Julie Duffy's Blog, page 97

128 – Character Counts

This week I talk about character: how to take the inner journey of your character and show it through external actions. 

 

It’s another new episode of the StoryADay Podcast

[Write On Wednesday] A Gargoyle’s-Eye View

Have you signed up for StoryADay May 2019 yet?

I’ll send you a prompt like this, every day in May.

This week we all watched in horror as Notre Dame burned. It was a great loss for human cultural heritage and a personal wrench for many.

And it made me wonder about other stories we might tell.

The Prompt

Write a story from the perspective of a non-human character

Tips







You could anthropomorphize the character, and make it mostly like one of us, just with a very definite and unusual outlook (a gargoyle might be more worried about acid rain than fire, for example) . Think of the Ents in Lord of The Rings. They speak mostly like humans, but they have their own perspective, style, and concerns. Terry Pratchett writes his gargoyle’s speech as if they have their mouths permanently open (probably a reason you’d never see one of those gargoyles as the main character in a novel. A little hard to read…)You could write the story from a completely non-human point of view. Show us how your non-human experiences the world. If you choose the latter option, be alert for ‘humanisms’ creeping in. For example in this piece, written from the perspective of a tree, the tree claims to feel the woman at its base ‘relax’. I wonder how a tree would know what ‘relax’ feels like. Would it even know the concept?To make sure you’re writing a story and not just a thought experiment, think about what moment of change your story can hinge on. In the tree story, we don’t really have a story, as such. (It was published in a forestry advocacy publication, so it’s fine that it ends with an exhortation to respect the forest, but it’s not really a short story). What is your character facing? What moment has the potential to change everything? What happens next?Donald Maass says that ‘plot happens outside, story happens inside’. Show us stuff happening, but also show us why it is significant to your character. What potential does it carry for an internal shift in your character? (They don’t have to make that shift. They can reject change. But that choice is an action.)Write a mix of observation (using all five senses, if that makes sense for your non-human character) and internal meaning. That doesn’t mean you have to give us internal dialogue. Remember you can convey a lot of meaning with the tilt of a head or a hesitation before a hand is outstretched.

If you share you story somewhere (and here’s why you might not want to) post a link here so we can come and read it.

Are you signed up for StoryADay May 2019 yet? Make sure you’re on the list and I’ll send you a prompt like this, every day in May. Leave a comment today telling us what your hopes are for this May’s challenge!

Photo: Sharon Mollerus

[Write On Wednesday] Support

Last week we wrote about connections. This week, an interconnected theme: support. We need it in our writing lives, and our characters are looking for it, in our stories.

The Prompt

Write A Story About A Character Who Needs Support

Tips







Your character may not realize they need support. This realization might be the ‘life changing moment’ that the story hinges on.t is happening and why it matters.Your character may have recently lost a source of support they leaned on (knowingly or unknowingly). This could be emotional support from a friend or lover, or literal support (the cliff/bridge/floor just gave way! Boom! There’s an exciting opening!)Your character may be resisting reaching out for the support they need. (Instant conflict! The lifeblood of any story.) Their resistance is internal conflict, which can be echoed by the external conflict of the person trying to help them. Don’t forget to brainstorm why they are resistant. What, in their past, has caused them to feel like accepting support is not OK? (This doesn’t have to be explicitly mentioned in the story, but it helps if YOU know).Remember, short stories don’t have to be told like mini novels. You could write this story as a series of memos, a list, a monologue, a mix of forms (like this story, which mixes an academic paper with the narrator’s reflections on her life)

If you share you story somewhere (and here’s why you might not want to) post a link here so we can come and read it.

Did you write today? How did you get on? Who did you write about? Leave a comment!

Photo credit: Ozgur POYRAZOGLU

127 – Finding Support

Finding support for your writing can seem like a weird idea; isn’t writing all about one person, alone in their room, listening to their imaginary friends? 

It turns out that support from other writers (with whom we are absolutely not competing) is a great way to advance your own writing. 

In this episode I talk about where to find support, how to make the most of it, and how to grow your network in the least-painful way possible, even if you are chronically shy.

LINKS

This week’s writing prompt: https://storyaday.org/wow-connection

It’s another new episode of the StoryADay Podcast

[Write On Wednesday] Connections

This month’s theme at StoryADay is about finding support in our writing lives, and that has me thinking about connection.

I have this thesis that writing is all about connections: connecting with another person (your reader)’s brain; connecting with the writers who inspired you; connecting with other people working in your genre; connecting with your past and future selves; connecting with the great web of human experience on this planet.

So today I want you to write a story that touches on some of these things.

The Prompt

Write A Story About Connections

Tips



This story could be about one significant connection (or missed connection) or it could be a series of interlocking or parallel connections.You might write a story like the movie “Sliding Doors” where multiple possibilities hinge on the decision of a moment. You might write three different people’s stories, all of them making different kinds of connections, and examining how each decision impacts their futures (or pasts, if it’s that kind of story).Use your brainstorming time to think about the kinds of connections you value and how you get support from the people in your life. How does each type of connection make you feel? What do you miss? How can you convey the emotions that come up, in a story?For bonus points, post in the comments here and find a friend to write a joint-story with. You could alternate lines, or brainstorm together, or each take one section of the story.

If you share you story somewhere (and here’s why you might not want to) post a link here so we can come and read it.

Did you write today? How did you get on? Who did you write about? Leave a comment!

Original Photo by Bernard Spragg

SWAGr for April 2019

Post your goals for this month and let us know how you got on with last month’s goals.

Leave a comment below telling us how you got on last month, and what you plan to do next month, then check back in on the first of each month, to see how everyone’s doing.

(It doesn’t have to be fiction. Feel free to use this group to push you in whatever creative direction you need.)

Did you live up to your commitment from last month? Don’t remember what you promised to do? Check out the comments from last month.

And don’t forget to celebrate with/encourage your fellow SWAGr-ers on their progress!

Download your SWAGr Tracking Sheet now, to keep track of your commitments this month

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Examples of Goals Set By SWAGr-ers in previous months

Write a story a day in May – everyone!Revise at least 10 short stories – IraideWrite two short stories. – JamiAttend one writers’ conference – JulieWrite fable for WordFactory competition – SonyaRe-read the backstory pieces I wrote in May and see if I can use them within my novel – MoniqueResearch the market – JamiFocus on my serial – Maureen

 So, what will you accomplish this month? Leave your comment below (use the drop-down option to subscribe to the comments and receive lovely, encouraging notifications from fellow StADa SWAGr-ers!)

(Next check-in, 1st of the month. Tell your friends!)

[Write On Wednesday] Stolen Melody

This prompt was inspired by Jennifer Wortman’s Theories of the Point of View Shifts in AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long”

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The Prompt

Write A Story Based on A Favorite Song

Tips







Choose a song that you know really well (this is probably something from your childhood or teenaged years, for reasons to do with neurology)You could write a narrative story based on what you hear in the song or, like Jennifer Wortman, you could do something really interesting with the structure (in her case, she interspersed an academic analysis of the song with personal reflections)You could write a series of linked mini-stories, 50-100 words, that show how three or more characters each interact with the song.You could use the song as a vehicle for a totally different type of story. Perhaps a drag queen is waiting in the wings to go onstage for the first time, to perform this song. Perhaps the song is being played at a funeral, or in the background while someone proposes…You could write a copycat story, using similar structures. For example, write something that feels like “American Pie“, but is about the defining public moment in your life (9/11? The moon landings? The moment the Philadelphia Flyers launched Gritty onto an unsuspecting world?)

If you share you story somewhere (and here’s why you might not want to) post a link here so we can come and read it.

Did you write today? How did you get on? Who did you write about? Leave a comment!

[Reading Room] Theories of the Point of View… by Jennifer Wortman

This story is a great example of a short story that doesn’t follow a narrative structure but succeeds anyway.

Its full title is Theories of the Point of View Shifts In AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long”

The Opening

This is one of those stories where the title serves the purpose of ‘pulling the reader in’ much more than the opening lines.

Just look at that title!

And the story goes on to deliver, with an academic, linguistic dissection of a silly song about sex by a gloriously shallow rock gods.

More than that, it delivers an actual story, as Wortman intercuts the academic dissection with reflections on the narrator’s own love life.

I knew straight away I was going to like this because of the humor in the opening.

1. The speaker — let’s call him Brian — is documenting the shift, à la Buber, from I-It to I-Thou relations, from subject-object to intersubjectivity. Confronted with his lover’s fast machine and clean motor, Brian can no longer maintain his stance as autonomous male subject gazing upon the Other. He and his lover merge; he is shaken.

Jennifer Wortman, Theories of…

For one thing, there’s an easter egg in there for AC/DC fans (the lead singer’s name really is Brian), and for another how can anyone read the words “confronted with his lover’s fast machine…autonomous male subject gazing upon the Other” without chuckling?

The Plot Thickens

Right after this opening paragraph, however, Wortman switches to another voice: the personal voice of the person writing this academic paper.

Was I not a sufficiently fast machine? Did I not keep my motor clean? I cleansed assiduously for you, removed hairs, performed ablutions. 

Jennifer Wortman, Theories of…

The story continues to alternate between the academic and the personal, slowly expanding the writer’s personal story even as the narrator tries valiantly to make a single-entendre rock lyric into a worth academic study.

And, of course, the themes she identifies in the song continue to be echoed by the questions she asks about her doomed love affair.

The Ending

Although the whole story walks a fine line between pretentious and hilarious, it has a real, poignant ending, with a sense that the narrator has learned something valuable, and been changed as a result.

I really liked this story!

Read the story in Electric Lit

Read more by Jennifer Wortman

Have you read this story? What did you think? Leave a comment!

126 – What Is Writing?

In your writing practice, what counts as ‘writing’? Do you give yourself credit for reading time? Revisions? Taking classes? Or do you feel guilty about now being productive when you aren’t adding new words to a story?

RESOURCES

Does Thinking Count As Writing: https://stada.me/think

Learning To Make Choices: https://stada.me/choice

Writing Prompts – Scenarios: https://stada.me/scenarios

Writing Prompts – Word Lists: https://stada.me/wordlists

Beyond Word Count: https://stada.me/track

Stay Excited About Your Writing: https://stada.me/excited

Write When You Don’t Feel Like It: https://stada.me/dontwanna

Leave a comment on this post: https://stada.me/126

 

It’s another new episode of the StoryADay Podcast

[Write On Wednesday] Magical Realism

This prompt was inspired by Amy Silverberg’s story Suburbia! which you can find in The Best American Short Stories 2018

The Prompt

Write a story with some magical realism in it

Tips







Magical Realism is a type of writing in which much of the story is realistic, but there are magical or fabulist (fable-like) elements. Real world rules need not apply to everything. (In such a story, if someone is wrestling with jealousy, a literal green-eyed monster might turn up and chat with them, without explanation. Just there, in coffeeshop, not causing a commotion…)If you’re new to this/uncomfortable with it, start your story the way you would normally start it. Let it grow and see what possibilities open up.The point of this exercise is to stretch yourself; to play with different forms and see what dimensions might be added to your storytelling. The beauty of short fiction is that it doesn’t have to follow the same rules as a novel. As you write, pay attention to the theme that is emerging and the metaphors you’re using. Can you take one of those metaphors to absurd lengths? For example, if someone has a metaphorical black cloud hanging over them, could it be a literal black cloud that follows them around? If it’s raining cats & dogs, could it literally rain cats & dogs? Perhaps your main character is lonely and adopts one of the precipitated kitties? (And if you’re wondering why all my metaphors have weather in them, I’m sorry, I’m British.)If you normally write fantasy, experiment today with writing a realistic story, and then see where you could introduce just a hint of fantasy, that ties in with the themes of your story. Or perhaps you could invent a new genre: reverse magical realism, where your fantasy has an element/character that is restricted to the physics of our world!

If you share you story somewhere (and here’s why you might not want to) post a link here so we can come and read it.

Did you write today? How did you get on? Who did you write about? Leave a comment!