With a concept of your character’s goals and motivation developed from backstory and a sketchy plot idea along with a character’s name, you will begin thinking about what your character looks like. But the word appearance means more than physical features and body build. We can add other elements of appearance that helps define our character, such as: vocal quality and apparel choices, color preferences and styles, and how the characters wear these selections.
Physical Appearance
The history of romantic fiction shows you that most novels introduce beautiful women and handsome men, but if we look around in our daily lives, you will realize that physical beauty is limited and handsome is not common either. What affects these perceptions, also, is the other elements mentioned above, but also the inner person that we learn to know through familiarity. The old adage, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, is far more real than we sometimes think. So if you are trying to create believable characters who are three-dimensional, you will want to give greater inner beauty to your characters than outward. For a villain, you will also want to show some saving qualities in comparison to the evil deeds he displays.
This is not to say that characters can’t be attractive and charming, but focusing on the physical body creates a shallower story that is more a fairytale than real. Many of us recall that bodies sag and deteriorate in time. What doesn’t is the inner beauty we learned to appreciate and then love from the beginning of the relationship.
In an early blog, I mentioned my Character Worksheet which I use to study the inner workings of my characters—his strengths and weaknesses, flaws, success and failures, dreams and ambition, his family history, his greatest fear and other attributes that will help me define his character. On this same sheet, I leave a place to describe the character, which includes: name, age, eye color, hair color and style, height, weight, outstanding features, and vocal quality.
I make these decisions by the type of character I need to create a powerful story, or in some cases, I see the character before the story surfaces, but the worksheet is a good place to record these physical distinctions so that you don’t have a blue-eyed young woman in chapter one and the same green-eyed woman in chapter six. This descriptive information is usually requested by your editor for the Cover Art Fact Sheets so it’s a good idea to make the notes anyway.
Resource For Finding Characters
While many people look for faces and characters on the Internet on a variety of sites, to visualize my character, I use clothing catalogues. I prefer this method for numerous reasons. First, I get a multitude of these in my home each day so they are already handy. Once I order a product from one company, I become a catalogue queen, receiving untold collections from a variety of companies.
Next, if you study a catalogue, you will see that the same models are used throughout, but you will see them with different hair styles, in different poses (sometimes smiling, sometimes more serious) and you see them in different apparel, which I find very helpful. I tear out the various pages that show people whose looks appeal to me. I cut the photo from the sheet and glue various looks and poses on sheets of paper, and I keep an elaborate file. So when I begin looking for a character, I can find someone that fits what I have pictured in my mind. I keep those sheets handy as I write to inspire me.
I attempt to use the character’s careers and interests to influence their appearance. By this I mean, that a guy who played football in high school and loves sports might be a taller with a more sturdy physique than someone who was a runner. Broad shoulders might be the quality of a man who was on a swim team in college. Sometimes a guy with lower self-esteem was a nerd in high school and has grown into a good-looking man. These pieces of information help you to define your character’s look.
Naturally age is important as well as personality type that influences the "look" or impression the character gives the reader. Though a woman has a tall, lithe stature and an attractive face, she will not be as beautiful if she’s shy or uncomfortable with her eyes downcast with a sagging posture. She may not have a stylish haircut or well-applied makeup. She may have no cosmetics at all. This tells us something about her. You’ve likely seen make-overs on TV shows or even well-known stars caught grocery shopping in scrungy clothes without their hair styled or makeup. You realize how these outward changes can create a whole new person.
In another vein, a handsome man who’s full of himself is not nearly as attractive as a lesser attractive man who is gracious and thoughtful. As you create characters use other elements to help your reader picture the mood and characteristics of those in your novel and remember how these elements can also create conflicts for your characters.
My next blog will discuss the topic of apparel and color choice and how it and personality helps define characterization.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Character’s Personalities and Names
Once you’ve defined your characterization—the kind of person you need to carry the story along with compelling conflict—you’re ready to add to that characterization with appearance and other aspects of personality.
Personality is separate from character since we can hide who we really are beneath a demeanor that misleads others. Sometimes we don’t really know who we are. It’s possible to play a role for so long, a person loses site of his true identity. A shy person can force himself to be overt, sometimes going over the top. While someone who is brazen or confident can do so with purpose, by laying back and viewing the scene before settling into the flow of conversation—a strategy to make a certain impression. People can be divisive with intent or behave this way as part of their personality, but we do what often we do to protect our vulnerability.
Personality is a means by which characters deliver characterization, referring most here to the inner works of the person's desire to reach a goal and the rules that guides him. A criminal takes his goal or need without thought of others. If he kills so what? Steals? What difference because he gets what he wants, but his personality is another part of him. Is he a quiet man or a raucous character? Does she scrutinize for act on emotion? As we devise our characters, we want to ask what personality is needed to enhance the characterization, the plot, and reader's interest.
Besides actions, readers get to know characters through other methods and writers offer clues. As in real life, the first thing parents do following the birth of their new son or daughter is to give them a name. Many couples have given this thought long before the child appears. In the same way, wen we birth our characters, an interesting part of creating a character is naming them.
We know from personal experience, names are important because names can sometimes help define a character – whether correct or not. Names can be stigma because of past stereotypes. By this I mean, if a girl’s name is Bambi, the first thing that comes to some people’s mind is a dim-witted blond. This is not reality, but many comedies – movies or TV satires – use a name like this—Bambi, Dandi and Candi—for this type of character. The name Wilbur, Percy or Elmer is not a name that we attach to a handsome hero. Names seem to have connotative images—just like Bambi. But if you use the name Chad, Cole, Drake, Travis or Clint, you can almost picture the slightly tipped Stetson and the tight pants.
Names can be connected with famous people, live or fictitious, with strong personalities. Think: Rambo, Lolita, Rhett, Scarlett, Madonna, or Cher. We have a visual picture and even more a characterization so using this name draws a visual image into the readers mind and establishes a character.
It’s obvious finding right name for the character is important. Many websites are helpful in naming characters. A popular one for finding the ten most popular male and female names from 1880 to the present is www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/ . Some website will also give personality types related to given names and what the name traditionally means. Just remember, your characters’ personality and image can be enhanced by the name you select for your character. Camille Cannon, a writer and blog reader suggested another name site that also includes meaning of the name. I thought I'd share this with you and hope you find it helpful as well: http://www.babynamesworld.com/
Another element writers want to do immediately is formulate the characters’ appearance according to the role he or she will play in the story. I will cover this in my next blog.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Backstory and How To Use It Effectively
Once backstory is defined, you must decide how to use it in your story for greatest effect. One of the biggest mistakes newer authors make is to think that the reader must know all of the backstory up front. This is not true. Backstory is used by the author to understand the character’s motivation, and information is revealed to the reader only when it is necessary and only in small segments as to not take away from the forward thrust of the novel.
Backstory is used most effectively to create conflict. So this is the author’s first concern. How can the needs and goals of one character be played off the needs and goals of another. Whether suspense, romance, mainstream or women’s fiction, conflict is what hold’s the reader’s attention and what moves the story forward. It’s the driving force of a story.
When you begin to create these needs and goals drawn from backstory motivation, look into other key characters’ pasts and see how their needs and goals can butt heads to create tension. In writing romance, I make sure that the hero and heroine have some opposing needs and personality traits that help to create tension. Though I’ll cover conflict in more detail in later blogs, the kinds of things I do is this:
both characters can be competitive – which automatically creates tension
both characters can want the same goal such as a job promotion
both characters jobs depend on where they live so have them live in different areas or states
Opposites that create tension:
neat and organized vs. messy and laid back
sexual discretion vs. promiscuous
active/go-getter vs. laid-back
career driven vs. career contentment
You get the point. Characters have flaws and personality traits that clash, and these external problems can create story tension. Later, when I talk more about conflict, we’ll look at the deeper types of conflict – the internal as well as external.
The key factor with backstory is what I said earlier, use it with discretion. Some writers try to avoid any backstory in the first 30 to 50 pages of their novels. This means a writer must find ways to present problems and make them realistic without laying out the past issues in the characters lives. The reason for this is backstory is passive. It’s often told in introspection (hopefully not author instruction) and therefore it is telling rather than showing.
Even in dialogue when backstory issues can be discussed, the delivery is basically passive, although through dialogue the author can show the emotional impact of the past on a character. Telling it in dialogue can be more effective than through introspection. Using flashbacks is not advised for a new authors since they are difficult to write and can also jerk the reader from the main story and often can confuse them.
With large blocks of backstory , it is likely you’ll provide more information than the reader needs to know. Readers aren’t dumb, and they like to discover things – or even guess at uncovered pieces of information – as they read. They have the voila moment, and this curiosity is what drives them through the story making it a page-turner. By providing too much information can block the opportunity to surprise the reader.
Hints and foreshadowing, based on the past, is a technique to make your work a page-turner. I use this technique to hint at backstory without providing too much information. For example:
Rachel cringed when Jake had called her pure and sweet. If he only knew the truth. . .
Or
Tom dug the spade into the ground, sweat pouring from his brow as his past shrouded him like a black cloud. He tossed the shovel as far as he could, wishing he could do the same with his horrifying memories.
I hope you can see that both of these examples show how backstory can be revealed first through foreshadowing or hinting at problems without revealing the details. These passages make readers curious and they want to know more. This is an excellent technique that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Another point is that readers care more about characters as they come to know them. A tragic incident in a character’s life will have a much greater impact on the reader once the character has established a home in the reader’s heart.
Remember this about backstory:
Backstory is passive; a compelling novel is active.
Backstory is telling not showing.
Avoid backstory in the first 20 to 50 pages of your novel.
Feed backstory in as needed and only in small pieces.
Restrained use of backstory can create more reader interest and results in a page-turner
Restraining backstory allows readers to get to know the characters more fully
Foreshadowing and hints rather than revealing backstory creates a hook.
Readers aren’t dumb. They want the opportunity to figure things out for themselves.
Backstory is used most effectively to create conflict. So this is the author’s first concern. How can the needs and goals of one character be played off the needs and goals of another. Whether suspense, romance, mainstream or women’s fiction, conflict is what hold’s the reader’s attention and what moves the story forward. It’s the driving force of a story.
When you begin to create these needs and goals drawn from backstory motivation, look into other key characters’ pasts and see how their needs and goals can butt heads to create tension. In writing romance, I make sure that the hero and heroine have some opposing needs and personality traits that help to create tension. Though I’ll cover conflict in more detail in later blogs, the kinds of things I do is this:
both characters can be competitive – which automatically creates tension
both characters can want the same goal such as a job promotion
both characters jobs depend on where they live so have them live in different areas or states
Opposites that create tension:
neat and organized vs. messy and laid back
sexual discretion vs. promiscuous
active/go-getter vs. laid-back
career driven vs. career contentment
You get the point. Characters have flaws and personality traits that clash, and these external problems can create story tension. Later, when I talk more about conflict, we’ll look at the deeper types of conflict – the internal as well as external.
The key factor with backstory is what I said earlier, use it with discretion. Some writers try to avoid any backstory in the first 30 to 50 pages of their novels. This means a writer must find ways to present problems and make them realistic without laying out the past issues in the characters lives. The reason for this is backstory is passive. It’s often told in introspection (hopefully not author instruction) and therefore it is telling rather than showing.
Even in dialogue when backstory issues can be discussed, the delivery is basically passive, although through dialogue the author can show the emotional impact of the past on a character. Telling it in dialogue can be more effective than through introspection. Using flashbacks is not advised for a new authors since they are difficult to write and can also jerk the reader from the main story and often can confuse them.
With large blocks of backstory , it is likely you’ll provide more information than the reader needs to know. Readers aren’t dumb, and they like to discover things – or even guess at uncovered pieces of information – as they read. They have the voila moment, and this curiosity is what drives them through the story making it a page-turner. By providing too much information can block the opportunity to surprise the reader.
Hints and foreshadowing, based on the past, is a technique to make your work a page-turner. I use this technique to hint at backstory without providing too much information. For example:
Rachel cringed when Jake had called her pure and sweet. If he only knew the truth. . .
Or
Tom dug the spade into the ground, sweat pouring from his brow as his past shrouded him like a black cloud. He tossed the shovel as far as he could, wishing he could do the same with his horrifying memories.
I hope you can see that both of these examples show how backstory can be revealed first through foreshadowing or hinting at problems without revealing the details. These passages make readers curious and they want to know more. This is an excellent technique that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Another point is that readers care more about characters as they come to know them. A tragic incident in a character’s life will have a much greater impact on the reader once the character has established a home in the reader’s heart.
Remember this about backstory:
Backstory is passive; a compelling novel is active.
Backstory is telling not showing.
Avoid backstory in the first 20 to 50 pages of your novel.
Feed backstory in as needed and only in small pieces.
Restrained use of backstory can create more reader interest and results in a page-turner
Restraining backstory allows readers to get to know the characters more fully
Foreshadowing and hints rather than revealing backstory creates a hook.
Readers aren’t dumb. They want the opportunity to figure things out for themselves.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Defining Characters
Besides appearance and personality, what makes us who we are? Is it our career? Our interests? Our philosophy and values? Our goals? Is it a combination of these things? When writing fiction, motivation, needs and goals are primary to creating our characters. You may have vague notions as to the kinds of characterization you want, but until you have a general idea of plot—what drives the character forward to reach goals—then you’re character can be only two-dimensional. It’s understanding what moves the character forward that allows you to dig more deeply and to create three-dimensional characters that are believable and compelling.
How Do You Do This?
Ask yourself what makes you who you are today. What defines your needs and motivation? What created your fears and interests? I think if you roll it all into a ball, it’s your past. What happened to you from day one—your experiences, the goods and bads of your life, the exposure to various events, your upbringing—all of these things create who you are do day.
This means that authors need to create a past for each significant character in their novels. In a women’s fiction, this can be multiple characters. In suspense and thrillers, it can be multiple characters including the villain. In romance it’s the hero and heroine who need defining and to create deep characterization. Paranormal fiction and science fiction, all genre needs to go back in time to define the hows and whys of the most significant characters in the book. Let’s call this past the backstory–all the action and events that happened before the novel opens.
How Do You Create Backstory?
Creating backstory is making decisions. With plot ideas in mind, you must decide what particular issues your character struggles with. Why is this an issue? What happened in the past to cause this to be a focus of your character. Since this is fictitious, you can create the situations from very serious to only incidental but each has made some kind of impact on your character.
Let’s say in your novel, a young woman will need to climb a long ladder to escape from someone or to rescue herself. Now take her back to childhood, perhaps, playing in Grandpa’s barn. She’s in a hayloft and finds a rat or mouse or dead pet or a sleeping stranger or whatever your imagination creates. The child wants to escape. She’s filled with fear and as she grasps for the ladder, it slips from her fingers and falls to the ground far below. She’s stranded with this person or thing which has frightened her. This can be the beginning of her fear of heights or fear of climbing.
These are the kinds of situations that you need to create and ponder how it will define part of your characters motivations and needs. Among the things you can consider are the individual’s strengths and weaknesses, his traits and attitudes (and what caused them), his flaws, fears, talents, challenges, idiosyncrasies, education background and career choices. Also important are his family relationships and discipline-style, his upbringing, family and character’s health/illnesses, and family dysfunctions. All of these factors will help to establish his goals and motivation which is vital to creating conflict, the key to a good novel.
Learning about family birth order is significant when it comes to personalities and also birth order in relationship to dysfunctional families. You can find information on the Internet and numerous links are included in my book Writing the Christian Romance. A couple of these links found on Google would be:
Click here: Birth Order
Click here: Effects of birth order
Click here: Birth Order Dynamics and Response to Stress
This is only a few of the options if you google, but they will provide you with some excellent information on understanding how birth order can affect a characters personality and dynamics with others, as well as create conflicts and motivation for specific goals.
How to use backstory effectively will be my next blog.
How Do You Do This?
Ask yourself what makes you who you are today. What defines your needs and motivation? What created your fears and interests? I think if you roll it all into a ball, it’s your past. What happened to you from day one—your experiences, the goods and bads of your life, the exposure to various events, your upbringing—all of these things create who you are do day.
This means that authors need to create a past for each significant character in their novels. In a women’s fiction, this can be multiple characters. In suspense and thrillers, it can be multiple characters including the villain. In romance it’s the hero and heroine who need defining and to create deep characterization. Paranormal fiction and science fiction, all genre needs to go back in time to define the hows and whys of the most significant characters in the book. Let’s call this past the backstory–all the action and events that happened before the novel opens.
How Do You Create Backstory?
Creating backstory is making decisions. With plot ideas in mind, you must decide what particular issues your character struggles with. Why is this an issue? What happened in the past to cause this to be a focus of your character. Since this is fictitious, you can create the situations from very serious to only incidental but each has made some kind of impact on your character.
Let’s say in your novel, a young woman will need to climb a long ladder to escape from someone or to rescue herself. Now take her back to childhood, perhaps, playing in Grandpa’s barn. She’s in a hayloft and finds a rat or mouse or dead pet or a sleeping stranger or whatever your imagination creates. The child wants to escape. She’s filled with fear and as she grasps for the ladder, it slips from her fingers and falls to the ground far below. She’s stranded with this person or thing which has frightened her. This can be the beginning of her fear of heights or fear of climbing.
These are the kinds of situations that you need to create and ponder how it will define part of your characters motivations and needs. Among the things you can consider are the individual’s strengths and weaknesses, his traits and attitudes (and what caused them), his flaws, fears, talents, challenges, idiosyncrasies, education background and career choices. Also important are his family relationships and discipline-style, his upbringing, family and character’s health/illnesses, and family dysfunctions. All of these factors will help to establish his goals and motivation which is vital to creating conflict, the key to a good novel.
Learning about family birth order is significant when it comes to personalities and also birth order in relationship to dysfunctional families. You can find information on the Internet and numerous links are included in my book Writing the Christian Romance. A couple of these links found on Google would be:
Click here: Birth Order
Click here: Effects of birth order
Click here: Birth Order Dynamics and Response to Stress
This is only a few of the options if you google, but they will provide you with some excellent information on understanding how birth order can affect a characters personality and dynamics with others, as well as create conflicts and motivation for specific goals.
How to use backstory effectively will be my next blog.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Birthing Realistic Characters
People are complex. They are motivated by needs and past experiences to reach certain goals, and their goals and motivation arouse complex emotions. Real people are three-dimensional and so should the characters in your novels. Without believable and compelling characters, the best plot can fall on its face.
Along with being complex, people grow and change. The experiences of today and yesterday affect who they are tomorrow so as you write fiction, your characters need to be affected by what happens to them in the story. The change can be positive or negative – and should be, since we also changes in those ways as life impinges on us.
People have idiosyncrasies as well. They have quirks and habits, psychological problems and needs that cause them to behave in unique ways. The characters in your novels must do the same. They have fears—fear of heights, of close quarters, fear of snakes or spiders, fear of speaking in public, fear of dogs, fear of darkness, and other fears too numerous to mention. These fears cause people to behave in irrational ways when they find themselves in the situation that antagonizes their fear.
Not everyone is beautiful or handsome, and even the beautiful have their flaws. A beautiful woman’s gorgeous dress doesn’t hang right. She breaks a finger nail. Some people are too thin, others too fat. Some men are bald and some woman have bad hair days. While authors, especially in romance, tend to write about beautiful people, to make them realistic, you will want to give them some physical flaws or, at least, the belief that they are not as attractive as others seem to think they are. Real people think this way.
No matter what you do with your characters, you must love them for who they are, both the antagonist and the protagonist, the good guy and the enemy, because to make them interesting you have to enjoy creating them. Readers can tell if your heart isn’t in your creation of that character. By giving these people passion for good or evil, by giving them weaknesses with their strength, and by making them vulnerable (which is a key to good characterization), your readers will find your characters compelling and worth knowing more about them.
It’s difficult to create characters without a plot or theme, and so many non-authors ask which comes first—characters, plot or theme. Any of these might trigger a story idea, but before you can truly develop a character, you will need to have a feel for the story in which you will set the character. The plot helps to define the type of tension, emotion, and personality your character will need to make the story compelling and it opens the doors to your imagination.
With these thoughts in mind, I’ll continue this topic in my next entry dealing with character’s appearance and provide tips on methods I use to come up with my characters’s looks and personality.
Along with being complex, people grow and change. The experiences of today and yesterday affect who they are tomorrow so as you write fiction, your characters need to be affected by what happens to them in the story. The change can be positive or negative – and should be, since we also changes in those ways as life impinges on us.
People have idiosyncrasies as well. They have quirks and habits, psychological problems and needs that cause them to behave in unique ways. The characters in your novels must do the same. They have fears—fear of heights, of close quarters, fear of snakes or spiders, fear of speaking in public, fear of dogs, fear of darkness, and other fears too numerous to mention. These fears cause people to behave in irrational ways when they find themselves in the situation that antagonizes their fear.
Not everyone is beautiful or handsome, and even the beautiful have their flaws. A beautiful woman’s gorgeous dress doesn’t hang right. She breaks a finger nail. Some people are too thin, others too fat. Some men are bald and some woman have bad hair days. While authors, especially in romance, tend to write about beautiful people, to make them realistic, you will want to give them some physical flaws or, at least, the belief that they are not as attractive as others seem to think they are. Real people think this way.
No matter what you do with your characters, you must love them for who they are, both the antagonist and the protagonist, the good guy and the enemy, because to make them interesting you have to enjoy creating them. Readers can tell if your heart isn’t in your creation of that character. By giving these people passion for good or evil, by giving them weaknesses with their strength, and by making them vulnerable (which is a key to good characterization), your readers will find your characters compelling and worth knowing more about them.
It’s difficult to create characters without a plot or theme, and so many non-authors ask which comes first—characters, plot or theme. Any of these might trigger a story idea, but before you can truly develop a character, you will need to have a feel for the story in which you will set the character. The plot helps to define the type of tension, emotion, and personality your character will need to make the story compelling and it opens the doors to your imagination.
With these thoughts in mind, I’ll continue this topic in my next entry dealing with character’s appearance and provide tips on methods I use to come up with my characters’s looks and personality.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Researching The Contemporary Novel
Question: What kinds of research do you do for your contemporary novels?
Research is part of every novel. Clearly historical, complex thrillers and mysteries, and medical novels need much research, but as an author of contemporary fiction, I do a tremendous amount of research as well while using a variety of techniques.
Setting is one place I research. I prefer to visit the location, because I like to include real streets and real places if possible. Sometimes I give them fictional names, but I leave enough elements in place for the reader who lives in the area to know a store or restaurant. If I can’t visit an area, I interview people who live there. I contact the Chamber of Commerce for brochures and information about the community. I use travel books that provide details that I've gathered from travel agents or borrow them from the library. I also use the Internet to learn about the flora and fauna, birds, weather, business/employment opportunities, special community events, the local newspaper’s name, and anything else that comes to mind.
I'm not shy about calling strangers to ask for information. I've called stores in various locations to learn if they sell clothes for teenagers. I've called specific hospitals to learn if they have double rooms or only single or to find out if the birthing rooms have the mothers and babies together for the full day. I've called cities to learn where there Fourth of July parade begins and ends.
I've found people excited to share information and I try to include the names of those who've helped me in the acknowledgements of the book and I also send them a complimentary autographed copy when the book is released.
When I give my characters a specific career, I speak with people who are employed in those positions. I want to know the lingo, the idiosyncrasies of the job, names of the tools or equipment they use, hours they work, peculiarities about their positions, and anything else that will help me make the novel realistic and to avoid errors. For example, if you've been to a hospital in the last few year, you'll know that the staff works twelve hour shifts in many cases and then have extra days off. Often careers align to certain personality types so learn all you can about the attributes of the person you interview to give them to your character. Engineers want clear, precise details and facts. They want to see timelines and therefore tend to chart and graph their lives.
When characters are involved in interests or you need details beyond your experience, it is necessary to research this information. In my first two Loving Series novels, many scenes included sailboats and sailing. I had only sailed once, so I read books about sailing. On the Internet, I researched real life experiences written by people who sail, and I interviewed individuals who are knowledgeable in sailing. I even asked these people to critique the chapters that included scenes on a sailboat to make sure I used the proper lingo.
When I wrote a medical suspense story, I contacted two doctors—one an ER physician and the other a surgeon—to provide me with the facts and jargon of doctors. I also had three nurses provide me with nursing information—what things are called, kinds of medication used, and a host of other questions.
In some of my suspense novels, I interviewed detectives and police officers to learn about phone taping, crime investigations, procedures, and any other information I needed to make the novel accurate and real.
Interviewing and experience are two of the best forms of research, but the Internet can also provide information as well as books written for writers on the topics you need. You'll be wise when using the Internet or books to make sure you find the same information at least three times to assume it's accurate. Where ever you travel, keep good notes, take photographs and collect brochures. You never know when you’ll be able to use the information in a novel.
Research is part of every novel. Clearly historical, complex thrillers and mysteries, and medical novels need much research, but as an author of contemporary fiction, I do a tremendous amount of research as well while using a variety of techniques.
Setting is one place I research. I prefer to visit the location, because I like to include real streets and real places if possible. Sometimes I give them fictional names, but I leave enough elements in place for the reader who lives in the area to know a store or restaurant. If I can’t visit an area, I interview people who live there. I contact the Chamber of Commerce for brochures and information about the community. I use travel books that provide details that I've gathered from travel agents or borrow them from the library. I also use the Internet to learn about the flora and fauna, birds, weather, business/employment opportunities, special community events, the local newspaper’s name, and anything else that comes to mind.
I'm not shy about calling strangers to ask for information. I've called stores in various locations to learn if they sell clothes for teenagers. I've called specific hospitals to learn if they have double rooms or only single or to find out if the birthing rooms have the mothers and babies together for the full day. I've called cities to learn where there Fourth of July parade begins and ends.
I've found people excited to share information and I try to include the names of those who've helped me in the acknowledgements of the book and I also send them a complimentary autographed copy when the book is released.
When I give my characters a specific career, I speak with people who are employed in those positions. I want to know the lingo, the idiosyncrasies of the job, names of the tools or equipment they use, hours they work, peculiarities about their positions, and anything else that will help me make the novel realistic and to avoid errors. For example, if you've been to a hospital in the last few year, you'll know that the staff works twelve hour shifts in many cases and then have extra days off. Often careers align to certain personality types so learn all you can about the attributes of the person you interview to give them to your character. Engineers want clear, precise details and facts. They want to see timelines and therefore tend to chart and graph their lives.
When characters are involved in interests or you need details beyond your experience, it is necessary to research this information. In my first two Loving Series novels, many scenes included sailboats and sailing. I had only sailed once, so I read books about sailing. On the Internet, I researched real life experiences written by people who sail, and I interviewed individuals who are knowledgeable in sailing. I even asked these people to critique the chapters that included scenes on a sailboat to make sure I used the proper lingo.
When I wrote a medical suspense story, I contacted two doctors—one an ER physician and the other a surgeon—to provide me with the facts and jargon of doctors. I also had three nurses provide me with nursing information—what things are called, kinds of medication used, and a host of other questions.
In some of my suspense novels, I interviewed detectives and police officers to learn about phone taping, crime investigations, procedures, and any other information I needed to make the novel accurate and real.
Interviewing and experience are two of the best forms of research, but the Internet can also provide information as well as books written for writers on the topics you need. You'll be wise when using the Internet or books to make sure you find the same information at least three times to assume it's accurate. Where ever you travel, keep good notes, take photographs and collect brochures. You never know when you’ll be able to use the information in a novel.
Friday, January 4, 2008
MAKING PASSIVE WRITING ACTIVE
***A Note to You: I will be in Sedona, Arizona for a week of vacation, hopefully enjoying some warm weather, so I will not be blogging during that time. I will post again when I return on Monday.***
MAKING PASSIVE WRITING ACTIVE
Suspense, mysteries, and westerns are not the only genres that need action. Keeping your story filled with action-packed verbs helps the plot to move and creates a "page-turner." Passive voice is only one kind of inactive writing. Selecting inexplicit verbs and "deadwood" sentence structure also keeps you from creating a moving, active plot.
PASSIVE VOICE
The English class definition of passive voice is exchanging the positions of the subject and the object in a sentence. In active voice, the subject is doer; it does something. In passive voice, the subject receives the action. The note was signed by him rather than He signed the note. In most cases, the subject should carry the action.
Notice the word "was" in the first example. The "to be" verbs, such as: is, was, are, were, be, been, and being are usually connected with passive voice. Still, writers should not totally exclude these verbs in their writing. The "to be" verbs are sometimes needed in predicate nominative and predicate adjective sentences, like, She was beautiful, He was quiet or They were soldiers.
CHANGING PASSIVE TO ACTIVE:
Different forms of passive writing can dilute a good story. The overuse of predicate adjectives and nominatives, using weak or general verbs, using "deadwood" phrases, and telling not showing are all forms of writing that keeps the reader from feeling the action of the novel.
Predicate Nominatives and Adjectives
Obviously, the showing is better than telling. When you use predicate nominatives and adjectives, use them when a description will not enhance the action or when descriptive language will slow the scene.
While predicate nominatives and predicate adjectives are useful at times, you can be far more affective and enhance the description by forgetting the "to be" verbs and creating word pictures that say even more. Let’s look at those three examples above:
Predicate adjective: She was beautiful.
Improved: Her angel face glowed in the sunlight while golden curls surrounded her cheeks like a halo.
Predicate adjective: He was quiet.
Improved: If she didn’t see him sitting there, he could have been a mouse in the corner, silent and cautious.
Predicate Nominative: They were soldiers.
Improved: They paraded into the room, their feet moving in procession, their uniform buttons glinting like their spit-polished boots.
Notice the lack of the "to be" verb (was and were) in each of the improved sentences. In each case, you can envision the person rather than just being told something about them. The improved version of these sentences are much more active than passive.
Explicit Verbs
Using explicit verbs is an excellent way to improve writing. Rather than saying she walked through the doorway, try a word that better describes her movement: bolted, dashed, charged, paraded, moseyed, sashayed, meandered, ambled, glided. Each of these verbs creates a different word picture than the unspecific action of "to walk."
Compare these two sentences.
She walked through the doorway with her nose in the air.
She sashayed through the doorway, her importance flagging her audience with every sway of her hips.
Which sentences paints the more lively characterization? Obviously by changed walked to sashayed animates the character and allows the reader to truly see this character in action.
Deadwood Kills Action
Another writing problem is using "deadwood" phrases. These are words that add nothing to the sentence except length. In Strunk and White’s, The Elements of Style, the authors use these examples: There were a great number of dead leaves lying on the ground compared to Dead leaves covered the ground." Notice fewer words, yet a more lively sentence. The reason the second sentence sounds better is because the words "there were" have no meaning. There isn’t the subject of the sentence. The subject and verb have been buried in the middle of the sentence. Look at this example:
It was not long before he was very sorry that he had said what he had.
Removing all the "deadwood" from this sentence gives a clear, concise meaning with the subject in the forefront and an active verb.
He soon repented his words.
Showing not telling
Most of the examples above illustrate the difference between showing and telling. We show when we use vivid words that brings the scene to life. When our descriptions create word pictures, emotion and emphasis action rather than only telling the reader. He was angry, for example, creates no emotion, we cannot see the anger nor the action his anger elicits, and again the telltale "to be" verb is the culprit. He sprang from the chair, toppling it to the ground, and smashed his fist against the tabletop. Now that’s anger. We see it. We feel it. We react to it.
Active Writing
As you inject more action into your writing, remember that action is more than doing things and going places. If well-chosen active verbs are used to create vivid word pictures, internal thoughts can draw the reader into the story and create emotion as effectively as a car chase scene in a movie scene.
Improve your writing by avoiding the straight predicate adjectives, by removing the "deadwood" from your sentences, and by selecting the most vivid, descriptive verb to show action, but remember that active writing is more than using an action verb or filling the narration with descriptive passages. It is grabbing your reader by the hand and pulling them into your story with compelling and emotional narration and dialogue.
MAKING PASSIVE WRITING ACTIVE
Suspense, mysteries, and westerns are not the only genres that need action. Keeping your story filled with action-packed verbs helps the plot to move and creates a "page-turner." Passive voice is only one kind of inactive writing. Selecting inexplicit verbs and "deadwood" sentence structure also keeps you from creating a moving, active plot.
PASSIVE VOICE
The English class definition of passive voice is exchanging the positions of the subject and the object in a sentence. In active voice, the subject is doer; it does something. In passive voice, the subject receives the action. The note was signed by him rather than He signed the note. In most cases, the subject should carry the action.
Notice the word "was" in the first example. The "to be" verbs, such as: is, was, are, were, be, been, and being are usually connected with passive voice. Still, writers should not totally exclude these verbs in their writing. The "to be" verbs are sometimes needed in predicate nominative and predicate adjective sentences, like, She was beautiful, He was quiet or They were soldiers.
CHANGING PASSIVE TO ACTIVE:
Different forms of passive writing can dilute a good story. The overuse of predicate adjectives and nominatives, using weak or general verbs, using "deadwood" phrases, and telling not showing are all forms of writing that keeps the reader from feeling the action of the novel.
Predicate Nominatives and Adjectives
Obviously, the showing is better than telling. When you use predicate nominatives and adjectives, use them when a description will not enhance the action or when descriptive language will slow the scene.
While predicate nominatives and predicate adjectives are useful at times, you can be far more affective and enhance the description by forgetting the "to be" verbs and creating word pictures that say even more. Let’s look at those three examples above:
Predicate adjective: She was beautiful.
Improved: Her angel face glowed in the sunlight while golden curls surrounded her cheeks like a halo.
Predicate adjective: He was quiet.
Improved: If she didn’t see him sitting there, he could have been a mouse in the corner, silent and cautious.
Predicate Nominative: They were soldiers.
Improved: They paraded into the room, their feet moving in procession, their uniform buttons glinting like their spit-polished boots.
Notice the lack of the "to be" verb (was and were) in each of the improved sentences. In each case, you can envision the person rather than just being told something about them. The improved version of these sentences are much more active than passive.
Explicit Verbs
Using explicit verbs is an excellent way to improve writing. Rather than saying she walked through the doorway, try a word that better describes her movement: bolted, dashed, charged, paraded, moseyed, sashayed, meandered, ambled, glided. Each of these verbs creates a different word picture than the unspecific action of "to walk."
Compare these two sentences.
She walked through the doorway with her nose in the air.
She sashayed through the doorway, her importance flagging her audience with every sway of her hips.
Which sentences paints the more lively characterization? Obviously by changed walked to sashayed animates the character and allows the reader to truly see this character in action.
Deadwood Kills Action
Another writing problem is using "deadwood" phrases. These are words that add nothing to the sentence except length. In Strunk and White’s, The Elements of Style, the authors use these examples: There were a great number of dead leaves lying on the ground compared to Dead leaves covered the ground." Notice fewer words, yet a more lively sentence. The reason the second sentence sounds better is because the words "there were" have no meaning. There isn’t the subject of the sentence. The subject and verb have been buried in the middle of the sentence. Look at this example:
It was not long before he was very sorry that he had said what he had.
Removing all the "deadwood" from this sentence gives a clear, concise meaning with the subject in the forefront and an active verb.
He soon repented his words.
Showing not telling
Most of the examples above illustrate the difference between showing and telling. We show when we use vivid words that brings the scene to life. When our descriptions create word pictures, emotion and emphasis action rather than only telling the reader. He was angry, for example, creates no emotion, we cannot see the anger nor the action his anger elicits, and again the telltale "to be" verb is the culprit. He sprang from the chair, toppling it to the ground, and smashed his fist against the tabletop. Now that’s anger. We see it. We feel it. We react to it.
Active Writing
As you inject more action into your writing, remember that action is more than doing things and going places. If well-chosen active verbs are used to create vivid word pictures, internal thoughts can draw the reader into the story and create emotion as effectively as a car chase scene in a movie scene.
Improve your writing by avoiding the straight predicate adjectives, by removing the "deadwood" from your sentences, and by selecting the most vivid, descriptive verb to show action, but remember that active writing is more than using an action verb or filling the narration with descriptive passages. It is grabbing your reader by the hand and pulling them into your story with compelling and emotional narration and dialogue.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Variety Adds Spice to Your Writing
The word lullaby is derived from "to lull’ and ‘good bye." Lullabies are sung to soothe a child to sleep with their calming rhythm and rhyme.
Rock-a-bye baby on the tree top.
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock.
Using the same sing-song sentences, you can create the same effect, lulling your readers to sleep, and that's not what you want to do as an author. You want to keep your reader focused on your story and cause them to be heavy-eyed with the repetitious sound.
Variety adds spice for good writers by creating interest and excitement. Unique words, phrases, and sentences are what identifies the writer’s voice. It makes your writing sound different from someone else's so using variety is a way to keep readers reading. How do you add variety to your writing? By varying sentence structure: length, complexity, types, word order, openings and by varying word choices.
Sentence length adds texture and emphasizes mood. A romantic piece of writing will use longer, liquid sentences than paragraphs written to create suspense.
With roughened hands, he brushed her long, silky hair from her face, gazing into her deep blues eyes as clear and inviting as the mountain stream he remembered from his childhood.
Notice the difference between the lengthier sentence and the following piece of dialogue.
John dashed through the doorway. "Did you see it?"
"See it? What? What are you talking about?"
The abrupt, short interrogative sentences add to the excitement and tension. But remember a good writer uses a mixture of short and long sentences to enrich his narration and dialogue.
One method of varying sentence length is by combining choppy short sentences into a compound or complex structure. The opposite is breaking up strings of compound sentences that become dull and unwieldy. One method of combining two short sentences is using a conjunction to coordinate thoughts. Take for example this sentence.
She hadn’t been to a cider mill in years. Her memory evoked the aroma of crushed apples and the sweet taste of crispy fried donuts. Change these two sentences to:
She hadn’t been to a cider mill in year, yet her memory evoked the aroma of crushed apples and the sweet taste of crispy fried donuts
Combining the two sentences with but, still or yet coordinates the idea and adds variety. Another method of combining two ideas is using a dependent clause.
Though she hadn’t been to a cider mill in years, her memory evoked the aroma of crushed apples and the sweet taste of crispy fried donuts.
A final strategy to combine two sentences is embedding.
The cider mill, which she hadn't been to in years, still evoked the aroma of crushed apples and the sweet taste of crispy friend donuts.
In this sentence, John provided excellent counsel. He convinced the jury, becomes, John, providing excellent counsel, convinced the jury.
Another way to generate variety in your writing is to use numerous sentence types, mixing declarative sentences (statements) with commands or requests, exclamations and rhetorical questions. Notice the variation of sentences in this piece of internal dialogue.
Elise closed her eyes. Laughter and tears jumbled her emotions. Stop your foolishness. (command) Hysteria, that’s what this is.(declarative) How could I think Kevin would do this to me? (rhetorical question)
Varying word order is a unique method of creating an unexpected element in sentence structure. This strategy works well as a means of emphasis. Consider the sentence, I love Paris, and then notice the change when altering the location of the direct object. Paris, I love.
The same effect is created by reversing other parts of the sentence. He was a handsome man. Especially noticeable was his stature. This last sentence begins with the complement and the verb follows and precedes the subject, stressing the word stature. Using a keyword at the end of the sentence is a way to emphasis and draw attention to it.
Sentences, beginning with the subject followed by the verb, can become dull and monotonous when they appear one after another. Use clauses, phrases, conjunctive adverbs (however, likewise), and appositives (a noun or noun phrase re-naming the noun or pronoun it follows) to strengthen emphasis, to clarify relationships, or to modify the subject in a more creative way.
Look at the following simple subject and compound verb sentence. She sat on the beach and watched the gulls fly over the water.
Now, notice the variety of ways this sentence can be changed to add interest.
While she sat on the beach, she watched the gulls fly over the water.
Sitting on the beach, she watched the gulls fly over the water.
As the gulls flew over the water, she sat on the beach and watched.
Above the water the gulls flew as she sat on the beach and watched.
Watching the gulls fly over the water, she sat on the beach.
Each of these sentences seem to emphasis a different element. Look at sentences in your writing and write the thought using different sentence structure. See if you prefer one over the other, or notice if one adds more emphasis to one of your points more than the other.
Editors and agents are turned off by sentences and paragraphs beginning with the same word. The rule of thumb is no more than two of the same words should begin paragraphs on a page or sentences in a paragraph. Knowing the vast number of options available to begin a sentence, you can solve the problem of unwarranted repetition. In a novel or short story, try employing creative sentence structure so you can begin paragraphs without overworking the use of character names or subsequent pronouns.
The repetition of words is effective when deliberately used to emphasize a thought or idea. Study your paragraphs and note if you have used the same word or phrase more than twice in close proximately.
Callie glanced at the address again. In the small city, she’d found the street easily. Keeping her gaze on the winding street, she glanced at the slip of paper and reread the address. The houses downtown stood side by side with black addresses on the houses. But now the houses were larger, standing back behind tall fences. She studied the wrought iron fences, hoping to catch the address there.
If so, use a thesaurus to find appropriate synonyms to vary your words. Notice the variation in words like: house, address, and fence.
Callie glanced at the address again. In the small city, she’d found the street easily. Keeping her gaze on the winding road, she glanced at the slip of paper and reread it. The houses downtown stood side by side with black numbers on the siding. But now the homes were larger, standing back behind tall fences. She studied the wrought iron barricades, hoping to catch the address there.
Notice the variety by using the word home in place of house, road instead of street, address became numbers, barricades replaces the reuse of fences.
Lullabies drone babies to sleep, but writers hope to waken the reader with their brilliant, witty, and exciting language. Don’t let repetitious, bland words or sentences bring an editor’s rejection to your door. Keep your writing sharp, clear, and stimulating by using variety.
Rock-a-bye baby on the tree top.
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock.
Using the same sing-song sentences, you can create the same effect, lulling your readers to sleep, and that's not what you want to do as an author. You want to keep your reader focused on your story and cause them to be heavy-eyed with the repetitious sound.
Variety adds spice for good writers by creating interest and excitement. Unique words, phrases, and sentences are what identifies the writer’s voice. It makes your writing sound different from someone else's so using variety is a way to keep readers reading. How do you add variety to your writing? By varying sentence structure: length, complexity, types, word order, openings and by varying word choices.
Sentence length adds texture and emphasizes mood. A romantic piece of writing will use longer, liquid sentences than paragraphs written to create suspense.
With roughened hands, he brushed her long, silky hair from her face, gazing into her deep blues eyes as clear and inviting as the mountain stream he remembered from his childhood.
Notice the difference between the lengthier sentence and the following piece of dialogue.
John dashed through the doorway. "Did you see it?"
"See it? What? What are you talking about?"
The abrupt, short interrogative sentences add to the excitement and tension. But remember a good writer uses a mixture of short and long sentences to enrich his narration and dialogue.
One method of varying sentence length is by combining choppy short sentences into a compound or complex structure. The opposite is breaking up strings of compound sentences that become dull and unwieldy. One method of combining two short sentences is using a conjunction to coordinate thoughts. Take for example this sentence.
She hadn’t been to a cider mill in years. Her memory evoked the aroma of crushed apples and the sweet taste of crispy fried donuts. Change these two sentences to:
She hadn’t been to a cider mill in year, yet her memory evoked the aroma of crushed apples and the sweet taste of crispy fried donuts
Combining the two sentences with but, still or yet coordinates the idea and adds variety. Another method of combining two ideas is using a dependent clause.
Though she hadn’t been to a cider mill in years, her memory evoked the aroma of crushed apples and the sweet taste of crispy fried donuts.
A final strategy to combine two sentences is embedding.
The cider mill, which she hadn't been to in years, still evoked the aroma of crushed apples and the sweet taste of crispy friend donuts.
In this sentence, John provided excellent counsel. He convinced the jury, becomes, John, providing excellent counsel, convinced the jury.
Another way to generate variety in your writing is to use numerous sentence types, mixing declarative sentences (statements) with commands or requests, exclamations and rhetorical questions. Notice the variation of sentences in this piece of internal dialogue.
Elise closed her eyes. Laughter and tears jumbled her emotions. Stop your foolishness. (command) Hysteria, that’s what this is.(declarative) How could I think Kevin would do this to me? (rhetorical question)
Varying word order is a unique method of creating an unexpected element in sentence structure. This strategy works well as a means of emphasis. Consider the sentence, I love Paris, and then notice the change when altering the location of the direct object. Paris, I love.
The same effect is created by reversing other parts of the sentence. He was a handsome man. Especially noticeable was his stature. This last sentence begins with the complement and the verb follows and precedes the subject, stressing the word stature. Using a keyword at the end of the sentence is a way to emphasis and draw attention to it.
Sentences, beginning with the subject followed by the verb, can become dull and monotonous when they appear one after another. Use clauses, phrases, conjunctive adverbs (however, likewise), and appositives (a noun or noun phrase re-naming the noun or pronoun it follows) to strengthen emphasis, to clarify relationships, or to modify the subject in a more creative way.
Look at the following simple subject and compound verb sentence. She sat on the beach and watched the gulls fly over the water.
Now, notice the variety of ways this sentence can be changed to add interest.
While she sat on the beach, she watched the gulls fly over the water.
Sitting on the beach, she watched the gulls fly over the water.
As the gulls flew over the water, she sat on the beach and watched.
Above the water the gulls flew as she sat on the beach and watched.
Watching the gulls fly over the water, she sat on the beach.
Each of these sentences seem to emphasis a different element. Look at sentences in your writing and write the thought using different sentence structure. See if you prefer one over the other, or notice if one adds more emphasis to one of your points more than the other.
Editors and agents are turned off by sentences and paragraphs beginning with the same word. The rule of thumb is no more than two of the same words should begin paragraphs on a page or sentences in a paragraph. Knowing the vast number of options available to begin a sentence, you can solve the problem of unwarranted repetition. In a novel or short story, try employing creative sentence structure so you can begin paragraphs without overworking the use of character names or subsequent pronouns.
The repetition of words is effective when deliberately used to emphasize a thought or idea. Study your paragraphs and note if you have used the same word or phrase more than twice in close proximately.
Callie glanced at the address again. In the small city, she’d found the street easily. Keeping her gaze on the winding street, she glanced at the slip of paper and reread the address. The houses downtown stood side by side with black addresses on the houses. But now the houses were larger, standing back behind tall fences. She studied the wrought iron fences, hoping to catch the address there.
If so, use a thesaurus to find appropriate synonyms to vary your words. Notice the variation in words like: house, address, and fence.
Callie glanced at the address again. In the small city, she’d found the street easily. Keeping her gaze on the winding road, she glanced at the slip of paper and reread it. The houses downtown stood side by side with black numbers on the siding. But now the homes were larger, standing back behind tall fences. She studied the wrought iron barricades, hoping to catch the address there.
Notice the variety by using the word home in place of house, road instead of street, address became numbers, barricades replaces the reuse of fences.
Lullabies drone babies to sleep, but writers hope to waken the reader with their brilliant, witty, and exciting language. Don’t let repetitious, bland words or sentences bring an editor’s rejection to your door. Keep your writing sharp, clear, and stimulating by using variety.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
