The Real First Step:
I'm sure many people think step one in writing is to take out the pen or device and start writing. But when I start there, I don't have much to say. I stare at the page and hope for words to magically appear. I end up writing drivel about writing and writer's block. Or I write from somewhere shallow and meaningless.
No, for real writing, for good writing, it starts with the Writer's Net. What, you ask, is this net? If you want to write, go into the world, either yours or another, and look for something that inspires you. Listen to conversations. Watch for something out of the ordinary or for someone to be doing something that catches the eye. Then come up with a back story, a crazy explanation. I was at a bus stop two days running and had someone hand me something. One time, it was a token they didn't need. I can't remember what the other was. But from that, I wrote a story about a kid who gets pieces of a techno puzzle. From there, he can open a passage to another dimension. Be looking around for interesting turns of phrase, for crazy thoughts or words. Open your net and be on the look out for things to get snagged in it.
Right now, I'm having my kids help me write a chapter book for preteens about animals. Everywhere we go, every conversation we have, we're all on the lookout for a chapter title here or a plot point or character there. The novel I just submitted for publication started with a conversation with myself that was along the lines of, "Self, they always say write what you know. So what do you know?" I decided I knew what it was like to be a chubby, nerdy Mormon living in northern Utah. That's not a story I've read. So that's where my character began. Every family activity went into the net. I took notes on places we went, watched for fun or intriguing things that could show up in my book. She is not me, and her story is not my life. But she started somewhere real.
Food for Thought:
They say an artist/author doesn't have bad days, only material. That, I can say with some authority, is a lie. Authors feel trauma at least as much as everyone else. But an author has a chance that others may not, and that's to share the trauma with others, give them a window into their pain. Julia, my main character's, life is not mine, but her pain over the loss of her baby comes from a real place. See my other blog for that.
Writing doesn't begin with the story nor even the pages and pages of characterization and back story and geography the writer works on be
fore he or she can begin the story. Writing begins with the net and with life. Start somewhere real, somewhere meaningful, and/or somewhere quirky, and your reader will come along for the ride.
CHARACTER INTERVIEWS:
I blogged once about the importance of characterizing, but I haven't yet mentioned how I do my characterization. Sometimes in the past, I've either downloaded or invented a questionnaire, which I answer from the point of view of my character. That can work, but I often find myself answering questions that aren't particularly useful to the story. Even when the questions are useful, I find I'm writing around what's important instead of getting to what motivates my character. Some writers use these questionnaires to great effect, and it's something writers can try to see if it works for them. All one needs to do is google to find one. Here is one of many: [Character Questionnaire]
APPROACHES TO CHARACTER TYPING:
But like I said, questionnaires like that, at least on their own, aren't enough for me to create fully developed characters. These questionnaires, however, can be used to supplement something else. I now start with a character theory called the Enneagram. One can start with one of several systems of personality typing, including the Meyer's-Briggs system used by employers and universities to help people choose a job or a major. [Meyer's-Briggs] Another simpler route may be the color system. [Color Typing ]There are countless other personality systems out there. I would start with a personality type from one of these systems to get down the core of the character then fill it out with a questionnaire or just pertinent details about the character. History? Family? Loves? Hates? Appearance?
I use the Enneagram because it comes ready made with details about how the character might realistically interact with other characters, their relationship with their parents, their desires and fears, etc. [Enneagram] I pick a primary character type then what's called a wing, a character type on either side of the main one that tempers and modifies the main character type. So for instance, in the book I just submitted for publication, After the Dream, my female protagonist is Julia, a Loyalist with Investigator tendencies. Her primary identity in the beginning of the novel is based in intense loyalty toward her husband, who doesn't return nor value her loyalty. But when that husband is gone from her life, she become a lost soul. Afterward, Julia spends so much of her time in her own head as a Investigator [also called a Thinker] introvert that she struggles to get outside her own reality enough to try romance again. Meanwhile, Pedro, my male protagonist in the same book, is an Individualist [also called Artist] with Investigator tendencies. His world, whether he's in a relationship or not, tends to be an emotional ride of introversion. It is hard for two introverts, accustomed to their own internal difficulties, to connect in the social world outside their own heads. Just knowing the basic character types helps me understand dramas and conflicts that the characters may deal with as they go forward.
FOR EXAMPLE:
In the book I'm working on currently, Pigs Fly, the extroverted Connor, an Enthusiast [also called a Thrillseeker] with Loyalist tendencies, has left behind his buddy Pedro and his other friends. He is a thrillseeker without thrills, a wolf without a pack. He meets up and clashes with Robin, an extroverted Reformer [or Perfectionist] with Helper tendencies who can't stand him.
On the Enneagram website, toward the bottom of specific character type descriptions, there is a link to descriptions of character interactions your character might have in a relationship with any of the character types. In other words, if you have the gist of how you want your character to relate with another character, this may help you decide on the types of your other character. Also, this may help relationships in your book gain a sense of realism.
Knowing and understanding your character helps create a realistic foundation of drives, desires, internal and external conflicts, and fears to give your character a sense of weight and meaning. Once one knows the basics of a character, he/she can then vary up the basic character and make him or her truly unique and realistic.
Above is a well known cliche in the world of weddings, but I also think it's a viable approach to writing. There are countless other approaches out there, but some might find this helpful.
Something old:
Know your genre. There are few truly new genres that come out, so most of us can read what has been written and published, particularly with publishers in which you might be interested. It's the familiar advice: read what you want to write. Know the forms and the requirements of your genre and publisher. Several publishers have specific word counts, fonts, etc. For this, you can go to their websites or the old, trusty "Writer's Market" either online or in book form. Know the industry. Do your research.
Something new:
Once you know the genre and how it's usually written, you can vary it up a bit. Try a new approach to differentiate yourself from all the other voices clamoring for attention. Most romance novels are told from the woman's perspective, either in first or third person. In my books, I'm trying a method I've seen done on rare occasions, most notably in The Help. I'm writing first person from the male and the female perspective. It helps that I have a husband and other friends and family who can help me capture the male voice. It also helps that I was raised among the boys, so I often identify more with the male voice and male characters, anyway. A good percentage of the dreams I can remember feature me as a male character.
Why not speak with a voice that others haven't used as much? One thing I notice about romance novels is that they're often about beautiful, perfect, white women [or occasionally men] who lack disabilities. The same goes for much of the fantasy I've read. This seems to be the ideal, the perspective considered the norm. Yet there is a wide array of readers who don't identify with this idyllic fiction, so many voices not heard. Readers like a character with whom they can identify, yet how can one identify with perfection? Most protagonists in books and novels have at least one minor problem or flaw, but other than that one little flaw, the characters are often perfect.
Yet there's an increasing number of popular stories that have begun to buck the norm of perfection. Look at "Shrek." I think one reason for this series' popularity is that it dares to go where no other pretty fairy tale has gone, into the world of overweight main characters who are physically imperfect, namely green. One of my protagonists in the first book is a Latino who deals with prejudice. Both of my protagonists are overweight and have physical and health problems. One popular series of books I really like is the Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan. To me, part of the charm of the series is the main characters have disabilities, namely dyslexia and ADD. My main characters of After the Dream both have mental disabilities, he depression and she PTSD, both of which are more common than most people believe. In my next book, Pigs Fly, I have a protagonist with ADD and one with the autoimmune disorders Hashimoto's and Fibromyalgia. I think about the indie movie "Blind Dating" about a blind man who struggles to get a date simply because he's blind and start to wonder where else this kind of exploration of alternative voices can take me.
Something Borrowed: These next two are after for primarily after a rough draft is produced. Writers don't write in a vacuum, or the good ones don't. It's always a good idea to seek eyes outside your own head to review your writings. Find writing groups, so you can borrow their brains for alternative approaches and ideas. No matter how wonderful something sounds to your own brain, chances are it could be made better with the help of others. And don't be afraid to let them come at your writing with a big red marker. Sometimes, it hurts, but one cannot improve as a writer as long as one is doing the same thing over and over.
Something Blue: There are two ways I can take this, both of them in the revising stage: blue as a descriptive word and blue as an emotion. When I'm drafting, I just write and leave the editor at the door, or I can't get anywhere. It's in the revising form that I really work on description, making sure to carefully look over my language to make sure it is descriptive enough to transport the reader into my world and yet not so descriptive as to choke the forward progress of the story. I'll cover this in more detail in a later post. As noted, blue can also be about emotion. When I'm writing, I mostly want to get parts of the story down. It's after the fact that I can go back and beef up the emotional strength of the story.
This whole blog post shows yet another aspect of good writing, which is not taking a cliche at face value but rather turning it on its ear. During the second draft, one can also go back and check for cliches that remain something familiar, something the reader has seen so many other places that they've lost count. Cliches can occur in characterization, in turns of phrase, in every aspect of writing. If you let your writing remain a cliche, why write? Say something new, something meaningful and you will truly make your mark in the field of writing.
I know for a lot of experienced writers, much of this will be obvious. To novices, much of it may be new. Regardless, it can sometimes help to see things from a different perspective, a new way of seeing something we already know.
