Authors: Your Characters are Defined by the Actions they Take

I've never been big on plotting and planning. I know the major points of my story, and I know the main details about my characters, but beyond that, I just. can't. plot. any. further. I have to dive into the story and get going. It's like the story details "reveal" themselves to me as I get further and further (this is why I totally get what E.L. Doctorow said: “Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”)

So. I recently picked up my copy of The Story Book by David Baboulene (a book I haven't looked at in a long time, and only read parts of the first time I went through it), and I found something that made TOTAL SENSE to me!

"... Writers are advised to make a list of their characters and what they are like. The literature tells you to 'know them' as if they are family. To define them from birth -- their childhood experiences, their schools, their house moves, their siblings -- everything. For each one we must think long and hard about what these people are like as 'characters', and list their traits and attributes, from their physical characteristics to their likes, dislikes, allergies, toughness, weaknesses, ancestors; how they feel about the other characters around them, what their pose is towards life events, what they eat, what sort of sex they like, and so on. Again, this is useful, and I'm not saying you shouldn't do it, but these activities should come with a health warning: characters that are fixed in advance can badly damage your plot!

You cannot possibly define your characters before you know what they are going to do.

Only the actions your protagonist takes -- specifically those actions taken under pressure and when facing dilemma -- will define his character ..."

Yay! So there ISN'T something wrong with me for being unable to write out every single detail there is to know about my characters BEFORE I start the story. It MAKES SENSE for me to "release" the characters into the story and to FIND OUT what kind of characters they are by the way they interact with the plot and each other.

Anyone else think this makes sense too? ;-)

PS - I totally recommend The Story Book. All the stuff about subtext and knowledge gaps and conflict triangulations is really helpful. (Oh, and it's all delivered with a dash of humour. I like that ;-) )

The Importance of Backstory

A short post to share a small insight...

I read two books recently. In Book 1, I felt connected to the characters. I believed their stories. I believed their relationships. In Book 2, the characters and their relationships felt like cardboard cutouts with no real depth. It was disappointing because this story could have been really great. I wanted it to be really great. In trying to figure out the difference between these two books, I decided it had to do with backstory and, linked to that, the rule that gets pounded into our writerly brains: show, don't tell.

In Book 1 the author shared, in little bits over several chapters, incidents from the two characters' pasts. This helped to SHOW the depth of their relationship, and it was easy to believe that they were best friends. In Book 2 I was told, "They were my best friends," or "I'd developed a crush on him recently," but I wasn't SHOWN anything to back this up. WHY would they be best friends, and WHY would she have a crush on him? I wanted to know a little about their history in order to come to these conclusions myself, instead of just being told.

So. This stuff they tell us to do? Like dropping bits of backstory here and there (not leaving it out, and not burying the reader under one ginormous infodump in chapter 1) and showing, not telling? It makes a difference! And you can very clearly see it when you read a good book and a not-so-good book back-to-back...

~  ~  ~

In other news, Justine Dell is hosting a giveaway on her blog where you can not only win cool stuff, but also aid in the prevention of suicide. You don't have to spend anything. This giveaway is about getting as many entries as possible. For every 250 entries received, $100 will be donated to the cause. So please click here to enter, and don't forget to spread the word!

Punctuation Help, Please!

Dearest writer bloggers,

I'd love to hear your expert (or not so expert!) opinion on whether I should put a capital letter after a colon, and whether I should put a comma before the word "too".

The Colon
So, it seems as though sometimes you put a capital letter after a colon, and sometimes you don't. The Online Oxford Dictionary has examples that all have small letters after the colon, but Wikipedia seems to think that this is generally the case with British English, whereas with American English, there is more likely to be a capital letter after a colon.
My gut feel is that if there's a whole new sentence coming after the colon, then I should capitalize it, but if it's just a list, or a sentence that wouldn't normally stand on its own, then I shouldn't capitalize.
What do you think of the following sentences?

#1) I hear Tora’s voice in my head: Bend your knees, arch your back, thrust your opponent right off.

#2) Their colors shift rapidly in protest, cycling through an endless palette: lavender—magenta—burgundy—sienna.

#3) And then I notice something else: a solitary figure standing on the other side of the ravine.

The comma before (or not?) the word "too"
I've read several English forums and it seems that, these days, with a comma or without a comma are both correct (though people seem to think that in more formal writing a comma should be used). I searched the word "too" on the Online Oxford Dictionary and found this sentence as two of their examples: is he coming too? and she is a grown woman, and a strong one too. So, no comma there...
I am more inclined not to put a comma before "too", because it feels to me as though it interrupts the flow of a sentence. So what do you think of the following examples? Would you include a comma?

#1) I toss my bow away and dive toward him too, knocking his sleeping form to the floor.

#2) ... and I look down. Nate looks down too. "Actually, I think..."

#3) Yes, they get scared too. Anyway, the really evil ones...

#4) I have to admit I'd like to know the answers to those questions too.

Thank you in advance for your comments!

Modifier Mayhem

A few days ago I printed out some of my writing to begin the task of editing (ugh yay!). The first thing I did was take two different coloured highlighters and highlight all the adjectives and adverbs.

After its presentation, the quickest and easiest way to reject a manuscript is to look for the overuse, or misuse, of adjectives and adverbs. (The First Five Pages, by Noah Lukeman)

I now seem to have green and orange everywhere!

• shadowed corner
• steady breathing
• cool evening breeze
• prickly warmth
• sleeping form
• stinging pain
• scaly skin
• move quickly
• lift gently
• tightly
• casually
• internally
• clumsily

To remedy these I can try to
a) find more unusual adjectives and adverbs
b) strengthen my nouns and verbs so that I don't need to add adjectives and adverbs
c) use comparisons

But not all of these adjectives and adverbs are "bad", right? I mean, come on. Sometimes you have to describe a noun with another word. And sometimes the only way to clarify how something is done, is with one of those pesky -ly words.

Am I right? Wrong? Banished to writers' purgatory?

Setting Yourself a Daily Writing Goal

So it's clear I wasn't going to reach 16000 words in five days, but that kinda doesn't matter since my actual goal this week was to finish a certain writing project, and since I did that on Wednesday, all writing I did/do yesterday and today I view as a bonus :-)

Anyhoo... I've been pondering the idea of setting yourself a specific number of words to be written each day...

Cons

• I started caring less about the story I was writing and more about the word count in the bottom left corner of my screen.
• I felt bummed about not reaching my desired word count, even if the number of words I managed to write was still pretty impressive for me.

Pros

• Knowing I was aiming for a certain number kept me more focused and disciplined than I would have been otherwise.
• Keeping track of the numbers means I can look back on the past few days and see exactly how much I've achieved.

Things I've Discovered

• Writing that much in a condensed period of time (which I haven't done before) is more mentally tiring than I expected.
• If I were to do this full time, every day, with no other work to distract me (something I've wished for for a while) I think I might go insane! A long gym break in the middle of the day would definitely be required!
• I would also have far more frequent back ache - I'm just not used to sitting for so many hours a day!
• And I'm kind of grateful that I'm a teacher (though I still wish it took less time!) - a job that gets me out of the house, interacting with young people and on my feet for several hours a day.
  

Have you discovered anything recently about your writing process?

Writing Tip (10): Voice

Voice

Seeing as how I'm battling some flu-ey type bug, and I'm trying to set Math papers for the end-of-first-quarter exams, I'm going to send you over to Natalie Fischer's blog to read this VERY helpful post from yesterday about the difference between writing an adult voice and writing a YA voice.

This elusive voice concept has bugged me for some time, making me worry that my work may not even have one -- eek! The voiceless WiP! (since I basically just write from intuition, without thinking too much about all the technical bits and pieces...) But Natalie explained it pretty well. So I think there's hope for me and my "voice" :-) (or voices...)

Writing Tip (9): Setting

Setting

In THE FIRST FIVE PAGES, Noah Lukeman speaks about how often setting is neglected. Neglecting setting = BAD! If you use setting to your advantage it can add a whole new dimension, almost like the setting itself has become another character.

He gives the following example:

"Take a father and son, for example, having a casual conversation in their living room. Change that setting to a prison, the father and son having the same casual conversation on either side of a plastic divider. It's the same conversation, but it's not. There is suddenly a layer of subtext, of immediacy, of tragedy -- and all without telling us a word. A writer's chief objective is always subtelty, to convey information without actually saying anything, and setting is one powerful way to do that."

~ pg 163, The First Five Pages, 2010 Edition

He offers a few solutions to help bring your settings to life:

1. Tiny details. A stain on the carpet, a broken window pane
2. Draw on all five senses. A room can reek of dead fish or rubbish or a corpse. We can feel the characters feet sinking into the mud as they trudge through the mire.
3. Climate. A torrential downpour, a steam room, a blizzard. Or get even more drastic with earthquakes and tornadoes!
4. Interaction with the setting. A mother involved with kitchen chores as she chats to someone, a man struggling for his life in a boat in the midst of a storm.
5. Use details to make an impression. A setting can be well described by saying, "It was a small dark room, poorly lit and airless", but better described by adding, "It was oppressive, like a tomb."

~ page 165 - 167 (paraphrased), The First Five Pages, 2010 Edition

This book has a lot of great advice, including examples of good and bad writing, possible solutions, and exercises at the end of each chapter. You should check it out if you haven't already got it!

Writing Tip (8): A Revision Method That Works

A Character-by-Character Revision Method

Okay, I can't claim credit for this one. I came across this article last night written by Walter Dinjos on Indie Horror. He speaks about a revision method that is well suited to novels with intricate plotting that are told not only from the point of view of the protagonist but from the point of view of several other characters as well.

He picks one character and revises every scene in which he/she is the point-of-view character. Then he moves on to another character and revises all those scenes, etc etc. While trying out this method of revision he discovered eight things:

1. Character arc. A novel is a coalescence of...
2. Dialogue. Everybody has a way of speaking...
3. The repetition of words and phrases. Especially words not among the three thousand most...
4. The disappearance of an important character from the page. Has your editor ever...
5. Too many point-of-view characters. This one pretty much explains itself. Once you've...
6. Theme. How do your characters' stories...
7. Boredom. I know how you feel. Revision can suck, especially when...
8. Deus ex machine. I know miracles happen, but that doesn't give you the right to...

And if you want to know how those eight points are finished, you'll have to follow the link to the original article!

Writing Tip (7): Beat Writer's Block - Get Angry!

Beat Writer's Block - Get Angry!

writer's block

noun
a usually temporary condition in which a writer finds it impossible to proceed with the writing of a novel, play, or other work.

(Well, I certainly hope it's temporary!)

Me: There are probably many things you can do when the muse packs up and takes a vacation/refuses to cooperate/points at you and laughs and then runs away. You can stare at your blinking cursor for hours, you can go shopping, you can watch a movie for inspiration (I'm particularly fond of that one...), but sometimes what you need to do is just write something completely different for a little while.

You: Um... how? My muse has gone! Hello!

Me: Well, have you ever noticed that when you're angry/frustrated/irritated about something you have no problem finding the words to go on a rant? So pick up your pen/pencil/keyboard, find a clean sheet of paper/document, pick your favourite pet peeve, and get ready to rant!

Here. Watch me go...

Cigarette smoke and car fumes. I find these two things utterly repulsive. I can’t quite say why I seem to find cigarette smoke so much more offensive than the average person does, but I just do. It is positively choke-inducing. When I was five I told a smoker friend of my parents’ that smoking would kill him. And to this day I would be happy to tell anyone else that. If you’d like to fill your lungs with cancer-inducing vapours, by all means, go ahead. But please don’t do it where your bad habit can kill me too!*

Another thing that really irks me is people who get onto an escalator and stand in the middle without moving. European countries seem to have no problem with the “stand on the left, pass on the right” system, but in South Africa? Nope. An escalator is a chance for you to relax and take a breather because, after all, you’ve been walking so fast through the mall haven’t you? (You can probably tell that I’m also highly frustrated by people who wander around slowly and with no purpose and get in the way of everyone else.) Never mind that someone behind you might want to do something crazy like walk up the escalator. No way. You’ve got your spot in the middle of the step and you’re not. moving. for. anything. Come on, people! Time is precious. Let’s move with purpose!

Whew, ok, that felt good :-)
(*If you're a smoker, I don't hate you -- I just hate the smoke!)

You: *thinking* Hmm, yes, that guy who cut me off at the traffic light/the neighbour's kid who cries and cries and cries and cries/the girl at work who pops her chewing gum all the time/the way the paper on a new toilet roll is stuck down and I can't peel it off and it comes away in bits and then more bits and I'm tearing it now and aaaarrrrgh I just wanna chuck the whole damn thing in the toilet!

Me: Ok. That's great. Just don't get too ticked off please, I don't want to be responsible for your elevated blood pressure levels!


(Me: *ponders* I just had an entire conversation with myself, didn't I... And I mentioned the toilet paper...)