Characters have Secrets
Natalie Bright
Grey’s Anatomy has me captivated again. Since first premiering on ABC in 2005, I’ve got thirteen yeas of writing experience and I’m watching the show in a whole new frame of mind. A writer’s mind. And thanks to Netflix or Hulu, I don’t have to be patient for another season to begin. Binge watching is extremely inspiring for a creative soul.
The characterization in this medical drama television series is brilliant and addictive. This show is the perfect example of developing depth in fictional characters. One of the ways you can make your characters leap off the page is to give them secrets. Real people have secrets. We have things buried deep within us that we’ll never tell. What we say out loud is not always reflective of what we may be hiding inside.
You’ve probably heard the story craft tool of throwing everything at your character. Conflict keeps the plot moving and holds the readers’ interest. As authors, we are all border line sadistic when it comes to the things we put our characters through.
Let’s look at the characters and their secrets in the show Grey’s Anatomy:
Meredith Grey: central protagonist, is hiding her mother’s illness, who was a brilliant surgeon herself, and is sleeping with her boss while trying to succeed under her mother’s shadow.
Izzie: feels unworthy of her smarts and success because she grew up very poor in a trailer park.
Christina: sleeping with her boss and she has an almost unhealthy obsession with cutting people open.
Dr. Burke: begins a romantic relationship with an intern.
George: is secretly in love with Meredith and is extremely smart, and not the goof-ball that the world sometimes sees.
Alex: cares deeply about his career and relates to patients on a deeper level, as opposed to the A-hole, shallow attitude he sometimes displays.
Dr. Webber: Surgery chief hides a medical issue with his eyes and had an affair with Meredith’s mom when they were in medical school.
Dr. Shepherd is married and does not tell his girlfriend Meredith, who is an intern.
That barely scratches the surface as the show develops, but you get the idea. The fun part is that we know their secrets as an audience, and we can’t help but watch to see if, and when, they will reveal all to each other. It’s very entertaining and can be applied to the characters in your books.
In season 2, Izzie prepares a Thanksgiving meal for everybody. She explains to Dr. Burk that she wants just one day where they can be normal and act like everybody else. Dr. Burke mumbles, “A day without surgery.” That one line says so much about him as a character and about the entire theme of the show. You have to watch carefully and pay attention to those one-liners. When I first watched the show every week thirteen years ago, I was caught up in the medical issues of the patients. Now I’m focusing my attention entirely on the characters.
As an added bonus, Shonda Rhimes explains her writing process and development of the series at MasterClass.com.
Happy writing, and thanks for following WordSmith Six!
Snowflake Method (cont.)
by Adam Huddleston
Last week, I began my attempt at using the snowflake method created by author Randy Ingermanson. This week, I’ll continue with Step 3.
Step 3: Write a one-sentence summary of each major character and a paragraph summarizing their goals, conflicts, and overall changes.
Dwight Lara (major character)- A new baseball recruit uses black magic to lead his team to the championship.
Dwight Lara, a twenty-three year old center fielder from Nassau, Bahamas is drafted by the Amarillo Yellowjackets midway through their season when they find themselves at the bottom of their division. Seeking to help his team, he secretly begins using black magic spells he had learned growing up in the Caribbean. The payment for each hex is the loss of a human life. As the season draws towards its conclusion, Dwight begins feeling more remorseful for each death he causes. When his deeds are discovered by the manager, he resolves to stop immediately. The manager however presses him to continue, and prior to the championship game, has the player’s son murdered in an attempt to win it all. Although the team is victorious, Dwight kills his coach and performs his final spell, a deed which causes the entire stadium to collapse, taking the lives of everyone.
Stephen Craight (major character)- A losing baseball team’s general manager forces his new player to continue his deadly methods of helping the team win.
Stephen Craight, a fifty-six year old general manager of the Amarillo Yellowjackets drafts Dwight Lara in an attempt to resurrect their season. He discovers Dwight performing black magic in a little-used area of the locker room but says nothing when he realizes that the team is now winning every game. His new player has a change of heart near the end of the season, so in an attempt to win the championship, he has Dwight’s son murdered. Lara discovers what has happened and kills Craight once the championship game is over.
ELEMENTS OF A MIDDLE GRADE NOVEL
Natalie Bright
The following list of elements for middle grade novels was a handout from a writing conference. The name or origin of the information is not on the handout, so apologies that I cannot give credit. It’s a helpful list as you are crafting your story for middle grades, defined as a core audience of 8 to 12 year olds or 3rd through 6th grades.
POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE
The Future
By Nandy Ekle
On a recent trip with my husband, I met someone who made my heart soar. I met a young lady, around the age of 18 or 20. She had brown, very curly hair, glasses on her face, and braces on her teeth. And her eyes told me she was very shy, but couldn’t hold her interest any longer.
“I heard you write stories,” she said in a small voice. She had sidled up as close to me as she dared, which was still a little far away for me to hear her easily (I have begun to wonder if my hearing might be going the way of my spike heeled shoes).
“Yes, I do. I write mainly short stories, but I’ve also got a couple of novels going as well.” I smiled nurturingly at her.
“I used to write stories when I was in junior high,” she said, just barely over a mumble.
I felt my face split with an excited grin. “Really? That’s when I started writing!” When I told her that, her face lit up as if the sun had risen, even though the clock said the time of day was after nine p.m.
She and I talked for another hour about writing, stories, ideas, other authors, books to read for instruction, and books to read for fun. I don’t know how she felt at the end of the evening, but I know I felt wonderful.
I’ve always believed that young people who love to write deserve a special place. After all, writing is not a social activity; it can be lonely. And for a young person to enjoy writing a story instead of sitting on the hood of a car with a bunch of buddies, that’s a special person.
But more than that, I believe our youth is our future and it’s our job, as seasoned experienced writers, to encourage them with their craft. One day, we olders will be gone and the youngers will be in charge.
So when you meet these young folks, give them the encouragement you craved when you were their age. Always remember, you might just be in the presence of the next Stephen King, or E. A. Poe.
Congratulations. You have just received a post card from the muse.
Snowflake Method
By Adam Huddleston
Over the next few weeks, I will be attempting to use the snowflake method created by novelist Randy Ingermanson to outline a horror story that I’m working on.
Step 1. The one-sentence tagline
A new baseball recruit uses black magic to turn around his team’s failing season.
Step 2. Expanding the tagline into a full paragraph
When the Amarillo Yellowjackets find themselves at the bottom of their division, they recruit a mysterious center-fielder in the hopes of turning their season around. As their luck begins to change, a startling fact becomes apparent; fans are dying at their games. The club manager discovers that his new player is a master of black magic, and is responsible for the tragedies. When the team makes the championship series, conflict arises between player and coach concerning the fielder’s role on the team. The aftermath of their feud results in the greatest horror yet.
Step 3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each main character
To be continued next week!
Outtake 355
Writer’s Block Remedy
By Cait Collins
Robert J. Ray, author of The Weekend Novelist and The Weekend Novelist Writes a Mystery (Robert J. Ray and Jack Remick) had some excellent ideas for working through the rough spots in your story or novel. My favorite is free writing. It’s a simple concept.
Write a sentence.
Set a timer for three minutes.
Ready. Set. Go.
For the next three minutes write whatever comes to mind based on the sentence. Do not think. Just write.
Do not edit. Just write.
Do not lift your pen or pencil off the paper.
When the timer sounds, stop.
Put down your pencil and review your work.
You’ will be surprised with the results when you allow your subconscious to control your pencil.
Another exercise is to write a sentence. The next sentence begins with the last word in the previous sentence. The last word in the previous sentence is the first word in the nest sentence. For example:
Winter arrives bringing the sailors home.
Home from the sea.
Sea waves crash against the shore…
Set the timer for three minutes.
Allowing your subconscious to momentarily control your writing frees you from worrying about the best word, proper punctuation, and is this going to work. Once you get the ideas down, you can make the corrections and enhancements in editing. The point is to just write.
Let’s Start Here!
Rory C. Keel
Whether you’re just starting to write or you have advanced into the realm of an experienced professional writer, Quality writing is the number 1 reason people buy your books.
Here are some suggestions to get us started.
Scenes Defined
Natalie Bright
Does your scene in your book play like a movie in your head while you write? It takes some concentration and the ability to block out the world around you, but I love it when this happens. I try to focus on every detail, no matter how minute, as I focus on the “moving picture”.
The scene is the unit of story, and in a book usually starts with a character arriving and ends when something has changed. A scene propels the story forward.
Outtakes 354
Historic Buildings
By Cait Collins
I’m considering using a building on historic Route 66 in Amarillo in a new story. Sixth Street has a number of buildings that would fit the story, but just how far should I go in reinventing the building. I considered turning the Nat Ballroom into my heroin’s place of business. But that would mean totaling redoing the building into an artist’s studio. The old ballroom has a great history. Big names performed there in the early years. Soldiers would attend Saturday evening dances at the Nat. So would destroying the bandstand be a bit too much?
Perhaps it would be better to renovate an old house. Some of the two-storey homes could be remodeled to house a gallery, plus artist studios, a potter’s studio and display cases. Question is how much red tape would be involved in getting the Historical Society and the Route 66 Association to sign off on the revisions. What information is required to petition the various agencies for approval to alter historic places? I’m not sure I really want to know. Besides I’m only remodeling the place in a story. I’m not taking a sledge hammer to it.
I realize how much study I need to do before I can even start to select a location. About all I’ve figured out is I need a lot more information than I have right now in order to select a location and repurpose it. If I make a mistake, the folks who know the area would be quick to correct me. And do I really want to risk alienating a reader?
Wordsmith Six 