More about character and observations

I noticed on retreat this past week each of the 20 or so monks I saw three times a day at services had a distinctive walk. Some of it had to do with footwear, some of it with age and ability. They all wore variations on the same clothing but they carried those robes quite differently. Their heads sat on their necks in particular ways, their necks sat on their bodies each quite differently. Their ways of kneeling, of bowing in prayer, in standing at attention were different. The way they held themselves when they sang varied amazingly.

It was a rich visual field and I could have created a dozen characters. So next time you can, watch a crowd of people, say at the mall. Rather than looking for a general impression, notice one thing at a time. How do the next 15 people walk? What verbs describe that? What comparisons can you make? 

You can also do this while watching a movie or a TV show. How would you describe for a reader the way this man moves or gestures. Actors are a great resource for writers for they have studied and honed the gestures and tics and mannerisms that make a character come alive. If we can learn to translate that to the page, we can create lively, memorable characters.

Reading manuscripts for friends--Part I

One of the most uncomfortable parts of my job as a college professor was the need to grade the writing of my students. Writing is a creative act, no matter the content, and to put a letter grade on someone's efforts is painful for the giver and the receiver, especially when the student is doing the best she can and is a mediocre thinker and writer. Does she get an A because she's at the top of her game or a C because she's average in the bigger range of the game?

As a student myself, I shied away from traditional art classes as I couldn't bear to have my creative efforts compared and categorized against a standard set by someone else. It was too painful.


So in the writing groups I attend and lead, we focu on helpful suggestions, usually centering the conversation on two questions: What did you want to hear more about? Where did you get lost or stop listening/reading?
These questions are quite benign and fall into the category of support rather than critique. Lots of writers swear by critique groups but my own experience of them has been as negative as art classes: there was little consideration for feelings and a lot of desire to have the product change to fit the critiquer's style, not the writer's.

So what does one do when a friend or writing colleague asks you to read her manuscript? Last week my friend Pam did just that. Pam and I have known each other a couple of years but in the last few months we've grown closer, especially since we went on a writing retreat together. She wrote a mystery for national novel writing month last year and has been revising it and wanted a couple of outside readers. I've heard parts of her book and thought I'd like to read the rest. I didn't really think too much about the comments part of it.

Friday we met to talk about it. First,I hadn't prepared anything and I think that was a bad idea.  My comments were all over the place, not organized at all, and I sorted out the reason behind some of my hesitancies about her plot out loud while she listened. Frankly, I only knew I had the hesitancies. I wasn't sure what they were about until we started talking.

Second, I read her book but I didn't study it. I'd mention things that seemed missing but she swore they were in there. Maybe so. I don't know the book nearly as well as she does. And I hadn't thought about that problem until just now.

Third, my role as reader was unclear. Was I giving her my professional advice as an editor? My feedback as a casual reader? My support as a friend? All that felt awkward and dicey to me. And even if I'd set that out clearly, I'm not sure I could keep that straight.

I don't think Pam and I did any harm to our friendship but I wonder if the conversation was unsatisfying to her. I also wonder how she felt.

As an editor, I know to ask my clients what kind of feedback they are looking for and I don't accept vague answers. I think that's probably a good idea with friend writers as well: find out what is wanted and don't accept vague answers. If the writer isn't sure what he wants, it may be best to pass on the opportunity.

More thoughts on this next post..

Start your story or novel with a character in a dilemma or crisis

Many writers enamored of the novels of the 19th century, when the novel really took over as a main literary genre, expect to be able to use some of the same literary techniques today. That direction often spells disaster for anyone wanting to publish. Most readers today, totally acculturated on movies and television, won't sit through (read through) a slow descriptive beginning, such as the childhood of the main character or a lengthy description of place. They' re wanting to be hooked right away into or they will move on to something that does that.

Now that's not to say that if you're the most exquisite poet who ever wrote a novel you can't capivate some readers. But most of us want to know right away who the main character is and what the dilemma is. It doesn't have to be the main dilemma but it needs to lead us in that direction. Who is this person we are going to spend a lot of hours with? What does he want? Why is she troubled?

I recently read a first chapter for a potential client in a lengthy novel on racism in America. She writes well and I am interested in the subject so I was ready to like it. But she spent the first chapter setting up a wealth of context for the story rather than plunging me right in and giving the context later. I would not have bought her book.

When you're reading, watch for beginnings that grab you. See if something along that line will fit for your own story.

Avoiding stereotypical characters

Fictional characters tend to fall into predictable patterns and circumstances (also known as stereotypes). Some of these are cultural stereotypes (the star athlete, the cheerleader, the computer geek, the crooked poltician) and some are literary stereotypes (Holden Caulfield, Elmer Gantry, Emma Bovary).

To keep your characters from being flat, empty stereotypes requires the same kind of care and attention that their physical description does. Each human being is unique through his or her inner world: the thoughts, feelings, and responses to circumstances. Genre fiction at its best is a prime example. Most detective novels rely on a standard plot (dead person, clues, suspects, discovery, solution to the mystery). What makes some of these stories great is not only a macabre plot twise. Far more often, it is the inner working of the detective, the inner working of the suspects, and some of the secondary characters as well. Harry Bosch, Dismas Hardy--these are great characters, people we come to know.

We feel intimate with them. We know them. Give your characters an inner life, a truly inner life, and it will add a layer of richness to your work.

Giving an adequate character description

Vague descriptions of characters create vague characters. "She was rich and aristocratic" is not particularly helpful to a reader. "Her shiny brown hair was pulled back in the kind of elaborate knot that only a maid could do, and the comb that held it had two turquoise stones worth more than my rent" tells us a great deal more.

Readers are counting on us writers to paint portraits both physical and moral. The moral characteristics are often best served up through dialog and actions that the character takes. Physical description comes out more directly. And it requires us to be creative. "He was fat and ugly" works, but "his shirt buttons strained to contain his belly" or "His dark eyes were so small and his hook nose so large, you just knew the kids had taunted him in the playground" tell us more.

In Weekend Novelist, Robert J Ray recommends spending some considerable time in a mall or airport or other public venue where lots of people hang out or pass through and taking notes on character descriptions. Although I never followed his whole program, that idea has worked well for me. When you see people as they are, physical descriptions of characters get imprinted into your imagination. How they look, how they move, how they dress. Their gestures, mannerisms, quirks and foibles. All of those things bring the character alive.

Some inexperienced writers believe readers would rather create their own descriptions but that is rarely true. Readers don't want to work that hard; they much prefer to leave the "portraiture" to the author.

breaking my commitment

Over the last several months, I've tried to be really good at keeping my commitment to write every Writing Friday, the day that writer friends come to spend the day writing and talking about writing. I didn' thave Writing Friday last week because I was in San Diego speaking at a conference and selling my memoir.

Unfortunately  for my schedule, I took off all four days of the trip rather than doing some work projects while I was there. I had a great mini-vacation but I came back to a slam load of editing work in my paid profession. I worked as hard as I could this week, but rush projects kept coming in and I kept saying yes and this morning I found myself really conflicted. Did I write at Writing Friday or did I move three other paid projects along so I wouldn't have to work all weekend and have a hellatious next week to boot?

I opted to reduce the stress by working today. But I also had to wonder about a secondary motivation. Sometimes I am reluctant to sit down to Writing Friday if I don't quite know where the story is going although almost always something appears if I get to it. And that wasn't the problem today as I know what comes next in the book.

However, I don't know what comes after that. My two parallel stories are about to merge and I am currently clueless as to the rest of the plot. Maybe I didn't want to sit deep in not knowing all this next week. As it is now, I still have that already thought-up chapter to work on next Friday. Ah, the games we play with ourselves.

My creativity change list

Since last month's writing group meeting when I started thinking about changing my apartment to support more of my creative endeavors, I've been making a list of possible changes to consider. I decided to share them here. I'd love to hear what ideas you come up with for yourself.

1. Get some decent lighting for my dining room table so I have an additional creative work surface in the evenings.
2. Use the lower right two shelvs of my living room bookcase (hidden by the sofa from viw) for creative supplies.
3. Keep my card table cleared off and have a small project always set up to work on.
4. Find cupboard space for the old bath mats I use for my ancient cat.
5. Move the extra copies of my memoir to the basement and out of the office.
6. Make much better use of my office storage space.
7. Follow Tamara's idea about narrowing my interests and the related craft supplies.
8. Consolidate my pastel chalks into the beautiful box I got for Christmas last year.
9. Assemble the drawing horse I got for Christmas last year.
10. Get rid of most all of the miscellaneous craft stuff (that which is not related to my priority interests).
11. Keep only the best quality craft supplies.
12. Measure the dozen old poster frames in the basement and get paper cut to go in them or collage on what's in there already.
13. Go thru the upper closet in the office and rethink what goes in there.
14. Get rid of all my old collage images (they are too familiar and stale OR go through the images and reduce by 75%, keeping only the best and resolve to use them immediately.
15. Ask my friend Mary if I can raid her collage files.
16. Seriously reduce my collection of recycled gift wrap.
17. Make all creative supplies accessible.
18. Create an inventory of creative supplies so I don't buy duplicates on a whim.
19. Do a big give-away of craft stuff I don't need.
20. Clean up the cords in the office.
21. Reduce table top clutter by giving away half my doodads.
22. Get rid of someday clutter in the office drawers.