It Takes Character

When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.

Ernest Hemingway

It's not a good idea to put your wife into a novel; not your latest wife anyway.

Norman Mailer

 I’m trying to think of what to say to impress upon any writer the importance of character development. A character is the story. Everything that happens, where it happens, what it brings, what it means: all elements of a good story are important because of their connection to the character(s). A story is relatable if the characters are relatable.

For me, the plot idea is what comes first. As I mentioned in a previous entry, the plot used to be where I stopped my development. But plot-driven novels fall flat. My writings were over quickly and lacked interconnectivity.

If you tend to write the plot-driven, do not fear. Plot and Character are forever linked: Eudora Welty explains, “Plot is a device organic to human struggle designed for the searching out of human truth” (99), a journey directed by the plot, perhaps, but taken by the characters. “What can a character come to know, of himself and others, by working through a given situation?” Welty asks (98). Again, this points to the significance of the plot, but also to the characters. They make or miss the discovery so that we, the readers, can too.

“Characters in the plot connect us with the vastness of our secret life, which is endlessly explorable” (Welty 9). This quote, I feel, hits the core: without the characters, the readers will have no connection—to the plot, to the discovery of truth, or to themselves.

Characters feel and think, know and wonder, suffer and love, trudge and skip—just as we all do through life. Well-crafted characters erase the boundary of the page and take the form of reality in the mind of the reader.

And how does one create a well-crafted character? I have found two helpful keys. First of all, the elements of character need to be explored. Considering these elements will help your character do more than just walk and talk.

But I am not able to always completely make up these elements for my fictional characters, so I borrow, elaborate, and shape qualities from people I actually know when I am writing. My friend and artist Melinda Dabbs said this wasn’t something to look down upon; she compared me to a portrait artist. Sometimes my characters are more obviously like another person than others. But, for myself, this shading of reality into my fiction makes my characters believable and relatable—and therefore my writing full of life.

Possible Writing Challenge

1)    Take a picture of a random person, and write a character sketch: a brief short story that highlights and exposes a created character including appearance and nature.

2)    Pick a character from a piece of writing and describe his or her three main characteristics, using examples from the story to support your claims.

Hemingway, Ernest. “Novel.” n.d. Brainyquotes.com. 30 March 2011 <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/novel.html>.

Mailer, Norman. “Novel.” n.d. Brainyquotes.com. 30 March 2011 <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/novel.html>.

Welty, Eudora. On Writing. New York: The Modern Library, 2002.

Ten Characters I Love or Hate or Both (You Decide)

1)    Scarlett O’Hara Gone with the Wind Mitchell

2)   Howard Roark The Fountainhead Rand

3)   Undine Spragg Custom of the Country Wharton

4)   Gloria Patch The Beautiful and the Damned Fitzgerald

5)   Ruby Turpin “Revelation” O’Connor

6)   Squealer Animal Farm Orwell

7)   Jim Burden My Antonia Cather

8)   Edna Pontellier The Awakening Chopin

9)   Romeo Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare

10)  Hamlet Hamlet Shakespeare

Thanks to Whitnee Webb for designing my Elements of Character visual.

Voice and Style Part 2: Write Already

Work every day. No matter what has happened the day or night before, get up and bite on the nail. —Ernest Hemingway

In November, I threw myself into the NAOWRIMO challenge: write a 50,000 word novel in one month. I had to write approximately 1,666 words a day, whether I felt like it or not (and many days I did not). Through this exercise, however, I learned a lot about myself as a writer—my strengths, my limitations, and my keen ability to find a way around limitations. I’ve always been a little tricksy; I became a little tricksy in my writing.

*Limitation #1: I am not so good at writing fictional characters.

*Way Around #1: I probed, stalked, eavesdropped on, and literarily dissected real people, grafting in their language, manners, and feelings throughout my fictional people. The real people knew and were kind enough to say yes when I asked, “Oh, can I use that?”

*Worry #1: Did this method make me less of a writer? An artist friend named Melinda Dabbs explained to me that this was like a portrait painter capturing the likeness of his subject on canvas.

*New Strength #1: I discovered I am a portrait fiction writer.

Of course, some of my limitations do not become strengths in the end. For example, I am a weak speller. This weakness is something I have to work on throughout my editing phase.

Writing every day may seem like the craziest challenge, especially if you can find a million excuses, as I did, to avoid the task: I have a toddler and have to wait until he goes to bed, after he goes to bed is the only time I have alone with my husband, I teach writing and am constantly grading papers, I need adequate Facebook time, and if I stay up late I will be apt to add a fourth meal to each day (something my waistline needs not).

Excuses are everywhere. And yet, trying this exercise for a set period of time may be the best way to evaluate your style. If you cannot write daily, write once a week. Set a time. Keep to it.

If you want to be a writer—write.

If there is something in your heart to tell, whether fiction or non—tell it. The Beatles say, “There is nothing you can say,” and yet writers keep writing. A good writer may not say anything new (for Ecclesiastes 1:9 says there is nothing new under the sun anyway), but he will say it in a way no one else can. That is what you have. Your voice. Your perspective. Your style.

If you want to be a writer—write.

Possible Writing Challenge

1)   Set a goal for the month: make yourself write every day. Remember, in the words of my father, “You can do anything for a month.”

The Beatles. “All You Need is Love.” Magical Mystery Tour. EMI, 1967. iTunes. < http://allspirit.co.uk/allyouneed.html>.

Ecclesiates 1:9. n.d. Biblegateway.com. 1 March 2011 <http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ecclesiastes&version=NIV>.

Hemingway, Ernest. “Writing-1.” n.d. nsrider.com. 1 March 2011 <http://www.nsrider.com/quotes/writing.htm>.

10 Elements of My Writing Style

1)        my eager-ready hyphen use

2)        my love of playing with punctuation: specifically the colon and dash

3)        my rare (and therefore hopefully powerful) fragment

4)        my obsession with parallelism

5)        my need to use humor

6)        my referencing other people

7)        my affinity with alluding back to something previously stated

8)        my preference of threes (language, manners, feelings…Your        voice. Your perspective. Your style.)

9)        my mixing of longer and shorter sentences

10)      my enjoyment of appropriate alliteration

Finding Your Voice: Refining Your Style

“Fashion can be bought. Style one must possess.” – Edna Woolman Chase (qtd in Bumgarner 17)

Stylist and media coach Lori Bumgarner uses the above quote from the former editor-in-chief of Vogue to begin her chapter on “Polishing Your Look” (17). Bumgarner explains, “Having style is more about possessing good taste and knowing what’s right for your body, your personality, and your lifestyle, regardless of the amount on the price tag” (17).

Just as your fashion style is the distinctive manner in which you use clothes (perhaps color, pattern, shape, texture, and other elements of design) to create your signature look, your writing style is how you use elements in writing to give your work a signature sound and look.

You just need to find your writer’s voice and refine your writer’s style. Harmon and Holman say style is “the idea to be expressed and the individuality of the author” (491). I would add that style is the manner in which the writer’s ideas are expressed. In their Handbook to Literature, the two select some of the following elements of style (with my explanations or additions in parenthesis):

Ø  Diction (vocabulary and choice of words)

Ø  Sentence structure and variety

Ø  (Punctuation)

Ø  Imagery

Ø  Rhythm (pacing)

Ø  Repetition

Ø  Coherence (level of consistency and clarity)

Ø  Emphasis (including use of symbols and themes)

Ø  Arrangement of ideas (491)

If you are on the search to find your voice and refine your style, several steps may help you:

Ø  Be sure you have a basic understanding of each of the style elements listed. Perhaps look them up in a dictionary or a literary handbook (such as Harmon and Holman’s guide).

Ø  Create a chart with the elements of style. Investigate a couple of short stories from your favorite authors. How do they handle these elements?

Ø  Look over some of your writing. Do you already see a pattern in your use of these elements?

Ø  Now be critical. Are there times when you poorly use some of these elements? Is your punctuation poor? Is your repetition tedious? Is your rhythm uncomfortably jolting?

Ø  Purchase a couple of writer’s tools, such as books from the top 5 list at the bottom of this entry. However, remember that, just as with fashion style, your writing style cannot be bought. Do not expect to write the next American classic novel just because you buy books or expensive word processing programs. But a couple of guiding books can help you on the path to self-discovery and self-refinery.

The hardest part of this journey will be the honesty: truly consider your style, and don’t be quick to toss it all aside. You have strengths and weaknesses: appreciate and develop your strengths as you overcome or bend your weaknesses into something unique to your writing.

Bumgarner, Lori. Advance Your Image. Franklin, Tennessee: O’More Publishing,

2011. (currently self published, coming soon to O’More Publishing)

Harmon, William and Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 9^th ed. Upper Saddle

River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2003.

Possible Writing Challenges
1) After you have identified some of your personal writing style elements, write a piece that plays around with the elements you feel are part of your signature voice. Then test some elements you use less. Do you think you want to incorporate something new into your style? What simply doesn't work, doesn't sound like you?

5 Helpful Writer Reads

1)   The Elements of Style by Strunk and White

2)   A Handbook to Literature by Harmon and Holman

3)   On Writing Well by William Zinsser

4)   On Writing by Eudora Welty

5)   Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark

a special thanks to Melissa Henson for designing this logo

Plot: Make it Happen

Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the university stifles writers.  My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them.  There's many a bestseller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.  ~Flannery O'Connor

Write down the thoughts of the moment.  Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable.  ~Francis Bacon

Writing the next plot-driven best seller shouldn’t be our goal.  As writers, we are collectors and interpreters of events.

Plots come easy, but that doesn’t mean they should drive the story. A plot-driven story is just a series of meaning less, though possibly clever, events happening in places a reader doesn’t care about to people a reader doesn’t care about.

When I was young, I wrote in plots. I had a million fantastic plot ideas, but my books were over in 30 pages or less because, once the plot took place, the story was over. (My personal favorite plot idea was about a tom-boy who was transferred to a prep school where she tried to get the girly-girls to play powder puff football for homecoming. It was called Preps Go Long.) Writing from one event to the next gave me a small word count and lifeless characters.

Yet, a writer cannot discount the importance of plot, and the elements of plot (though you may be aware of them) are worth the time to review.

Ø  Exposition

o   In the beginning, the exposition sets the scene and gives the reader any background information needed to move into the story.

o   Some stories can start in medias res, or in the middle of things. These stories may feel as though they don’t have a well-formed exposition, or it may feel as though the background information is sprinkled throughout the story instead of placed at the start.

o   No matter how you begin, never underestimate the power of the first line of your writing.

Ø  Foreshadowing

o   Sometimes a writer gives clues to what is to come in the plot.

Ø  Conflict

o   Mike Judge explains, “In order to have a plot, you have to have a conflict, something bad has to happen.”

o   Laura Bokesch says conflict is “the essence of fiction. It creates plot.”

o   She breaks conflicts into Man versus Man, Man versus Nature, Man versus Society, and Man versus Self.

o   A relatable conflict will connect the reader to the characters.

Ø  Inciting Force

o   A conflict has a starting point: an event or person.

Ø  Rising Action

o   This is “a series of events that builds from the conflict. It begins with the inciting force and ends with the climax” (Bokesch).

Ø  Crisis or Turning Point

o   “At this point the opposing forces in the story meet, and the conflict becomes most intense. The crisis occurs before or at the same time as the climax” (Bokesch).

Ø  Climax

o   Generally, the climax is considered the most intense moment. Bokesch explains that the climax is what occurs because of the crisis; often a reader can predict what the outcome of the conflict will be based on the climax.

Ø  Falling Action

o   These are the events after the climax that lead towards the end of the story.

Ø  Resolution

o   The end of the action and events is the resolution.

Ø  Catharsis

o   Some stories have this “silver lining.” If the story is especially sad, readers often appreciate at least some level of catharsis. It might just be a lesson learned.

Of course, not every story has every one of these elements. One of my favorite short stories, “Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, is mostly just the conversation between two people. The reader sees little background information, and the final line creates debate by readers on what the resolution is; the conflict is not clearly resolved. In fact, the story is centered mostly on conflict with little action. Great writers use these elements of plot as needed to produce great writing.

image from http://turtola.edublogs.org/2010-11-classes/creative-writing/language-and-literature/hills-like-white-elephants/

Possible Writing Challenges

1)   Which kind of conflict do you find yourself most interested in reading (Man vs. Man, Man vs. Self, Man vs. Society, or Man vs. Nature)?

2)   Think of your favorite books and movies, and identify some of the elements of plot.

3)   Write up a brief sketch of an event that happened to you. Try to include many of the elements of plot.

Bacon, Francis. “Writing.” n.d. Quotegarden.com. 10 February 2011  

<http://www.quotegarden.com/writing.html>.

Bokesch, Laura. “Literary Elements.” n.d. Orange Unified School District. 6 September

2008 <http://www.orange usd.k12.ca.us/yorba/literary_elements.htm>.

Judge, Mike. “Plot.” n.d. Brainyquotes.com. 10 February 2011

<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/plot_2.html>.

O’Connor, Flannery. “Writing.” n.d. Quotegarden.com. 10 February 2011  

<http://www.quotegarden.com/writing.html>.

10 “Conflicting” Stories You Should Read

1)      “Hills like White Elephants” short story by Ernest Hemingway

2)      The Year of Secret Assignments young adult novel by Jaclyn Moriarty

3)      The Giver young adult novel by Lois Lowry

4)      “Revelation” short story by Flannery O’Connor

5)      Hamlet play by William Shakespeare

6)      The Pearl novella by John Steinbeck

7)      The Awakening novella by Kate Chopin

8)      “My Last Duchess” and “Porphyria’s Lover” poems by Robert Browning

9)      “Why I Live at the P.O.” short story by Eudora Welty

10)   “A & P” short story by John Updike

The Author: Why Write?

If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood.  I'd type a little faster.  ~Isaac Asimov

The following is an excerpt from an article about the art of the written and illustrated word.  This article will by published later this semester in volume 2 of The Abbey Leix Anthology: O’More Articles on the Art and Design of Education.

Just like any other art form, writing is not an easy craft, and yet people anywhere from dabble in to obsess over the process. Why?

Ø  to release the story within

o   Maya Angelou believes, “There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside of you” (qtd. in Christensen).

Ø  to feel the physical, emotional, and spiritual experience of writing

o   Eudora Welty writes, “Suspense, pleasure, curiosity, all are bound up in the making of a written story” (4).

Ø  for immortality

o   for those you write about

§  Just Mona Lisa is forever immortalized in her half-smirked painting, “So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, / So long lives this [Shakespeare’s sonnet], and this gives life to thee” (Shakespeare ll.13-14).

o   for the author-artist

§  Hilaire Belloc has one of my favorite quotes on the topic: “When I am dead, I hope it may be said: ‘His sins were scarlet, but his books were read’” (455).

    

Writing as an art form is a vicious cycle: writers need responsible readers need responsible writers need something worth saying needs someone able to effectively communicate it needs the effort of a responsible writer needs the respect of a responsible reader.  It will go on forever. Stories need to be written and read. The talent of a crafty writer creates the craft of writing.

Despite those pop-culture explosions that make me smack myself on the forehead in misery for those who find these stories worthy, there are books ready for my reading, and those ready for my writing. Nothing can compare the feeling of pride when I can step back and view my finished work of art. My clothes are not slashed with paint, but my wrists are with the creases from my keyboard. I am author-artist: hear me type. 

Possible Writing Challenges

1)   Why do you write? Answer the question, in writing of course.

2)   Search for three great quotes on writing. Write one paragraph for each quote interpreting and explaining how the quote does or does not compare to your own thoughts on the subject.

Asimov, Issac. “Writing.” n.d. Quotegarden.com. 10 February 2011  <http://www.quotegarden.com/writing.html>.

Bulloc, Hilaire. “Writing and Writers.” The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Quotations. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 1992.

Christensen, Patti. “Patti's Favorite Storytelling Quotes.” 2004. PattiStory.com. 18 Jan. 2007 <http://www.pattistory.com/54-
               Quotes.htm>. 

---. “Sonnet XVIII.” 100 Best-Loved Poems. Ed. Philip Smith. New York: Dover, 1995.

Welty, Eudora.  On Writing. New York: The Modern Library, 2002.

A special thanks to the ever-talented Anastasia Morozova, who painted my above writer’s portrait. I hire her often for my artistic needs, including the illustrations for an upcoming children’s book. Please let me know if you need a portrait or any other work from her.

10 Writers I Suggest You Experience in Your Lifetime

1)       Ernest Hemingway (novels, short stories)

2)       Gerard Manley Hopkins (poetry)

3)       Carol King (songs)

4)       Sandra Boynton (children’s books—Jack’s favorite)

5)       Jaclyn Moriarty (young adult novels)

6)       Shakespeare (sonnets, though “the play’s the thing”)

7)       e e cummings (poetry)

8)       Kate DiCamillo (young adult novels)

9)       Willa Cather (novels)

10)    C. S. Lewis (novels, non-fiction)

Inspiration: Finding Your Muse

You can't wait for inspiration.  You have to go after it with a club.  

~ Jack London

Find your clubs. Dust them off. It’s time to go on a Muse hunt.

The inspiration of the arts, Greek Mythology’s Muses were the nine daughter’s of Zeus.  The term Muse has become forever linked with the idea of inspiration. Some writers have a specific Muse, something or someone who ever inspires their writing. Fellow writers have identified their Muses to me as places, other writers, mundane items or daily tasks, fictional characters, and particular people.

Muses can change from project to project, or they can remain the inspiration for a writer throughout many works, or perhaps throughout life.

As Jack London states, a writer simply cannot use the excuse of writer’s block, or a lack of inspiration, as an excuse to delay creating. Sometimes we have to be more proactive about searching out a Muse.  The overly-used statement that inspiration is everywhere is true, but it doesn’t mean that the same things will inspire the same people.  And even if a fellow writer and I view the same object, or visit the same place, or love the same person, it doesn’t mean that our interpretations will be the same about this object, place, or person.

Actively experience your world this week. What do you find beautiful? What repulses you? What brings you bliss? What breaks your heart? Both positive and negative emotions can lead you to a Muse. Compelling writing is not driven solely by pleasantries.

Don’t wait for your Muse to find you. And once you obtain your Muse, be prepared to write with more truth, more confidence, and more hope because you will never again be writing alone.

Possible Writing Challenges

1)   Identify your Muse and write a poem directed to him, her, or it.

2)   What are three of your inspirations? Write a paragraph about each, explaining what these inspirations do for you or what you take from them.

London, Jack. “Imagination.” n.d. Quotegarden.com. 6 February 2011 <http://www..quotegarden.com/imagination.html>. 

10 of My Muses
1) False Hope
2) Temptation
3) Trees
4) Water
5) What If
6) Unrequited Love
7) Other Talent Writers
8) Conversation
9) Another's Personality
10) Words

The Story Wheel

A couple of years ago, I designed The Story Wheel: a circle of aspects important for any writer to consider. Mostly The Story Wheel connects to those creating fiction, but elements can be used by any writer. I have used the wheel as a basic outline for my Composition I courses in the past. The next several posts will look at each element of The Story Wheel.

I would like to specifically thank Melissa Henson for creating this image of the wheel. Her visual looks far better than the version I made a while ago in Paint.

Introduction

     The fear of writing seems to stem from three major areas: no inspiration (What do I write about?), no method (How do I write about it?), no clarity (How can I make sure I am understood?).

     But somehow, the answers to these questions can make matters even worse.

1)  Inspiration is everywhere.

2)   Methods range depending on writing style.

3)  Clarity is often the fine line between explaining what you mean and insinuating that your audience is stupid.

     Writing inside the box means gaining the knowledge and skills that can help you overcome these three fears and make sense of the seemingly overwhelming answers. This growth means trial and error. It means getting to know yourself and your voice. It means accepting critique—knowing when to defend your writing and when to edit. It means wrangling the everywhere inspiration, the ranging methods, and the clarity conundrum into your personal writing style.

     For some of us, thinking outside the box is a non-issue. In fact, we haven’t seen the box in so long we’ve completely forgotten what it even looks like, or where we left it. Find it. Think outside; then write inside. Be creative; then know how to apply and play with the rules of grammar. Brainstorm; then sketch out your ideas or outline.

     Most of us don’t want to be contained, yet few want to read a nonsensical ranting. Writers have to learn the balance of the creative with the critical, the imaginative with the essential.

     John Steinbeck described East of Eden as a box filled with “pain and excitement…feeling good or bad and evil thoughts and good thoughts—the pleasure of design and some despair and the indescribable joy of creation…and still the box is not full” (dedication). If we want to communicate those complete ranges of life, we have to learn to collect our big ideas into a box.

      The intent of this blog is to share the tools and tricks I’ve learned in my seven years tutoring and teaching writing, and from my twenty-something years writing. Each entry I will explore a topic, some broad and some quite specific, that I have found indispensable in my teaching and personal writing endeavors. I don’t have all the answers. My goal is to point you in a direction, make you consider the possibilities, and lead you on a path to discovering your voice by writing inside the box.  

Steinbeck, John. East of Eden. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.