Thinkin’ on Thursday: Picture This!

Easy as A, B, C . . . from BB

At times in the past, I have modeled characters’ looks, fashion sense, even personality on unknown models in magazines. I’ve even cut them out and then built characteristics for that person on the same page or on a 4×6 card. Or I’ve envisioned an old time actor (or a current one, for that matter) as my “hero,” “villain,” “sidekick,” or whomever.

I’m going to suggest another way to utilize pictures of unknowns from magazines or books to help your writing (and the above paragraph has some good ideas too: if you’ve never tried it, give it a go and see what you think). Look through a magazine or illustrated book, preferably one you haven’t read already, or an old one you’ve forgotten all about. Find a picture with at least two main “characters” on it. THINK of these two as major characters in a story you haven’t yet thought through.

Just allow them to begin interacting with each other. Don’t “plan” ahead (this will be a good one for all of us ‘pantsers’), because this is designed to give us practice in a more “organic” method of plot construction. Just start “recording” the story’s events and let them spin out in front of you. Pay attention to other props or objects that appear in the ad or picture. If there are other people in the picture, ignore them for the moment. See how or why the two might interact with the props, objects, bits of scenery, in the picture with them. Record items and events as faithfully as possible without thinking about the “rules” of story plot structure.

Once you’ve recorded the scene, note whether your characters interacted with or used any of the props, etc., given them by the picture. What did they do with items there? Twiddle nervously with papers on a desk? Pick up a coffee cup and look for a refill? Grab a hammer or bucket of paint, intending to use it as a weapon?

How did your characters interact with each other? Were they friends or strangers at the start? What relationship was forged during the scene: adversarial? Conciliatory? Pleading? Helpful? and so on.

Go ahead. This is just a writer’s PLAY ground. Have FUN in it ! ! !

(And, at the end, is there anything salvageable there? Can it be incorporated in your current WIP? Is it the beginning of a short story? An article? An editorial? A children’s book? Even a brand‑new novel?)

See you next for Saturday’s Spellbinder!

Thinkin’ on Thursday: Thinkin’ Up More Mayhem

Easy as A, B, C . . . from BB

Did you try it? What??? Writing tense, exciting, possibly even mayhem-filled chapter endings?

This past Tuesday, I suggested that you do so and gave you examples of several books which used this technique to carry you past the last line of a chapter and into the next chapter — whether you wanted to go there or not!

I also quoted a number of ideas which ending each of many chapters in his The Maze Runner trilogy by James Dashner. This set was literally a group of three books you could not put down at the end of a chapter. And THAT’s how to keep your reader, well . . . READING!!!

Here are more of Dashner’s examples ‑‑‑ but hopefully, no spoilers. I’ll name several types of events at chapter ends — not in order and not telling you which of the three books they’re from. Additionally, I’ll keep them as general as possible. Think about what you can dream up to do to your characters that will hurt them the most, that will keep the reader going, even if it IS time for dinner, or bed, or (maybe) even homework! If you end each chapter with ideas like these, you may have a real page turner, or even that page burner:

• a kid wakes up, in a huge “elevator:” NO memories of any past life (I know, I gave this one Tuesday too, but I sets the stage)
• a kid fighting a losing battle with a mechanical monster is caught in a lightning storm which morphs into an invisible power field leaving him vulnerable to a white heat
• a kid is promised a place of safety, but when a group gets there, they are met with only a sign that this is the right place: nothing else is there.
• a kid is told that all current test subjects may be given their memories back; they must choose to participate or not; then choice is taken away
• a kid discovers a small insect‑like device which spies on all of them in this strange place — meaning someone is watching them, probably 24/7
• a kid in the midst of battle is hit with a burning power equal to 1,000 bolts of lightning, falls convulsing and with a total loss of vision
• a kid finds out survivors have to go back to the beginning where they all met, were challenged, tortured, intimidated or even killed
• a kid is frequently dazed by a rapid changing of loyalties among friends: who can he really trust?
• a kid, after horrendous battles and fatigue, is warned in a dream state that things are “about” to get bad for him
• a kid sees that everyone who’s been here for a while picks on the newbies ‑‑ even a sweet little kid who becomes his only friend
• a kid is made to choose which of two friends will die immediately: he chooses, knowing the enemy will do the opposite — only he doesn’t
• a kid is attacked, seriously injured by another boy who seems to have gone completely crazy
• a kid, in an audience of survivors, is told that the rampant disease affecting and eventually killing much of the population also affects many of their number
• a kid notices frightening sounds and smells, confronts a mechanical monster with the fate of another boy in his hands

If you didn’t try to write compelling chapter endings before, get to it!!! (And how do you accomplish this kind of angst in romance? Or fantasy? Or historical? Etc., etc., etc.?)

See you next for Spellbinder Saturday!

Key words:

 

Thinkin’ on Thursday: Did You Hear THAT?

Easy as A, B, C . . . from BB

Dialogue usually comes fairly easily to me. I was a drama director in Utah’s high schools for 20 years and a debate coach for 20 as well — sometimes both at the same time, sometimes just one or the other. I’ve done a fair amount of acting and have done readers’ theater-type productions which I’ve designed, cast, directed and acted in. Often, with my students. Plus, I like to talk. And I talk a lot.

But I know dialogue’s not as easy for some writers. Here are some things to try to spark your interest in getting dialogue right:

1. Take an old favorite book. Re-read it now, but only the parts which are dialogue. Even try to ignore the tags like “he said,” etc.
2. Watch an old familiar movie. With the sound turned off. Make up what they could saying, even if you know it has nothing to do with the plot. If you have a spouse or good friend, do it together, with each of you supplying the dialogue for a different character or characters. (OK — there will probably be a lot of laughing too — but try to concentrate on making the words flow.)
3. Sit in a food court at the mall, or a restaurant at a busy time of day, like the lunch-hour rush. Try to look like you’re writing a letter or doing homework, but really listen to the broken and half-sentences, interjections (remember? Oh! Wow!  WTF??? — sorry, but you’ll hear that one a lot . . . and worse — etc.) If you can, keep your back turned to a couple or small group; listen and try to imagine what they all look like, what their relationships are, etc. Keep a sharp look – out for people who look, age-wise, etc., like they could “be” your characters.

When you’ve tried these out, write some of them into your current manuscript. Or start a new project with something you “heard” while keeping your ears open. What are the little nuggets you’ve discovered that can help enliven the dialogue between your characters.

Happy Dialoguing! (You’re welcome.)

See you next for Spellbinder Saturday!

Thursday’s 13: Been Rainin’ Cats and Dogs, and there are Poodles in the Street

EASY AS A, B, C . . . from BB

I won’t guarantee that all these “facts” and “laws” concerning animals are current/accurate, but they are fun!  (extrapolated from www.strangefacts.com )

1. Some ribbon worms will eat themselves if they can’t find any food
2. Slugs have 4 noses
3. Baby robins eat 14 feet of earthworms every day
4. In Utah, birds have the right-of-way on any public highway
5. In Virginia, chickens cannot lay eggs before 8:00 a.m., and must be done
   before 4:00 p.m.
6. Dolphins sleep with one eye open
7. It is estimated that millions of trees in the world are accidentally planted by squirrels who bury nuts and then forget where they hid them
8. There wasn’t a single pony in the Pony Express, just horses
9. There are 18 different animal shapes in the Animal Crackers cookie zoo
10. In North Carolina, it is against the law for dogs and cats to fight
11. Dogs can hear sounds that you can’t
12. There are over 58 million dogs in the U.S.
13. Dogs and cats consume over $11 billion worth of pet food a year

See you day-after-tomorrow for “Saturday’s Softcover”