Month: March 2015

Check This Out- Writing Excuses

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was taking more time to listen to podcasts about writing, as an effort to get in the know about the business. This is an ever changing field, and there’s a lot of info to take in. I don’t have a lot of time to devote to learning, sadly, so I’ve got to take the opportunities I’ve got.

One big chunk of my time every work day is walking to my day job. It’s fifteen to twenty minutes depending on the weather. This is the perfect amount of time to listen to a podcast. So, I’ve been listening to Writing Excuses, with Brandon Sanderson, Howard Taylor, Mary Robinette Kowal and Dan Wells. Their tag line is, “Fifteen minutes long, because you’re in a hurry, and we’re not that smart.” Except that they really are.

You get a wide range of topics with Writing Excuses, given the fact that it’s hosted by a fantasy writer, a webcomic writer, and a horror writer. I’m still on the first season and so far they’ve talked about submissions, heroes and protagonists, horror, fantasy, comedy and all sorts of other things. My favorite episode so far was the one titled, ‘This sucks, and I’m a horrible writer.’ Really, that is a must listen.

By a large margin, Writing Excuses has been the number one reason I break out laughing on the way to work, encouraging people to stare at me strangely. I find myself wanting to break in and say, “No, wait, what about this?” or, “I don’t think that’s the right interpretation of that character on Firefly. Serenity sucked ass, no matter how much I love Joss Whedon, the writing was terrible for the movie.” Basically, I’d love to get a chance to talk to these guys. Though, to be honest, I don’t know what I’d say. Probably just get stage fright.

So this week, check out Writing Excuses. And don’t forget to join us tomorrow on our Facebook page for the weekly discussion.

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The Writing Life- People Watching

What are characters? Your cast, your actors, the most important parts of your story? Well, yes, that’s all very true. But there’s a more basic answer than that. Characters are people. Or at least, they are the way we either wish people were, or secretly think people are.

To learn to write great characters, you need to learn about people. To do that, you must master the art of people watching. Once again we are borrowing from the habits of our fellow artists, visual artists. Sit near an artist in a coffee shop, and you run the risk of ending up in their sketchbook. So it should be with writers as well. If you’ve never practiced people watching, here are some steps to help you get started.

Always have your notebook with you.

You should already have a notebook with you at all times, but try to keep some pages open for taking notes on the people that surround you. When I started paying attention to the people around me, I was shocked by how no one ever seems to be aware of the fact that anyone else is around them. People will have amazingly personal conversations while shopping in the grocery store.

Wear headphones with the music off.

Like a spy, you don’t always want to be observed observing others. That’s when headphones are your friends. People assume that when you have headphones on you can’t hear them, so they’re not so self conscious. Pop on some headphones and settle in at a local coffee shop. People will go about their business, letting you take notes.

Listen more than look

You can see how people look on the internet. You’re watching people to learn how they act, but more importantly how they talk. Remember, I talked about how important dialog is in this post. So, when you’re people watching, you’re actually listening. Close your eyes and listen to how people talk to each other. Talking is like music in a way. You have to listen to a lot of it to develop an ear for it. If a piece of dialog strikes you, jot it down. Why does it strike you? Take notes on how that line made you feel, and how it would have felt if a friend or loved one had said it to you.

Take a walk through the park

Especially if you’re writing with children characters. Kids gravitate toward parks, and so do a lot of other sorts. Besides, it’s probably a good idea to get out of the house when you can. We don’t need anymore of the sun deprived pale geek stereotype.

Take public transportation

If you’ve never ridden on a bus or subway, do it. I have sat on long bus trips and just wrote notes on everything people around me were saying. Yes, all the rumors about people on public transportation are true. Yes, a woman once petted my chest while I was on a bus. Go try it anyway, you will not find a better place for people watching, I promise you.

If you want your characters to sound and act like real people, you’ve got to study real people. So practice people watching every chance you get.

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Character Driven Stories

There are a thousand different kinds of stories, one for every star in the sky.  There’s fantasy, horror, science fiction, historical and all sorts of things that I haven’t the time to list and you haven’t the time to read.  But no matter the style, language, or theme, all stories fall into two broader categories; plot driven stories and character driven stories.  Given a choice between the two, I’ll always go for character over plot.

It can be hard to distinguish between the two at first.  Basically, though, a plot driven story is about something massive happening, like a plague or a riot, or an alian invasion.  This is a story that can be told from the pov of any number of people.  Like a riot, for example.  You can see that from the eyes of a riot officer, a pedestrian, an independent journalist who’s recording the action on her phone.  Each one will be a different story, but in each case the character is very reactionary.  Basically, this riot was going to happen whether your character was there or not.  A good example is Divergent. (Spoiler Alert!)  Even though the main character impacts the story, the whole mess was going to happen even if she’d never been born, let alone if she’d stayed in her original faction.  It just might have had a different ending.

In a character driven stories, though, it’s a different situation.  This is a story that just would not have happened without this character.  The story is about this character.  Think about Dexter, for instance.  The story is about a serial killer hunting serial killers.  Take away the main character, you take away the whole story.

How to build your very own character driven story

Step one- Make your main character.  When I started writing Woven, it sure didn’t start as a series.  It was all about one boy who liked to weave.  That’s it.  Take a person, and decide what makes him or her different from other people.  Devon liked to weave.  Alright, so he likes to weave.  What could possibly go wrong with that?  Well, maybe his weaving is magic!  That was honestly my first brainstorm for Woven.  Everything in the book stemmed from Devon and his sister Lenore, who was also given pov character status.  Without Devon and Lenore, there’s no story.

Step Two- Make your characters impactful.  Seems like a no brainer, but a character driven story needs characters that are, duh, driven.  This is not Shaun of The Dead, where the character just wants to sit back and play video games with his best friend.  Your character has to have something about them that goes against the grain, or a drive to make a difference in their world.  For better or worse, your character has to make the world ripple around her.

Step Three- Make your character fascinating.  I mean this character needs to really grab my attention.  I need to want to know more about him.  I’m thinking like Jonas from The Giver.  I want to know more about Jonas, right from the first.  I wanted to understand why he was so concerned with precision of language.

Remember, in a character driven story your character is in the spotlight.  He or she has to be the biggest selling point of the book.

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Plans for March

Oh, my goodness, it’s March already.  We’re already two months into the year, and I am still not done with my rough draft of Starting Chains!  You know, the one I started in November, then threw away entirely and started over in January.  Ugh.

Anyway, our theme for this month is characters.  I’ve been really excited about this month, as I love characters and character driven plots.  We’ll talk about all sorts of ways to make your cast seem more realistic and loveable.  Or hate-able, if that’s what you’re after.

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