TECH: What's Screwing Up Your Characters? (Yet another moldy oldie!) (840 words)

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 Original Posting Jan. 29, 2018

Writer's Digest, October 1991, on pages 34, 35, 65, had an article by Pat Zettner suggesting, as the subtitle puts it, "The problem may be that they're not screwed up enough. An experienced fiction writer explains why only truly troubled characters create the conflict essential to successful fiction."

Pat starts out with a story that too many authors encounter – rejection day! That's right, an editor sent your manuscript back. You don't know why. You're sure it isn't weak characterization, you know everything about your protagonist. You've got a checklist! So what went wrong?

Well, "did you learn the right things about your character? And did you share them with your reader at the right time?"

Take a good long look at that character checklist. How many are external objective details? How many are emotionally charged internals – drives, needs, relationships?

Now check your story. Are you sharing superficial external details with your readers too soon, burying the plot and your character development in those biographical footnotes?

Consider that list of internals. Do you have emotional forces goading your protagonist into actions and reactions? Are there elements that dominate the character?

Obviously, you don't want all the emotional storm necessarily to be immediately visible to the reader, but you, the writer, need to know it, and bring it out in plot. Conflict is what drives a story, and the seeds of struggle are within the heart and mind of the protagonist. Pay attention to "the inner quality that is – or soon will be – bugging your character, screwing him up, tearing him apart."

Now, Pat offers guidelines, an approach, to help you discover that inner quality. So, answer the following questions.

1. How does your character feel about himself? This colors, and often determines, just about everything your protagonist does. Struggling for acceptance and trying to prove self-worth? Self-satisfied? Egotistical? "Discontent, almost of itself, breeds conflict. Contentment, on the other hand, leaves a character exposed and helpless, vulnerable to other characters, to the fruits of his own folly, and to inevitable change."

So what does your character see when they look in the mirror?

2. Is your character in or out of harmony with his environment? Is this situation likely to change? A character at odds with the environment generates plot. Aggressive rebel, emotionally explosive victim, watch out for the event, person, or indignity that starts the fire blazing. Or… Outsider, struggling to understand and adjust? Even a character perfectly adjusted to his time and place often creates conflict. Why? Because change always happens, and now the character is struggling to keep things the same.

What does your character see when they look outside?

3. Who are the most important people in your character's life, and how does he relate to each of them? Obviously, romantic fiction often starts and ends here. But even if character interplay is not the part of your plot, relationships can intensify the primary conflict, by complication or reinforcement. Larger-than-life conflict? Match it with a human relationship, and watch everything get personal. Sometimes, character relationships even help resolve the central problem.

Who does your character see when they look around?

4. What does your character want most that seems unattainable? What price would he pay to get it? Would he later regret the bargain? Struggling for the unattainable goal drives many stories. Worthy, heroic goals, even hollow dreams and greed, can make a story go! But you may want to also consider some variations on those questions. For example, what could your character scarcely bear to part with? What price would he pay to protect it? How would he react if it were lost? Or perhaps what must your character deny or disguise, even from himself, because he absolutely cannot deal with it?

Where does your character look for what they want most?

5. What does your character believe that is doubtful or absolutely wrong? Oh! Conceit, prejudice, snobbery, illusion, misconceptions. What characters believe can certainly make them interesting, even when they're wrong. Or maybe particularly when we think they are wrong.

Now, Pat reminds us that your protagonist is uniquely yours. So don't get lost in this writing advice. But, you may find them useful to get to know your characters, and some of the resources they provide for more tension and complication. Internal conflicts of interest, arbitrary roadblocks, and so forth… Yes, he's a screwed up character, but… "One who charges headlong into troubles of his own making."

Sounds like a character we want to look for!

Practice? Well, take a piece you're working on, or maybe something out of the discard pile, and run your character or characters through the mill of Pat's questions. How do they feel about themselves? How do they fit their environment? Who are the important people for them? What do they want most? And what misconceptions are they harboring? Then see how that helps you to build your plot. Or at least a conflict here and there?

And write!

TECH: Using Coincidence in Your Fiction (moldy oldie!)

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  Original posting Feb. 6, 2018

Writer's Digest, July 1990, had an article by Nancy Kress on pages 38 and 39 about coincidence. I have to admit, just reading the title reminded me of Pixar's rules of writing, specifically number 19: coincidences to get your characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.

Nancy starts out by reminding us that writers are often told to avoid using coincidences in fiction. Why? Because coincidence can make a plot seem unrealistic. However, Nancy assures us that used correctly, coincidence can enhance the tension and interest of your stories. But, to use it effectively, we need to know why and when it doesn't work.

As Pixar's rule number 19 suggests, Nancy tells us that "readers will reject coincidences that resolve plot difficulties." Don't use coincidences to get your characters out of trouble!

All right, when can you use coincidence? Nancy lists four situations:

1. "When the coincidence sets up a plot complication instead of resolving it." Or as Pixar rule 19 puts it, use coincidences to get your characters in trouble. "Subsequent events, not the coincidence, deliver tension, character development, and a satisfying resolution."

2. "When the event seem remarkable or contrived at the time, but are logically explained as more information is revealed to the reader and/or the protagonist." The tension here comes from the reader wondering how could that possibly happen. Thrillers sometimes have coincidences that turn out to be the result of elaborate plans. If you're going to do this, you need to make sure that your readers understand that you are going to explain it later.

3. "When the story is humor not intended to represent any reality whatsoever." Outrageous, funny, fresh – okay, you don't have to be plausible. Wild coincidences can help with the improbable twist on reality.

4. "When the point of the story is that life is more mysterious and unpredictable than we think." Aha! If you want to show the reader that we don't really understand how the universe works, you might get away with this one. On the other hand, your story is going to have to make the coincidences seem plausible, right on the edge of possibility. Make sure that your story is tied to reality, despite the incredible strangeness that you are pointing at.

So, check your coincidences. Do they fit into one of these four types, or is it just laziness? Specifically, does your coincidence advance the story or does it just destroy the realism?

If you have a coincidence that isn't working, there's really two ways to fix it. First, Nancy suggests, go ahead and eliminate the scene. Replace it with a similar scene that is more believable. If it happens to be the climax, well, you probably will have to do a lot of rewriting. Second, though, you might try to get your coincidence to fit one of the first two uses. You may have to change the structure a bit.

In any case, control your writing. Don't try writing by coincidence!

TECH: Transitions make the story go around? (Moldy oldie)

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  Original Posting Feb. 13, 2018

Writer's Digest, May 1994, had an article by Nancy Kress, with the title "Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch…" And a subtitle "Transitions are the signposts that guide readers smoothly – or not – through your story." Aha. Those funny little transitions.

Nancy starts by pointing out that we all struggle to smooth out the bumps between paragraphs and scenes. Well, what are the guidelines for transitions?

First, there are lots of transitions you don't need! Nancy says she sees more student writing with superfluous transitions than missing ones! Superfluous transitions call attention to the mechanics. But which ones don't you need? Well, first look for the ones within a single scene, instead of between scenes.

"Eliminate transitions between types of narrative modes." Dialogue, description, action, thought, and exposition are the ways we narrate our stories, and most of the time, you don't need to signal when you're switching. For instance, between dialogue and thought, you don't need to say Henry thought or something like that. The reader will figure out that you are telling us about thoughts.

"Eliminate transitions between flashbacks." The tense change, from past tense to past perfect tense, often is enough to let the reader know that we've switched. Yes, we can remember that first summer, but "Her first summer had been so different." is enough to let us know we've jumped into a flashback.

"Minimize locomotion writing." Unless the trip is necessary, just do a cut. Tell us where we've arrived, maybe when it is, and go on. We don't really need to know all the steps.

"Don't become the Weather Channel!" Weather reports are often used for transitions. If it's important, maybe. But be careful, don't overdo it.

At the same time, there are transitions you do need. At the start of each new scene or chapter, orient the reader. Time and space, who's there. The straightforward approach is to do this immediately. Although, that can get tiresome. So you might change it up, some action, some dialogue, and then orient. Do watch for what I call lurking characters – scenes where you think two people are talking, and there's a whole chorus group just waiting to surprise me when they start talking.

Oh, if your story uses multiple points of view, make sure that the scene transitions also tell us which POV this scene uses.

Transitions you might need. Nancy talks about large chunks of time. The easiest thing is, skip the time between chapters, and start with a clear indication of how much time has gone by. It was 1936, six years later… You can also fill in with a little expository summary. That's right, you get to tell, not show! Toss in a little characterization, maybe reveal some interesting changes, and… On with the parade.

Nancy summarizes her advice in three principles:

1. If you can leave a transition out, do.
2. Make clear the where, when, and who of each new scene.
3. Present the where, when, and who in varied ways that also contribute to characterization, description, or plot.

"Transitions are the guideposts that direct readers through your story. Provide them as needed – but put them by the side of the road, where they belong, not under your story's wheels."

So, a squeaky wheel needs some grease, but not too much. Make those transitions help your reader slide right through the story!

Practice? The obvious thing is take a work in progress, or a piece you like, or something like that. Now look closely. You might even want to highlight the transitions that are there. Is this transition necessary? Try taking it out and see what happens. Look for the beginnings of scenes. Does it have a clear who, when, and where? Does it need a smoother transition? Again, try adjusting the transition in that beginning and see what happens. Then look at the ways that the transitions are handled across the scenes. Do you use the same one repeatedly, too many times? Could you do a little bit more with characterization, description, or plot in the transitions? You might even consider adding to your revision checklist a piece about checking the transitions?

Write?

EXER: What trope do you really, really like?

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  Original Posting Feb. 14, 2018

There was a thread that came and went recently between some writers and artists on twitter. Frankly, I thought it was a fascinating question, and some of the answers were interesting, but... Twitter just seems like it doesn't quite really bring out the answers. Anyway, I thought I'd bring the question up here, and see where we go with it.

The question was simple. Which trope do you really enjoy, no matter how often it gets used? See, we all know that tropes, or patterns of plot and thought, all too often (and sometimes rather quickly) become overused, cliche, oh, no, here it comes again! But, on the other hand, most of us do find some tropes seem to resist the trend, and can be re-used time and again, without real problems.

I will admit, I joined the thread, with a simple response. I chose to suggest that the "stand-up-and-cheer" moment (with thanks to Howard Tayler for the name) seems to me to be a venerable trope that I enjoy again and again. It's that moment when the protagonist, the hero, takes the chance and succeeds, and we want to stand up and cheer! That one always makes me smile!

So, there's the question. Which trope do you enjoy seeing played, again and again? And since we don't have the limitations of twitter, let me also ask you to comment on just why that trope seems to withstand the drag to become a cliche?