Today, rather than ponder over some technical aspect until I feel as though my brain cells are tied up in knots, I’m going to propose a few exercises to:
a) help you with whatever project you’re working on
b) sharpen your writing skills
c) answer a + b
d) 42
Developing Characters
I know some writers like keeping diaries for their characters in order to get into the rhythm of their thoughts, generate feelings and memories. It’s a great idea, but I don’t like getting bogged down by a lot of notebooks, so I do a very abridged exercise: I imagine the character has to introduce him or herself to an audience – a classroom, a therapy group, an auditorium – anything. How do they feel about addressing a group of listeners? Are they good speakers or do they ramble? Would they make good points? Are they shy or confident? Obnoxious or funny? Opinionated or broad-minded? Over-familiar or aloof? What topic would they be speaking about? Does the audience respond well to them? I imagine how they’d handle questions, heckling. I know it might sound a little strange but it can really help you define the character’s dominant traits and even the finer details such as body language or facial features.
Sharpening POV
Level 1: Imagine yourself (or a fictional character, if you’d prefer) sitting in a public place. Pretend that you’re a stranger observing yourself for the first time. What is your first impression of yourself? You might ask why you’re picturing yourself in the first place. Because changing POV relies on your ability to go outside of yourself and adopt a viewpoint that isn’t your own.
Level 2: Pick a person very close to you. How would they perceive you sitting there? What are they thinking of?
Level 3: Pick someone who doesn’t know you too well.
Level 4: Pick someone you don’t get along with or has a negative opinion of you. (Sorry about this one! Hope you can’t pick anybody.)
Level 5: Summary. Do the different POVs resemble each other? How do they differ? Was the exercise easy, intermediate, hard? (Plain annoying?)
One of the best things about this entire exercise is that it’s very influenced by mood so you can repeat it often and get different results.
General Exercises
If you’re in a lyrical mood, you can try converting the lyrics of a song into a scene or a story. If you’re in an artistic mood, you can try to write a scene or a story around a specific image, photographed or painted.
If you’re feeling especially musical, I suggest playing one of your favorite albums or even something totally random, and letting the ensuing mood guide your writing.
And, of course, you can always turn to the Anagram Server for random writing challenges. Just enter a simple phrase and try to make something out of the most promising results. (But that might be my own special brand of wackiness and not very useful to anyone else.)
Next time on Technical Saturday… Future plans for Stellascript. Have no fear, the technical posts are not disappearing, they’re just changing format. Details to follow.
a) help you with whatever project you’re working on
b) sharpen your writing skills
c) answer a + b
d) 42
Developing Characters
I know some writers like keeping diaries for their characters in order to get into the rhythm of their thoughts, generate feelings and memories. It’s a great idea, but I don’t like getting bogged down by a lot of notebooks, so I do a very abridged exercise: I imagine the character has to introduce him or herself to an audience – a classroom, a therapy group, an auditorium – anything. How do they feel about addressing a group of listeners? Are they good speakers or do they ramble? Would they make good points? Are they shy or confident? Obnoxious or funny? Opinionated or broad-minded? Over-familiar or aloof? What topic would they be speaking about? Does the audience respond well to them? I imagine how they’d handle questions, heckling. I know it might sound a little strange but it can really help you define the character’s dominant traits and even the finer details such as body language or facial features.
Sharpening POV
Level 1: Imagine yourself (or a fictional character, if you’d prefer) sitting in a public place. Pretend that you’re a stranger observing yourself for the first time. What is your first impression of yourself? You might ask why you’re picturing yourself in the first place. Because changing POV relies on your ability to go outside of yourself and adopt a viewpoint that isn’t your own.
Level 2: Pick a person very close to you. How would they perceive you sitting there? What are they thinking of?
Level 3: Pick someone who doesn’t know you too well.
Level 4: Pick someone you don’t get along with or has a negative opinion of you. (Sorry about this one! Hope you can’t pick anybody.)
Level 5: Summary. Do the different POVs resemble each other? How do they differ? Was the exercise easy, intermediate, hard? (Plain annoying?)
One of the best things about this entire exercise is that it’s very influenced by mood so you can repeat it often and get different results.
General Exercises
If you’re in a lyrical mood, you can try converting the lyrics of a song into a scene or a story. If you’re in an artistic mood, you can try to write a scene or a story around a specific image, photographed or painted.
If you’re feeling especially musical, I suggest playing one of your favorite albums or even something totally random, and letting the ensuing mood guide your writing.
And, of course, you can always turn to the Anagram Server for random writing challenges. Just enter a simple phrase and try to make something out of the most promising results. (But that might be my own special brand of wackiness and not very useful to anyone else.)
Next time on Technical Saturday… Future plans for Stellascript. Have no fear, the technical posts are not disappearing, they’re just changing format. Details to follow.
4 comments:
Georges Simenon believed probably more than any other writer that 'character is plot', to quote Henry James. Here he describes his unusual way of preparing for a new novel:
"I write the name on a manila envelope. Then I put down everything about him; his teachers, his grandmother, his telephone number, and so on. I won't use these details in my novel, but I need to know everything about the man or woman who will be my character. . . .
"I ask myself, what would happen that would change this character's life? It's what I have to find. And when I do, I have the first chapter. And then I start. I write a chapter a day. From then on, it's the character who commands, not me. I know the end only when I finish. But during the time I'm writing, I concentrate, concentrate on my characters – I don't say 'story' because I am not interested in the story. My stories are sometimes very poor. Only the characters matter."
That's an excellent suggestion, Mr. Murdoch. I'm more character-oriented than plot-oriented, so it would probably help me become more efficient in terms of characterization. I tend to try to cram in more info than necessary.
Useful exercises, Stella, and an interesting approach from Georges Simenon via Jim Murdoch. Thanks.
Hope you enjoy them, Paul. Not that I think you need much help working those creative muscles...
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