Category: Writing Stuff

NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo Workshop – Point of View

Karen

This post was originally published on Write Anything, October 21, 2008.

Welcome back to Write Anything NaNoWriMo workshop week!

“The choice of the point(s) of view from which the story is told is arguably the most important single decision that the novelist has to make, for it fundamentally affects the way readers will respond, emotionally and morally, to the fictional characters and their actions.” David Lodge

Let’s talk a little bit about point of view.

When I first became interested in writing, point of view confused me.

A lot.

First of all, I couldn’t keep them straight. I think the writing teachers I had back in school took great delight in watching our faces contort into all sorts of bewildered masks as they stood in front of the class and talked about the various points of views and when you should, or should not use them.

And if you learned NOTHING else from them, you did not, under any circumstances, combine them in the same story!

*insert horrified gasp*

That point was pounded so much into my brain I actually graduated from college with a lop-sided skull.

Now, you’re lucky if you read a story, any story and from any genre, that doesn’t have at least two different points of view in them. And in some stories, points of view change so fast that it leaves readers scratching their heads trying to figure out 1). which character they’re supposed to be following and 2). exactly whose story is it, anyway?

Even though I understand the difference between the points of view now, I still hesitate over which POV I should write my stories from, because a lot of times, picking the right point of view can make, or break, your story.

But first things first – let’s define the various points of view:

First-Person Singular POV

The most natural POV is the first-person singular, since all stories and trials originate with someone, an “I,” witnessing what happens.

The first person narrator can tell a story with herself as a central character or she can be one of the minor characters. Or she can tell somebody else’s story, barely mentioning herself except to show where the information comes from.

First-Person Multiple POV

You use several first-person narrators and alternate among them, usually beginning a new chapter with each change of narrator. This strategy offers a diversity of voices, viewpoints and ways of thinking without the arrogance of the omniscient sound.

Some pros and cons for First-Person POV:

Pro: It’s technically the least ambiguous. Readers always know who is seeing and experiencing the story. It’s subjective. You’re a bit more free with the voice – using slang, bad grammar, etc. And first person offers smooth access to a character’s thoughts. (You don’t have to worry about awkward switches in pronouns – which CAN get tedious).

Cons: We can’t take an outside look at our POV character. Sure, you could use a mirror, but that’s been overdone and is in fact, cliche – avoid that technique if at all possible. In a suspense story, it’s pretty much a given that an “I” character will survive – kill off your “I” character and the story dies with him/her. And it’s hard to create a compelling new voice for each story.

Third-Person Omniscient POV

In this POV, which is used infrequently in contemporary writing, the author knows everything about all the characters, places and events involved. The reader observes from many angles. The “camera” is conveniently set wherever the action is, akin to television coverage of a basketball game.

Third-Person Limited POV

This POV – and its variants – is the most common one used. There are at least three kinds of third-person limited POVs:

Third-person subjective POV – resembles first-person POV except it’s usually done in standard English rather than in the character’s voice.

Third-person objective POV – You don’t reveal the viewer – the way you don’t see the person holding a camcorder.

Third-person limited omniscient POV – this combines the objective and the subjective approaches.

Third-Person Multiple POV – this sounds like omniscient POV, and the difference may be subtle, but it’s best to see it as a series of third-person limted POVs minus authorial intrusions.

Objective POV (or theatrical POV) – this perspective is blurred under the third-person objective POV, but we should distinguish an objective POV, which does not focus on one person, from the limited objective POV.

Second-Person POV

The author makes believe that he is talking to someone, describing what the person addressed is doing. But the “you” is not the reader, though sometimes it’s hard to get rid of the impression that the author is addressing you directly. This POV is the least popular as it puts the readers on the defensive, most people do not like to be told how to think or what they are to do, even in stories.
(Source: Josip Novakovich, Fiction Writer’s Workshop)

There are a few more, but in essence, they are a combination of the ones listed above.

I think you get the point (of view – haha).

Here are a few POV exercises to try:

1. Take a piece of your own writing and rewrite it in
(a) a different viewpoint
(b) a different tense (changing from present to past, for example).

2. Take a passage from a favorite novel and rewrite it, changing viewpoint and tense. How does that change the story? Does it read better?

3. Relate one of the following scenes in 300 words, first from one viewpoint, and then from another:

The first day of school. A young teacher, fresh from college, faces his/her first class. (The viewpoint of the teacher, and then one of the pupils).

There has been a road crash. (Viewpoint of a by-stander, and then the crash victim).

A young woman helps an old blind man across the road. (Viewpoint of the woman, and then the man).

(Source of exercises: Nigel Watts, Writing a Novel)

It may take some time to settle on a particular POV for your story, but a POV that works for the story will make it better and more interesting to readers.

One word of caution: switching POVs often irritates readers and certainly most editors, unless you establish the pattern early in the story, writers should respect POV. Keep your readers inside one character head at a time and if you switch, make sure the switch is obvious by either starting a new chapter from another POV, or even a new paragraph – never in the same sentence.

Finding the best POV for your story is difficult and may take some experimenting. The only rule about POV is that there is no rule. If a particular technique works, use it. And if your story is not working with your current POV, rewrite it and change the POV and see what happens.

Next: Plot

NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo Workshop – Character

Karen

This post was originally published on Write Anything, October 20, 2008.

Welcome back to Write Anything NaNoWriMo workshop week!

Did you miss the idea/synopsis workshop? What about the setting workshop, or Paul’s setting workshop? No worries. We’ll wait for you to catch up before we proceed …

Ready?

Excellent. Today, let’s talk about developing characters.

For me personally, this is one of my favorite aspects of writing. I heart characters. Though ironically, I don’t spend a lot of time developing them. I tend to just throw in a vague caricature, a stick person with hair and eyes really, into the story and see what sort of personality develops through interaction.

Though fun, I wouldn’t recommend adopting this haphazard method of creating your characters as they tend to emerge more like (pretty) cardboard cutouts as opposed to something tangible and believable. Readers tend to not care about characters that look, and act, like paper dolls.

Me, Tammi, Dale and Andrea all participated in the 2007 Blog-a-thon together and Tammi posted quite a few character sketches in her posts. (Look in our July 2007 archives, category Blog-a-thon 2007, for more character sketches). Not only did she post them, she posted them “on the fly.” She’s quite an expert at developing interesting characteristics quickly and efficiently. So Tammi, if you have any tips for our readers on filling out character sketches, please share them with us!

I love this opening line in Josip Novakovich’s Fiction Writer’s Workshop about character: “Most people read fiction not so much for plot as for company. If a character matters so much to the reader, it matters even more to the writer.”

Characters become readers’ friends, they become aspects of ourselves. A great character will stay with us for a long time – mainly because we can relate to their struggle in some way.

But where do you find fictional characters?

The ideal method is “You can completely make them up, using psychology textbooks, astrology charts, mythology, the Bible or, simply your imagination,” says Novakovich.

Another method is the autobiographical method where you project your own experiences into the fictional character, though this is not necessarily one you should use most.

Biographical method is when you use people you have observed (or researched) as the starting points for your fictional character. Novakovich says, “using the biographical method, writers often compose their characters from the traits of several people … this is the fusion approach: you fuse character traits the way you fuse atoms.”

Another way to compose characters is the mixed method. In essence, you take a mixture of the approach approaches and make a potpourri of characteristics that blend nicely and are pleasing to the reader.

Karen Wiesner, First Draft in 30 Days, has some great advice about making character sketches:

When you flesh out character sketches for your story, write down everything that comes to you, no matter how trivial. Remember to give all your main characters (including the villains) internal and external conflicts.

Wiesner also recommends cutting pictures of interesting people out of magazines and keeping a notebook to help you visualize your characters. I personally used this method last NaNoWriMo and found it INVALUABLE; seeing pictures of my characters helped me stay true to my character’s personalities, goals and conflicts.

“If you can picture your characters clearly (says Wiesner), actually see them, chances are you’ll write about them in a more intimate, comfortable way – as if you know them well.”

To help you get a better feel for the type of information that belongs in a character sketch, consider the following sections when making your character sketches:

  • Physical Description – age, race, eye and hair color (and style), height/weight, skin tone, physical flaws, disabilities, mannerisms, etc.
  • Personality Traits – happy, somber, bookish, strengths, weaknesses, vices, hobbies, kind of entertainment and food, colors, etc.
  • Background – “Background is very important to defining a character and making her three-dimensional,” says Wiesner. “[It] can include information on the character’s parents, siblings, relatives, friends, old lovers, pets, life-shaping events and their long-term effects, etc. Did this character have a good home life during her childhood … what kind of schooling did she have? Was she popular, unpopular, in-between?”
  • Internal Conflicts – emotional turmoil.
  • External Conflicts – outside or situational conflict that’s preventing your character from accomplishing her tasks.
  • Occupation / Education – “A character is defined by what he does (or doesn’t) do for a living.” (Weisner)

From Victoria Lynn Schmidt’s 45 Master Characters:

Now that your hero stands drawn before you, she needs to have her personality colored in.

What does your character care about? If your character was stranded on a desert island, what are the three things he would want to have? Each character has a different set of values that dictates what these things are.

What does she fear? What would give her nightmares? Ask yourself what happened to this character at a young age to create this fear … then sprinkle this information to the reader along the way.

What motivates her?

  • Survival?
  • Safety and Security?
  • Love and Belonging?
  • Esteem and Self-Respect?
  • The Need to Know and Understand?
  • The Aesthetic? (Need for balance, a sense of order, to being connected to something greater than ourselves).
  • Self-Actualization? (to communicate who we are, to express ourselves).

How do other characters view her? How do your character’s clothes and desires fit in? What do other characters say about him behind his back?

Schmidt goes on to list, and explain, 45 master characters from mythic models- these are great springboards for developing full, rich characters. Here are a few examples:

Aphrodite: the seductive muse and the femme fatale.

Hera: the matriarch and the scorned woman

Ares: the protector and the gladiator

Poseidon: the artist and the abuser

Remember, readers want to identify with the characters they are reading. “It is what they do that makes them interesting,” says Nigel Watts, Writing a Novel. “A fascinating character is made fascinating, not because of who he is, but because of what he does. Looking into this matter further, we see that the interest in the character’s actions is not so much in the action alone, but in the anticipation of action: now what are they going to do?”

Identifying with characters happens two ways:

Empathy – recognizing something of yourself in the character

and

Sympathy – liking what you see … identifying the nice bits of yourself with the nice bits of others.

And lastly, writers need to care about the characters they create.

If you want to move people, you have to move yourself first. You must care about your characters in order for your readers to care about them. That means you should sympathize with them as well as empathize. You must have some sort of affection for your characters, particularly central characters, otherwise your disapproval will infect the story and your readers will be repulsed by them. Make your protagonists bad, by all means, fallible, two-faced and self-centered, but don’t despise them. (Watts)

Here are some exercises to help you get to know your characters better from What Would Your Character Do? by Eric and Ann Maisel.

** Family Picnic: Your character spends several hours at a family picnic attended by parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts/uncles and other extended family members. Does she enjoy the event or spend it hiding in the bathroom?

** Poolside Encounter: Your character is on vacation and while sunning herself by the pool, has an encounter with a stranger who asks a too-intimate question. How does she respond?

** Stranger in Town: Your character finds himself a stranger in a seemingly sinister town. Does he keep moving or try to investigate?

** Poker Night: Your character finds himself in his first high-stakes poker game. How does he play at the beginning? When he’s winning? When he’s losing?

** Stalked: Your character is being stalked. What hidden aspects of your character’s personality does this bring to the surface?

A little extra work goes a long way toward developing well-rounded, and interesting characters. Have fun!

Next: Point of View

NaNoWriMo, Writing Stuff

NaNoWriMo Workshop – Setting It Up

Karen

This was originally published on Write Anything, October 19, 2008.

Welcome back to Write Anything NaNoWriMo workshop week!

Today? We’ll be talking about setting. My good friend, and blog colleague, Paul Anderson, wrote a wonderful entry about setting. Thank you, Paul!

In the meantime, here’s a short primer to get you in the mood. 🙂

Setting evokes a vivid sense of place and time. It grounds the reader into your story and solidifies what is happening to your character. Setting can simply be the canvas you use to paint your story on, or it can actually BE a character in your story.

From Josip Novakovich’s Fiction Writer’s Workshop:

When and where does your story take place? Setting means a certain place at a certain time, a stage.

There is a common argument against detailed descriptions of setting: They can be outright dull. Many writers avoid laying out the setting because they fear boring their readers, but the lack of a vivid setting may in turn cause boredom. Without a strong sense of place, it’s hard to achieve suspense and excitement – which depend on the reader’s sensation of being right there, where the action takes place. When descriptions of places drag, the problem usually lies not in the setting, but in presenting the setting too slowly.

The importance of the setting could be expressed in this formula: Setting + Character = Plot. Out of a character’s relationship with the setting, or out of the character’s conflict with the setting, you get the plot (or at least a part of the plot, or a dynamic backdrop for your plot).

But the setting can be more than simply someplace for the character to hang out.

  • You can have the setting as an antagonist; setting can set the groundwork for the action. For example: westerns, journey stories, nature adventure stories, detective stories, war and prison stories.
  • Settings can have special effects that add to the overall mood of a story. Novakovich says, “In movies, music and landscape shots often appear as a backdrop for the action, especially to augment suspense, romance, and sometimes simply to dazzle you. The quality of photography – the selection of details, the angles of light and shadow – engage you most. In writing, we can achieve similar effects with words describing landscapes and cityscapes.”
  • You can use setting to steer the reader’s expectations. A snowy night or red flakes can foreshadow bloodshed to come.
  • Use setting to indicate when a scene begins and ends. You have an obligation to the reader to establish where your character is and what time of day the drama is taking place. “If you don’t tell when your action takes place, it might appear to happen in some generic time or always, as a repeated action. Unless you want that effect, indicate the days and nights,” says Novakovich.

Here are some questions to consider when writing about your setting:

  • What about the setting is important? Characters will notice things that are important to them or that hold special meaning for them. Their current state of mind will also affect what they notice.
  • What season is it? What kind of day within that season? Rainy? Hot? How does your character react to the weather?
  • Where are the characters within the scene?
  • Does your setting description match the mood of the scene?

Source: First Draft in 30 Days

Nigel Watts, Writing a Novel and Getting Published, has this to say about setting, “Characters and their actions need to be anchored in some sort of physical reality, otherwise they will lack a sense of substance. The setting of a novel is like the flour in a cake: perhaps less compelling than the nuts and dried fruit, but if you forget the flour in the recipe, you’ll have no cake.”

I know setting, for me, is one of the hardest aspects of writing. I tend to get so caught up in what my characters are doing and who they are talking to, that the setting becomes a blur, just some empty black space in the background; I’m sure my readers sense that as well. So, to make a setting real for your readers, you need to research it. Visit the place you want to set your story in. Read about it. Google it. Use any resource that you can. Watch movies that were filmed there, talk/email people who know the setting well. Read guide books (a personal favorite of mine), study street plans.

Don’t just look at the big picture, but pay attention to the details.

And don’t think you’re off the hook if your setting is imaginary. You must be prepared to answer questions about your imaginary setting or it won’t seem real to your readers.

Recreate a setting, don’t just describe it. “What the reader is seeking to do is vicariously experience what you are evoking … this means supplying them with sensory clues so they can make it real themselves. In this way, they will be able to think themselves into your skin because they will compare your experience with something similar to their own,” says Watts.

Now that you have a sense of what setting is all about, let’s try some exercises:

  • Describe the town you grew up in – the streets, shops, schools, churches, rivers, bridges. Don’t mention your emotions, don’t be sentimental.
  • Make a one-page list of all the objects you remember from your childhood home. Read your list and circle the objects that evoke the strongest feelings and memories of events.
  • Describe with care the most ordinary items you can think of. Look at them as though they were strange and unusual.
  • Describe three places you have been. Don’t use flowery language, mention the importance and some unimportant details you remember.
  • Now describe some places you have worked.
  • Describe a train, car or plane ride – the sensation of moving, what sounds do you hear?
  • Write a scene set indoors and include the occupants in the room. What time of day is it? What’s the weather like outside?

Are you trying the exercises? Have they helped you develop an idea for your story? These may seem like a lot of unnecessary work, especially right before NaNoWriMo, but if you’re truly stuck for ideas, or setting is one of your weaknesses (*raises hand*), then give it a shot. You’ll be surprised how your creativity snaps to attention and the ideas will likely flow as quickly as your fingers.

Next: character

NaNoWriMo, Writing Stuff

NaNoWriMo Workshop – Find, and Flush Out, an Idea

Karen

This post was originally published on Write Anything, October 18, 2008.

Welcome to Write Anything’s NaNoWriMo workshops! We’re taking this opportunity to help you prepare for NaNoWriMo next month. Please keep in mind, we’re not experts, we are simply writers who are sharing ideas. What works for me, may not work for you. BUT, it might give you an idea of where to start with your own writing. If you have your own tips or ideas you would like to share with the “class” (the Internet is a BIG class!), then by all means, comment. We love comments. 🙂

First things first, in order to write a story, you need an idea.

Of course, finding this great idea is easier said than done.

In fact, let’s not even call it a GREAT idea at all. Let’s simply look for an idea – if you put too much pressure on yourself, to find that all-elusive idea that is going to catapult you into being the next great American novelist, then you’ll likely put too much pressure on yourself and not settle on any one idea at all.

The greatest source of ideas for fiction is experience. It doesn’t even have to be your experience, the experience can belong to someone else; you can observe someone else’s struggle and use it for a story.

Don’t have a story idea? Karen Wiesner, the author of First Draft in 30 Days suggests you try brainstorming.

Constant brainstorming, or brewing (think coffeepot), is the most important part of writing an outline or a book. No writing system, technique, or tool will work for you … if you’re not brainstorming constantly during a project. You must brainstorm from the beginning of a project – before you even write a word of it – through the outlining, the writing, and the final edit and polish.

I firmly believe that creative writing is 75 percent brewing, 25 percent actual writing. Some writers are mentally involved with their stories that brainstorming takes the form of “mini-movies” reeling through their heads.

Or in my case, my dreams.

Don’t try to rein in or discipline your brainstorming – no matter how inconvenient it is. Brainstorming is what turns an average story into an extraordinary one.

Okay, so we need to keep our brains in permanent percolate mode. Let’s explore some ways to generate ideas:

  • Combine two story concepts – like Adam and Eve and Star Wars, for example.
  • Read the newspaper – take the event and weave a story around it. In the mood for a challenge? Open your story with that event and then write a story backward, to the beginning (like in the movie “Memento“).
  • Watch movies. Take a character from one movie and force him/her to interact with another character from a different movie. What sort of situation might arise by placing these very different characters in the same setting?
  • Take a story you really like – now tell it differently.
  • Take a story you really like – and write an alternate ending.
  • Look for controversial topics. Controversy gets noticed, and then more people read your writing. Find a new angle on some hot topic.
  • Generate a book title and then write a story based around that title. (This sometimes works for me).
  • Browse the odd news stories on Yahoo. (I often use this as a source for short stories. Seriously, there is nothing stranger than truth, seriously).
  • Draw on your childhood.
  • Look into the lives of your ancestors and tell their stories. Use your imagination and fill in the gaps.
  • Take a secondary character from a favorite story and write his/her story.

Now, let’s assume you have come up with an idea for your story. How can you flush it out?

Write a synopsis. Now I know this sounds strange, considering we usually think of writing a synopsis after our story is finished, but writing a synopsis before we write our story can actually help us mold our idea into something workable.

From the start, it is a good idea to keep a notebook next to the computer or have notepad open on the computer for planning purposes. The synopsis is usually written from the omniscient point of view and in present tense, but I like to write the pre-planned version of the story from any one of the characters point of view. Later, when it comes to writing the real synopsis, this point of view can be changed very easily. Source.

One of my favorite writing blogs, Paperback Writer, had this to say about synopsis:

With all due respect to the organic writers out there, I advocate writing the synopsis before writing one word of the novel. For me, it organizes my thoughts and reassures me on a couple of levels. I know if I can write an effective synopsis, I know the story inside and out.

I also use synopses for nailing down annoying/lengthy story ideas that won’t get out of my head. It helps get the pesky stuff that I don’t have time to write out of my head, and I always feel good dropping a full synopsis into the idea file.

Here are some links to help you get started on a synopsis:

Five Steps to Writing a Synopsis

Writing a Novel Synopsis

Still drawing a blank? Here are some writing exercises that may help jump-start your creative idea juices.

  • Two or three pages. Write down your first three memories. Can you make a story out of any of them? Try.
  • Two to three pages. Write down the first dreams you remember. Don’t mention that they are dreams.
  • Recall a physical or verbal fight, and construct it as one scene.
  • Two to three pages. Think about an incident that you avoid remembering – or can’t clearly remember – and write about it.
  • Write about a moment of terror you experienced, or about a blow to your pride.
  • Two to three pages. Write “My mother never … ” at the of a page, then complete the sentence and keep going.
  • Read Bible stories. Can you make variations?
  • Do historical events intrigue you? Do you keep wondering how things really happened? Write one to two pages.
  • Two to three pages. Imagine some event that could have happened to you but did not – something that you wanted or feared.

Well, what are you waiting for? Brainstorm! 🙂

Did you write a blog entry about finding ideas or writing a synopsis? Leave us a link in the comment section!

Next: Setting

Flash Fiction

Flash Fiction: The Other Woman

Karen

writing prompt: Revenge

I hugged her.

What I wanted to do was strangle her. How could this woman act so fake? How could she pretend like nothing was wrong?

I noticed the gleam in her eyes. I noticed the way her lips curved into a self-satisfied smirk. She knew. And she was playing a game with me.

Fine. I’d play along. I’d show her that her little affair with my husband was not going to destroy me.

“Hey Candace! You’re looking good!”

Damn straight I look good, I thought to myself. I suppose she had assumed I would crawl into a dark hole and feel sorry for myself after I found out about them. True, I had seriously toyed with the idea of seeing a therapist – what woman wouldn’t feel so betrayed after twelve years of marriage? And by her best friend, no less?

But I hadn’t. Instead, I had kicked the jerk out of the house, joined a gym and had taken my frustrations out on the elliptical machine. I had lost almost fifteen pounds.

“Thanks. I’ve been keeping busy.” I swallowed the bitter lump of bile stuck in the back of my throat. “But look at you!” I arched a brow and deliberately paused for effect. “You look … nice.”

She shifted self-consciously and issued a nervous laugh. “Yeah well, you know Todd. He likes to eat.”

I glanced at my watch. “Todd’s not here yet?”

She nodded nervously.

“Gee, I hope it’s not another woman.”

Laughing, I turned and left.

null

Fiction under 250 words.

Saturday Stuff, Writing Stuff

Scared of Everything

Karen

“It was a dark and stormy night …”

“Are there frogs, mommy?” my four-year old daughter asked, her eyes huge.

I smiled and hugged her. “No. No yucky frogs.”

“Frogs scare me,” she said and snuggled closer.

“I know, baby.” I went back to the book. “It was a dark–”

“How dark? I’m scared of the dark.”

I sighed. “I know honey. It wasn’t too dark.” I opened my mouth to start again.

“Are there big dogs? Big dogs scare me,” she whispered and looked around in terror.

I winced and looked at her scars. “Yeah, me too, baby.”

*************************

Write exactly 100 words, fact or fiction…It was a dark and stormy night.

This is a themed writing meme hosted by Jenny Matlock. The goal is to write something that does not exceed 100 words (not including said prompt). The prompt appears in italics.