khan.sharif.chronicles

The world you create through your writing – its setting, characters, storyline, atmosphere and the rest – is as fragile as a soap bubble.

As long as your reader believes in your world, and cares about the characters and the outcome of their journey, your reader is likely to stick with you.

Of course, your reader may not care about your characters for reasons you can’t control. He or she has pulled your book off the shelf, discovered it is a romance between a thirteenth century English princess and a werewolf, or the adventures of a female bounty hunter in a distant galaxy in 2168, and that’s just not their thing. No sweat.

But suppose the would-be reader consults the blurb on the back and thinks, This looks promising. They check out a couple of pages and decide to take the book home and read it.

But then – the soap bubble bursts.

Your lovingly created world and characters no longer hold the reader.

Why? What happened?

Well, it could be several things, but the most likely reason I stop reading a book has to do with voice. The characters simply do not sound like who they are supposed to be. Not just in the words they speak, but the words telling me how they see themselves, the world and other people. Their thoughts about values. About how to handle events. All the words on the page when we are in that character’s head, living their life, whether in “quotation marks” or not.

To use the technical term, the thoughts of the viewpoint character, at least for that part of the book. (A book may have one or more than one viewpoint character, but that is a subject for another day.)

To put it simply, if I am supposed to be inside the head of a fat, lonely, bullied eleven- year-old boy, I want to believe, for that moment, that I am. I want to see the world through his eyes, through his pain, in his language, in his limited experience of life, his limited emotional resources.

I do not want to hear the pity and concern of the middle-aged woman who wrote the scene. I don’t want to remember she even exists somewhere out there in the world of authors and publishers.

I just want to be inside Max, facing the bullies, sweating with him, feeling my heart thumping.

And if he describes the scene in his own eleven-year-old voice, I will be. And I will stick with him to the last page.

How do you achieve that? Well, you hang around the people you want to write about. Learn their vocabulary, their topics of conversation, their attitudes to everything likely to come up in the story. Read similar books to the one you want to write, but read for a purpose.

Stop and ask yourself, “Why is this scene working?” What is the writer doing here that has me utterly hooked on these characters and their story? How does he/she bring them to life so convincingly?

Suggested reading? Start with To Kill a Mockingbird. Yes, I know. But there is a reason it is a classic. The flawless voice of the grown Scout Finch recalls how as a small child she perceived a series of events that rocked her sleepy rural town to its foundations. The Help by Kathryn Stockett is widely praised for its “pitch perfect” voices. Go pick up one of the Harry Potter books and check the voices. It may be a fantastic imaginary world, but the voices of the students (and adults) are authentic. Remember, voice is more than quoted speech. It is a convincing presentation of how that character sees the world.

If a story isn’t reeling you in, again stop and ask why not. You could even make some notes, the beginning of a writer’s journal. Yes, that was a hint.

Reading as a writer is a very useful exercise. You almost cannot become a writer without making a regular practice of it.

Finding a person of that rare breed who will read your story (no, not your Mom) and give you feedback on what convinced them they were inside the head of the character –  or spoiled the illusion that they were –  is worth diamonds.

Lapses from using the right voice may not be what spoiled your story. But getting voice right is a huge step towards success.

Further reading? Ch13, ‘Voices’, Orson Scott Card, Characters & Viewpoint, link below.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7963.Characters_and_Viewpoint

Here are a couple of central ideas from some of the recommended books on creative writing.

A hero is not Spiderman or the fireman who saves a child, or your favorite football player.

A hero, in storytelling, is the story’s central character, who goes on a real life – or mental, or spiritual – journey, and passes various milestones, to become a changed person at the end.

The Hero’s Journey has specified stages or turning points, and they can be identified in stories by writers as different as Shakespeare, Jane Austin and JK Rowling.

Note, that caricature characters like James Bond do not follow the journey, and do not change as a result of their adventures.

Another aspect of writing is the characters.

Like the Hero’s Journey, the possible distinct characters have been studied and written about. Not all the books and magazine articles agree on the details! Read them and decide for yourself.

More to the point, become an observer of people in real life.

Even if you are writing non-fiction—say the story of your family—it will come alive if you slip in vivid details of how people really behave. Put an expression on great grandpa’s face, give a voice to your great-great grandmother. Give the uncle who died in foreign combat a handshake, a way of nodding when he listens; put sunlight or the shadow of a leafy branch across his face as he talks.

Give your characters a background, a childhood, a personal history, whether it appears in the story or not.

Think about your own childhood, and the childhood experiences of other people you know well. What makes your created characters timid, bullying, dishonest, caring, the clown of the class, hard-driving, patient, idealistic? See them, hear them, and let your readers hear and see them, because you have developed a skill in observing people in real life. Of course, don’t overdo it. Keep your touch light.

 Google The Hero’s Journey and The Hero with a Thousand Faces, and see what you come up with.

You can easily buy both these books online

A word that writers often encounter is genre. This means categories of writing, especially novels. So we have the historical novel, romance, biography, thrillers, young adult, family saga, crime, westerns, war, horror and so on. Many writers keep to one genre. Others don’t.

Ask yourself what you like to read. That is probably what you should try to write.

Enjoy, and good luck!

https://www.google.com.au/?gws_rd=ssl#q=joseph+campbell+books

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces

Can you find someone to help you with your writing? Absolutely. Get on the internet and find out if there are writers’ groups meeting in your location, or online groups that fit your needs. Ask at your local public library.

Read writers’ blogs such as

http://hannahheath-writer.blogspot.com

http://www.aerogrammestudio.com/2013/07/14/ssarah-waters-ten-rules-for-writing-fiction/

http://copywriter.typepad.com/copywriter/

http://sherrylclark.blogspot.com.au/

Some writers’ groups and community colleges run short courses on writing and others are online and free

http://study.com/articles/10_Universities_Offering_Free_Writing_Courses_Online.html

http://learningpath.org/articles/Online_Creative_Writing_Courses_Offered_Free_by_Top_Universities_and_Educational_Websites.html

Of course, the usual cautions apply. Be wary of scams when signing up for courses you have to pay for.

Libraries often have helpful books on various aspects of writing, as do online bookstores. Some classic books written decades ago are still eagerly read by a new generation of beginning writers. Used copies cost a lot less than new books, and some listed below (and others) can be downloaded to your device.

 Amazon.com: On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft eBook: Stephen King ..

The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers: John Gardner …

45 Master Characters – Victoria Lynn Schmidt

The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers – Christopher Vogler …

Awakening the Heroes Within by Carol S. Pearson – Read Online

Local public libraries also have periodicals on writing, some of the articles are very, very good, and it’s all free information. Ask your librarian.

Images courtesy of https://pixabay.com/en/photos/?cat=education

First a word on writers and authors. A writer is someone who writes—novels, plays, poems, short stories, or a blog. J K Rowling is a writer. She is the author of the ‘Harry Potter’ books. William Shakespeare was a writer. He is the author of many plays and poems. So you’re not an author. You’re the author of something. Whether it’s a blog or a novel. So, call yourself a writer.

 How writers write, Part 1. It’s interesting to listen to successful writers being interviewed, or to read their descriptions of how they write. Some get up at five am and write until late morning. Some get up late morning and write on and off until evening. Some work office hours. Some set themselves a quota of words to write each day. Whatever works. Also, many writers have day jobs and have to fit their writing around that. The only thing a successful writer probably can’t do is wait for inspiration to fall out of the sky. This is sometimes called ‘waiting for your muse’. (Google it!) Inspiration needs to be prodded and encouraged. Deadlines are good for this. ‘I gotta have something to send to that competition by Friday.’ ‘I have to write a post for my blog every Sunday.’

How writers write, Part 2. Some writers make all sorts of detailed notes before they start. Some draw diagrams to help them plan the story, they draw maps, write biographies and physical descriptions of the characters. They choose what car each character drives, their children’s middle names, and whether they went to a state school or an expensive private college. These writers know exactly how the story will go.

Other writers have some initial ideas, but they let the story work itself out as they write. All the same, to be successful they will know enough about writing skills so that the story has the right points of drama and conflict in the right places.

How do they know that? Writers must be readers!

If there is one rule to become a writer, it is read, read, read, read. Read the kind of books you want to write. Read the poetry that is being written and published today if you want to write poetry. Go and watch live drama if you want to write plays. Read teen fantasy if you …… You’ve got the idea.

Think of violin players. They go to concerts. They listen to music … constantly. They jam with other musicians. They talk, live, dream, eat, sleep …. music.

But read widely, too, all sorts and everything. Read the old classics. Watch TV drama and cinema movies like a critic. Ask yourself, ‘How did they get that effect?’ This might be a good time to bring up the advice that student writers hear more than any other, ‘Show, don’t tell’. There is no voice-over in a movie to tell viewers ‘she felt sad’, ‘he felt angry’, ‘they were jealous’. Not unless you are watching a nature documentary. No, you see it. With practice, you too can make your readers see or hear how your characters feel.

If there is a second rule, it is write, write, write. Everyone gets better with practice. Think of violin players.

There are some great sites out there with writing tips, too.

http://hannahheath-writer.blogspot.com.au/p/character-development.html

http://www.ebooks4writers.com/category/writingtools/