Introspection

I haven’t posted in a long time. It isn’t Monday. I’m not planning to follow my own poll-and-discuss format. There are exactly thirty-eight bazillion other things I should be doing right now (I counted). But yet, here I am. Maybe it’s because when I struggle with something, I have a need to write it out. Maybe it’s because I think other people might struggle with this too, and reading this post might help. Maybe it’s just to avoid the thirty-eight bazillion other things. Whatever the reason, I’m here. Thanks for being here too.

My writing is in a weird place. After years of working on what I thought was a middle grade series (and still might be, just not how I originally saw it), I have been reworking it. I’m combining the first two books in the series into one book. I’m almost to the point that I’ll be able to tell whether or not it works. Chapter 17. I have most of the plot together, the characters are fleshed out,  but I have a few holes. Most of the holes are scenes of introspection. Apparently, getting inside the head of a character who resides in my head is a little too much for my brain to handle. As a result, those pivotal, essential, entirely necessary scenes are weak. Recently, I even skipped over writing one all together, leaving “insert what character is thinking” in parentheses in its place (I really like parentheses).

So, I’m wondering, do you have trouble writing the scenes that get in your characters’ heads? Have you read a book with really strong introspection? Do you have a trick you use when approaching these scenes? Please share in the comments.

 

Backstory

So to finish the Mister story, Husband called the doctor right away and the doctor told us to go get x-rays. The x-rays showed that Mister did, indeed, swallow a penny. And it was already in his stomach. That was a big relief for us since a Google search told us they can sometimes get lodged sideways on the way down. We were told to sift through his poop until we found the penny, and sent home.

The next day, 29 hours from when it went in, the penny came out without issue. I joke that it took Mister as long to birth the penny as it took for me to birth him.

After I told Mister the penny was out, he yelled “I’m free!” I didn’t know if he meant he was free because he had $0.00 in him now, or because he was free of the worry, but it was pretty funny either way.

As funny as this story is, it is probably something in Mister’s backstory that I won’t often reveal. Sure, I may tell it to a girlfriend later in his life to try to embarrass him. But, otherwise, that story is just going to quietly become a part of what makes Mister, Mister.

Just like our characters have stories that make them, them.

And all of those stories don’t need to be told either.

Discovering those stories can be almost as much work, and as much fun, as writing the story.

On expert advice, I started digging deeper into the past of my own character. She’s an eight year old tomboy, named Mabel, who loves baseball. This same expert asked why she loved baseball so much and who was her favorite player. I knew she wouldn’t have just any favorite player. It had to be a woman. And not just any woman. She had to be as good as the boys.

Well, after not too much searching, I found her. Jackie Mitchell.

 

The daughter of a doctor, Jackie seemed to be born to play ball. Her father introduced her to the game at a young age and Dazzy Vance, her next door neighbor taught her how to pitch. Vance went on to pitch in the majors while Jackie played in a women’s league. That is, until she became the second woman in history to sign a minor league deal.

Jackie was on the Class AA Junior Lookouts Roster when the new York Yankees came in to town to play an exhibition game. She took the mound against the greats: Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. And she struck them out. Perfect hero for a tomboy.

 

And I admit that I’m tempted to squeeze Jackie into the story. She has a great story all her own. But I know that if I’m going to use it, the timing has to be perfectly right, or it will feel forced. And if I don’t use it, then it will just be part of what makes Mabel, Mabel.

 

Related Links:

http://www.cowansauctions.com/itemImages/d5378.jpg- an article researching whether the strike outs of Ruth and Gehrig are a myth

http://blogs.babycenter.com/mom_stories/09192013-the-sad-story-behind-i-love-you-forever/- The story behind the children’s book Love You Forever

http://blog.pshares.org/index.php/what-you-can-learn-about-writing-from-childrens-books/- what you can learn about writing from children’s books (including that no one wants backstory in place of plot)

 

I Won’t Tell You

“I won’t tell you, Mom,” my 3 year-old, Mister, said as I walked into his room.

“I won’t tell you what happened.” He paced around the room, holding his chest and groaning.

“Bud,” I knelt down in front of him, “I need you to tell me what happened, especially if it is something not good, so I can help you.”

He covered his eyes with his hands and whispered, “I put a penny in my mouth and it went down my throat in to my esophagus.”

I felt my eyes get as big as quarters. “It did? Do you feel okay or does it hurt you?”

“It hurts me, Mom.” He held his chest.

“Bud, I’m so glad you told me,” I said, and started to call the doctor.

Mister didn’t want to tell me what happened to him just like we don’t want to tell everything about our characters to the reader. What is in your character’s(s’) back story that you are keeping secret from your reader?

 

Brains on Paper

Experiencing emotional situations and narrating them at the same time, isn’t exactly a super power, but it does come in handy for writing. There are a few things that I do that are a little, well, odd in the context of real life that also work really well for writing.

For example, I picture most people I meet, and even some I just see in passing, as picture book characters. A man with long, curly hair and sunglasses became the saxophone player for an audience of cats. A smiling older gentleman in the post office became a neighbor who teaches a young boy about imagination. A librarian who helped with a stuck door was…a librarian (funny how some people just fit, isn’t it?). A little weird, maybe, but there might be some picture book ideas just walking around out there. I’ll never know if I don’t look around.

I also steal physical traits, body language or ways of speaking from real people to later use for my characters. A teen girl walking with her hands in her sleeves and shoulders slightly slumped I’ll give to a character with self-esteem issues. And I’ll take a little one’s tendency to always walk on tiptoe and give it to a picture book character who is filled with wonder and curiosity.

I even revise my own speech. I’ll say something and immediately think of a better way to word it. It’s like living with the curse of a delayed comeback all of the time. Odd? Yes. Good for writing? Definitely.

All of these things mean that even when I’m not sitting down and writing, my brain is thinking about writing. It’s almost like having a sixth sense: a writing sense. And all of the above examples help to keep mine active.

I’m not sure if all writers do the things that I do, but I do know that writers’ brains work just a little bit differently. They have to. After all, most of our effort revolves around trying to put our brains on paper.

Related Links:

Sara Jane Townsend’s reflections on a writer’s brain: http://dianedooley.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/a-writers-brain-guest-post-from-sara-jayne-townsend/

Blog post by Caleb Pirtle III about where two novelists get their stories: http://venturegalleries.com/featured-vg-blog/where-does-the-mind-of-a-writer-go-for-a-story/

Daily routines of famous writers: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/11/20/daily-routines-writers/

 

Not Normal

So I tried something new this week. Water Pong Wednesday. And it flopped. Granted, I think I chose too hard of a challenge. As much as I love palindromes, it is hard to come up with them off the top of your head! I would like to try another Water Pong Wednesday next month, because I do think it could be fun, but I’ll just have to choose a better challenge. Thanks salsanpeeps (otherwise known as Husband) for thinking of the palindromes. You win! And Mary, the Keep Calm and Paddle On (answer: KAYAK) magnet is yours if you’d like it.

If you’re curious, here are the five-, six-, and seven-letter palindromes (if not, scroll down for the Friday post on discovering new characters):

Five-

civic

kayak

level

madam

radar (this one actually has an interesting history, starting as an acronym, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar

refer

rotor

sagas

sexes

shahs

solos

tenet

Six-

pull-up

redder

Seven-

deified

repaper

reviver

rotator

Now on to the response to Monday’s post.

My characters introduce themselves to me. Sound nuts? It probably is. And I love it. Here’s how it works:

Usually while my hands or my brain is busy with something else, I’ll hear an unmistakable voice from somewhere inside my own head. I rush to grab something to write on and with and write furiously. I try not to think or move, except for my hand on the page. I’m not even sure I breathe until the character is “finished.”

My first character, Mabel, introduced herself in a college course. I wrote this in the margins of my class notes:

Sometimes there are rules.  They aren’t written down or hung on the wall, but you still have to follow them.  One is not using your school scissors to cut someone’s hair.  Also, girls like pink and dolls.  I don’t follow that rule.  I don’t follow most rules actually.  I’ll tell you more about that later.

I am a tomboy, and you can spot a tomboy from a mile away.  I’m always the one in what some moms would call play clothes: comfortable pants with room to move around; layered shirts for hot and cold control; tennis shoes ready for a race at a moment’s notice; and never, ever any tights.  The tomboy uniform helps me do things like move with lightning fast speed, hit a home run, or climb a tree.

I held on to this introduction for three years before trying to write the story. So even after the character is introduced, the hard work isn’t done. In fact, I’m still revising this story.

After I wrote Mabel’s book, I was afraid that her voice might be the only one I’d ever hear. Then Biz came along. Here is her introduction: 

My name is Elizabeth, but as long as I can remember, everyone has called me Biz. Not Liz or Izzy or Beth. Just Biz. My mom says it fits because I’ve always been busy and Biz sounds like busy. I try to tell her that doesn’t work because busy is B-U-S-Y and Biz is B-I-Z. She tells me I’ll understand what she means someday. I don’t know when someday is but I’m already tired of waiting. Someday my slightly used little sister will be old enough to do more than drool in my books. Someday I’ll be able to ride the bus to school like a normal kid and I won’t have to vacuum the ants off my sister Marcy’s front seat before I get in. Someday, if I’m lucky, I might get to use my brain to do something more than just ace history tests. But it isn’t someday. It’s just Tuesday and I’m just Biz.

I think Biz is becoming the main character of a mystery I’ve been taking notes on and finally just started (I’m 139 words in! Only tens of thousands more to go!)

And just last week, another character introduced herself. As I told my husband, she is a tough one (I deleted her profanity for the sake of the blog):

It is bad enough that I’m a teenager with a baby sister. It’s worse that she was born nine months from my birthday. Exactly. Like I can’t count. I can just picture my parents being all like “aww remember when she was conceived and now she’s a young lady.” Puke. What’s even worse is that my mom thought the occasion would be a good time to have “the talk.” Yeah. That talk. About eight years too late, I think. And she kept using words like “beautiful” and “holy”. She wouldn’t last ten minutes in the back of the bus.

This was the first character whose introduction came more in the form of question and answer. I still have a lot of questions to “ask” her and I have no idea what her story is, but I think she’s got a lot of potential.

It amazes me that all three of these voices, and all three of these characters, came from me. And, at least in the case of Mabel so far, that I can keep “hearing” the unique voice for the duration of an entire manuscript. Maybe I’m not normal. Then again, maybe I am.

F. Scott Fitzgerald once said: “Writers aren’t exactly people … they’re a whole lot of people trying to become one person.”

And E.L. Doctorow said: “Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.”

Well, at least if I’m not normal, then I’m in good company.

Related Links:

An interesting pondering about writing and voices from Vivienne Courtoise: http://viviennecourtoise.blogspot.com/2011/10/i-hear-voices.html

A guest post from Susan Bearman on the Write it Sideways blog on harnessing the voices: http://writeitsideways.com/hearing-voices-maybe-youre-a-writer/

 

 

 

Another Voice

“I got another voice,” I tell Husband while plugging my laptop back in on the desk.

“What?” he asks.

“I got another voice,” I repeat. “Another character introduced herself to me. And she’s a tough one.”

“Oh, so you don’t mean a physical voice?” he asks, sounding relieved.

“No…but sort of,” I reply. I’m sure that didn’t help. He must think I’m nuts.

So far all of my characters for my longer stories have introduced themselves to me (I’ll share more about how this happens on Friday). I feel very lucky to discover characters this way, but I also want to know if anyone else is a little nuts like me. So, the prompt for this week is:

How do you get an idea for a new character? What do you do after you get the idea?

 

The Heart of It

Beating out of my chest.

In my throat.

On my sleeve.

In my pocket. 

In my mouth.

Home.

People often talk about their hearts being in a place other than the chest, so much so that some have even become cliché. But thinking about the location of your characters’ hearts (or your own heart, for that matter) can be pretty revealing.

I’ve come up with some definitions, by the location of the heart of course, for the way characters reveal their feelings:

The Back Pocket Character: You hate to see them go but you love to watch them leave. And when they do, the reader can finally figure out what they are all about. This character keeps his or her heart hidden until the end of the story, making for a pretty dramatic climax/resolution.

The On the Tip of my Tongue Character: Things are tougher than a year-old piece of bubble gum. That’s because this character is on the cusp of self-discovery, but can’t quite put a finger on what it is…yet.

The Elbow to the Gut Character: This character’s emotions are a weapon, and revealing them is a major blow to other characters. This works well for antagonists out for revenge.

The Charlie Horse Character: This character’s emotions are causing a serious cramp…in his or her development, that is. One the character works out what is really going on, he or she can change.

The Cold Shoulder Character: This character is introverted to the extreme, only because he or she is keeping something from everyone else. Melting the cold shoulder can be the quest or the resolution.

The Bun in the Oven Character: It may not be a baby, but this character is growing something warm inside. Maybe this character is finding self-confidence or falling in love.

The Stamp on the Forehead Character: Scorned, distrusting, or self-doubting, this character might as well have his or her emotional situation stamped on the forehead. This character is probably involved in more of an emotional plot than an action plot. The drama can come from the character discovering that the stamp doesn’t quite fit. Or from following what the stamp means.

Do you know where your character fits? Or, if your character doesn’t fit any of these, can you come up with your own (I’d love for you to post it in the comments)?

Where our characters’ hearts lie is only the beginning. Gold, divided, black, warm, broken, purple, cold…there’s so much more to our characters’ hearts. And discovering that can help us find the heart of our stories.

More About Heart:

Rachel Ballon shares some great exercises for injecting emotion into your story: http://www.writersstore.com/the-emotional-and-psychological-world-of-you-and-your-characters/

A fun quiz to discover which fictional character you are most like (I’m Juliet…oh great): http://www.abebooks.com/docs/Community/Featured/LiteraryCharacterQuiz/character-quiz.shtml

Malcolm R. Campbell discusses getting to know your characters so well that you know what they’re doing before and after your story: http://knightofswords.wordpress.com/2013/02/02/its-late-do-you-know-where-your-characters-are/

 

Check-Up

“I have my doctor kit, Mom Bear,” Mister says. He flips the bag and the tools clunk to the floor.

“I can’t really play doctor now,” I say. “I’m cooking dinner.”

“No, Mom, you don’t have to cook,” he insists.

As much as I wish it were true, nobody wants to see either of us when we’re hungry. “I do have to cook, Bud Bear,” I say. “If you want to eat, I have to cook. How about you give me a check-up while I cook?”

“Okay!” Mister says excitedly. He sticks the stethoscope earpieces in his ears. “First, I will check your heart.”

Before I can put down my food turner and kneel, Mister has the stethoscope’s chest piece on my butt.

“Sounds good,” he says, un-phased.

I’m cracking up.

 

If my heart had moved to my butt, it would explain the extra volume it has gained lately, but, that just isn’t the case. Mister’s check-up did get me thinking, though. So much that it led to this week’s prompt:

If your heart was somewhere other than your chest, where would it be? Where are the hearts of your characters?

 

 

On My Plate

Having too much going on can be a challenge, especially with schedules, as I talked about a few posts ago. It can also ruin dinner, as in my case with the charred fries.

Author Terri Rowe has also had too much on her plate. She shared on facebook:

[I] Put in double the amount of a spice-so ended up making a double batch of cookie dough—little extra work-but okay in the end.

I’m sure accidentally doubling spices gave Miss Terri a panicked moment, but I don’t think having too many cookies on my plate wouldn’t be such a bad problem. 🙂 But sometimes I do have the “too much on my plate problem” with my writing.

I’m revising my middle grade (I think it has finally grown up to officially earn MG status) book about a tomboy. In one scene, the main character, Mabel, is at a Blossoms (like girl scouts) sign-up fair. Her best friend Tia ropes her in to square dancing. But when the square dance caller introduces a special dance helper, who turns out to be Mabel’s mother, Mabel is so embarrassed she can’t concentrate on the steps. She makes a wrong move and bumps into the troop leader’s daughter (and antagonist) Lacy. Fortunately, Lacy’s mother separates the girls before they swing at their partners.

Did you happen to count the characters in that scene? There are six. Six main or supporting characters. That may not seem like that many, and I know other writers have had more, but it is a lot for me. Add that they’re all dancing, there are other dancers and parents, and most of the characters introduced are in one kind of conflict or another and I’ve got a tricky situation.

But the scene is too important to cut. So what can I do?

At a critique partner’s suggestion, I studied a master: Judy Blume.

In Fudge-a-Mania, there are 16 well-developed main or supporting characters. And two dogs. A few scenes have most or all of the characters. A couple even have all of those characters and a few more casually introduced ones. And the scenes are subtle, seamless, and without authorial heavy-handedness. How does she do that? 

Well, I transcribed a scene to find out. Re-typing it really showed me the subtle techniques Judy Blume used to keep all of her characters involved. After it was typed, I highlighted each character’s appearance in a different color. The scene is as colorful as a crayon-box, but making it that visual really helped. Here is what I learned:

1. One or more statements should be addressed to all of the characters present.

I chose the scene in Fudge-a-Mania where Mr. Fargo announces that he is going to paint a collection inspired by the point of view character, Peter’s baby sister. The scene opens with him delivering his news to the group. He even says “You’ll all have to come.” With the whole group’s attention peaked, Peter’s grandma then announces some news of her own.

2. Body language, gestures, and thoughts (being mindful of the point of view) bring back characters who are fading into the background.

 

The characters who are present in this scene are never listed. They aren’t acknowledged all at once. The reader learns who is there by the character reacting when it is appropriate for him or her to do so. This means all characters must be well-developed. It can’t just be any gesture or phrase or thought. It has to be what that particular character would make in that particular situation.

3. Not every character has to react to everything.

There is a chunk in the middle of the scene where even Peter, the point of view character, is silent. And I didn’t even notice it until I retyped the scene and highlighted. It was just more appropriate for only certain characters to speak up at this point, so Judy Blume let all of the others watch quietly instead of forcing them into the scene. Masterful.

As I continue to revise my square dance scene, I plan to apply the lessons I learned from Fudge-a-Mania. I’m also going to highlight when each of my characters appear to make sure that they are showing up only when it would be natural for them to do so and only in ways that fit their character.

It looks like I still have a lot of work on my plate.

More on Balancing Lots of Characters:

Apparently other writers also think about this. Here is a thread on the Absolute Write Water Cooler: http://absolutewrite.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-210778.html

This is more about balancing each scene than balancing the characters, but an interesting suggestion on the Yesternight’s Voyage blog by Joyce R. Alton is to divide your scenes into inactive and active by copying and pasting into different documents to keep each scene balanced: http://yesternightsvoyage.blogspot.com/2012/08/trimming-manuscript-part-3-determining.html

This sounds like it was written about TV, but the links to how to characterize all your players in different ways are helpful: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters

 

 

Not Just a Number

For me, determining a character’s age is tricky. And I’m not alone.

On facebook, fellow MeeGenius author Kelly Ehasz said:

And then there’s Longest (a Longtailed Duck) . How exactly is a 4-month-old fledgling supposed to act? He’s in “Class 2” … I’m shooting for second grade.

I decided I’m lucky to be working with characters who are people. But still, making the characters consistent with the age I’m trying to make them is tough.

Janeal Falor had some great advice for determining character’s ages. She said:

For me, my character’s ages usually are defined by the type of plot I throw them into. What age they need to be to handle the situation. Haven’t changed an age of a character… yet.

This is some great advice. It makes perfect sense! But I wonder if this works for books like my current WIP (work-in-progress)? Ones that are character-driven?

Though I usually flesh-out the plot before I start, I’m currently adding scenes not on the outline. I’m letting my character drive these scenes (hence “character-driven”). And since she’s a feisty tomboy, where she chooses to go is not always the same as a “normal” kid her age.

But aren’t most kids like this? Like Mister. He’s not always the perfect example of a two-year old. But he’s real.

So I think some inconsistencies with age might be okay. They might even make a stronger character. Like a big tough guy who still sleeps with a teddy bear. Or a female toddler who fights villains. You get the idea.

But it is still my job to get as close as I can with my character. It determines what genre my book fits into, what ages my readers will likely be, and whether or not they’ll be able to identify with my character. Age in children’s fiction is a big deal. Not just a number like I tell myself on my birthday.

But how do I know if the age I’ve chosen is a right fit?

When I can (without getting arrested-chasing someone down the street yelling “Wait! How old are you!” might not be appropriate. I’d like to ask an eight-year-old how they know when someone is, say, five or ten.

Reading other material about and for kids the same age as my character also helps. There are lots of resources to help in this department. Like children’s librarians, bookstores that have helpful sales staff and books arranged by age group, or websites like this one http://www.parents.com/fun/book-gallery/.

Determining my character’s age is another part of learning about writing, and one that I hope I can learn before my age gets too much higher.

Helpful Links:

How old do you act? Take the personality quiz: http://www.quibblo.com/quiz/1frTT-W/How-old-do-you-act-personality-quiz

NaNoWriMo forum threads on age: http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/character-cafe/threads/62931

http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/character-cafe/threads/92707