IN the on-going series of Thinking Like a Writer, everyone can recite the plot diagram of rising action which ends in a climax and denouement. But writers can’t just recite the particulars of a diagram; instead, we must create a plot that changes a character in some way.

One way to get at that change is to start by writing the Before and After character sections. Where is the character at the beginning of the story and how have they changed by the end.

For example, in the Before section of “A Christmas Carol,” Scrooge is miserable and miserly in three ways: toward the poor, toward his nephew, toward his employee and his family. He meets three ghosts, which leads to the After section, where he is kind and generous in three ways: toward the poor, toward his nephew, toward his employee and his family.

You may have a character moving from shy to bold.
What scene, description, and/or character set-up will Show-Don’t-Tell that this character is shy? How can you contrast that with the After scene?

First, identify the character arc for your character.
Then write a Before and an After.

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Is 750 words per day getting easier or harder? January 2012 is a month when I am making a commitment to write at least 750 words each day.

For me, it’s hard to get started, but goes easily once I actually go to 750words.com and log in. Just knowing that it is timed makes me work hard for the 15 minutes or so it takes.

One of the typical creative writing prompts is to think of an embarrassing moment and describe that. I agree that’s a good prompt and here’s why. When you Think Like a Writer, you know that fiction must put your characters into a bad situation and make it even worse.

Without conflict, there is no fiction. But we love our characters and hate to make things worse for them. This time, you must make things as difficult as possible for your character. Put your character into a difficult situation; then make it worse; then make it worse.

Then, make it even worse. No let up.
It can be an embarrassing thing, or stressful, or painful. Just create a scene where the situation gets worse and worse and worse, without relief.

Now that, is thinking like a writer.

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

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I am trying to keep up with my friend, Charlie, who has ridden his bike over 25 miles a day for over 3000 consecutive days. I want to write 750 words a day and I’m using 750words.com to keep track of everything. The point of this exercise is to make sure I am Thinking Like a Writer, doing my scales, keeping up the practice needed to be a great writer.

For today’s creative writing prompt, look for an object around your house, something you can pick up and hold. It might be a camera, a needle and thread, a baseball glove, a salt shaker, a frying pan, a hair dryer, a favorite book–anything.

Now, put that object in the hands of your character and write. Be sure to use lots of sensory details, what you see, hear, taste, touch, feel. If you need to, stop and make a list of those details first. Put the character in motion with that object in his/her hand and see what happens.

It might precipitate a flurry of action, perhaps cooking a favorite meal. It might evoke a poignant memory. It might be the grounding for a scene you couldn’t make work before.

Post a comment–what happened when you gave your character a solid object?

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

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I’m on a 4 day streak, after messing up a 36 day streak of writing daily on 750words.com. Sigh. Why did I mess up? Too many family issues going on.

If you’re writing 750 words daily, too, part of the goal is to learn to think like a writer. Character relationships are important to establish, but the relationships must be natural. In order for that to happen, you must not put too much on top of the text. In other words, you must have subtext.

Subtext is the real topic of discussion, whatever is going on in the relationship.
For example, a couple might be making apple pie together, peeling apples, mixing up and rolling out pie crust, popping it in the oven. Their dialogue might be:

This green apple is sour.
That’s why I got half green, half red.
It’s too sour.
Then add sugar?
Yes. Sometimes you need to sweeten things up a bit.

Straightforward, talking about apple pie. But the subtext could vary. Maybe they had a fight that morning and when one says “sour” they really are talking about the fight. When the other offers to add sugar, maybe it’s a subtle apology.

This green apple is sour. She hesitated, waiting for him to speak.
That’s why I got half green, half red.
It’s too sour.
He took the knife from her hand and turned her around.
Then add sugar? He bent to kiss her.
Afterward, she said, Yes. Sometimes you need to sweeten things up a bit.

The text is still talking about making apple pie, but the subtext is the couple making up after a fight.

What if it is two brothers?

His mouth puckered: This apple is sour.
Tight lipped, his brother said, That’s why I got half green, half red.
He shook his head and dropped the apple in the trash: It’s too sour.
His brother pulled it out again and slammed it onto the counter and glared.
Quickly now, hoping to avert the anger, he stuttered, Th-th-then add sugar?
Yes. His brother’s eyes gleamed red and he rolled up his sleeves and flexed his fist. Sometimes you need to sweeten things up a bit.

You get the idea. It’s not the dialogue, per se, that carries the weight of a relationship. Sometimes, it’s the subtext. Often that is in the dialogue itself, but often it is in the beats or actions, thoughts and emotions responding to the dialogue. Think like a writer: what is really going on in a relationship?

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

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This month, I am trying to Think Like a Writer and write 750 words a day, practicing my writing, much like a musician plays scales daily.


When you introduce a character, do you say something like this?
John Doe, age 37, trotted down the street.

The question is how old is the character and how does the reader KNOW the character’s age?

Today, write about 5 characters, that’s about 125 words for each character. Make the characters ages 5, 15, 25, 55 and 85. The reader should know the ages simply by the description. It might be physically how they look, how they move, something they say, or where they are found on a Saturday night.

The cliche is wrinkled skin and gray hair, of course, But we will go beyond the cliches, won’t we? Because we are thinking like writers!

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

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The Think Like a Writer series continues here with an exhortation to continue thinking in sensory details, the basic exercise of any writer. Today, think about how a person moves as a way to characterize him or her.

Action and Metaphors of Action

She is as lithe as a jaguar.

That simile evokes a certain type of grace and perhaps, stealth, in the movement of a woman. Today, watch everyone around you and record their movement in words. Use strong action verbs. Not walk. Instead, think about stumble, stagger, dance, pirouette, stroll, amble, etc.

And, hardest for me, is to think in terms of metaphors of some type. But metaphors can be some of the most evocative of descriptions.

Here are a couple videos to watch. How would you describe this beginning waltzer?

If you can’t see the video, click here. *|YouTube:l1wPywALl5U|*

Contrast that with these 8-year-old dancers in a competition. You can describe the overall FEEL of the dancer, or take a ten second section and try to describe IN DETAIL exactly how he moves.

If you can’t see the video, click here. *|YouTube:uUPSQYmZqZs|*

Contrast the above with these Tango Soloist.

If you can’t see the video, click here. *|YouTube:C8WkA1ja2-w|*

After writing about each video, read your work over. What does the DESCRIPTION say about your character? How does it make this person come to life in a way that could not be done with interior thought?

750words.com Features

If you are using 750words.com, you can see interesting stats about your writing. At the end of the day’s writing, click the green word count at the bottom and look around the stats about what you just wrote. Pay particular attention to whether you are using lots of visual, auditory or tactile senses. Try to vary your writing to include as many senses as possible.

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

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You Can Tell a Lot About a Person by His/Her Nose

Yes, noses.

Writers of novels, short stories, picture books or other fiction must keep firmly in mind that the character rules.
You must be able to characterize quickly, whether your characters are wooden men or birds or airmen or teenage boys.

One thing I’ve noticed about people is that every single nose looks different. Shape, color, length, width, state of health–a nose is right in the middle of the face and well, you notice a nose.

Today, make a list of nose descriptions. Think like a writer and describe them with actions (twitching, turned up, etc.) and with the sensory details like I described on Day 1. Well. You probably don’t want to use a taste sense here. That’s OK. I bet you can tell the age of a person just from a description of his/her nose. Don’t give the age, just ask someone how old each nose is. What else can a nose tell you about a person? Their station in life, their income? Who knows (pun intended)?

If you run out of descriptions, flip through pictures and describe each person’s nose. Search Google Images for “famous noses.” Describe each one and see if friends can guess.

In fact, if you particularly like one of your descriptions, post it here and we’ll try to guess who it is!

Think Like a Writer and Nose Out a Character Today! Remember, I’m using 750words.org to keep track of how many days I’ve written, but you can do it on paper or on your computer.

Here are some images to get you started:

Please post a Nose Description below and let us guess who it is!

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

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Character Emotions MUST Spill Out into Big Actions

Characters, even supporting characters, should be bigger than life. No flat characters. Fiction demands round, “fleshed-out” characters. I’m working on a revision and I know this. Yet, when a friend read my revision, her response was that I needed big actions for my characters.

In the revision, I had noticed that the supporting character (Father) didn’t have much reaction to the main character (Laurel). I revised, adding in actions. But the actions were small: fist clenched, raising eyebrow, turning away.

Nothing wrong with those actions if Matt Damon was doing them on the big screen. There, the small actions would mean more. But think of him as Bourne and you’ll remember the BIG actions.

Revise for Emotions that Spill Out into Action

Revised: now, Father picks up a blanket and shakes it, snapping it up and down. He throws it onto a bed and when it falls off, he wads it up and throws it at the wall. It’s not the huge actions of an action-thriller, but in the context of the current scene, these are big actions. (Make sure you keep everything relative and in context!)

Even supporting characters need big actions. So, why didn’t I use them before? I think it’s because I’m a very restrained person myself. I keep a tight rein on emotions, not letting them spill out into big actions. That means for my characters, I need to push them to build emotions so strong that they MUST spill over into big actions.

And yes, the revision is much stronger. My early readers report that the Father is starting to come alive. Hello, Dad!

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

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OK, so I have this revision to do and one key element of it is to deepen characterization and relationships. Uh, oh. My weakness! How did the editor know that it was my weak area? Even after spending agonizing hours on characterization, I’m still not hitting the mark.

Which left me stumped on this revision. I’m not blocked. Just don’t know what to do next.

Here’s my analogy. In China, we passed by open doorways that led to teensy courtyards from which four houses (or more) might front onto. We could look through the doorways, but the glimpse was brief, you didn’t get much detail.

That’s how I tend to write characters, from the outside looking in. But this week, I’ve been rephrasing the question.
NOT: How can I deepen this character?
INSTEAD: What is the relationship in this scene? How do these characters affect each other? What is each character fighting for in this scene?

The answers can NOT change the plot, the actual actions of what is going on. I’m actually happy with the plot. Instead, I’m looking at the inner person, the relationship which is revealed by the plot events.

Asking about relationship seems easier to me than asking about how to characterize. It’s interactive, as one character does something, the other must respond. If I can find a central thing around which I can center conflict and reveal character with that, it will work.

In the current scene, the characters are discussing going somewhere and they both agree that they need to do that. Well, there is conflict in the plot, because it’s a daring thing they do. In the revision, though, I’m having Character A hesitate, wondering if she should consult her father or someone other adult before going. Meanwhile, Character B is impulsive and confident. “A” generally has a superior attitude to B, so she can’t let him get the upper hand by being so bold. And thus the relationship develops. Who will bluff the other into action? Who will compromise their ideals to prove to the other they are tough?

It’s like zooming into that Chinese courtyard to see the small details. Suddenly, the relationship has revealed details of the character and we see clearly.

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

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Working on a novel revision, I realize that I need to refocus the relationship between two characters. The question is where to start.

Grand Entrance for Your Character

I once heard the late Sid Fleischman talk about the importance of giving a character a Grand Entrance. Think about a stage play, where a character sweeps onto stage commanding the attention of the audience. It’s a first look at the character and sets the tone for everything that follows.

Characters out of focus? Start revising with the Grand Entrance Scene.

Actions. First, I’ll look at the action verbs. A story is almost always contained in the verbs. Too many “to be” verbs (is, are, has, had, am, etc.) and the story is flat, uninteresting. Action verbs characterize and I want to sharpen the characterizations while setting up the relationship differently. It’s not that the ACTION — what the character DO — will change much. But the meaning of the actions will take on a different tone.

Sensory Details. Likewise, the choice of sensory details will be crucial: visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory (taste) and olfactory (smell). For example, if you want to talk about a romantic relationship, you might describe a guy with these details: musky smell, soft curly hair, rough baritone voice, brush of his lips and –well, let’s forget the taste one for now.

On the other hand, a more platonic relationship might be sweaty smell, greasy hair, clear voice, firm handshake and –well, taste just doesn’t work here, either.

I’ll be looking at the actual choice of words carefully. I don’t expect that the scene’s actions will change much, but the reader should get a very different feel for the character relationship.

Tone

Of course, all of this relates to a slightly different tone set up in the relationship. Tone is that underlying attitude that characters have toward something that comes out in the language choices of the writer. I don’t want romance here, but an honest, growing friendship. I’ll use action verbs and sensory details to change that tone in this scene of Grand Entrance. If I can nail it here, it should act as a touchstone as I revise the rest of the novel.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win