRST DRAFT! There will be a lot of editing to follow. Not just a few minor correction like I noted in those pencil written lines I read through before I started this blog. I hope my writing has grown as much as my understanding of the craft. I might not be selling in the millions of copies but my readers are faithful and always eager to pick up my next book, so I might be doing something write, er right!

So, now it’s time to visit some of my Round Robin Blog Hopper buddies and see how they have changed.

Creating Great Characters

Skye Taylor — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 00:02:00 CDT

This month THE ROUND ROBIN BLOGGERS are discussing how we create our characters, keeping them real and consistent.

Back when I began to write, I had zero idea of this aspect of peopling my stories. I picked names I liked and went from there. My first effort at a novel was inspired by Georgette Heyer so it was set in the Regency period in England. I had fun writing that book, when I wasn’t chasing down three kids under six, but I didn’t do much of any research and even less time considering if my characters were real, compelling or believable. That book, written before personal computers were a thing lives in a file buried at the back of my filing drawer, written in pencil on yellow lined paper. It will likely still be there when I am gone as I have no desire to see just how awful it is.

When those rambunctious kids grew up, I began to be more serious about my writing. I joined writer’s groups, attended meetings and went to conferences. I listened to and participated in a number of workshops on character creation and came home with handouts – aides to make them real. I have all of those handouts somewhere and notebooks with notes taken during the lectures. But over the years, I’ve boiled them down into two that I use regularly.

When I began writing my first published novel, The Candidate, I had a handful of notes on my main character, but soon discovered there were things about him I didn’t know that I realized I did need to know. So, I paused and just started typing his story from somewhere around when he was in kindergarten. It was like I was telling a friend about someone I knew, and before long, I did know this guy and what made him tick.

I still type up detailed dossiers on my main characters most of the time, but I’ve also come to rely on that combination of character aides that I’ve created. It’s a three page form that I print out and start filling in. The first part is the “Keep it consistent” part: height/weight, hair and eye color, features, mannerisms, religion, politics etc. This is followed by education and if applicable military service and a family outline: mom, dad, siblings etc. This section also includes friends, what kind of vehicle he or she drives, their job/career, hobbies and where they like to hang out, how they dress, pets if they have any. Next couple sections address their philosophy and attitude toward life, family, friends and co-workers. And their personality: strengths/weaknesses, phobias, vices, regrets and darkest secrets. I also include favorite expressions, movies, books, actors etc. But now the real work starts with questions like:

1-Event(s) up to now that had more impact on this character’s life than anything else. How and why.

2-What is it about this character that will make the reader sympathetic to him/her? (compelled, intrigued, tantalized, in love with, repelled by (as in character you love to hate)

3-What will make this character special, unique and/or different?

4-And if I’m writing a romance, or there is a romantic interest: Why is this character attracted to or intrigued by hero / heroine?

By now I know this guy or gal about as well as I know myself. Since I’m normally a write by the seat of my pants type, knowing my character this well, means I can then just toss him or her into the action and I don’t have to guess how they will react or what their actions will be next. The only thing remaining that I need is to complete the GMC chart.

For those of you who are not familiar with GMC this stands for Goal, Motivation and Conflict. It includes both the inner and outer goals. Outer would be the overt actions all their fellow characters see and interact on, like putting out a fire, or solving a mystery or averting a world crisis. Inner is what goes on inside the character. This could include having been abused as a child and determined to protect others from being abused, having been abandoned and seeking love they can trust etc.

With all these questions answered, I am off and running with my story. I have a briefer outline for secondary characters but those also include things like he drives a Ford 150, or his mother has Alzheimers, her hair is red and she’s a graduate of an Ivy school etc. If the guy is always tossing things into the bed of his beat up truck for the first half of the book and then he shows up in a cherry red convertible the readers want to know where the new car came from and wouldn’t do to have your heroine’s best friend looking through blue eyes if she had chocolate brown ones on page two. I don’t need to know all these secondary characters as well as I did my hero or heroine, but I do need to be consistent and know them at least as well as I know my neighbors.

The rest of the cast of characters don’t need to be so well defined. The dentist might have a name or not, but he might have a lisp that leaves the hero wondering if he became a dentist because of his own overbite. The waitress doesn’t need a name unless she’s a regular at your heroine’s favorite diner and you might not even need to know if she’s efficient or lazy. I only include details or names for all the supporting characters if they are going to appear again and they need a little more fleshing out.

So, maybe you’d like to check out that first book and see if I did right by Matt Steele in The Candidate. Or perhaps my new Bailey Island series to check out Kenzie Ross and Sam Philips. If you like police procedurals or mysteries, I recommend the Jesse Quinn Mysteries. Jesse, is a woman, by the way who was Christened Jessalyn but followed her father into law enforcement and didn’t want people judging her performance by such a “girly” name so chose to call herself Jesse, deliberately spelled that way to deter judgements based on gender. She is the only female on the Major Crimes Squad in the St John’s County Sheriff’s department. (St Augustine, Florida) For that character creation I actually sat down to a lengthy lunch (almost 3 hours) with the only woman on the Major Crimes Squad in my hometown, to get a feel for what it would be like for my character operating in a mostly male department.

You might also like to hop on over and check out how my fellow Round Robin Blog Hoppers go about creating characters you want to cheer for.