Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Tuesday Museday gets a sibling?

If you have siblings, you likely know that there are things you can get away with doing to your siblings that you can't do to anyone else. Take this photo for example:



This is me and my cousins, plus my sister, my husband, and my cousin's wife (none of us were married at the time; this photo is OLD).

If you study the photo, you will notice that my sister, in the stripey sweater, is thrusting her hips forward and has her arms behind her back. This is because a second before the photo was taken, I credit-carded her. 

Do I go around swiping my hand up random people's butt cracks? Nope. That behavior is reserved for my sister. Poor Cassi.

Your characters will similarly have things they do or personality traits that they can show only around their siblings. Use those interactions to your advantage! Show a gruff character's silly side. Show someone who always acts cheerful dropping the facade around their family.

As a writing exercise, write a scene (even one that doesn't make it into your book) between characters and their siblings. This is a good way to get to know your secondary characters as well as your main character. It'll be interesting to see what it reveals about them!

Need fresh eyes on your query letter? Comment below, and I will select a few random commenters for a critique.
By the way, when you get in the business of critiquing people, you often worry that someone will react badly to your critique and flame you publicly or privately. I've been doing Tuesday Museday for nearly a year now, and I have yet to have this experience. All you OA readers who receive critiques from me have been polite and grateful. I'm grateful to YOU for your classy behavior. Thank you!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Kara, thanks for your kind offer for query critiques! If you're up for it, I'd love to have you look at mine again. Thanks! -Meg LaTorre

Kara Reynolds said...

You're in! Same instructions as before.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the offer of a query critique. I'd love to be in the running. Great picture of your family!

K. said...

Thanks so much for offering query critiques. I've actually changed up my query a bit from the last time you saw it, and I'd love to get your opinion on it! :) Thanks again!

Kara Reynolds said...

Cass & K: Go ahead and send your query letters to operationawesome6 at gmail, with my name somewhere in the subject line.
That's the cutoff!

Cass said...

Thanks!!

Jackie said...

Thanks for the offer. I hope I get lucky.
Interesting pic. I have ones like that with siblings and cousins. Sometimes looking at them makes one feel sad, because so many things have happened over the years and the poeple in the pic are not living in the same country, let alone the same town. Some are not even talking to each other.
That's life I suppose.

Kara Reynolds said...

Hi Jackie,
I cut off entries before your comment, but you can always try again next time! I do Tuesday Museday every few weeks.