Ian Dawson's Blog, page 10

The Self-Aware Writer - Self-Awareness & Story Development

When it comes to story development and outlining your story, I feel it’s best to put self-awareness on the back burner for the time being. I know it’s crazy that I’m saying this since this is a series about using self-awareness as a writer. However, it’s just as important to know when not to use it as when it is.

Let’s talk about it!

Story Development – Creativity Unleashed

Once you have an idea that you feel is strong enough to develop into a longer story, it’s time to put everything on the table. Every idea, story beat, inciting incident, and plot twist should be up for grabs to get your idea out on the page so you can breathe life into it.

This means your characters should have free reign to do what they want, when they want, and how they want in pursuit of strong character arcs, relationships, and growth throughout the story. Don’t hold back, and don’t be afraid to have your antagonist do things that are off-the-rails crazy. Your goal is to create a compelling and interesting story at this stage. This version is for your eyes only, so have fun, and don’t let the inner critic throw up roadblocks that show down your creativity.

At this point, you’ll want to start crafting an outline that allows you to place your story and characters in some sort of coherent order. You want to work through the story from start to finish, giving yourself a rough roadmap of how your story will unfold and the characters will develop and change.

Implementing Self-Awareness

Now that you have a story outline, it’s time to review it and utilize self-awareness to strengthen your writing. This is a good point. Take a step back as the writer and look at your story outline as a reader.

What aspects of your story sound too familiar and could be altered to be different than what has been done before? What are the strong points of your story? Are there weak story points or characters that deserve another look? Are there parts of the story that could be cut that don’t impact the narrative? Do all the subplots tie into the main story somehow? Is your main character interesting? Are they actively involved in the story?

I like to complete an outline draft and then walk away, allowing my brain to reflect and subconsciously pick out parts that might need a second look. I jot down notes on my phone or paper as possible changes to strengthen the story outline.

It can be tempting to barrel through with a subpar outline, but that can lead to issues later in the drafting phase that can grind your progress to a halt. And while changes are inevitable, having a strong outline going into the rough draft phase can save you a lot of time and a lot of headaches down the road.

Up Next…

Once you’re ready to write, what aspects of being a self-aware writer are best to use during the rough draft phase and beyond? We’ll talk about it.


Happy Writing, and I’ll see you next time!

The Self-Aware Writer - Self-Awareness & Ideas

You are an endless supply of ideas and stories. You’ve lived life, have had good and bad experiences, and have grown from those situations. How you interpret what’s happened to you can influence how you react in future situations, and this self-awareness and hindsight can help you create and develop stories.

Creating grounded characters and situations that others can relate to is a way to utilize self-awareness as a writer. This is where your internal self-awareness comes into play by exploring and analyzing real-world events and emotions from your own life. You can discover relatable moments that readers can connect to that will keep them glued to the page.

The key phrase here is connection. You aim to create characters that allow the audience to empathize and sympathize with them and their struggles or triumphs. Even in fantasy stories, we are drawn to characters who have relatable emotions, goals, and setbacks. While we all may not go on a journey like Frodo in The Lord of the Rings, our Hobbit hero’s emotional arc allows us humans to relate and connect with him.

This week, take the time to sit and write down five or six events from your life that could be the inciting incident of a new story. Take yourself back to those moments. What was going through your mind at the time? Feelings? Thoughts? What was your emotional journey through each of your chosen events?

These don’t have to be tragic; you can also utilize positive moments. The key is to explore the realness of each situation. How can those emotional beats be part of your protagonist’s larger character arc? How would an audience empathize or sympathize with your character?

Only some ideas will hit, and only some life events are worthy of being committed to paper. As you develop a keener self-awareness as a writer, you’ll gain perspective on when an idea isn’t worth pursuing over one that is.

It’s all part of the creative process, the ability to prioritize ideas worth your time, effort, and energy over those that aren’t right now.

By digging into your life and past, you can mine stories that aren’t carbon copies of the latest bestseller or Hollywood blockbuster.

Once your story idea and characters are locked in, you can take the following steps: development and drafting. We’ll talk about those in the next post.

Happy Creating, and I’ll see you next time!

The Self-Aware Writer - What is Self-Awareness?

We all possess the conscious ability to be self-aware in our lives. Whether it’s related to how we interact with others, how we perceive ourselves within our world, or having the insight to better ourselves, self-awareness can positively impact our lives. While we are also presented with daily examples of politicians, celebrities, and social media videos that show people lacking in self-awareness, having this trait is a definite plus when attempting to exist in the world.

According to PsychCentral.com, “When you look at yourself and are able to recognize and connect emotions, core beliefs, thoughts, and traits — including weaknesses and strengths — you’re practicing self-awareness.” Emotions. Core beliefs. Traits. Weaknesses and strengths. Those definitely sound like areas of oneself a writer and utilize.

If we dig further, we find that the Harvard Business Review (HBR) identified two types of self-awareness. The first, “internal self-awareness, represents how clearly we see our own values, passions, aspirations, fit with our environment, reactions (including thoughts, feelings, behaviors, strengths, and weaknesses), and impact on others.” Again, these are all interesting aspects that can impact our writing and our ability or inability to write.

HBR’s second type of self-awareness was external self-awareness, which “means understanding how other people view us, in terms of those same factors listed above […] people who know how others see them are more skilled at showing empathy and taking others’ perspectives.”

When we write or create, we use internal and external self-awareness to influence what we write, how we write, who we write for, and how we interact with those who read what we’ve written. Self-awareness is a powerful tool that can be used to empower and help us grow as writers and creative people or can cause us to freeze and cower in fear from our own negative thoughts.

Self-awareness in your writing should be the ability to create and allow your imagination to run free, but also the ability to step back and make changes to the work for the better when the time comes. It’s the ability to write fearlessly and not hold back when expressing what you want to say through your characters and story while listening to feedback and making necessary changes.

I know it’s a lot to think about, so we’ll take a whole month to discuss it. Next, we’ll discuss utilizing self-awareness when creating story ideas and getting the writing process started.

Happy Writing, and I’ll see you next time!

Sources:

https://psychcentral.com/health/self-...

https://hbr.org/2018/01/what-self-awa...

Writing Series of the Month: The Self-Aware Writer

Hello, and happy June! I’m excited to be back with you once again. Over the next month, I’d like to explore the concept of being a self-aware writer. It may sound deep and metaphysical, but all writers can become stronger in their craft through introspection and looking at their work from different perspectives.

Whether you are a new writer or a seasoned one, I intend these discussions to assist you in all aspects of the creative process, outlining and writing, accepting positive and negative feedback, and more.

These posts will be brief and to the point and provide a few quick tips you can implement immediately.

As always, having fun with the entire process is important, and I look forward to sharing my thoughts and ideas with you over the next several weeks!

Happy Writing, and I’ll see you next time!

Antagonist April: Links & References

Check out the link below for a complete list of article links and books used during Antagonist April:

Antagonist April Links & References

Antagonist April: Thank You

Thank you for joining me this past month as we did a deep dive into story antagonists, their functions, and how to make them more effective in your story.

I enjoyed researching, writing, editing, and posting these articles over the past month. Wednesday’s post will include direct links to all 12 articles and a list of all the books used in my research.

I will be taking the next month off to finish my current WIP and visit family. I will see you in June!

Happy Writing, and I’ll see you next month!

Antagonist April: Week #4 – Antagonist Writing Exercises, Part Two

It’s Antagonist April, and all this month, I’ll be doing a deep dive into those characters that give our heroes and main characters opposition to their goals. This week, I’ll provide three days of writing exercises to explore antagonists further.

Let’s continue!

Exercise #4 – Elevating Your Antagonist

• What makes your antagonist unique?
• Do they have any hobbies?
• Do they collect anything interesting?
• Do they like music? What kind?
• Do they have any quirks that make them more relatable to an audience?
• What do they do for fun?
• When they’re not being antagonistic, what do they do in their private time alone from the world?

Humanizing your antagonist is a great way to make them relatable and real to your audience. While we explored some of these items in the previous post’s exercises, here’s your opportunity to examine and find aspects of this important character that bring them out of the realm of cliché and sculpt them into a flesh-and-blood individual.

While you may not utilize everything you think of, these elements can be dropped in from time to time in your story to give the audience a little insight into who this person is when they’re not being oppositional.

Exercise #5 – Your Antagonist’s Opposition

• Who is your antagonist opposing?
• Why are they trying to prevent them from achieving their goal?
• What is their relationship to the antagonist?
• Why does the hero feel compelled to fight against the antagonist and win?
• What would happen if the antagonist won?

While the protagonist of your story is the most important character, the antagonist must be a formidable foe there to try and stop them from reaching their goals. As you develop your main character, think about ways your antagonist can make their lives miserable throughout the story.

Too many times, new writers are afraid to make their main characters suffer, go through trials and tribulations, and have to work to get what they want. I used to have this mindset, but it changed when I realized something important about fictional characters: THEY AREN’T REAL! So go for it! Make them suffer. Make them fight back, dig in their heels, face horrible moments of doubt and pain, wanting to quit when things seem to be at their worst.

And who can dish out and inflict all those things on your main character? Your friend, the antagonist.

These two characters need each other. The story can lose its impact, conflict, and dramatic effect if no one is present, throwing opposition in their way.

Depending on the type of story, these oppositional forces can be literal or figurative. Still, they need to exist on some level for your hero to have something to fight against and through to get to the end.

And it’s your job to give them an antagonist that enhances the story and helps drive the action forward as events unfold and your hero battles through to the end.

Week #4 Wrap-Up

We’ve covered a lot over the past month, all culminating in this final week of exercises you can use to create a strong, effective, and interesting antagonist for your story.

As you take the time to create and craft the Opposition, never forget to have fun and enjoy the experience. If you have fun, your audience will as well.

Happy Writing, and I’ll see you next week!

Antagonist April: Week #4 – Antagonist Writing Exercises, Part One

It’s Antagonist April, and all this month, I’ll be doing a deep dive into those characters that give our heroes and main characters opposition to their goals. This week, I’ll provide three days of writing exercises to explore antagonists further.

Let’s continue!

Exercise #1 – Your Antagonist’s Backstory

• Who is your antagonist?
• What were they doing before your story began?
• What major life events led them to the point where they enter your story as the primary Opposition to your protagonist?

Write a short biography or autobiography that gives you an idea of who this person is and what caused them to be antagonistic to those they encounter. You can write it in paragraph form or bullet points, and it is for you to reference and have in mind as you write your story.

It’s important to have an idea of who this character is so they have a past, are dimensional, and feel real within the story’s context. You don’t want to create a one-dimensional by-the-number villain. You want them to have successes, failures, fears, likes, dislikes, etc., as they enter your story’s world.

Exercise #2 – What’s Their Motivation?

• What drives your antagonist?
• What makes them want to win?
• What has motivated them in the past?
• What do they fear most when it comes to losing against your protagonist in the present?
• If they do win against your protagonist, what is their next move in life?

What could motivate your character to oppose what your hero has set out to accomplish? Remember, the antagonist doesn’t have to be a Bond-level villain. It could be a parent, a friend, or the main character’s boss. Their motivation to prevent the hero from achieving their goal could be selfless and positive in their eyes.

Having a strong motivation for your antagonist can help the reader or viewer connect, empathize, sympathize, and relate to your antagonist on some level. Even if they don’t 100% agree with their tactics to stop the protagonist, having the audience understand the adversary’s POV is important.

Exercise #3 – The Arc of Your Antagonist

Last week, we looked in detail at the arcs of three antagonists in different films. We explored how these characters entered the story and their final fate by the story’s end.
This exercise is much more intensive than the previous two since you will explore your antagonist’s role as the opposing force to your hero throughout your story.

If you are developing an outline for your manuscript or screenplay, take some time to jot down a basic arc for your villain. Or, if you are just in the early phases of creating a story, you can brainstorm these concepts as well:

• How does the antagonist enter the storyline?
• What is their initial relationship to the main character and their goal?
• At what points does the antagonist pop up to cause trouble or create roadblocks for the hero?
• What is their overall motivation for doing this? Are there moments when they appear to have won?
• How does the antagonist’s arc conclude?
• What happens during the final showdown between protagonist and antagonist?
• Is the antagonist defeated?
• Do they come to an understanding?

As your story evolves, these aspects of your antagonist and their role will also evolve. It’s important, however, to have the basics down to reference when needed so you at least have a strong starting point once you dive into the drafting phase.


There’s more to come! Antagonist April continues on Friday. See you then!

Antagonist April: Week #4 – Antagonist Writing Exercise: Do Your Own Case Study

It’s Antagonist April, and all this month, I’ll be doing a deep dive into those characters that give our heroes and main characters opposition to their goals. This week, I’ll provide three writing exercises to explore antagonists further.

Let’s get started!

Last week, we looked at the antagonists from three different films. Now, it’s your turn to write your own Case Study.

Pick a movie, any movie. It can be your favorite film or one at random. Watch it from beginning to end, just experiencing the film as a whole. Next, rewatch the film, focusing on the story’s antagonist closely.

ANTAGONIST’S NAME: Who are they?

RELATIONSHIP TO PROTAGONIST: How do they know the hero? Are they a love interest? A boss? A friend? A coworker? A universal threat?

THE ANTAGONIST’S ARC: Here’s where the work comes in. How are you introduced to the antagonist? Outline their interactions with the protagonist, lines of dialogue, and actions that indicate their opposition. Does their relationship with the hero change throughout the story? What is the antagonist’s goal? Motivation? Why do they oppose the protagonist? How does the antagonist’s story end?

THE ANTAGONIST’S FATE: Where does this oppositional character wind up by the end of the story? Have they been defeated? Arrested? Killed? Compromised with the hero? Found common ground or understanding? Fallen in love with the hero? Note that here.

COMMENTS: Any thoughts or revelations about the antagonist and their role in the story can be added here. This is a place to wrap up your analysis with anything you didn’t see directly in the film.


You can also use this to analyze antagonists in novels, short stories, and plays.

I have included a .docx template at the end of this article on my website: Get the Worksheet Here!


Back on Wednesday with another Antagonist-themed writing exercise! See you then!

Antagonist April: Week #3 – Antagonist Case Study #3, Colm Doherty (The Banshees of Inisherin)

It’s Antagonist April, and all this month, I’ll be doing a deep dive into those characters that give our heroes and main characters opposition to their goals. This week, we’ll analyze the roles of three antagonists in three films. Our final entry is The Banshees of Inisherin.

Let’s continue!

[SPOILER ALERT: Since this is a new film, I will forewarn you that MAJOR plot elements will be discussed]

ANTAGONIST’S NAME: Colm Doherty

RELATIONSHIP TO PROTAGONIST: Colm is Pádraic’s best friend and drinking buddy.

THE ANTAGONIST’S ARC:

• We first meet Colm as he sits alone in his home; his best friend, Pádraic, comes to get him to go to the pub, and Colm outright ignores him. Despite Pádraic’s pleas through a window, Colm doesn’t respond.
o This is our first inkling of the conflict between these two characters, especially since it’s made clear that these two have a history together and a daily routine that Colm is suddenly disrupting for no apparent reason.
• Colm eventually arrives at the pub. When Pádraic arrives and goes to greet him, Colm greets him with, “Sit somewhere else.” Pádraic has no interest in moving, so Colm exits and sits outside.
o We’re not that far into the story, and our antagonist has already caused quite a disruption to the protagonist’s daily routine. Since an antagonist’s goal is to throw the hero off-balance, Colm has definitely achieved this task.
• Undeterred, Pádraic follows Colm outside and confronts him about his behavior. Colm tells Pádraic: “I just don’t like you no more.”
o Now, the protagonist and antagonist are on the same page regarding why they are at odds. Still, Pádraic is not about to let this statement stop him from inquiring further, which helps increase the conflict between the two throughout the story.
• The next day, Colm is seated on a stone wall with his violin as Pádraic passes him with his livestock. Pádraic - who noticed the previous day was April 1 – asserts that Colm was joking with him the previous day about not liking him anymore. Colm remains silent at the suggestion, and Pádraic interprets the silence as confirmation of his theory.
• Later, at the pub, Pádraic attempts to sit down with Colm, which doesn’t go as Pádraic had planned. The two argue about having better things to do than just sitting together at the pub, “wasting fecking time.” Colm shows Pádraic what he’s been doing instead of wasting time: he’s writing a song to play on his violin. After playing some for him, he tells Pádraic: “Tomorrow, I’ll write the second part of it. And the day after, I’ll write the third part of it. And by Wednesday, there’ll be a new tune in the world, which wouldn’t have been there if I’d spent the week listening to your bollocks.”
o Colm has given us more of his motivation as an antagonist and his opposition to the protagonist: he wants to do something with meaning and creativity, something he feels his friendship with Pádraic has been preventing him from doing. This only causes further conflict – and Pádraic calling it a “shite tune” doesn’t help, either – between the two since it’s clear they are now on disparate life paths.
• Colm decides to talk to Pádraic and clarify things further since it’s clear his former friend isn’t comprehending the new situation clearly. After making it clear that he was too harsh the previous day in telling Pádraic he didn’t like him anymore, Colm says, “I just have this tremendous sense of time slippin’ away on me, Pádraic. And I think I need to spend the time I have left thinking and composing. Just trying not to listen to any more of the dull things that you have to say for yourself.” Pádraic makes a case for “good, normal chatting,” to which Colm says: “So, we’ll keep aimlessly chatting and my life’ll keep dwindling. And in 12 years, I’ll die with nothin’ to show for it but the chats I’ve hat with a limited man, is that it?”
o During this interaction, it becomes quite clear that Colm is making some valid points about life and not wasting it, while Pádraic doesn’t see any problem with how things are.
o Even when Colm gives evidence about Pádraic’s aimless chatting – “two hours you spent talking to me about the things you found in your little donkey’s shite that day” – Pádraic is undeterred, saying, “We’ll just chat about somethin’ else then.” [Pádraic’s donkey, Jenny, is an important part of the story and escalates the conflict later in the story]
o I love this conflict. It’s realistic. It’s relatable. And it’s one where you can connect at some level with both characters and their positions. Pádraic doesn’t want things to change. Colm does, but Pádraic refuses to let go.
• After a church service, Pádraic asks the priest to press Colm about the rift between them while Colm is in the confessional. This only increases Colm’s frustration with Pádraic and his inability to leave him and the situation alone.
• Colm confronts Pádraic at the pub, and here’s where things begin to escalate as Colm makes it clear to Pádraic and the other bar patrons if Pádraic doesn’t leave him alone: “I have a set of shears at home. And each time you bother me from this day on, I’ll take those shears and I’ll take one of me fingers off with them. And I’ll give that finger to ya. A finger from me left hand. Me fiddle hand. And each day you bother me more, another I’ll take off and I’ll give ya until you see sense enough to stop. Or until I have no fingers left…I feel like the drastic is the only option left open to me.”
o This is a major turning point in the story. Colm has now escalated the situation and given Pádraic clear instructions on what not to do and the consequences if he violates them. This also raises the stakes of the story and for both characters to a whole new level.
• The next day, in town, Pádraic has a run-in with a local cop, and Colm witnesses the beatdown. Colm loads Pádraic onto his wagon and proceeds to drive him home. Once Pádraic starts crying, however, Colm hands him the reigns and walks away.
o Colm shows that he still cares and has compassion for Pádraic in this moment, even if he doesn’t want to be friends with him.
• A drunk Pádraic confronts Colm later that night at the pub, doing all he can he not be dull. The next day, Pádraic goes and apologizes to Colm for his behavior, and again, Colm asks him, “why can’t you just leave me alone?”
o Unfortunately, this is the wrong tactic to try when a man has threatened to chop off his fingers if you talk to him...
• Colm arrives later at Pádraic’s home and throws his first sheared finger at the front door, then walks off in silence.
o This is the mid-point of the story and the point of no return. Pádraic’s actions have resulted in something that cannot be reversed.
• Pádraic’s sister, Siobhán, goes to return Colm’s finger. But before she goes, Colm reiterates that ending his friendship with Pádraic is “about one boring man leaving another man alone, that’s all.”
• Pádraic visits Colm at home, to which Colm asks him if he’s “fecking mental.” Once Pádraic leaves and goes to the pub, Colm chops off the remaining fingers on his left hand and tosses them at Pádraic’s front door.
• Unfortunately, Pádraic missed one of the fingers when he picked them up, and his donkey, Jenny, got ahold of one. She chokes on it and dies, which enrages Pádraic.
o This is the next big turning point in the story. Colm has inadvertently killed Pádraic’s favorite pet, and now, with his sister off to work elsewhere and his friendship with Colm over, he has no one. And he’s pissed.
• Pádraic confronts Colm at the pub. Colm tells him, “let’s just call it quits and agree to go our separate ways, for good this time.” Pádraic refuses, telling Colm about his donkey being killed by Colm’s “fat fingers.” Pádraic tells him this is the beginning of things: “I’m going to call up to your house and I’m gonna set fire to it, and hopefully you’ll still be inside it. But I won’t be checkin’ either way.”
o Another escalation, this time from the protagonist’s side. Pádraic, at this point, has nothing and nothing to lose. He even tells Colm: “To our graves we’re taking this.”
• And, true to his word, Pádraic goes to Colm’s house and sets it on fire…with Colm inside.
o We’re at the climax of the story.
• But Colm escapes the fire, and Pádraic sees him later on the beach near his burned-out home. Colm says, “Suppose me house makes us quits.” To which Pádraic replies: “If you’d stayed in your house, that would’ve made us quits.” Colm apologizes for Pádraic’s donkey, but Pádraic doesn’t care, telling Colm, “Some things there’ no movin’ on from. And I think that’s a good thing.” Colm thanks Pádraic for watching after his dog in the wake of the fire, and Pádraic replies, “Any time,” then walks away.
o The story ends in a draw between the protagonist and antagonist, as most real-life scenarios do. While the conflict does escalate, they are both men who care about each other, even if one is determined to move on with his life and end the friendship.

THE ANTAGONIST’S FATE: With all the fingers gone from one hand and his house burned, Colm and Pádraic eventually come to a civil impasse and appear to go their separate ways.

COMMENTS: Despite its period setting, the situation is one that people go through every day around the world today. Most of us have been in Pádraic’s shoes; other times, we’ve been in Colm’s when it comes to the ending of a friendship.

While Colm takes his desire to no longer be friends with Pádraic to the extreme, audiences can still empathize with him and his need for more out of life. Colm’s motivation for creativity and his interests, working on his music, and teaching others is reasonable and justifiable.

Pádraic should have given him space to pursue his endeavors, which might have resulted in a more peaceful resolution and Colm retaining all his fingers.

I think it's also important to note that just because a character is an antagonist, it doesn't make them a bad person. Just being in opposition to the main character and creating a conflict with them can cause a character to be seen as the antagonist in a story.

ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE: Could the case be made that Pádraic is the film’s antagonist? Yes. His inability to accept Colm’s life changes and leave him alone can appear oppositional at times. Still, he’s the one whose life is upended by Colm, and he’s the one who has to adapt and change to this new situation throughout the story. That makes him the protagonist, in my view.

What do you think?


I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s Case Studies! I’ll be back next week with some Antagonist-related writing exercises as we close out Antagonist April. See you then!