The Creation of Three Dimensional Characters in C minor:  Or how to use music to discover voice

Do you ever feel there is a soundtrack to your life?  Is music important to your memory, and to your own past (back-story…) Humans are connected to music in a visceral way.  It tugs at us and pulls us in.  It changes our mood, makes us laugh and cry, helps us through the hard times, and helps to keep us awake when we are driving.  What would a world be like without music?

When I was little one of my favorite things in the world, (get ready, I am about to expose the secret dork who lives under my skin,) was a record by Prokofiev:  Peter and the Wolf.  There were very few words to the story, the premise of it was that each character was given a sound, and then when the sounds were put together you could hear the story. Without the words!  I listened to that album (yes vinyl) over and over again.  I can still remember the sound the wolf made, an ominous trio of horns, but delightful too… letting the listeners of the narrative understand his complexity.  Beware the wolf who is dangerous and delightful and dark. I remember…

And that is what we want for our characters, right?  We want them to be complex and well defined.  Flawed and full of emotion.  We want the reader to make that connection with the people in the stories that we tell.

So here is a little trick that I use.  When I am thinking up my stories, I give my characters music as well as a name.  They need to have a sound, a rhythm, a beat.  I need to know what music is playing inside their heads so I can make them move.

For example, in my novel, Haunting Anne, my dark and brooding heroin, Anne, was connected to The Cure and to The Cranberries. It didn’t matter that she was coming of age in the 1950′s.  She is a timeless character and the music helped me create a timeless mood.  The honesty that poured out of her when I was listening to her music was amazing, and the flow was nonstop.  It hurt my brain because the words couldn’t be typed fast enough.

The really interesting part of all of this what remains.  Now that I am through with the creation of that novel, the music still belongs to them, those people who haunted me for all that time.  Even though I have my own memories and bits of nostalgia connected to the music I used to help fortify the complexity of my characters, I no longer think about those things when I am driving in my car with the radio on.  Instead, I think of them!  Their stories and their lives! Talk about multiple personality disorder….

Music.  It is a powerful tool.  Try it!

Suzanne M. Palmieri

Suzanne is a Sociologist by profession and degree. She teachs Social Behavior and Social Interaction as well as many courses in Deviance at the university level.

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Blog by Degrees (or Blog Frog)

I used to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. I was horrible at it. Absolutely awful. And not because I haven’t seen Kevin Bacon films, but because I could never remember actors’ (or actresses’) names when under pressure. You definitely wanted to play against me. You’d win.

So what does this have to do with anything? Nothing really (I know- annoying!) but I was thinking about how I see a lot of the blogs I read linking up to each other. It got me wondering where I would end up if I followed the degrees of writer’s blogs- or as I prefer to say it- playing Blog Frog.

Well, here we go:

Archetype Writing Blog

http://archetypewriting.blogspot.com/2009/03/showing-vs-telling-cross-post.html

Post: Showing vs. Telling (Cross-Post)

Are you tired of hearing people tell you “show, don’t tell” over and over? I know I am. This was a great post about the difference. I’m including an excerpt below- but you really must go check out the entire thing!

Time to stop and ask questions about all five senses, using the most descriptive verbs you can find.

* What do your characters see? Does the SUV spin out of control, making the scenery whirl by as if the good guys were on a carousel? If your character is a racecar driver who’s lost control of a speeding car on multiple occasions, his impressions are going to be different from those of someone who just learned to drive.

* What do your characters feel? Does the SUV jolt to a halt? Does the SUV drop closer to the ground? Does the SUV slam into a curb? Do the airbags marshmallow out of the dash, crushing your characters into their seats?

* What do your characters smell and taste? Can they smell rubber burning as it’s dragged across the asphalt? Can they taste their own fear? What does that taste like?

* What do your characters hear? Having blown a tire, I can tell you that the explosion of one bursting is as loud and startling as gunfire. But what else do your characters hear? Other cars screeching to a halt around them?

jumps to

The Innocent Flower by Lady Glamis

http://theinnocentflower.blogspot.com/2009/03/what-is-with-all-zombies.html

Post: What Is With All The Zombies?

First of all, there is a really cool picture of a makeup artist creating a zombie look. Secondly- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies- need I say more? I’m not totally into the zombie thing, so let’s just continue on.

jumps to

DEFCON Whiskey

http://defconwhiskey.blogspot.com/2009/03/secret-project-is-secret-no-more.html

Post: The Secret Project is Secret No More

This post really caught my eye because it was unique. A full-on blinkie hinting at a small project tied to a big novel ….I’ve got to click on it right away!

jumps to

I Woke Up in Pittsburgh

http://iwokeupinpittsburgh.blogspot.com/2009/03/today-is-my-birthday.html

Post: Today is My Birthday

This whole blog is written from the characters POV. While there were more swear words than I personally enjoy reading, I cannot but be in awe of this idea. What a great way to get readers interested in your book. And it would force you get to know your Main Character inside and out.

In four degrees we managed to connect a Rorschach Inkblot Test to a 2^nd Birthday of an MC. I feel good about it.

Please share- what is your favorite blog and where has it led you lately?

Joyce

Joyce Wolfley began to write/edit/edit/edit/edit her young adult paranormal romance, Illusions in August 2008. It is currently still in one of those many edit stages.  Joyce graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Arizona State University thinking writing was a chore. Since writing her first novel she’s learned to appreciate the art and creativity of writing.

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Creating Believable Characters:

It’s a matter of voice.

By Christine Fonseca

Writing fiction is more than simply putting good words on paper, or telling a riveting story.  It involves the creation of characters that are 3-dimensional.  A well developed character is one that stays with you long after the story is finished.  Through their eyes, the reader is transported to another life, or another world.

Some people like to start building characters from the base up – know what they look like, what their wants and desires are, etc.  I tend to have a different approach (typical).  I start with their voice. I literally HEAR my characters long before I see them or understand which story they fit into and what their role is.    So, when I build my story – and consequently my characters – I always start with voice.  Now, by voice I don’t mean the sounds they make; although this may be part of the process.  I define voice as the unique actions and behaviors of the character – the thing that makes them WHO they are.

For characters to feel believable to your readers, they must possess an authentic voice that is unique – not a collection of used clichés (the abused wife, the enraged alcoholic, the scared and lost middle-child, etc).  That is not to say that the characters have not experienced the things referenced above.  Maybe they have.  To be believable and riveting, however, they need more.  They need to be as unique as the people we come into contact with everyday.  They must be three dimensional.

To bring a character’s voice to life on the printed page, the author MUST speak from voice each time they refer to that character.  This can be very difficult.  Many times an author’s voice will replace the voice of the character, leaving the reader to feel as though the words or actions of that character are somehow disingenuous. Try this.  Think back to the last book you hated – besides poor writing style or overindulgent world building, why did you hate it?  Odds are it had to do with characters that behaved in ways that were not believable.  They were not authentic somehow.

Staying true to the voice of the characters is vital to the creation of a rich story.

One technique that has helped me learn to “stay in voice” didn’t come from the writing practices I’ve learned in class or at workshops.  It came from a combination of my experiences with theatre and the field of transformation psychology – method acting (or voice dialogue in psychology).

These techniques, though somewhat different from one another, focus on “becoming” something else – a character.  For method acting, it is about finding the aspects of the character you are portraying within yourself and pulling that aspect of being to the surface – literally becoming that character.  In doing so, the actor can create something so full that the actor falls away completely, leaving the audience to experience only the character.

Voice Dialogue is a similar process developed by Hal and Sidra Stone.  Defined as a way of getting in touch with the many aspects of personality that exist within each of us, Voice Dialogue teaches the participant to literally speak from various aspects of the self.

Both techniques have a practical application to writing, enabling the author to consistently “speak” from another characters voice.

Here are a couple of practices that may help with this process: a) write a letter to yourself (the author) from your character’s point of view.  This practice can unleash your subconscious creative mind and enable you to get in touch with your character more fully.  If you’re stuck in a scene, unsure of your character’s motivations, try this…ask to speak to that aspect of yourself (I know, sounds strange – but trust me, it WORKS).  For example, if your main character is Julie, ask yourself to speak to Julie.  Tell Julie what the problem is, stay still for a minute and write.  Odds are really good that you will be able to release that creative nature again and write from that perspective.  (I have a friend that calls it channeling her characters – perfect…)

For the next couple of days, try writing from different characters’ voices in the first person.  Pick a variety of characters – the broader the variety, the better.  After doing this for a while, read what you wrote.  Does it all sound the same?  If so, you may not be speaking from the character’s voice – but from the author’s voice.  Try it again.  Eventually you will be able to completely stay in the voice of your character – regardless of POV, scene changes or plot developments.  As you master this, you will begin to create characters that leap from the page and give your story the heartbeat it needs.

An added bonus – this technique will help you go deeper with your characters emotionally – much deeper.

Follow Christine’s Blog:

http://christinefonseca.wordpress.com/

© Christine Fonseca, 2008-2009.  Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from the author is strictly prohibited.

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Our guest blogger today, just happens to be the winner of our contest, so congrats, Rick.

EVERYONE HAS THEIR One True Writing Tip, SO HERE’S MINE:

Ask five writers for the one thing that makes their writing better and you’ll get six different answers.  Long-winded, needlessly verbose, adverb-laden answers, all in a dramatic tone intended to make you believe that if you don’t do it exactly right then you may as well stick to writing the Nutritional Information labels on boxed food products, you hopeless derivative hack.

Ahem.  Anyway.

The popular answer seems to be to READ, READ, READ.  Sure, that’s true, but how many authors do you know that aren’t also obsessive readers?  To be honest, I can’t stand writers and don’t know that many of them, but each and every one of them reads.

So that’s not very helpful advice then, is it?  Instead, let me advocate something that I rarely see other writers do:

SPEAK.

Yep, I am telling you that you need to stand up from your desk or couch and read your work aloud.  Read to your cat, dog, kids, significant other, nearest neighbor, or patron deity.  Whatever.  It doesn’t matter — just speak.

Sorry, but I just lied — it’s not enough to just speak.  You need to PERFORM.  Yes, I’m talking about a dramatic production of your work.  You know how you’d want a professional reader to sound if your work got turned into an audiobook or stage play?  You need to recreate that performance.  I’m talking Dudley Do-Right versus Snidely Whiplash, arms waving, stomping around in your living room.

Why go through all of that?  You’re looking for a few things:

1. Listen for word transitions that trip you up.  If they trip you up while speaking, they’ll trip up your reader.
2. Listen for places where you have to try a few times to get the inflection and emotion quite right.  If you can’t do it in a single pass, neither can your reader.
3. Listen for places where you’re not sure which voice to make — which character is speaking.
4. Listen for dialogue that you would never actually find yourself saying, as that’s a sure sign of a terribad infodump.  “Because you’re my second son, with one older sister and two younger brothers, and red hair.”
5. Ditto for narration, inner monologue, etc.

Remember that, in a cognitive sense, reading is based upon the spoken word.  We learn to speak first, then figure out what all those squiggly lines mean after that.  If you work isn’t smooth and interesting to listen to, then it won’t be smooth and interesting to read.

But wait, there’s more!

I promise you that performing your work aloud will improve your characterization and voice.  Getting the characters out of your head and walking around the room will help you solidify the lines between them so that they don’t all sound the same.  It’ll also help when you’re blocked — by flailing around and getting into the passion of your characters, writing about them becomes easier.

Oh, and if you write Fantasy, I do expect you to wield a sword as you perform.  Anything less isn’t committing to your writing.

–
Rick Osborne

http://rickosborne.org/blog/

Rick’s Authonomy Profile

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My 10 Commandments to Writing Success: A No-Fail Approach/Part 3
By Michael P. Geffner

As many of you already know by now, my article, “10 Commandments to Writing Success,” was so popular that various versions have appeared all over the place, including in The Writer and The Writer’s Handbook, as well as on asbolutewrite.com and a slew of other writing resource sites.

Strangely, the whole thing grew entirely out of serendipity. I feverishly wrote the first version in no more than a half-hour and never intended it to be published. It was merely a way to answer all the member questions I had received when I began my first club, Mike’s Writing Workshop on Yahoo, in March of 2001.

As it turned out, people seemed to love it. There was a clamoring for more. So I ended up writing a Part 2 to it…and, well, the rest is history.

I thought it was time to add 10 more to the list for Part 3.

Hope you enjoy—but, more importantly, that you get something out of it and that it pushes you closer to your writing dream.

Here are the new commandments:

1) Pitch stories that you absolutely own. The best way to get an editor’s attention, especially if you’re relatively new to the game or not very high up on the “publishing credits” ladder, is to offer an idea that no one else can do—but YOU! Is it an exclusive interview with someone who’s turning down everybody else? Is it a story that only you know about? Are you the sole expert in this subject? Own a story up and down and you’ll have a huge advantage like you never had before.

2) Always push for more work. Once you’ve made headway with a publication—which means you’ve built up a mutual trust and respect with an editor or editors—keep asking for more assignments or keep pitching ideas. Writing can often be a momentum business. Don’t stop the flow. Also, if you have a published story on the stands, it’s the best time to pitch editors at other places. You’ll seem like the hot commodity of the moment.

3) Rejection should only be the beginning, not the end. Two things to consider here: A. Just because a publication nixes your story idea—or you in particular—doesn’t mean the next place will do the same. If you believe in yourself and your idea, never give up on it. B. Just because a publication rejects you outright doesn’t mean the same place won’t accept you six months later. At most places, there’s high turnover. Editors, as well as mission statements, change quickly.

4) Don’t hang all your hopes on resumes, clip packages, and query letters. Go into any high-level editor’s office and you’ll see stacks of unopened envelopes that nearly reach the ceiling. You’re annoyed, or depressed, that an editor hasn’t gotten back to you? Don’t be. He or she likely hasn’t even seen the contents of your envelope yet—and may never. Make phone calls (without being a stalker). Make meetings (without being demanding). In the writing game, as in most businesses, relationships matter more than anything in an envelope.

5) Learn to negotiate for more money. No matter what a publication offers, it’s often way less than it can afford. Always express mild disappointment at the first number, then pleasantly, professionally, ask for a little more. Understand that I don’t suggest this method for rank beginners. You’ll risk losing the assignment. It’s also running before learning to crawl. But for anyone with decent experience, you’ll gain greater respect by not jumping at the first number thrown at you. Also, if in the end a place refuses to budge on the story fee, ask for something else that doesn’t cost them money, such as your byline bigger or your name—and story teased—on the front cover. Or simply agree to do the story at their price for now (make it seem like you’re doing this out of the goodness of your heart) but, if they love the final product, that the next one will have to pay more. Always have a strategic plan when negotiating a story deal (have an answer ready for anything that might come up) and always get it in writing.

6) Whatever writing you do, try your best to be utterly unique and way above average. You want to put yourself in position where a publication or publisher can’t get what you do from any other writer. This is what gets the big jobs and the big dollars and the big careers.

7) Don’t beg. Always act as if you’re confident in your work and yourself, exuding an attitude that says, “I’d love to do this story for you, I really would, but if you’re not sure that you want it, I’m certain that some other publication will.” In other words, never show weakness, because editors will pick up on that and run away from it.

Don’t be a pest or a complainer or unprofessional. Editors will always choose the path of least resistance, wanting to work with writers that carry the least amount of baggage and write the cleanest, most thorough copy. Maybe if you win the Pulitzer, you’ll gain some extra rope. But until then, you best be a writer that editors love to work with.

9) Keep making baby steps upward. Don’t get too comfortable at a certain level. Keep challenging yourself. This will force you to make the work better and better, as well as help you make more and more money.

10) Don’t worry so much about people stealing your ideas. At the major publications, it hardly, if ever, happens. Plus, assuming you’re hitting a smaller, less trustworthy market, you should have so many ideas that if someone steals one that it wouldn’t matter in the least, because you have dozens upon dozens of them. The writing business is an idea business. If you don’t have ideas gushing out of your brain on a daily basis, you might want to try some other work.

You can find Michael at http://mikeswritingworkshop.blogspot.com/

You may also follow him on Twitter http://twitter.com/MikeGeffner

Michael Geffner

New York, United States Writer/Journalist/Columnist. Awarded for outstanding column and feature writing by APSE (Associated Press Sports Editors) 2005, 2006; won New York Publishers Association’s contest for Distinguished Sports Writing, 2007; included seven times in annual Best American Sports Writing anthology; voted Best Sportswriter in New York City by New York Press, 1990; won first place for profile writing by the Society of Professional Journalists (NJ), 2000; interviewed former President Nixon (twice, about baseball), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (at his home atop a hill in Beverly Hills), Dennis Hopper (during a round of golf in Simi Valley), Forest Whitaker (via cell phones while he was driving around Los Angeles), Derek Jeter (by his Yankee locker); written for USA Today, The Associated Press, Details, The Sporting News, Cigar Aficionado, Texas Monthly, Page Six Magazine, FHM, The Writer, and The Village Voice.

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By Michael P. Geffner

1) Don’t forget that networking is just as important as your talent and computer. It’s a must-have tool in your writing existence. You need to seek out contacts, preferably the power brokers at the top of the masthead or high-level editors, and cultivate them as “allies.” If you ignore this aspect of the business, believe me, you’ll suffer the consequences. I hear all the time from writers, “But I don’t like to mingle. I’m too shy. I’m not a good talker.” My response is matter-of-fact: “This is the way the game is played. If you don’t want to play, don’t expect to win.” Which means: Don’t expect editors to come to you. They won’t. Like Mohammed, you need to go to the mountain. I don’t care how much talent you think you have. It’s not enough to “make your career” all by itself. And remember: If you’re not cultivating contacts, some other writer out there is.

2) Force yourself to work under deadline pressure. Deadlines are what separate the professional from the hobbyist. Pros can’t wait for inspiration, or an act from God, to propel their creativity. They write because they have to, because someone on the other end is waiting for their work. They write whether rain, sleet, or snow, and all hours of the day and night. I’ve tortured myself to hit deadlines over the years, from five-minute ones to monthlies. That’s the nature of the beast. It’s where the tough gets tougher. So, either get assigned to something with a due date or create an artificial one. If nothing else, it’s good practice to see how well you function in such a situation. You may actually find that you’re not cut out to write professionally, that in reality you’re merely a dabbler. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s just good to know where you stand.

3) Build a portfolio before you start hitting the major newspapers/magazines/

You can find Michael at http://mikeswritingworkshop.blogspot.com/

You may also follow him on Twitter http://twitter.com/MikeGeffner

Michael Geffner

New York, United States Writer/Journalist/Columnist. Awarded for outstanding column and feature writing by APSE (Associated Press Sports Editors) 2005, 2006; won New York Publishers Association’s contest for Distinguished Sports Writing, 2007; included seven times in annual Best American Sports Writing anthology; voted Best Sportswriter in New York City by New York Press, 1990; won first place for profile writing by the Society of Professional Journalists (NJ), 2000; interviewed former President Nixon (twice, about baseball), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (at his home atop a hill in Beverly Hills), Dennis Hopper (during a round of golf in Simi Valley), Forest Whitaker (via cell phones while he was driving around Los Angeles), Derek Jeter (by his Yankee locker); written for USA Today, The Associated Press, Details, The Sporting News, Cigar Aficionado, Texas Monthly, Page Six Magazine, FHM, The Writer, and The Village Voice.

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