Tag: character

The Perfect Scene

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[found on advancedfictionwriting.com; by Randy Ingermanson]

“Writing the perfect scene:

    1. Goal: A Goal is what your POV character wants at the beginning of the Scene. The Goal must be specific and it must be clearly definable. The reason your POV character must have a Goal is that it makes your character proactive. Your character is not passively waiting for the universe to deal him Great Good. Your character is going after what he wants, just as your reader wishes he could do. It’s a simple fact that any character who wants something desperately is an interesting character. Even if he’s not nice, he’s interesting. And your reader will identify with him. That’s what you want as a writer.
    2. Conflict: Conflict is the series of obstacles your POV character faces on the way to reaching his Goal. You must have Conflict in your Scene! If your POV character reaches his Goal with no Conflict, then the reader is bored. Your reader wants to struggle! No victory has any value if it comes too easy. So make your POV character struggle and your reader will live out that struggle too.
    3. Disaster: A Disaster is a failure to let your POV character reach his Goal. Don’t give him the Goal! Winning is boring! When a Scene ends in victory, your reader feels no reason to turn the page. If things are going well, your reader might as well go to bed. No! Make something awful happen. Hang your POV character off a cliff and your reader will turn the page to see what happens next.

For more tips on writing from AdvancedFictionWriting, click here.

[found on http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/writing-the-perfect-scene]

Name That Face

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[found on writersdigest.com; by Elizabeth Sims]

There are many different styles of naming your characters, one is the ironic choice.

“Ironic Names

Large chunks of Alexander McCall Smith’s bestselling 44 Scotland Street series concern the difficult life of Bertie Pollock, an Edinburgh schoolboy. Two of his schoolmates are lads named Larch and Tofu. Though minor characters, they’re there for a distinct purpose.

The names interact with a savory irony. Tofu and Larch’s names obviously have been bestowed by parents with finely tuned ideals. Political correctness abounds: One boy’s name is a legume paste, the other a tree. Yet the characters, we learn from their actions and words, are as shallow and phony-hearted as their names are sophisticated.

Smith gives us, by contrast, the simple, direct, honest Bertie. He is worth more than both Tofu and Larch put together. His is an ordinary, unpretentious name; his surname, Pollock, is a common fish. Bertie, then, is the humble everyman who must endure everybody else’s idiotic, self-serving vanities.

But for pure triumphal irony, can anything top the Veneering family, of Dickens’ classic Our Mutual Friend? Such a vaguely grand-seeming name for a vaguely grand family. Simultaneously, of course, their name clues us in that they are nothing but surface. And we enjoy watching them try—and fail—to live up to their banal aspirations.

Ironic names are easy to create: Just think of your character’s opposite qualities and brainstorm liberally. Let’s say you’ve got a clumsy guy who lives with his parents and aspires merely to avoid work and download porn. You could give him an ironic name like Thor or Victor or Christian or even Pilgrim. Or you could give him a first name that’s a family surname, like Powers or Strong.

Authors who want to use ironic character names should strictly limit themselves to one per story or novel.”

To see other options of name choice from Writer’s Digest, click here.

[found on http://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-goal/improve-my-writing/namedropping-finding-solid-names-for-your-unique-characters]

Want a Great Book?

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[found on helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com; by K.M. Weiland]

“Twenty-five ways to write an awesome book:

1. Hook readers with a strong first chapter that doesn’t waste time.

2. Create a sympathetic and/or entertaining character.

3. Give the character a strong goal.

4. Obstruct the character’s goal with equally strong opposition.

5. Create a theme that arises from the character’s inner conflict.

6. Craft a strong plot with proper structure.

7. Do your research and get your facts straight.

8. Expunge unnecessary scenes, settings, and characters.

9. Balance action and character with properly structured scene/sequel pairings.

10. Write realistic, entertaining dialogue.

11. Maintain a consistent POV.

12. Create original and entertaining voices for narrating characters.

13. Tighten descriptions with more strong verbs and nouns and fewer modifiers.

14. Show more than you tell.

15. Dig deep for original ideas and turns of phrase.

16. Properly foreshadow your climax—without giving away any big reveals.

17. Build realistic and engaging settings.

18. Add only meaningful subplots.

19. When you build tension—always fulfill it.

20. Create a dynamic arc of growth for your character.

21. Add interesting minor characters who can power the plot forward.

22. Choose the right tone to enhance your plot and theme.

23. Rock readers with a climax that fulfills all their desires for the story.

24. Don’t tie off all the loose ends in your story’s ending.

25. Proofread, proofread, proofread.”

For more excellent tips from K.M. Weiland, click here.

[found on http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/2013/11/top-25-ways-write-awesome-book.html]

Killing Your Characters

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[found on writersrelief.com; by Writers Relief Staff]

“If you’re considering killing off your main character, keep the following tips in mind:

  1. Be somewhat realistic. It may be hard to swallow if your main character survives what no one should be able to. When a jumbo jet crashes in the desert but your hero, Jack, walks away unscathed thanks to his skill with a nail file and a soda can, you can practically hear your readers groan.
  2. Plot problems. Don’t kill the protagonist if you are having problems with the storyline and simply don’t know what to do next: The heroine finds herself between an enraged grizzly and a cliff—if you can’t figure out a plausible way to extricate her, this shouldn’t be the only reason to kill her off.
  3. Beware morality statements. Perhaps your main character’s death is a natural consequence of his fatal flaw. He is a functioning alcoholic and sometimes drinks and drives. Be very careful not to make this into a morality statement by waving it over your readers’ heads: This is what happens to drunk drivers! You want the story to be powerful, not your personal statement on drunk driving.
  4. Don’t kill the MC off in a trivial or anticlimactic way. In other words, unless it’s tied to the theme or plot in some significant way, Hattie Heroine should not die from an infected paper cut. If we’ve invested in her character, we need some tension building up to her death.
  5. Avoid resurrections. Please don’t be tempted to miraculously bring a main character back to life unless it’s an integral part of your plot or theme (like a medical thriller centered around a miraculous new drug that reverses death). What? It was actually Hattie Heroine’s twin sister who died of infection? Like an ending where the MC wakes up and realizes everything was just a dream, a miraculous resurrection can be a little cheesy—or an easy out.”
[found on http://writersrelief.com/blog/2013/11/main-characters-how-to-kill-your-protagonist-without-killing-your-fanbase]

Character Attributes [fill in the blank]

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[found on fictionfactor.com; by Tina Morgan]

“A common trick employed by newer writers is to have a character stare into a mirror, so the reader can ‘see’ what the character is seeing. This approach often feels contrived and does not help the reader to ‘see’ your character at all.

You’ve made up your mind that the male lead of your story is average height, has brown eyes and caramel colored skin. He’s getting older, has thinning hair and a tiny bit of fat sticking out beyond his belt. He has wide shoulders and narrow hips. He’s a bit bowlegged like he’s been riding too many horses even though he’s never set foot outside the city limits. Now, how do you describe him in your story?

Bob was rapidly approaching middle age. His brown eyes didn’t focus as well as they used to and he was wearing reading glasses as he scanned the paper. His wide shoulders jutted beyond what was considered the proper amount of “personal” space at the diner counter. His closely cropped brown hair was thinning a bit on the top. 

No.

Age
Eye color
Frame
Hair color and type

Descriptions that read like grocery lists are boring. And what if your story is in first person? How would you start then?

My name is Bob, I’m a 49 year old accountant with thinning hair and reading glasses. I weigh 195 which is a bit much for my 5’8″ frame. Not that I’m fat mind you, just a little out of shape.

Again we have a list.

Age
Hair type
Glasses
Weight
Body condition.

So when does your character introduce him/herself? Do they walk into the bathroom and start listing their features in the mirror? This is a commonly overused ploy. (the same goes for still water in lakes, ponds and puddles. Also reflections in the bottom of cooking utensils.)

Working the description slowly into the story doesn’t disrupt the flow as much as the grocery list approach does. It allows for the reader to learn about your character as they go. The trick is to keep the reader interested in your characters and how they cope with the stories conflict. The reader doesn’t really need an in-depth description to get a feel for your character. They don’t need to know every wrinkle on the character’s face. It’s more fun to read about the wrinkles in their personality.”

For more excellent tips on writing from FictionFactor, click here.

[found on http://www.fictionfactor.com/articles/physicalcharactertraits.html]

I could have [written about the] dance all night…

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[found on egouvernaire.wordpress.com]

“Introduction : a dance scene is more about the conversation the characters are having through the medium of the action. The physical actions of your characters are really just another form of expression, like a secondary conversation, underlying the primary verbal conversation. The most important thing to figure out is what the characters’ intentions are and how your characters can express them through their dance – oriented interaction.

1) Preparation

First of all, the objective is to collect all informations you need about your dance scene (technical, history, habits etc.)

    • Looking at videos for learning how the dances you’re using work and look
    • Understanding the community and history that surrounds them
    • Read some interviews, chat or book with some dancers about dancing, so you can figure out how your characters might think about it
    • Taking a dance class could also help to experience it
    • Search for references : Titles, habits, cloth etc. – I can be very useful to select a track for your scene
    • Consult various scholar references, including specialized glossaries or images about dance movement and steps etc.

2) Identify Character Intentions

See, all things flow from the characters’ intentions, objectives and desire –setting up some obstacles. So all you need to figure out then is :

    • What each character wants- define a want list for each or a clear goal (and, of course, what there is to know about it)
    • What each character knows about the other character’s intentions
    • What each character would do to get what they want
    • How each character would react to the other character’s actions
    • Define what is the nature of the conflict : an object, money, love, power, social or psychological conflict etc.
    • What each character is going to do in getting what he wants – to reach his goal – what are the intensity of their desires
    • What each character is going to Win / Loose – what is the reward

So basically, just make sure to nail down the flow of information, intention, goal and interaction between your characters on a high level.”

For the rest of the steps to writing a great dance scene, with tips from Egouvernaire, click HERE.

[found on http://egouvernaire.wordpress.com/2013/04/12/how-to-write-a-damn-good-dance-scene]