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!

TIPS ON TUESDAY: Are You Kidding ? ? ?

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

Last week I had a few words to say (well, that’s not true . . . I so seldom have “few” words!), but I wrote to you about dialogue. As a semi‑continuation, I have a confession to make:

Until last week I had never read even one of the Junie B. Jones books! I know: awful! Right?

So I got this bee in my bonnet that I needed to read some short books, maybe kids’ books, because some of the others I’ve been reading since the Christmas are so massive: I’d always planned to use some kids’ books to help even things out, but I got so tied up some really good, longer books, I lost track of the time. My original aim was (still is) to read 100 books this year.

So I trundled off to the library, went to the children’s section on looked for Barbara Park’s books. Oh, my! What an impressive, colorful, and enormous bunch of books! I grabbed a handful rather indiscriminately — seven, I think — I didn’t need long to choose which ones: after all, I knew nothing about them except that they were about a little girl and were supposed to be pretty funny. Better still, they looked short!

I put them in order by copyright date, and started with what was evidently the first of this collection: Junie B. Jones and the Smelly Bus. It was cute. It was funny. It was so much of what I felt as a kid!

Now we get to the “dialogue” connection: you want to see how to make your characters “real”? Look at the “dialogue” in Junie B. (And don’t forget the “B”!) It was a quick and fun read.

But better.

It was a lesson in kid‑speak.

Oh, today’s kids might have a few more “techie” words in their vocabularies (this was c. 1992), but otherwise, it could have been a kid from when I was a kid (and that was much longer ago than ‘92). It could have been my neighbor’s granddaughter who visits from time to time. She’s about the right age. She could have been one of my old favorites, Eloise, by Kay Thompson (In fact, the illustrations very much reminded me of Hilary Knight’s illustrations in the Eloise books.)

You need kid‑speak in your books? Read some Junie B. Jones. And for a slightly more “affluent” flavor, try Eloise if you’ve missed it too!

See you next for Thinkin’ on Thursday!

Tuesday’s Tutor: Questions for Getting Started

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

I was thinking of writing a book based on . . . of course . . . an old fairy tale. I’ve always loved those old stories. I’ve read a number of rewrites, like Orson Scott Card’s Enchantment and Jessica Day George’s Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow. I always like another take on an old, familiar story. But I was stuck.

I’d thought of doing two or three old ones—decided they’d been done to death. Looked at my lovely collection of Andrew Lang’s The Blue Fairy Book, The Red Fairy Book, The Green . . . Purple, Orange, etc., etc., Fairy Book(s) and finally came up with an interesting mash-up of two different old tales.

But I couldn’t get started. Didn’t know how to begin. So I didn’t.

Well, eventually I did a NaNoWriMo November session on the idea, and I’m in the process of finishing and rewriting it now. But why was it so hard to start? And what could have helped get me going?

I’ve long believed that writing is another way of thinking, and I should have just started writing anything. But I didn’t. For a long time.

More recently, my husband had thought of three young people (think Middle Grade or MG) who all went to the same school. But he couldn’t seem to get going. Having been there, all too frequently myself, I chose the more indirect method of emailing him a list of some pretty typical writer’s questions. Hopefully, they’re helping. Hopefully, they’ll help you too:

1. What would your Main Character (MC) WANT more than anything else in the world?

2. Who/what is keeping her/him from getting it?

3. What is s/he willing to do to get it; how far will s/he go?

4. Whose betrayal (or seeming betrayal) would hurt him/her the most? How/why would that person do that to him/her?

5. How would your MC react to that hurt or betrayal—what would s/he DO about it?

6. As an alternative to a betrayal (or an addition to ?), what would the loss of your MC’s most important ally (through death, moving away, illness, etc.) mean to your MC? How would s/he react?

WRITE ALL YOUR ANSWERS DOWN.

Ask each of your other major characters (sidekick, villain, mentor, etc.) the same questions—on paper. How do all those answers intersect, overlap, inform the other problems or concerns in their lives? How do they change the direction of your story line? Mine your own answers for gold!

See you day-after-tomorrow for Thursday’s 13!

 Have questions about writing (grammar, punctuation, getting published, etc.)?  Brenda Bensch, M.A., a teacher of multiple decades’ experience in Utah’s university/high school/community ed. classrooms (English, fiction/non-fiction writing, study skills, drama, humanities, debate, etc.), invites you to “Ask The Teacher” at http://BenschWensch.wordpress.com

Tuesday’s Tutor: To soundly, deeply sleep; perchance to even dream: ay, there’s the rub . . . Shakespeare

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

Writer’s Digest has a wonderful column entitled “Questions & Quandaries” by their online editor, Brian A. Klems. He has answers for knotty grammar and technical questions. The May/June 2013 issue talked about the “problem” of split infinitives.

Now, the picture he sports online is that of a nice-looking young man with an engaging smile. I’m guessing here—it could possibly be an old picture—but I’d say he’s years younger than I am. In fact, I have many former students, with whom I am fortunately still in touch, who are older than he—or seem to be.

He claims to have “ . . . had many teachers who taught [him] not to split infinitives . . . ), but there is “ . . . actually no rule that says you can’t . . . ” —though, thankfully, he advises not to because “. . . most of the time, sentences are stronger when infinitives are kept intact.”

I remember, back in the Dark Ages, when there was a very definite rule not to split infinitives. Every teacher spouted it. We didn’t have books, at that time, like Eats, Shoots and Leaves (or Eats Shoots and Leaves?), or, heaven forbid, The Comma Sutra, to explain all the arcane intricacies of language. (Well, Strunk and White’s classic, The Elements of Style, may already have been extant . . . hasn’t it been around forEVER?)

So, what’s an infinitive? And why is it a problem? The infinitive form of a verb, the most basic form, is “to sleep,” “to dream,” “to write,” etc. In many other languages, you cannot “split the infinitive” . . . because it’s only one word: in French you would see “dormir,” “rêver,”and “êcrire” for to sleep, to dream, and to write. Spanish is the same, as are a number of other languages. So, in English, we tried—through “rules,” and intimidation, and threats of failures on English grades—to treat English verbs all-in-one, like other languages.

That said, Brian A. Klems points out how split infinitives annoy some editors, your blog readers may blame you for “lazy” writing, and they usually involve the use of the dreaded adverb, etc.

Take a look at the heading on this blog—how convoluted and over-written is the immortal line from Shakespeare? Had he kept the two words of the infinitive together, how much stronger a line would it be, and how much more memorable? Oh, wait! He did keep them together: “To sleep; perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub.”

Perfection!

See you day-after-tomorrow for Thursday’s 13!

Have questions about writing (grammar, punctuation, getting published, etc.)?  Brenda Bensch, M.A., a teacher of multiple decades’ experience in Utah’s university/high school/community ed. classrooms (English, fiction/non-fiction writing, study skills, drama, humanities, debate, etc.), invites you to “Ask The Teacher” at  http://BenschWensch.wordpress.com

Monday Moans: There’Snow Business Like Snow Business!

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

Ya know what gets my goat? . . . . . WINTER
I spent my early years living in Hawaii
I’d go barefoot even now, inside or outside, all the time . . . but it’s WINTER
I can’t wear my otherwise ubiquitous Birkenstock sandals all the time
If the snow is deeper than my sandal sole, I have to wear socks
If the snow is deeper still, I have to wear my running shoes AND socks
Most people seem to think I should wear a coat . . . only because it’s WINTER
I hate coats—they’re bulky and uncomfortable
Especially if I’m driving
Most years, I don’t even own a coat
I may carry an old beat-up one in the trunk of the car for emergencies
WINTER is not a sufficient emergency
Getting my hands into snow makes my elbows ache—fiercely!
And, no, it’s not because of my age or arthritis (though I have both)
My elbows ached, fiercely, even when I was a kid in Hawaii eating “shave ice”
BUT . . .
You know what makes up for WINTER?
How pretty Christmas Eve looked outside my sun room at night
Flocks of birds—robins, starlings, some strange, new, greenish specie this year
They come eat my frozen apple? berry? whatever? fruit, the red polka-dots in my snow-covered tree right in front of my office window
Surrounded by dozens, occasionally even hundreds, of fluttering wings
Which can also be seen from the side windows in my sun-room.

I guess WINTER isn’t all that bad.

See you day-after-tomorrow for Wednesday WIPs