Allaboutwriting » characters

Fiction writing – how to find ideas

allaboutwriting — Fri, 11 May 2012 03:40:49 +0000

- Richard Beynon

Characters generate their own stories

Some writers of fiction regard ideas as the gems on which their fortune will be based. I believe, on the contrary, that ideas are a dime a dozen, available in such profusion that you’re never likely to run short of them. If this proposition sounds ludicrous to you – if ideas, or the lack of them, are the stumbling block in your creative path – then this short series of articles is for you.

Where do ideas come from? Well, we’ve all heard stories about great ideas occurring to writers under a hundred different circumstances. All Coleridge needed to dream up his masterpiece, Kubla Khan, was a pipeful of opium… X dreamed up the central idea of his best-seller on the underground, when his eye lit on a deadbeat asleep in a corner… The entire plot of her magnum opus occurred to Y when she was on the verge of sleep one night…

These and similarly stories abound. But these are lucky accidents. They certainly happen. They’ve happened to me. But the point is, it’s difficult to make them happen.

The four mechanisms I’m going to suggest as prolific sources of ideas are all within your control. You can return to them time and again, milking them for smaller or larger notions.

Here they are:
• Characters bring their stories with them
• Daydreams
• Real life
• Your clippings file

Start with a character and everything else will follow…

Characters come with their stories in invisible knapsacks on their back. All you’ve got to do is make the acquaintance of the character, and she (or he) will tell you her tail.
So, let’s do a little imagining…

I think of… A red-haired woman with a knot of hair and a wild look in her eyes. Where do you spot her? Across a crowded room at a book launch. Is that panic you see in her expression, or the sort of wildness that attracts some men and frightens others? What is she murmuring to the man beside her? You edge up to her and eavesdrop. She needs to leave at once, she’s saying. Her daughter’s in trouble.

Right. That paragraph was written at breakneck speed on my laptop without much thought. The seed that provoked the scene was the image of the woman. I see now that she lies at the heart of a mystery. Her daughter’s in trouble. What sort of trouble, I wonder. Who is the man she’s speaking to? Why is she at a book launch? Is it her book, or his?

I feel myself trembling on the verge of a dozen possibilities. Where is her daughter? Trapped by an intruder in her apartment? Pregnant and abandoned in Bali? In the hands of the police at Heathrow who claim to have discovered four kilograms of cocaine in her baggage? Each of these versions of reality lead to a dozen lot possibilities. I must choose one.

She’s in Bali. She’s pregnant. The father of her unborn child is an Australian drug runner (the edge of one idea seeps into another) who’s scarpered with the drugs, but has left her with a briefcase full of money. Or who’s scarpered with the money, but has left her with a briefcase full of cocaine.

Now, let’s stand back from that story and consider the process by which it got whipped into existence.

I thought of a character. In no great depth. Just “red hair” and a “wild look in her eye.” But it was enough to prompt a small avalanche of ideas.

The beauty of this technique is that you don’t even have to make up your character. You can sit in your favourite coffee shop, note book open in front of you, and check out the characters in your immediate vicinity. That teenager with the ironware studding her nose and ears and lip, for instance… Or the prim housewife in the slightly-too-tight jeans, gazing down into her coffee cup… Each of them is the kicking-off point for a story that will, at least to start with, tell itself…

That’s the point of characters. They cry out for stories. Dream up (or observe) a character, and you’re already half way towards uncovering her story.

It’s as simple as that.

Learn more about building characters on the Allaboutwriting Character Course. This four module course blends psychology and writing to create a unique plunge into the process of creating memorable and larger-than-life characters. It looks at the skills and insights needed to make these characters leap off the page.

8 tips for writers on how to show and not tell

allaboutwriting — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 04:41:30 +0000

Image courtesy of pucci.it

- Jo-Anne Richards

His desk was bare, but for a human skull, with a cigar clamped firmly between its grinning teeth.

Immediately, we know a huge amount about this person, without anything having to be explained.

By now, the concept of “showing” rather than “telling” is pretty much accepted. But in numerous writing workshops, it’s become clear that people may accept the concept, but they’re often unsure how to to put it into practice.

Basically, instead of explaining something about someone – he was angry, she was beautiful – you’re going to show us these things. What we’re always trying to avoid, in good writing, is to bring something into sharp focus without having spell it out in long reams of exposition.

There are several ways you can do this. Here’s a small reference guide to what can be used to “show” things to readers, rather than “telling” them what they should know.

Dialogue – the things people say, and the way they say them. What people say – about themselves, other people, and places, says a lot about them. They way they speak does too. What kind of words do they use? What is the tone of their speech – and perhaps more importantly: what do they not say?
The reactions of others to our characters. How do people respond … to the powerful man, the beautiful woman. Do they inspire fear, reverence, fawning attention? Are they ignored in company?
Introspection – our characters’ thoughts on other characters, or their setting. Do they react jealously to others. Do they hate the outdoors? Are they too hot on the beach or miserable in snow? Are they totally at home in a small flat with 16 cats? Would the mere thought of a small flat or one cat bring on a fit of sneezing claustrophobia?
Sensory images. Showing involves the senses, rather than just knowing something in your head. You know that he’s nervous. But you show us the sweat beading at his hairline and dripping to his collar. You hear his fingers drumming. You feel his legs jumping. You smell the acrid stench of him.
Specific actions. The way people behave tells us not only what kind of people they are, but also how they’re feeling at a specific time. Show us the robust affection in a family through the teasing insults they exchange and the laughter at the table. Show us she’s feeling sad: She opened his drawer and took out his old blue shirt, the one he used to wear to potter about the house.She brought it to her face and breathed in his smell.
Small, telling details. This article began with one of these. Find the right specific and everything else springs into place. If someone is slowly going insane with post-partum depression, show us a plate, covered in tomato sauce, perched on a pile of dirty sheets. And a woman with jeans on, but on her upper body, a pyjama top.
The contrast of other characters. The troubled teen – does he have friends? Does he behave and speak and dress differently from the other kids?
It never harms to think more visually. That doesn’t mean never including inner thoughts or short explanations.

But the more you learn to use detail effectively, the more powerful your writing will be.

From lust to languor

flowcommbianca — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 06:45:53 +0000

Image courtesy World of Good

Gabriel St Claire our resident shrink turns his attention to solving the problems and exploring the motivations of your fictional characters. Want to find out what makes your character tick?

Hi Gabriel

In my novel, my character finds the quirks of a man fascinating and attractive. They form a relationship, but I want her then to become irritated and finally repelled by those same things that attracted her. I think it quite often happens in real life. But what causes us to be attracted to something and, when it becomes familiar, repelled by it?

Thanks

Asha

Hi there Asha

This is curious isn’t it? And it’s what makes human relationships so fascinating and interesting to write about – the fact that they are complex and ambivalent and unpredictable. Well of course psychologists would argue that at least some of our behaviour is predictable – this being the basis for our profession. We look for the roots of behaviour in childhood events and life experiences and we can often see patterns of these same behaviours across a range of relationships and life occurrences (for example, seeking partners who consistently dominate us or who need rescuing).

Even the apparent illogicality of being repelled by the same qualities that once attracted us represents a kind of pattern. For example we might consistently overlook aspects of partners that disturb us because we are desperate to copy the settled and placid relationship our parents had. This desperation could lead to a suppression of doubts and uncertainties of a new partner.

Some of us are poor judges of character, because our mum and dad consistently undermined our intuition and made us doubt our instincts. We then struggle to make good relationship choices – regularly finding ourselves in situations where we do not listen to the inner voices of doubt and wariness.

Perhaps, if your character has led a very sheltered life, protected from life opportunities and risks by over protective circumstances, she might be really excited by a man who seems confident, outgoing and quirky. And like most relationships, as they progress from infatuation through to the daily routines of a longer term set up, reality sets in and the scales fall from our eyes.

I suppose the most obvious explanation is that we just get bored easily and we need our partners to change and grow and commit to self development so that we stay interested in them. Also as we age, we may find certain qualities which were thrilling at 25 (getting drunk and outrageous at parties) simply tedious at 50 (“oh heavens not that routine again”).

So, many possibilities, many explanations, and no one right answer. For the reader, watching and experiencing the transition from lust to languor can be intriguing so keep the detail and you’ll keep the reader!

All the best

Gabriel

Characters on the Couch

allaboutwriting — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 17:56:16 +0000

Here are a selection of Pierre’s columns. Writing as Gabriel St Claire he gives a fascinating take on the psychological motivation of literary characters.

Pierre Brouard is a Clinical Psychologist and is currently the Deputy Director of the Centre for the Study of AIDS at the University of Pretoria. His work includes training, research, consulting and writing and his interests include human rights, sexualities and gender. Pierre co-presents both the Character Course and Growing through Writing for Allaboutwriting, is a frustrated novelist and avid crossword doer, and would like to write a book about social etiquette in an era of email, Facebook and Twitter.

FROM LUST TO LANGUOR

Hi Gabriel

Thanks

Asha

Hi there Asha

All the best

Gabriel

MOTHERS WHO KILL

Dear Gabriel

I am fascinated by the real story, that appeared in the press, of a mother who killed her own child. She said he was evil – he was a gangster, who raped and killed people. She said the drugs had made him evil. I would like to write about a good person who ends up being driven to do a terrible thing. I want to keep her sympathetic, but show how she could end up doing what she did.
One thing that confuses me: in my experience, even when a mother is driven to dislike a child, she will swing wildly between that feeling, and wanting to protect that child, taking on the guilt and responsibility for his actions. This would make it pretty hard, I think, for a mother to actively set about killing her adult child, in cold blood. Is this push-pull fairly universal – would she have to be driven past this point to harm her child? Or do some mothers not experience it?

Thanks

Yolande

Dear Yolande

I remember this story and it intrigued me too! I think there are two distinct questions here: firstly, do mothers experience ambivalence towards their children and secondly, when can angry, “homicidal” feelings tip over into actual harm?

These are great questions and in fact go beyond only the mother-child bond but also have relevance for all our intimate relationships. Ambivalence is certainly normal for us humans – and in fact psychologists regard the capacity to tolerate it as a sign of a more mature psyche. For example, we can love and hate people at the same time – a common experience in many relationships! And we can hold onto the idea of someone’s goodness even when they are being horrible towards us, in a sense the ability to step back and see the bigger, more nuanced, picture.

We all have shadow and light in our natures and if we can tolerate this in ourselves, we can tolerate it in others. When we split the world into simple binaries: black and white, good and evil, we are destined for heartache and disappointment because no one is ever all good and perfect. It may feel simpler and more comforting to think that people are either good or bad but the truth is we are all capable of doing bad things.

Perhaps what adds another dimension to this is that when a mother sees the bad in her child she may be inclined to take responsibility for this because “I raised him”. Perhaps mothers struggle to accept that “nurture” is only one part of the story and “nature” – the aspects of our beings which may be hardwired into us – also plays a role. I think here of the book “We need to talk about Kevin” by Lionel Shriver – he seems a pretty evil kid and yet it’s hard to tease out whether his mother made him bad or if she saw his badness from the outset and shrunk from him, thereby exacerbating his darker urges.
As for the second question, yes it would be hard for a mother to overcome her protective instincts and kill her own son (though it has to be said that the intensity of this bond is not a given – some mother-child bonds are more tenuous, in some instances because of the nature of the bond the mother had with her own parents).

Perhaps what makes this possible, and of course there could be multiple explanations, is that the mother you describe has abandoned her ambivalence towards her son. In other words she can no longer see any good in him and by believing that he is irredeemably evil, can accept that he needs to die, and that she must do it. In this logic, she has in fact acted in a moral way, congruent with positive norms of society: bad people must be put away and do not deserve to live freely among us.

This is a rare act but clearly one which requires the mother to have been pushed beyond a point. To keep your character sympathetic you need to help us understand the forces which conspire to push her into uncharted territory. In the same way that we can see why a battered women might kill her husband, even in cold blood, so too can your character find it in herself to do something terrible. Give us the detail, the back story, the inner turmoil, and you’ll keep our interest and our sympathy.

Good luck!

Best wishes

Gabriel.

PUSH AND PULL

Dear Gabriel

I’m writing a gay novel (I know this will come as a shock to you) and my story is about a couple who seem to be unable to separate, yet at the same time they seem unable to stay together. I know everyone thinks gay men have loads of sex and are up for it at any time but I’m thinking of making them have an incompatibility around sexual desire and needs. Is this realistic and do you think a straight audience might appreciate this theme?

Thanks

Anton

Hi Anton

Let me tackle your last question first and then zoom into the sex question (I’m not sure why but bear with me). I’m going to equivocate a bit and say that I think some straight people will indeed appreciate this theme, but others might not. In my idealistic moments I think that if a book is well written and addresses a common human concern or pursuit (such as sex) then it will have cross over appeal. On the other hand, there are readers who have found their chosen genre and won’t budge from this. Or their prejudice or discomfort with a topic will limit their literary experimentation. Having said that, sex is sex and once we’ve gotten past which body part goes where (and whether the sexes are opposite or the same), I think everyone can relate to the theme of sexual incompatibility and what to do about it.

We all bring into our relationships a set of needs, experiences and beliefs about how two people should construct a life together (and indeed whether they should even bother) and relate to each other emotionally and physically, based on what we observed from our parents and other significant people in our lives. And what’s more, how we were taught to experience our bodies and sensuality will have a huge impact on the need for intimacy and the ability to manage and express it.

When these themes – perhaps understood as forming a kind of template for a relationship – are differently experienced by two people then they may struggle to find the middle ground of a working relationship.

So why would two gay men do the push/pull dance, finding solace in each other and then becoming overwhelmed by this? Well there could be many reasons, but if we zoom in on the sex part (my favourite thing!) it’s possible that one of the men believes a couple should be faithful in the “til death us do part” sense, and be scared to truly understand and experience his own sexuality. And if the other man is more experimental, desires variety, has a higher sex drive, and can more easily separate emotions and sex, then, Houston we might have a problem!

I believe most relationships have to compromise in some way, and certainly around sex, so for me the interesting issue would not be the incompatibility per se, but the way that it’s managed. So while the content of this topic (gay male and gay lifestyle specific matters for example) might appeal to a more gay audience, the process of how they deal with their differences (for example through therapy, threesomes or thoughtful engagement) would, I suspect, have universal interest.

So go for it and good luck – I for one am keen to read this novel!

All the best

Gabriel

HAPPY?

Hi Gabriel

I want to write about happiness and what makes people happy. I know that the self help industry is awash with books on this topic but I am interested in a novel which has at its main theme the search for happiness. Do you think happiness is definable and can you say what makes people happy? Oh and is this a tall order?

Thanks

Joel

Hi Joel

Oh not at all – I have the perfect recipe for happiness and I am more than willing to share it with you. And a cure for climate change and AIDS. Not. So, now that we’ve established that I struggle with this stuff like other mortals – no, psychologists have not found the holy grail of happiness – let me share some thoughts with you.

What is happiness, then? Well I don’t believe that it’s the absence of unhappiness, pain, stress or bad stuff. We’re not guaranteed happiness in life and good and bad is part of the rhythm of life, I feel. Maslow’s idea that there is a hierarchy of needs is a useful starting point. He suggested that once our basic needs are fulfilled (food, shelter etc.) other needs emerge and occupy our energies and thoughts, such as the need for love, sex, intimacy and, ultimately, self actualisation. The latter might be defined as a sense of spiritual fulfilment, finding one’s purpose and meaning in life, which we could define as a form of happiness.

One interpretation of Maslow’s hierarchy is that life is a quest for something higher and perhaps more elusive, and complete happiness may never be completely attainable. Or else it suggests that “things” may never satisfy us and that what’s truly fulfilling is affirmation, recognition and reaching our fullest human potential (which of course varies from person to person).

Research on happiness suggests that while poverty is not ennobling, neither is wealth a guarantee of happiness. Rather, it says that as we acquire greater financial stability our happiness rises, but peaks at a certain point, after which it plateaus. In other words, once our basic comforts are met and we’re not caught up in a spiral of fear, despair and worry about where the next meal or rent money is coming from, we feel happier. But happiness does not grow when we have 4 cars instead of 1, and so on.

So if I had to have a stab at it, I’d define happiness not so much as a feeling as a decision. Even poor folk can feel happy if they feel connect to family and community and our richer brothers and sisters may feel happy because they have freedom and time to explore interests and aspirations which really please them. In both cases, sadness and difficulty may be a reality, but the decision to focus on positive things and to find meaning in something higher may be what makes the difference.

So good luck with your novel – I think the tall order is yours not mine!

Cheers

Gabriel

GETTING TO THE BOTTOM OF IT

Dear Gabriel

I am a skinny person but I am intrigued by the idea of fatness, and I have this idea to set a novel in a fat farm where people come to lose weight. On the one hand I want to treat this as a serious issue – which I think it is – but at the same I’m wondering if I can introduce any humour to such a weighty issue (see there it popped out). And what is it exactly, do you think, that drives obesity?

Thanks

Jacqui

Hi Jacqui

I think this is a great idea for a novel – and the possibilities are endless. Obesity, weight and looks are certainly topical and we seem more obsessed by food than any other era. There is of course irony in the fact that some parts of the world are grappling with obesity and others with hunger. But I digress.

I honestly think we have not quite gotten to the bottom of why some people become overweight and I suspect as the science of genes and hormones and brain chemistry gets better we’ll find more answers. Whatever the biological basis for weight gain, this, I believe, will interact in complex ways with our psyches.

Here, and I’ll come out of the closet about this, I’m with Oprah. I think overweight-ness is partly driven by moods, feelings, needs and patterns which have not been adequately expressed and explored. Boredom, sadness, low self esteem, feelings of depression and anxiety can all fuel overeating. And then of course many of us were raised with complex relationships to food because our parents themselves related to food in a particular way. Being forced to eat certain foods, being given guilt inducing messages about leaving food on the plate, being told that we show love through eating the food our mothers prepared for us, can all leave us confused, anxious and mixed up about food.

And of course we are all bombarded with messages about how we should look, and for some of us these messages came from our families, giving them extra sting and weight. See there is the potential for humour, but I would give it a really light touch. Being overweight is seldom fun for the person who is overweight, and, let’s be honest, jolliness is usually a mask.

So good luck Jacqui. Who knows, in writing this novel you might get some insights into your interest in food (or lack of interest!)?

Regards

Gabriel

FRINGE BENEFITS

Dear Gabriel

I’m interested in writing a piece about contemporary sexuality – and the many ways in which people form different kinds of unions. I’m not sure if you agree with me but my sense is that open relationships, long term unions which don’t involve marriage, single parenthood and non-sexual relationships are more common than ever. More specifically, I’m interested in the concept of ex partners continuing to have sexual intimacy but agreeing to see other partners. Do these “friends with benefits” arrangements work or are they inevitably doomed?

Best wishes

Stevie

Dear Stevie

This is a great question – as a gay psychologist I’m passionately interested in sexuality and what floats our various boats, as it were. A historical perspective on sex and sexuality suggests that while certain arrangements and practices might have been frowned upon or uncommon, variation, experimentation and transgression are built into the human condition. While there are people who may be asexual or sexually avoidant for a range of complex reasons, most of us like and want sex, and it’s not always the missionary position being practised by a man and a woman.

And yes there is more tolerance today for some of the variations you describe, but I have also observed that as the restrictions of “normality” shift, so is there a corresponding response from some sectors of society towards conservative and narrow definitions of what is acceptable.

As for “friends with benefits” arrangements, well they can work, but in my view they have a sell by date. When do they work? When both parties accept that they do not own each other, when they are able to separate feelings from actions, when the focus is on mutual sexual satisfaction in a pragmatic way, when they can be honest about what they want, when they accept that the original relationship could not work, and when they realise that there may come a time when they should move on.

When do they not work? Well of course jealousy and possessiveness can creep in and when either or both parties feel the other person should not see anyone else, trouble looms. Failing to “ringfence” emotions and investing the encounters with romantic over and undertones is asking for trouble. And trying to hold your friend to the same standards of disclosure and obligation as a “real” relationship, unless these have been negotiated, is a no no.

Look these arrangements are not easy – I’ve always said that a good open relationship is as much hard work as a good closed one, both require levels of honesty and commitment to a shared ideal. So good luck with your piece, remember to look at the bigger picture and never ever judge human sexuality, it is what it is.

Best wishes

Gabriel

BEING DIPLOMATIC

HI GABRIEL

In my latest attempt at writing a novel I’ve had the idea of locating it in the world of the diplomatic corps (of course if it was a thriller it would be a diplomatic corpse but that’s another book). I think this will give me an opportunity to explore the challenges of long distance relationships – some of my friends don’t believe they can work – and the challenges they face. So I’d like to ask you if you think these relationships can work and what particular challenges they might face?

Many thanks

Marlene

Hullo Marlene

I really love the idea of a diplomatic corpse and, being the lateral minded shrink that I am, it makes me think of a corpse that doesn’t make too much of a fuss! Or someone who commits suicide in a clean and thoughtful way (not that I think suicide is funny as I have experienced the loss of a dear friend in that way this year – but hey laughter and pain are often very closely linked in us don’t you think?) or a corpse that yields no surprises in the autopsy.

But I digress. I do think long distance relationships can work but many factors come into play. I think the length of the relationship prior to the separation is critical – a well established couple would probably handle this better than a new one if they have worked each other out and established a pattern that works for them. Even better, if they’ve been able to agree on things like monogamy, flirtation, independence, separate or joint pursuits and so on, they start on a good footing. Good communication really goes a long way.

Then there’s the maturity of the individuals in the relationship and their ability to be self soothing, to find support from friends, to trust their partner, to see the bigger picture. If the separation is finite I also believe it’s easier to handle than an indefinite or uncertain separation.

Planned conjugal visits, using technology like Skype and being really truthful and honest with each other also go a long way to making these kinds of arrangements work. Of course there are challenges: loneliness, sexual frustration, a lack of intimacy, temptations from others, the possibility of a slow drifting apart (continental drift?) are all potential obstacles. And of course if there are children and schools and such in the picture then the “wife”, if she is the one left behind as it were, could become resentful.

I have written “wife” in quotes because of course this could be a same sex couple, with or without children, who have separated from each other. This could bring unique challenges but in the end, it’s about two people in a unique set up needing to work things out.

So good luck with your novel – and thanks for raising a useful and important issue.

All the best

Gabriel

GOING GREEN

Dear Gabriel

I’m fascinated by jealousy and what drives it. More specifically, my lead character is driven by jealousy to do terrible things, as he discovers that his partner is cheating on him. I won’t go into too much detail here but suffice to say it has scary consequences. And what complicates things is that he isn’t an angel himself! He in fact has had a number of affairs and yet he still expects his partner to be faithful to him and he’s resorted to stalking behaviour. Do these things add up?

Thank you

Jacques

Hi Jacques

Thank you for a most interesting question. As luck would have it (though you be the judge of this) I saw an interesting piece in the UK Guardian online in which writer Howard Jacobson lists his top ten novels of sexual jealousy. You can find the list athttp://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/nov/03/howard-jacobson-top-10-sexual-jealousy and see for yourself why he makes these choices. Some obvious greats are there (Tolstoy, Hardy, Joyce, Austen, Bellow, Dostoevsky and of course Shakespeare) but have you heard of Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch? No me neither I’m embarrassed to say because his name of course gave rise to the term “masochism”. As Jacobson describes this, the “hero” wants to be his mistress’s slave and his ultimate punishment, his masochism lived out if you will, is the jealous pleasure of her infidelity.

Isn’t this deliciously perverse? He both hates and desires the infidelity, suggesting some of the darkness and mixed feelings in all of us about faithfulness versus infidelity. We want to believe our lovers are faithful but if we desire them, surely others might too? And if we know we are tempted, even if in our fantasy, to act out on our desires for others, we know that our partners can be similarly frail. For some people, I think, jealousy is like the scab we pick at, it’s sore but it reminds us that we are human and imperfect.

There is something of this in your character who desires to own and control his partner so much that the idea of her (or him) being in the arms of another is overwhelming (and not in the good sense!). Yet precisely because he is unfaithful he knows that the partner could be unfaithful too and so in attempting to control the partner, he is trying to control that part of himself that is uncontrollable and has oozed out. It’s classic projection. And mixed up with a horrid fascination of his loved one being wooed and seduced by another.

It’s believed that a lot of jealousy is about our own insecurities – if we like ourselves and are confident about our abilities and qualities, and believe we are lovable, why do we need to doubt our partners? Much of this may be linked to the kind of role modelling we received from our parents who will have acted out various “dramas” around trust and jealousy. How they did or did not resolve these dramas will affect how we manage them in our own adult lives.

Perhaps too we are partly hard wired, in an evolutionary sense, to be jealous to make sure that we keep our relationship “on its toes” as it were and work at things, certainly long enough to raise the children in our fertile years.

Like many human emotions and responses, it’s about balance. Of course all of us are a little jealous at times, but it’s when it gets to stalking, obsessionality and crime that we have tipped over into something darker. So yes, your character does “add up” – just make sure the sums are not too neat and you’ll be onto a winner.

All the best

Gabriel

MIRRORS ANYONE?

Dear Gabriel

I think my character is turning out to be a bit of a narcissist and this is beginning to bother me. It bothers me because what does this say about me and also because I think narcissists are so unlikeable that no one will want to read my book. But this damn guy has taken so much hold of my imagination that I can’t let go of him! Can you tell me more about this personality type?

Many thanks

Itu

Hi Itu

Yes I can – and be reassured, the fact that you worry about being a narcissist is a good sign as this usually means you aren’t one. Having said that of course, I do remember one friend, who exhibits many narcissistic traits, constantly congratulating himself (in my presence) for our shared levels of insight. Hmm this is a clever trick because if I disagreed with him it would seem that I did not believe I had insight, and if I agreed with him then I was caught up in his web of ego and self congratulation. All very messy and quite typical of narcissists who insist on being special and amazing. Ordinariness is no good for them.

So what typifies the narcissist? The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders which psychiatrists and psychologists use says that they have a “pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts”. Your average Hollywood star in other words.

They will often exaggerate their achievements; may be preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty or ideal love; believe they are “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (see my friend above); require excessive admiration; have a sense of entitlement; can be interpersonally exploitative; are often unwilling to recognise or identify with the feelings and needs of others; are often envious of others or believe that others are envious of them; and show arrogant or haughty behaviours or attitudes.

Perhaps it’s worth distinguishing between those among us who have narcissistic traits (and if we’re honest we can all recognise bits of ourselves in the descriptions above) and those who have the full blown “disorder”. In this case it will manifest as a deeply ingrained, inflexible, maladaptive pattern of relating, perceiving and behaving, serious enough to cause distress or impair functioning. These people are not psychotic, that is they are in touch with reality, but they have a pervasive, life long way of thinking and behaving which makes their lives, and the lives of those around them, unpredictable and complicated.

And sometimes fun and amazing as we are caught up in their whirlwind of fabulousness and imagination. But my word they can be tiring. I think, depending on your character and how you write him or her, you can create a compelling story as long as you give them some insight and empathy – no one really likes a glittering but empty hero or heroine.

Cheers

Gabriel

OLDER LOVE

Hi Gabriel

The lead character in my (still embryonic) novel is an older woman, of a certain age (ok she’s 60) who is still looking for Mr Right. Does this sound odd? Although the idea attracts me, and is of course completely un-autobiographical, I wonder if my readers will be put off. They might wonder why she doesn’t just get on with her knitting. And of course I want to throw in a fling with a younger man – is this really icky?

Cheers

Kavita

Hey Kavita

So look I am a gay psychologist who is also of a certain age so boy do I get these issues, but I am sure your readers will too. I am intrigued that you used the words “embryonic” and “older” in the same sentence. That was clever, a nice juxtaposition of ideas. And maybe unconsciously what you were reflecting was the idea that while we age in years we may simultaneously have inside us that very early and primitive need for love, affirmation and intimacy. Does it ever go away?

Interesting questions for me, and perhaps your readers, would be whether she had ever had a real love, a marriage, in her past and what this experience had been like for her. If she was fulfilled then and her partner had died, perhaps she is now trying to recreate this idyllic time. Or if she had been fulfilled and her partner had left her, then she might be left with a wound needing healing. And then if she had never really had a deeply meaningful experience then she might be longing for this, even now in her advanced years.

It’s a cliché, I know, but love changes as we grow older, and the needs we had at 20 might be very different from those we have in our later years. I don’t believe the fluttering intensity of youth is still there at 60, but perhaps we have a greater understanding of give, take and compromise at this time of our lives.

As for a fling with a younger man, way to go I say!

All the best

Pierre

Pierre Brouard is also a Clinical Psychologist and is currently the Deputy Director of the Centre for the Study of AIDS at the University of Pretoria. His work includes training, research, consulting and writing and his interests include human rights, sexualities and gender. Pierre co-presents both the Character Course and Growing through Writing for Allaboutwriting, is a frustrated novelist and avid crossword doer, and would like to write a book about social etiquette in an era of email, Facebook and Twitter.

News, exercises and a writing tip

allaboutwriting — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 10:25:31 +0000

Here is a potpourri of news, a victory announcement, exercises, reminders, and a writing tip fresh from the pen of one of this year’s Man-Booker prize short-listed authors: here goes!

Rand Club Launch
The news is that Allaboutwriting is joining forces with Creative Escapes – a photographic-cum-travel organization – to launch our 2011 course schedule. The launch will be held at the Rand Club on November 2. Jo-Anne and Richard will expatiate briefly on the new challenges facing writers in this second decade of what is quickly becoming a tarnished century. That, at least, is the title of the talk: how they interpret it will depend on their conversations over the next month! We’ll be sending out invitations in due course – suffice it to say at this stage that it’ll give you a chance to check out the gorgeous club (again, perhaps), enjoy a glass or two of wine (a free tasting!), and satisfy the inner man, or woman, with a little soup and a selection of club sandwiches.

Characters and Biographies
Those reminders: on Saturday 9 October – just a few days hence – we hold our next Character Course. This is an intensive introduction, via both literary artifice and psychology, to the wonderful process of creating characters out of thin air. Richard’ll be guiding you through the process with the able help of psychologist Pierre Brouard. These sessions are always exciting, and past students tend to wax lyrical on the insights they take away with them.

Then our next Biography and Memoir Course – run by Jo-Anne and Fred de Vries – starts on November 6th, runs through the 7th, and concludes on December 4th. If you believe you have a story to tell about your own experiences, or about someone you admire or are fascinated by, then this is the course to do.

Don’t forget that anyone who’s done any one of Allaboutwriting’s courses qualifies for a 10 per cent discount on any other courses they enroll for.

And in this corner, we have the winner!
Now here’s the announcement that promised of a great victory. The race was for the best response to our last exercise that required you to describe a moment of true feeling between two characters, one of whom bears the burden of a great secret that she can’t reveal either to the other, or to us, the readers. Not a simple challenge – but Marget Renn rose to it with wonderful economy. If you want to have a look at her winning entry, then click here.

Our next exercise
At our last Allaboutwriting/continued session we spent so much time quaffing celebratory champagne – no fewer than four of our alumni have in recent weeks either published books or distinguished themselves in other ways – that we didn’t get round to do an exercise at all.

Here it is: Describe a building as seen by a man whose son has just been killed in a war. Do not mention the son, war, death, or the old man doing the seeing; then describe the same building, in the same weather and at the same time of day, as seen by a happy lover. Do not mention love or the loved one.

Give yourself 30 minutes or so to complete it, then send it to us by 6pm on Tuesday 12 October and we’ll announce the winner in our next newsletter – and point you in the direction of Boekehuis in Johannesburg, or The Book Lounge in Cape Town, to redeem your winning voucher.

This month’s exercise comes from John Gardner’s wonderfully perceptive book The Art of Fiction. We’ve plundered it before for exercises, and no doubt will do so again. If you want to read the book in its entirety, here’s the link to the book on Amazon.

And finally, that writing tip…
Jo-Anne and Richard are speaking about the books on the Man-Booker shortlist tonight(Tuesday 5 October) at Love Books in Melville, so we thought it appropriate to seek out a tip from one of the authors (the joys of the internet!). Here are some thoughts from Peter Carey, two-time winner of the prize, up for a third this year with his book Parrot and Olivier in America.

He’s giving advice to writers intent on writing a first novel. Begin, he says, by banishing television. (And he might have added: And stuff a dab of Pratley’s Putty into your laptop’s USB ports to sever all possible connection with the internet – as Jonathan Franzen apparently has.) Then he introduces the exercise he says will “build up your writing muscles like nothing else”. Here he is:

“It’s called reading. Perhaps you are already reading good books for several hours a day, in which case you don’t need me to preach at you. Forgive me. I only mention this because I have met an extraordinary number of beginners who don’t think they need to read anything too much.

“I don’t doubt these people enjoy their writing, and perhaps they will even get to publish something. But you cannot play the top game without reading every day. There are so many extraordinary books waiting for you, some written by living writers, the majority by those a long time dead. This is not because writers used to be better than they are now, but because a lot of generations have come before us and we would be crazy not to know what miracles they achieved.”

Simple, no? And yet the connection between writing and reading can’t be stressed enough.

Reading IS writing from the other side of the looking glass.

Summer Writing Courses

allaboutwriting — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 19:26:07 +0000

We have a very busy summer ahead of us with a great array of writing courses on offer for Johannesburg between now and December.

Here’s a course designed to rev you up for a challenging writing project – or, more simply, to help you re-engage with your creative self. The Creative Writing Course designed to help participants explore their creativity – and equip them with essential writing skills – starts on 22 September and continues for ten weeks. Sessions will be held every Wednesday from 7 to 9.30pm in Parkview, Johannesburg. The cost is R5500. The facilitators are novelist Jo-Anne Richards and scriptwriter Richard Beynon.

Our next course is the Character Course on 9 October from 9am to 5pm. This one-day course blends psychology and writing – and brings writer Richard Beynon and psychologist Pierre Brouard together as facilitators – to create a one-day plunge into the process of creating memorable and larger-than-life characters. The cost is R1500.

There are numerous possibilities for travel writing. Every newspaper and weekly has a travel supplement or section, and they often use stories by freelancers. Join the widely-published travel writer Fred de Vries on the Travel Writing Course and learn how to write top-quality travel articles and get them published. This two day course will be held on 30 October and 20 November from 9am to 1pm. The gap between the two days gives participants time to write an article and send it in to Fred. Part of day two is spent on feedback and discussion. Cost R2000

They say that there’s a book in each of us. It is likely this is your own story, but it could be you’d love to tell the story of someone else, living or dead, whose life seems to you an inspiration. Our final course of the year is a Biography and Memoir course run by Jo-Anne and Fred on 6 and 7 November and 4 December. You will end the course with the basis of a book, which can then be developed into a full-length work in your own time. Cost R4800.

For more information or to sign up for any of the courses please contact Trish via email – trishurquhart@gmail.com or call her on 0826524643.

Test your imagination with this writing exercise

allaboutwriting — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:21:47 +0000

We had a very successful mid-winter Soup and Sherry evening on Thursday night in the Library at the Rand Club. Thank you to all of you who came and made the evening so special. We will definitely do it again – maybe a spring celebration.

Well done to Craig Watt-Pringle who won the draw for our new two day Creative Writing Course the first of which will be held on 28 and 29 August at Foxwood House in Houghton, Johannesburg. This two day creative writing course is designed to be provocative and fun. Jo-Anne and Richard will lead participants through a series of writing exercises designed to expand creativity and illuminate the secrets to great writing. The course will inspire fiction and non-fiction writers, anyone who is interested in trying their hand at writing, as well as active readers who are interested in expanding their reading pleasure. The cost is R2500.

Course News
We have three courses starting in the next couple of weeks. Our next Creative Writing Course starts tomorrow, Wednesday 14 July in Parkview, Johannesburg. The sessions will be held every Wednesday for 10 weeks from 7 – 9.30pm. Cost R5500.

Character Course – Join Richard Beynon and psychologist Pierre Brouard on Saturday 17 July to learn what makes great characters tick. This course will help screen-writers, novelists and television writers create characters that leap to life from page or screen. The workshop will be held in Parkview, Johannesburg from 9am to 5pm with lunch and refreshments included. Cost R1500

Biography and Memoir Course – Run by Jo-Anne Richards and Fred de Vries this three day course will teach you to write about real lives, both to preserve the past and to make sense of the present. 24 and 25 July and 21 August. Cost R4800.

Anyone who has done one of our courses will receive a 10% discount on any subsequent courses.

Writing Exercise
Here’s a writing trigger that we stumbled upon on the internet. Suggested by writer Yvette Amarlyse, it’s a prompt designed to catapult you out beyond the fences that, unknowingly, you’ve erected around you. She says: “Pick one ordinary everyday object. It can be anything. Next, imagine a world in which that object is unknown. Create a character that stumbles onto this object and see where your story takes you.”

Try this yourself, send it in to us at trishurquhart@gmail.com by 6pm on Friday 16 July and you might win a R200 gift voucher from Boekehuis bookshop.

Quote of the month
“Writers have to get used to launching something beautiful and watching it crash and burn. They also have to learn when to let go of control, when the work takes off on its own and flies, farther than they ever planned or imagined, to places they didn’t know they knew. All makers must leave room for the acts of the spirit. But they have to work hard and carefully, and wait patiently, to deserve them.” – Ursula Le Guin

Writing exercises galore

allaboutwriting — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:53:46 +0000

Well done to Linda Ravenhill winner of the May Boekehuis gift voucher. Click here to read Linda’s entry.

We held our regular monthly Allaboutwriting/continued meeting last week and invite all of you to do the same exercise, under the same conditions. Send in your effort, and you’ll stand in line to win a Boekehuis or Book Lounge book token of R200. For those of you who were at the session please send yours in too.

June Writing Exercise
This exercise was composed by Brian Kitely at the University of Denver:

Write about a person you love. This apparently simple instruction may be more difficult than you think. What makes us love people? How do we avoid being sentimental when describing the attributes that make someone loveable? You will immediately be faced with the decision of writing about someone you love or loved romantically or as a friend. Or perhaps you’ll choose a family member. Your greatest challenge will be to make your reader love this person, too. Write no more than 600 words in your allotted 30 minutes.

When you’re done, send it to us at trishurquhart@gmail.com. And here’s your deadline: 18h00 on Sunday 4 July.

Three additional writing exercises

Here are three mid-winter exercises we’ve whipped up to break that creative log-jam. They won’t take long, and there are no prizes (except pride and self-satisfaction) involved – but if you send them in to us we will post them on our website with (or without) your byline. Don’t take it too seriously – your reputation’s not on the line. Have fun. Pour yourself a cup of hot chocolate (or mulled wine) and begin:

Writing in scenes exercise
Two white collar workers, after an imprudent office party, wake up in bed together. One is delighted – one is distinctly less than thrilled, and possibly filled with guilt. In no more than 400 words, how might this scene play out? (And if you want to know much more about scenes, characters, conflict, action and dialogue, then join our Creative Writing Course starting on July 14 and running for ten weeks.)

Character exercise
In no more than 50 words, and without using a single adjective or adverb, describe a memorable character – real or imagined. Show him or her to use through action, detail and/or dialogue. (And remember, if you want to know almost everything there is to know about creating characters, join us at the Character Course on July 17.)

Biography and memoir exercise
Think of a scene that brings the mood of your childhood to life. Describe the scene as precisely as you can. We, the readers, want to get the feeling that we’re present and able to observe the action and eavesdrop on the dialogue as it happens. No more than 400 words, please. (If you want to bring to life your own story, that of your family, or someone you admire, then enroll for our Memoir, Biography and Family History Course starting on July 24.)

Quotation of the Month

“If I really considered myself a writer, I wouldn’t be writing screenplays. I’d be writing novels.” – Quentin Tarantino

Character Course

allaboutwriting — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:31:57 +0000

What do Inspector John Rebus, Hamlet and Tony Soprano have in common?

We think of them as real people. Why? Because Ian Rankin knows a thing or two about building unforgettable characters from the ground up. Shakespeare knew his audience loved complex characters full of apparent contradiction. And David Chase wasn’t afraid to create a sympathetic Mafia boss.

Join two writers and a psychologist on Saturday, February 27, to learn what makes great characters tick. Jo-Anne Richards, Richard Beynon and Pierre Brouard have joined forces to help screen-writers, novelists and television writers create characters that leap to life from page or screen.

Interested? Read more about our Johannesburg Character Course or email us at allaboutwriting@worldonline.co.za or phone Trish on 082 652 4643

The Character Course blends psychology and writing

allaboutwriting — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 06:25:01 +0000

Sometimes it takes a shrink to work out what really makes a person tick – even if that person is a fictional character in the mind of a writer.

Psychologist Pierre Brouard thinks he is probably the first of his profession to be involved in running a writing course. He is co-convenor of a regular one-day course in character development with novelist Jo-Anne Richards and script writer, Richard Beynon, of allaboutwriting.

The next Character Course, will be held in Parkview, Johannesburg on February 27 from 9am to 5pm. Cost: R1500. The first Cape Town Character Course will be held on 27 August 2010.

Brouard thinks that psychologists and writers are similar in one important respect: “We are fascinated by human nature, and the attempt to understand what makes us who we are.”

As a psychologist in his middle years, he has worked with people across the spectrum. “I have also lived a varied life, all of which has exposed me to human frailty. That, and my AIDS work, has left me with an empathy and a deep interest in what is essential about us; in our essence.

“These are the same questions that plague writers.”

Beynon thinks that characters are “the key to all fiction”. We remember books by their characters, he says, even when we praise their plots.

“There is no formula for creating a good character. The most important thing a writer can do is to begin to develop a sense of the forces that make us the people we are.”

Richards agrees. “As a writer, I’ve always been fascinated by the different ways people respond to the influences in their lives. In what ways are we all similar, and how is each of us unique?”

The Character Course blends psychology and writing to create a one-day plunge into the process of creating memorable and larger-than-life characters. It looks at the skills needed to make these characters leap off the page.

“Our aim is to help writers and would-be writers to create characters who will become as real – and in some cases perhaps more real – than our next-door neighbours,” says Richards.

For more information please contact Trish on 0826524643 or trishurquhart@gmail.com

COMMENTS FROM PAST PARTICIPANTS

“Jo-Anne, Richard and Pierre have an intimate, non threatening way of sharing their knowledge and I felt privileged to be in the group. The catering alone would be enough to encourage creativity in the dullest whit. My writing has been on a back burner for so long and Saturday’s course has inspired me to make the time to start living my passion again.” Ronnie Whitaker

I loved the first exercise – the life graph. I think it was so simple yet so effective and really made the point of how we are shaped by our history very profoundly. I also loved the interviewing the partners to sketch a character part. I loved the exercise of developing the back story of a famous character.The video clips were amazing and really illustrated the point very clearly and accessibly. I LOVED the food – always an important aspect of a workshop! The day was well structured to take us through an incremental process of developing understanding and skill, and I thoroughly enjoyed it; thank you very much. Judy Klipin

I enjoyed it tremendously. The theory and the examples (specially the television and movie clips) were excellent. And the fact that Pierre was there to add the psychological background I found particularly enlightening. Merle Ruff

THE FACILITATORS

Jo-Anne Richards is a writer and lecturer in the Wits journalism department. Her novels include The Innocence of Roast Chicken, Touching the Lighthouse and Sad at the Edges. A new novel – My Brother’s Book – was released in April 2008. She has, over the past few years, run a number of writing courses and retreats: in journalism, narrative journalism and literary skills.

Richard Beynon is a television and film writer. A former journalist, he has conceived, shaped and written scores of documentaries. He managed the writing team at Isidingo for three years, as well as contributing over three hundred scripts to the series. He is currently a writer and generator of stories on the etv daily drama, Rhythm City. He has lectured on writing for film and television at Wits and together with Jo-Anne runs writing courses and retreats.

Pierre Brouard is clinical psychologist who has done everything from private practice, HIV counselling and training, managing counsellors in workplace settings and developing counselling resources, to being an agony uncle and blogging about life, love and relationships. He writes a blog in which he answers questions about the psychological make-up of characters and their motivations. Currently he is the deputy director of an AIDS NGO.