Marcia Thornton Jones's Blog, page 146

Little Tiny Bits of Darkness by Claudia Mills

I have to confess that my bad characters aren't very bad, and my dark characters aren't very dark. Most of my recent books are for younger kids, third-grade-level chapter books featuring small trials and tribulations and ending with small triumphs. Ahh, but seemingly tiny moments of heartbreak and seemingly tiny markers of hard-won growth can feel huge to the child characters, and child readers, who experience them.

A couple of decades ago a book of mine received a scathing review in The New York Times, one that I can quote practically verbatim to this day. The reviewer - whom I could name but prefer not to - castigated my story because the problems my main character faced - being the shortest kid in the class, sulking in the shadows of his older brother's consistently greater success - weren't worth writing about. Everyone in the book was too nice, he sneered. Why on earth would kids, he accused, want to read the literary equivalent of "vanilla pudding"?

Well, first of all, I happen to adore vanilla pudding, I wish I had a bowl of it right now.

But, more important, I continue to think that the relatively small problems of basically kind and decent people can be the subject matter of fiction for young readers. I wrote that New York Times reviewer many letters, which of course I never mailed, and this is what I tried to tell him: To be a children's writer is by definition to take seriously problems that the rest of the world doesn't think are very important. 

As both a child and an adult reader, I identified deeply with Ramona Quimby when she goes on strike from kindergarten after her teacher, Miss Binney, scolds her for pulling Susan's irresistibly tempting "boing-boing curls." Ramona can be a pest: indeed, Ramona the Pest is the title of the book. Older sister Beezus can be disdainful. It breaks Ramona's heart when she thinks that maybe Miss Binney doesn't love her any more. But no one here is wicked, no one is cruel, and everything Ramona feels is triggered by events that are microscopically small to most adult observers, though seismically significant to a five-year-old.

Little bits of darkness can blot out the sun of a young child's world. And there is a need for stories that recognize that fact and honor it with loving recognition.

Where is the light? (September Theme - Sarah Dooley)

This month, we’re talking about what we love about our characters, or about their dark side. But when it comes to Sasha from FREE VERSE, her dark side is one of the things I love about her.
In her grit-poor, fiercely proud, “coal-keeps-the-lights-on” community, Sasha deals with shadows on a regular basis. Shadows of her dead father and the others lost to the town’s main livelihood. Shadows of her absent mother, her brother, and the emotional problems plaguing her that she doesn’t understand.  As hard as she tries to look up and stay bright, there is always another shadow, another dark spot to navigate, another bit of herself lost to grief and sorrow. And yet, she comes through it.
I love Sasha Harless, and I love her town, and to love these things is to love all of them, darkness included. In writing the novel, it was difficult to walk into that darkness far enough to get a feel for Sasha, and to look around and see what she saw, and to feel what she felt, and to write what she thought about all of it. As a writer, it forced me to face the shadows of my own life, and I don’t know that I did so as skillfully as Sasha. I do know that she, like anyone, had to face her darkness in order to find the light and grow towards it.

What We See in the Dark by Naomi Kinsman

Think back to the last time you found yourself in the dark. Maybe you were camping, or out late on the beach, or even in a room darkened by thick curtains. Take yourself back to that moment and remember: what did you see?

Darkness can be velvety and thick. It can wrap around us like a blanket. In the dark, we slow down, we pay attention, we're often on guard. In the dark, we're also more open to wonder. If you're like most people, what you remember seeing in the dark isn't the darkness, but the light. Did you remember stars or the moon or a lit candle? When we're in the dark, the light draws our eye.

In fact, light doesn't show up very well unless it is placed next to the dark. Visual artists know this principal well. Take a look at master artworks and you'll see heavy, dark tones that set off startling flashes of light.

Joseph Campbell said, "At the darkest moment comes the light." After studying stories for a lifetime, and pulling the patterns he saw together into the Hero's Journey framework, Campbell knew a thing or two about character and story. The truth is, to create characters who glimmer with hope, we must allow their darkness to also show up on the page.

Even though I know darkness is necessary for creating authentic characters, I still back away when I see a quality in one of my characters that I don't like. Why is she so jealous? I might wonder. How can he be so cruel? As writers, we can't avoid the fact that everything that shows up in our writing has somehow grown out of our own life experience or perspective. We may not be jealous or cruel, but in seeing our character's capacity to be those things, we realize that no matter how much we wish it weren't true, we have that capacity as well.

And yet, acts of courage, trust, or kindness wouldn't mean as much if they didn't cost us something. We're often moved to tears by stories of heroes because we know that setting our own needs aside and doing the heroic thing is anything but easy.

It's a stunning thing when a writer can face his or her own darkness to create a character who sparkles with light. Those are the stories I most want to read ... and the ones I aim to write every day when I sit down at my desk.

Our world needs courageous writers and daring readers who aren't afraid of the dark. What we see there points the way to transformation and understanding.

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Naomi Kinsman is an author, educator and creativity coach. She is the author of the FROM SADIE'S SKETCHBOOK series and recently collaborated with singer, Natalie Grant, on the GLIMMER GIRLS series. Naomi is also the founder and Executive Director of Society of Young Inklings, an organization that offers classes, mentorships and publishing opportunities for young authors ages 6-16.  Society of Young Inklings utilizes WRITERLY PLAY, the improv-based teaching methodology that Naomi developed, as the foundation for its programming. www.naomikinsman.com

What’s Their Story? By Bob Krech

Bad characters! Always interesting to create, some times more so than the good guys.

Most of my stories come to me first as a scene. And then another scene. And then another. Somewhere along the line there’s going to be conflict and there’s usually a bad guy or semi-bad guy appearing. I don’t often know ahead of time where they came from of what they’re story is. But I need to find out.

I hate books where the bad guy is totally bad. He’s mean, he kicks his dog, he’s a racist, he lies, he steals, and he tries to break most of the commandments. I often encounter these characters in books with important themes like race or sexual abuse. The protagonist will be multi-faceted and complex, but the bad guy is a cardboard cutout.

More often in real life, the bad guys we meet, are not bad all the time or with everyone. They may rob you, but be kind and loving to a parent. They may hate you because of your skin color, but be exceptionally loyal and trustworthy to their friends. People are complex, so should our characters be.

I think we’ve all either done or day dreamed about doing bad things. Which makes you realize, even nice people like you and I, have at least the imagination to visualize doing something wrong. I believe most people we hear about doing bad things have some sort of backstory that at least partially explains (not excuses) their behavior. The best bad characters have authors who share some of that with us (Voldemort! From Harry Potter, Judd in the Shiloh books!)

Finding out what your bad guy’s backstory is, making it interesting, and sharing some of it with your readers, could be one of the most rewarding parts of writing your story.

Embracing the Dark in Our Characters by Darlene Beck Jacobson

Anger.  Sadness.  Deceit.  Jealousy.  Fear.  There are so many things that make our characters seem dark and maybe even hard to like.  It is only recently that I'm beginning to embrace these darker emotions for my characters.  My first instinct in writing always seems to be to protect my characters from severe harm and keep them out of trouble.  They are my  fictional children afterall, and what parent wants to see their child get into such things.

Yet, just like our real children, we can't protect them from all evil and darkness.  More growth occurs when a character experiences ALL levels of emotion.  And I am learning to enjoy the journey of taking my characters from these low, troubled, dark places to find the light they need in their lives. 

The Characters I Wanted to Be

from Jody Feldman
I was just this side of shadowy childhood memories when Video Village came whirling its thrilling way onto our old TV screen. It may have been in black and white—at least it was for me; no color TV for years—but in my mind, it lit up with all the colors of the universe plus others that only my imagination could create. During its short run, I craved to move around that giant game board and fish, from the bridge, for gloriously wrapped presents.

When I started writing books that seemed to share a commonality, a longing to be part of such excitement, I didn’t populate the adventures with clones of me. I’m not sure I had all the necessary qualities, when I was 12 years old, to be those main characters. Now, however, I have the best time granting my characters the guts and the voice I hadn't yet found in myself. And I get to put them into circumstances I wish I’d been a part of. I may have failed, but I sure would have liked to try.

When Good Isn’t Good and Bad Isn’t BadDeveloping Well-Rou...

When Good Isn’t Good and Bad Isn’t BadDeveloping Well-Rounded Story Characters
By Marcia Thornton Jones
I was bullied when I was in fifth grade. At one point, the girl who bullied held a mock trial on the playground and, acting as judge and jury, declared that no one was to be my friend. From my perspective (first person protagonist point-of-view ) the girl who bullied (antagonist) was nasty, horrible, cruel, and downright mean.
And yet…
She was popular and had a close-knit group of friends. That tells me that, in order to have so many friends, she must not have been all bad; she must’ve also possessed qualities that were friend-worthy. Stepping back and viewing her from a distance (third person omniscient), I can admit that she exhibited positive character qualities, too (just not towards me). With others, she was smart, funny, confident, decisive, and a damn good leader—after all, she convinced everyone else to join in her bullying entertainment. Her strengths made her effective as a person who bullied.
But why did they pick on me? From my first person protagonist point-of-view, I was nice, honest, compassionate, and innocent.. But what happens if I practice a little detachment and look at that little-girl me with a third person omniscient viewpoint?  Then those same traits can be seen as weak, ignorant, naïve, and immature. It was the same seemingly positive attributes that resulted in me being targeted as a victim.
Using that detached third person omniscient analysis, I can also see that comparing myself to the girl who bullied resulted in a handful of ‘false truths’ that began to guide my thoughts, decisions, and actions. These faulty beliefs included:
·                                                                           I am not good enoughI am not worthy of friendsI am powerlessI am a victim
Of course, the other girl’s successes provided her with a few ‘truths’, too. Beliefs such as:
I am betterI am powerfulI am a eader
All this reminiscing makes me realize that developing story characters is helped when I consider the flip side of character attributes—and that sometimes good isn’t necessarily good and bad isn’t always bad. The following freewriting prompts came about as a result of all this ‘detached’ thinking, and I hope they will help me to develop well-rounded story characters.
What positive protagonist qualities might the antagonist respect—and even be jealous of? Which of these positive qualities, when taken to an extreme, might be viewed as flaws? In what situations might these positive attributes become weaknesses?What antagonist traits might the protagonist respect—and even be jealous of? Which of these positive qualities, when taken to an extreme, might be viewed as flaws? In what situations might these positive attributes become negative attributes?What faulty belief systems does the protagonist accept as ‘truths’ based on comparisons with the antagonist? How do these beliefs guide the protagonist’s thoughts, decisions, and actions?What faulty belief systems does the antagonist accept as ‘truths’ based comparisons with the protagonist? How do these beliefs guide the antagonist’s thoughts, decisions, and actions?
To this day, I feel sorry for that little-girl me. I wish, though, that she had possessed some of the other girl’s confidence so that she could’ve stood up for herself instead of settling into the role of victim. By the way, I am eternally thankful to the one girl from the other girl’s inner circle who rebelled and crossed the line to become my friend. It took great courage for her to see what was happening, to disagree with the other girl’s actions, and to act on her own ‘truths’!

For more information about bullying and how to stop it, check out www.stopbullying.gov

Going to the dark side and coming back --- by Jane Kelley

I love a challenge.

Maybe a little too much? Sometimes I wish I could just write a straightforward book, in which likable characters pursue recognizable goals. Wouldn't it be fun to get a puppy? Or a date to the school dance?

But for whatever the reason, my mind doesn't work that way. Even if I start to write a simple ghost story about a family who moves into a creepy house, something twists in my mind. And before you know it, I get obsessed with the idea of how much fun it would be to tell the story from the POV of the ghost.

Cover by Jaime ZollarsTalk about a dark side!

When a character is already dead, she's got nothing to lose.

When a character has been murdered, she has a lot of anger.

When a character was a younger sister, she seethes with resentment.

And when a character has been abandoned by her family just because, well, she is dead, and her only companions are bats and spiders and mice, then she won't be a very pleasant person.

Yet somehow that character befriends a girl named Hannah--perhaps because Hannah has her own sorrows?  Or maybe because they both love books?

There are limits to how close such a friendship could be unless........

If the ghost really wants Hannah to be her BEST FRIEND FOREVER, then something pretty terrible must happen.

If I had completely gone over to the dark side, it would have. But I couldn't kill Hannah.

As much as we enjoy journeying to those frightening places, it's even nicer to come out of the dark to a happy ending.

Light in the Darkness by Deborah Lytton

I didn't expect Jane in Bloom to find a publishing home.  I thought editors might find the story too heavy for middle grade.  Also, the main character has moments where she is really dark.  She is angry, she is jealous, then later she is guilt-ridden and grieving.  But I wrote the character who spoke to me, and I told her story with all the emotions that were part of her journey.  Surprisingly, an editor did want to publish the book.  The dark elements made the story realistic, and the main character someone readers could identify with. 


When I wrote Silence, I also didn't expect the book to find a home.  Again, I thought the story was too heavy and the main character too dark.  She is withdrawn and isolated, and has moments where she can't imagine any future for herself at all.  But I couldn't tell her story any other way.  It turned out that I was wrong again and an editor did want to publish the book.  It was the main character's ability to overcome her setbacks that made her human.  The light that shines in her darkness isn't just part of the story--it is the story. 


It wasn't until I was willing to let my beloved characters be flawed that I found the key to my stories.  Instead of being afraid of making them angry or jealous, I embraced these emotions because it let me sift through the characters to understand them fully.  These characters aren't villains.  To the contrary, they are heroes.  But heroes aren't perfect.  They have darkness in them, and it is our job as writers to find the light in the dark so that they can see their way through our stories.  In allowing our main characters to struggle with their own flaws, we give ourselves stronger material to write.  The depth that comes from these scenes can anchor an entire manuscript.  So don't fear imperfection.  Set your characters free--they just might surprise you in the end.

Because Every Character Needs a Dark Side

Its hard sometimes to give our characters dark sides -- but isn't that what makes them interesting?

Isn't that what makes US interesting?

Reminds me of this comic, which I shared at Live Your Poem last year just after GO SET A WATCHMAN by Harper Lee was released:

My father sent me this clipping... along with a
treasure of a letter about his reaction to GO SET A WATCHMAN.So, bring on the dark! (Good reminder for me as well, as I am mid-way through a 6 week writing challenge where I write 1,000 words a day in a middle grade novel I have written, oh, about 15,263 times!)

Wishing everyone a lovely Labor Day weekend!
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Irene Latham's first bits of writing were love poems – for her mother. Sheis the award winning author of two novels for children LEAVING GEE'S BEND and DON'T FEED THE BOY. She also serves as poetry editor for Birmingham Arts Journaland has published three volumes of poetry for adults. Named the winner of the 2016 International Literary Association-Lee Bennett Hopkins Promising Poet Award, her latest books are poetry for children. Titles include DEAR WANDERING WILDEBEEST, which was named an SCBWI Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor book, FRESH DELICIOUS:Poems from the Farmers' Market, andWHEN THE SUN SHINES ON ANTARCTICA. irenelatham.com