Showing posts with label characters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label characters. Show all posts
Monday, December 18, 2017
Crawl. Stand. Walk. Run.
Many of my clients must have been told by previous writing teachers that their characters were flat.
I say they must have, because what I read, especially from my young writers, is adult characters who absolutely can't make up their minds.
And I know the students want to push back when I tell them to make decisions about their characters.
Because they're characters.
Totally made up.
Their motivations don't matter.
Like when an adult tells a child to clean a room. What is the point other than exerting authority?
From the young person's perspective, I get it. Honestly.
Writers are creating characters. Writers have the challenge of creating arbitrary characters to move their plots forward. Those plots, and the characters that drive those plots, are as varied as infinite numbers. But those reasons must exist in relation to the plot of the story.
And (MOST) writers must learn to create and develop characters the same way they learned to run.
Readers may not want flat characters, but writers need to create simple characters consistently before they can build complex characters that still make sense to readers. And if readers are reading the work of new writers, I hope they will understand and encourage writers at each step of the way. This includes encouraging young people to read LOTS, reading young writers' work and providing constructive criticism (emphasis on the constructive, not so much the criticism). And if those things aren't in a reader's wheelhouse, help connect the young writer with someone who will read their work and help them be better.
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
Action is not the same thing as Plot
As someone who teaches writing, I see a lot of things. One recently is that the young people I work with try to add things that happen without those things adding to the plot. The result of this is somewhat comedic -- how much STUFF can a character go through in a day?
Plot should be action. You probably don't want characters who just sit around talking. You want them to get up and kick ass -- at least every once in a while. But that action needs a focus point. While there are things (like weather-related disasters) that happen for no good reason, the plot should center around the question: "What does this character WANT?" and then describe the path and the obstacles to get that character to that place -- or help the character deal with NOT reaching that goal.
Authors CAN beat the crap out of their characters. Life does this, too. Some of the most dramatic stories involve wondering how much more a person can take. But the story is not the events. The story is how the person dealt with the challenges.
A character's drive doesn't have to be flashy, either. Fault in Our Stars and Perks of Being a Wallflower were both incredibly well conceived stories about people not looking to be much more than ordinary. A character does not have to be a superhero to be a hero.
Elementary school students have led me on perfectly ordinary adventures about nighttime rituals involving getting that last drink of water before bed. Middle school students have led me on bizarre quests in search of the perfect golden Ticonderoga. School and home plots have plenty tension and drive without murder and mayhem of the macabre caliber.
So plot with purpose (I'm certain someone has trademarked that, I mean no infringement). Focus on what drives your character to get up in the morning and stumble through the day. Or why your character is so overwhelmed that the bed is a sanctuary. You can do a lot with plot, and actions do drive that plot home. But actions for the sake of filling pages will cause your reader to be confused, put down YOUR book, and reach for something else.
Phyl Campbell is the author of I'm Not Writing a Book Today, the so-called procrastination guide for writers and other dreamers, and a number of other books in various genres (available on Amazon). Books she has published for young authors can be found on her website. They are also available on Amazon under their own authors and titles. Campbell lives and teaches in York County, PA.
Plot should be action. You probably don't want characters who just sit around talking. You want them to get up and kick ass -- at least every once in a while. But that action needs a focus point. While there are things (like weather-related disasters) that happen for no good reason, the plot should center around the question: "What does this character WANT?" and then describe the path and the obstacles to get that character to that place -- or help the character deal with NOT reaching that goal.
Authors CAN beat the crap out of their characters. Life does this, too. Some of the most dramatic stories involve wondering how much more a person can take. But the story is not the events. The story is how the person dealt with the challenges.
A character's drive doesn't have to be flashy, either. Fault in Our Stars and Perks of Being a Wallflower were both incredibly well conceived stories about people not looking to be much more than ordinary. A character does not have to be a superhero to be a hero.
Elementary school students have led me on perfectly ordinary adventures about nighttime rituals involving getting that last drink of water before bed. Middle school students have led me on bizarre quests in search of the perfect golden Ticonderoga. School and home plots have plenty tension and drive without murder and mayhem of the macabre caliber.
So plot with purpose (I'm certain someone has trademarked that, I mean no infringement). Focus on what drives your character to get up in the morning and stumble through the day. Or why your character is so overwhelmed that the bed is a sanctuary. You can do a lot with plot, and actions do drive that plot home. But actions for the sake of filling pages will cause your reader to be confused, put down YOUR book, and reach for something else.
Phyl Campbell is the author of I'm Not Writing a Book Today, the so-called procrastination guide for writers and other dreamers, and a number of other books in various genres (available on Amazon). Books she has published for young authors can be found on her website. They are also available on Amazon under their own authors and titles. Campbell lives and teaches in York County, PA.
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Non Linear Writing
UPCOMING ADULT FICTION WRITING CLASS DATES:
MONDAY 9/12 6-8 Classroom at Ann Peden Jewelry and Artist Marketplace
MONDAY 9/26 6-8 Classroom at Ann Peden Jewelry and Artist Marketplace
Contact Ann to register:
Many people write the same way they travel. They have to gas the car, travel each mile, and then arrive at their destination. They rely on an outline, and then can write chapter after chapter in perfectly logical order.
But no one HAS to think that way. And no one MUST write that way.
Everyone can be non-linear.
If I say to you "Paris, France," you immediately have an image in your head, whether it's this one:
Or not. Depending on who you are, you might think of Ratatouille or Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast. You might think of Les Miserables. You might think about french painters or french cuisine. Perhaps an image pops into your mind of Napoleon, the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, or the Eiffel Tower. What you thought of doesn't really matter. My point is, you did not have to get on a plane or open a book to imagine immediately something directly related to Paris. Non linear writers get that.
Everything we write comes from imagination or memory. In the same way, every person has a slightly different view of Paris based on their experiences. And non-linear writers use those experiences to tell the stories they are most excited about telling. Here's the difference:
When you get home from a trip and tell your best friend all about it, you might tell about what happened out of order. This is called Stream of Consciousness. You remember things as they come to you, and sometimes your friend interjects, and that reminds you of something else, and sometimes you lose your train of thought. You can read non linear writing in flashbacks and foreshadowing and dreams and memories, even from linear writers.
But in non-linear writing, the goal is (usually) a linear plot. And depending on whether your story is plot driven or character driven, you will feel compelled to write major scenes of your story. It's almost a compulsion -- it's the dream you don't want to forget or this historic moment that you are chronicling for posterity. You MUST write this scene if you are a non-linear writer, in the same way that you MUST tell your friend about certain aspects of your vacation.
So plotting when you are non-linear still happens, just in a different way that linear people plot. Non-linear writers might make a list of five things that they expect to happen in their book. Or, they may write each scene not knowing where or how it fits, without making any sort of list. When a few of these scenes have been written, whether you are listening to characters or stopping along a roadside or kicking the bad guy's ass, you'll start to see where you want to go and what you need to do to tie those pivotal scenes together.
Imagine it like this:
You have a list of errands you need to accomplish. Meet a friend for lunch, get a deli tray for work, drop books off at the library, buy stamps at the Post Office, and buy flowers for your mother. You may write all these things down, and then you might place them in a logical order so you can save gas and flow with traffic. But the library and post office have specific opening and closing times, "lunch" with your friend should be midday, and you shouldn't leave a deli tray (or a floral arrangement) in your car any longer than you have to. If you're like me, you have noble intentions of hitting the library and post office before lunch, but since they weren't open before 8, when you left the house to take the kid to school, you putter around your house until five minutes AFTER you should have left to meet your friend, spend longer catching up than you intended (which you are not at all upset about) and then have to get everything else done in a rush before picking the kid up from school.
So long as everything on your list gets done by the end of the day, you can count it a success. And if you were constantly blocked from your intended plan by obstacles, then you have the means for a great story that will make your readers do this:
Phyl Campbell is Author, Mother, Dreamer. She writes on a variety of topics: Education, Women/Feminism/Equality, Book Reviews, and Writing. Her books are available on Amazon. If you'd like to see her speak at an upcoming function, contact her via her website or Facebook page.
MONDAY 9/12 6-8 Classroom at Ann Peden Jewelry and Artist Marketplace
MONDAY 9/26 6-8 Classroom at Ann Peden Jewelry and Artist Marketplace
Contact Ann to register:
Ann Peden Jewelry
Many people write the same way they travel. They have to gas the car, travel each mile, and then arrive at their destination. They rely on an outline, and then can write chapter after chapter in perfectly logical order.
But no one HAS to think that way. And no one MUST write that way.
Everyone can be non-linear.
If I say to you "Paris, France," you immediately have an image in your head, whether it's this one:
Or not. Depending on who you are, you might think of Ratatouille or Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast. You might think of Les Miserables. You might think about french painters or french cuisine. Perhaps an image pops into your mind of Napoleon, the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, or the Eiffel Tower. What you thought of doesn't really matter. My point is, you did not have to get on a plane or open a book to imagine immediately something directly related to Paris. Non linear writers get that.
Everything we write comes from imagination or memory. In the same way, every person has a slightly different view of Paris based on their experiences. And non-linear writers use those experiences to tell the stories they are most excited about telling. Here's the difference:
When you get home from a trip and tell your best friend all about it, you might tell about what happened out of order. This is called Stream of Consciousness. You remember things as they come to you, and sometimes your friend interjects, and that reminds you of something else, and sometimes you lose your train of thought. You can read non linear writing in flashbacks and foreshadowing and dreams and memories, even from linear writers.
But in non-linear writing, the goal is (usually) a linear plot. And depending on whether your story is plot driven or character driven, you will feel compelled to write major scenes of your story. It's almost a compulsion -- it's the dream you don't want to forget or this historic moment that you are chronicling for posterity. You MUST write this scene if you are a non-linear writer, in the same way that you MUST tell your friend about certain aspects of your vacation.
So plotting when you are non-linear still happens, just in a different way that linear people plot. Non-linear writers might make a list of five things that they expect to happen in their book. Or, they may write each scene not knowing where or how it fits, without making any sort of list. When a few of these scenes have been written, whether you are listening to characters or stopping along a roadside or kicking the bad guy's ass, you'll start to see where you want to go and what you need to do to tie those pivotal scenes together.
Imagine it like this:
You have a list of errands you need to accomplish. Meet a friend for lunch, get a deli tray for work, drop books off at the library, buy stamps at the Post Office, and buy flowers for your mother. You may write all these things down, and then you might place them in a logical order so you can save gas and flow with traffic. But the library and post office have specific opening and closing times, "lunch" with your friend should be midday, and you shouldn't leave a deli tray (or a floral arrangement) in your car any longer than you have to. If you're like me, you have noble intentions of hitting the library and post office before lunch, but since they weren't open before 8, when you left the house to take the kid to school, you putter around your house until five minutes AFTER you should have left to meet your friend, spend longer catching up than you intended (which you are not at all upset about) and then have to get everything else done in a rush before picking the kid up from school.
So long as everything on your list gets done by the end of the day, you can count it a success. And if you were constantly blocked from your intended plan by obstacles, then you have the means for a great story that will make your readers do this:
And isn't that what we all want from our readers?
So to practice, comment with the events of your day, in some crazy harried style. Or, write about a journey from your imagination. Anything is possible for Authors, Mothers -- or not, and Dreamers!
Phyl Campbell is Author, Mother, Dreamer. She writes on a variety of topics: Education, Women/Feminism/Equality, Book Reviews, and Writing. Her books are available on Amazon. If you'd like to see her speak at an upcoming function, contact her via her website or Facebook page.
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