Put Yourself into Your Writing

Send to Kindle

Photo Courtesy of Wasfi Akab via Creative Commons

There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.

That quote—or variations of it—has been attributed to the sportswriter Red Smith, among others. I’ve thought a lot about it over the years, trying to determine whether the writer was (a) being funny, (b) over-dramatizing or (c) attempting to impart real wisdom. Recently, I’ve come to believe that C is the correct answer.

Good writing is about the mechanics. Great writing is about putting yourself into the words. Actors talk a lot about this—putting themselves into their character. I once asked a friend of mine who had studied method acting at the Actors Studio, “Do you actually become the character?” “No,” he said. That would mean I’m insane. Good point.

So, must writers become the characters we are writing about? No, but there are three things I believe to be essential if you want the reader to believe they exist.

You Must Understand

Without understanding, you’re doomed to writing thin, unbelievable characters. I should know—I’ve written enough of them. We all have. In screenplays, people always talk about a character’s backstory. Screenwriters spend a lot of time writing detailed histories of their characters, things like where they went to school, whether they have siblings, the kind of music they enjoy, etc.

Me, I don’t do that. I always start with someone I know or someone I’ve met. Sometimes, I create a composite. The point is, by honing in on a specific person, I’ve already got my backstory. To me, it’s a waste of time to create a fake history when there are so many real, interesting people in the world. And this is not say that I don’t embellish.

I might meet someone who is a little fidgety. For the purposes of my story, I will take that quality and exaggerate it. How about someone who’s always got the jitters? Now, imagine that this person defuses bombs for a living or, in the case of an old Seinfeld episode, is a moyel. Never let that guy near your son during the briss!

The real person is a starting point, an armature upon which to build your fictional character. In fact, unless you want to get sued, it’s probably better that you use a stranger rather than a friend. This way, you can imagine all the rich detail you will need for your story.

What about yourself? Well, that depends on two things: Are you interesting, and can you be objective? Or, as in the case of ‘This Is the End,’ are you satirizing yourself?

You Must Create Empathy

Without empathy, you got nothin’. Period. This is especially true for the bad guy. Did you ever watch one of those TV shows where the bad guy is like a cartoon? There is absolutely no motivation for him to do the things he does, other than the fact that he’s the bad guy. Characters like this are signs of a lazy writer. “I know! He’ll wear a black hat because, you know, he’s the bad guy.”

One of the greatest bad guys ever is Darth Vader. When we first meet him, he is full-on evil. But when you learn what happened to him, you empathize. You can’t help it. He didn’t start out bad. He is simply the result of the choices he made. In other words, a tragic character.

How does a writer create empathy? That’s not easy to answer because it’s different for everyone. In my case, I begin to see and hear the character as I write dialogue. Probably comes from years of writing screenplays. And in life, as on the page, people reveal themselves through dialogue.

The other day, I watched ‘Failure to Launch’ with my older daughter. Okay, it’s not very good, but it was a comedy and was something I felt we could enjoy together.

There’s a moment toward the end when the mother (Kathy Bates) has a heart-to-heart with her adult son, Tripp (Matthew McConaughey), who’s finally moved out. She tells him that she liked having him in the house because he acted as a buffer between the father (Terry Bradshaw) and her. Apparently, the couple had not been alone for many years while raising their son, and she was afraid that each of them might have changed too much.

“What if he doesn’t like me?” she says.

In an otherwise mediocre film, that moment was priceless to me. It revealed more about the mother than pages of prose ever could.

You Must Make Others React

One of the best ways to bring a character to life is to show how others react to them. I just watched ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ for the second time. Now, that’s a great movie. One of the themes has to do with how a person conducts himself in the world. It’s about behavior—what is normal and acceptable, and what is not only self-destructive, but hurtful to others.

Brad Cooper’s “Pat” keeps getting feedback about his behavior. And through this feedback, we come to understand when he is doing well and when he’s not so good. The same is true for Jennifer Lawrence’s character, Tiffany.

Although Pat talks a lot in this movie—and we can get a sense of his pain and frustration, it’s when others react to him that we really know the score. The parents, the cop, his therapist—even Tiffany. And this all gets flipped when he reacts to her. That’s when we learn what her deal is.

“So what do I do?” Write scenes where other characters comment on the main character’s looks, attitude, something they said that was funny or mean. Then go back to the main character and ask them to react to the reaction. “What do you mean, I’m a jerk?”

Blood on the Page

Getting back to the quote that started this conversation, what does it all mean? For me, it means that your writing must be infused with your blood. And unless you’re writing splatter gore, you won’t even make a mess. But with a much-needed transfusion, your writing will become vibrant.

Try this. Create a character based on someone you’ve met. Now, give them a disease. Too morbid? Okay, give them the winning Powerball ticket. Whatever the life-changing moment, write a scene about them coping with what happened. How do they react? What do they say? Try to feel what they are feeling. Remember, you’re going for real emotion—not just words.

Now, compare this to a character you created previously. I hope there’s a difference—for the better.

Related articles

Character Development (okinawawriters.wordpress.com)
Dialogue as “character communication” (gointothestory.blcklst.com)
On women, and empathy, and con games (robertjacksonbennett.wordpress.com)


Send to KindleLink to this post!