Before there were selfies, photographers revealed themselves with subtle clues that perhaps even they were unaware of. Examine this photograph, and from the details - tangible and intangible - evoke the photographer. Who is this person on the other side of the lens? What is their relationship with the people in the photograph? How did they come to be the … Continue reading before selfies
character development
choreographing the Aleutian cackling goose
Exposition is risky - and necessary. At it's best exposition provides critical back story, or foreshadowing, it can enhance character development and help to convey place, time, and atmospheric subtleties that are not appropriate for dialogue. Used with patience, pacing and economy, exposition feels 'invisible' to the reader, it enhances story without intruding. A good way … Continue reading choreographing the Aleutian cackling goose
insects sting
“Insects sting, not in malice, but because they want to live” Friedrich Nietzsche This is true about some people, making life poignant and circumstances precarious. photo: Jon Sullivan If you want to render your characters with nuance, you might ask in what way they resemble insects. Complexity can be created in the simplest ways. Writing Prompt: Select an … Continue reading insects sting
origins of belief
Quarrelsome characters make stories interesting and unpredictable. And origin shapes perspective. photo Steve Hillebrand U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Here is a docked research ship. Create two scientists with distinctive, opposing belief systems, and put them on the ship. Now show them in an interaction that is shaped by the friction between their perspectives. One grew up … Continue reading origins of belief
Plan B
Who is this? Sometimes a character volunteers – just shows up and opens a vein on the page. The writing of them is almost magical, so fluid that it’s difficult to keep up as the scene unfolds and they behave and talk and feel and think like an actual person, outpacing our typing fingers. Let’s … Continue reading Plan B
paradise
Every character has a unique world view. For whom is this paradise? photo: Al Crane, US Fish & Wildlife and this? Writing Prompt: In 50 words each, create two characters, one from each photograph. Then, using a maximum of 200 words, bring them together for the first time as they wait in line at the Department … Continue reading paradise
reveals
Steve Hillebrand U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service There are many ways we can reveal who characters are without 'telling'. How someone lives, how they perceive themselves and others can be manifested in what they call home. Or in what they drive: Writing Prompt: Who lives here and drives this car? Use the qualities of house … Continue reading reveals
setting character
Create a character through the observation of this setting. Look for aspects and qualities of this photograph that evoke who the person is, how they conduct themselves in their lives, what they desire, what they fear, how they see themselves, how others see them. There are infinite ways to communicate who a character is - we … Continue reading setting character
in fiction, who is it?
If you think you recognize yourself in my writing you’re wrong. It’s all in me. Some of our best material comes from life, and sometimes life gets the best of us. Everything in our writing reflects who we are as much as it reflects who we love, who hurts us, and what heals us. There … Continue reading in fiction, who is it?
behaving badly for good reason
There are some characters you are likely to enjoy more in fiction than you would in life. These are the dysfunctional characters who make stories interesting by behaving badly for good reason. As the writer of these characters it is your job to understand, even if they cannot, why they do what they do. One … Continue reading behaving badly for good reason
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