CHAPTER 4 - A Short Course In Creative Writing

A Short Course In Creative Writing

 

 

CHAPTER 4

 

Character Construction and Consideration.

Characters are the crucial to the writing of excellent fiction and non-fiction. Characters who are dull, two dimensional and lifeless do not engage the reader, that is, unless there is purpose behind the dullness or lifelessness. Readers are usually fascinated by quirks, mystery and curiosity. A level of identification is also useful to enable identification with the character.  One of the easiest ways to create an interesting character is to create a biography (a character history) of that character. You may like to consider the following when building your character:

Note: you can use these considerations for real or imagined characters.

·         Attitude

·         Posture

·         Tattoos

·         Accent

·         Origin

·         Gender

·         History

·         Wealth

·         Religion

·         Height

·         Build

·         Job/career

·         Addictions – drinking, smoking, coffee, sex or food?

·         Hairstyle

·         What activities do they do?

·         How do they maintain themselves?

·         What is their choice of clothing?

·         What period of time were they born?

·         What do they eat? What is their favourite food?

·         What are their ambitions?

·         What motivates them?

·         Who are their friends?

·         Have they made any sacrifices?

·         Have they suffered hard times?

·         What makes them who they are?

·         Who would they like to be?

·         Where do they go on holiday?

·         How do they cope with stress?

·         What makes them stressed?

·         Do they exercise? What sort of exercise?

·         Inner world/outer world.

·         What kind of house do they live in?

·         Are they single or married?

·         Do they have children?

·         Do they suffer from any ailments?

·         Victim, rescuer or persecutor?

·         Why are they interesting?

·         Are they overweight or underweight?

·         Why would anyone want to read about them?

·         What are their fears?

·         What is the worst situation you could put them in?

·         If they had to confess one thing what would they confess?

·         What are their quirks?

·         Do they fall into a stereo type or cliché?

·         What are their flaws?

·         What are their hobbies?

·         Satisfaction level – happy and content versus angry and discontent?

·         What would their friends say about them?

·         What would their mum say about them?

·         How do they justify their behaviour?

·         What makes them laugh?

Consider the below approaches:

1) Sometimes it is easier to find a picture that resembles the character you intend to create. Try browsing through art books that feature portraits. Family photos, magazines and the Internet are great resources for finding inspiring faces.

2) When writing about the character consider all the senses. How do they appear? What stands out? How does the person talk? Accent, tone of voice, stutter? What smells come to mind? What aftershave or perfume would they choose? How would you describe their skin, hair, clothes and posture?

3) Consider the people around you including friends, relatives and co-workers. When you write what you know it is more convincing. Real life is often more interesting than the imagined. Using what you know, try combining character traits of those who you like and dislike.

4) An individual exists beyond the moment and so should your character. Build the personality outside the story. Consider their past, present and future. Accumulate as many details as possible until you really know that person. Consider them in different situations, on a train, in a lift, at a party or dealing with a crisis.

5) Look at the inner traits of the character versus how they are appear. What the character conceals makes them interesting too. What is the character’s inner dialogue? What is the character trying to conceal from the world?

All of the above will help you develop a more three dimensional character.

6) A basic character sketch can include:

·         Physical description

·         Career

·         Partner/Ideal partner

·         What makes them angry and what makes them happy

·         Strengths and weaknesses

·         Hobbies

·         Fears & Hopes

·         History

·         Family

·         Dreams

·         Quirks

·         Attributes

7) Consider using metaphors and do your best to avoid stereotypes. The most vicious bully could be in the guise of the sweetest little girl instead of the more obvious bulldog-featured man. Also the character who is willowy can be considered metaphoric for flexibility and lenience. The rigid character can be considered stubborn or resistant.

8) It is often the case that the best loved characters have the most obvious flaws. A character with flaws, quirks and emotions is far more interesting than those who are perfect. Consider positive and negative traits. The villain who evokes sympathy because of their flaws is far more powerful and interesting than someone who is simply vile and rotten to the core. Imagine a character who desperately wants to be kind but when the kindness is not noticed they become angry.

9) Avoid being too obvious. It is all very easy to re-create characters that we have been influenced by; however, the fun is pushing them and making them more interesting.

10) The general consensus of opinion is that perfect characters are not that interesting. So have fun using contradictions and polarities. Take for example the cleaner who does not wash or the gourmet chef who lives on fast food.

EXERCISE FOR CHARACTERS:

Write two positive traits such as kindness and compassion. Now write one negative trait such as anger or jealousy. Use these traits to describe one of the characters you have in mind.

To make the characters more complex write three positive traits like cheerful, optimistic and gentle with two negative traits such as a compulsive liar and manipulator. Take these to a character you have in mind and write the character with these traits. See what happens and where your character leads you.

LINK TO SOUNDCLOUD

https://soundcloud.com/ruby-allure/creativewriting-edit-99-retail-sample-mastered

 

 

LINK TO BUY ON AUDIBLE:

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A Short Course in Creative Writing
by Ms Ruby Allure
Link: http://amzn.com/1517234832
 

Do You Want To Feel The Creative Writing Juices Flow?

So you want to feel the creative writing juices flow?

 

This week, in celebration of The Short Course In Creative Writing reaching the Amazon market place in paperback, I will be posting 5 consecutive lessons in Creative Writing. Fun! Fun! Fun! In addition, I will add in the sample of the audio book sections that has been posted on Sound Cloud - where you can listen to them for free!

LINK TO SOUNDCLOUD

https://soundcloud.com/ruby-allure/creativewriting-edit-99-retail-sample-mastered

So before we get all literary and fluid, let me ask you to dispose of your inner critic - the major dam and hindrance to enabling creativity to flow. I would then ask you to ask the inner saboteur to take a vacation too. The saboteur is the clever little part of you that keeps telling you that your writing is not good enough and that you have to delete it before other people see it. Admittedly, these two 'baddies' are useful in life. They protect your from ridicule, they keep you safe and keep you from experiencing change. In fact, they cleverly keep you stuck in the creative rut. So be very aware before you begin this epic writing adventure that these rather shady inner characters will cleverly find ways to sneak into consciousness and find clever procrastinations and distractions!

 

On the counter balance we have the inner optimist, who is often held hostage and gagged by the critic and saboteur. Well, ask that inner optimist to rise to the surface along with the inner coach. These two aspects of the personality are the ones that enable you to experience the now and find good things about your work. Sometimes they may even say 'hang on that is pretty good!' Imagine. So are you ready for those creative juices to flow? You might want to check out my previous blog on 'When do you have your best ideas?' And then Monday will be a whole new week of luscious creativity!

In the meantime, have a listen to the lovely Erin on SOUNDCLOUD and see how you feel:)

https://soundcloud.com/ruby-allure/creativewriting-edit-99-retail-sample-mastered

LINK TO PAPERBACK ON AMAZON.COM

A Short Course in Creative Writing
by Ms Ruby Allure
Link: http://amzn.com/1517234832

 

Do You Have One of These in Your Office? The Office Hypochondriac!

 

THE OFFICE ZOO AUDIO Link: http://amzn.com/B013N51MNC

 

In celebration of The Office Zoo being released on Audible, ITunes and on Audio Amazon - here is another office animal that you may well recognise. I am convinced that every office has one!

The Office Victim / Hypochondriac

This is the person who always has a problem. It may simply be an ache, a sore leg, a headache or just something to gain sympathy. This character falls into the Office Victim category. To alert you of their need for sympathy they will limp, look sad or huff loudly. There is always a drama and something to demonstrate life is unfair for them or that life short-changed them. What is interesting is how they select certain people to follow and off-load onto. Their main purpose is to gain energy/power through receiving sympathy and attention. They are like human-energy leaches. Watch how the person they offload on usually comes away looking grey or like someone put a hoover in their mouth and sucked the life out of them.

Being aware of the office victim/hypochondriac is the first step in avoidance. You must realise that whatever you do YOU CANNOT MAKE THEM BETTER OR SAVE THEM! The best strategy is to introduce them to a fellow office victim / hypochondriac so they can out ‘woe’ each other. The ultimate outcome of this is that two people will look like they both had hoovers stuck in their mouths and both had the lives sucked out of them. Human prunes, if you like.

Key things to notice about the victim /hypochondriac approach: they pull sad faces when they walk towards you. They will brandish a body part or rub it before they begin to talk about an ailment or an issue. When they talk to you, they make sucking noises through their teeth. The truth is no matter what you do or say their ailment will not get better. Why not suggest that they cut off whatever appendage is bothering them? Actually don’t they might develop a rare case of leprosy.  Instead, why not confuse them with: ‘so tell me about something nice that has happened.’ When they shift their minds to the positive, they will almost combust. These people teach us about boundaries – the lack of them and are of great use in the office because they are always in a state of drama. They provide huge learning by enabling you to realise that you actually have a lovely life comparatively. They also teach us about learning the best way to escape. You can generally be a victim if you have not set boundaries and have handed your power over to someone else.

 

This character enables you to learn to see the bright side, highlighted by their constant negativity filter. In addition, they provide us with incentive to avoid discussing the negative. Instead you realise you want up-beat conversation rather than continual misery.

Truth: no one can save them. Do not try because you will be fighting a losing battle. It is just how they are. Try the following quote with them: if you shine your torch on a turd you will see a turd. Smile and walk away.

 

THANK YOU TO ALL YOU LOVELIES WHO HAVE BEEN BUYING MY OTHER MORE GROWN UP BOOKS (SHOWN BELOW - I AM TOUCHED!)

ALSO THANKS FOR ALL THE RECOMMENDATIONS AND  SHARES ON FACEBOOK/TWITTER - IT IS LOVELY TO WATCH:)

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Thanks so much!

 

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