Method Writing

Constantin Stalislovski

There is method in my madness. And, yes, I had to write that. I had no choice.

I not only have people talking in my head, as most writers do, but I become those people when I write.

The great acting teacher Constantin Stalislavski taught actors to embody the character they portray. To use their own personal experiences to truly feel what the character is going through and become that person.

Writers can do the same, and I argue, should do the same. How else are you to write believable people?

Does that mean that I have to be a man to write from a man’s point of view? Do I need to be blind to write a blind character? A thoroughly evil person to write the cruelty of my antagonist? Obviously not. But I do have to understand that person. I have to be able to live in their head for a little while. To understand what they do and why they do it. I have to think like them, reason like them, and, on paper, act like them. It’s the only way their words and actions will ring true to my reader.

Do I do this for every character I write? I couldn’t possibly. I do, however, do it for every POV character I write. When I write from someone’s point of view, I need to be able to think like them since it is their thoughts which I’m relating. I, therefore, need to become them while I’m writing.

I thoroughly enjoyed acting when I was in college. Some even said I was pretty good at it. I expect it’s because I’ve got such a vivid imagination and can shed myself to take on the persona of another. And so I use that skill when I’m writing. It gives me a vicarious life that is nearly as much fun as when I read another’s work where they have written their characters so convincingly that I can live that character’s life while reading the book – where they employed “method writing”.

So how do you do this? (Because I am ever the practical writing teacher – it’s never enough to point out something in writing, but I’ve got to teach others to do it themselves). Well, when I was in college acting in plays, we would spend the first ten minutes of each rehearsal laying flat on our backs on the floor relaxing. We would relax every muscle in our body concentrating on each group of muscles so completely that our minds would have no choice but to empty of everything else. By the time we were done relaxing not only were our bodies putty so as to be able to take on the movement and stance of the character we were playing, but our minds were free of our own lives so that we could take on the life of our character.

I don’t do that anymore, I’m sorry to say (because I could probably use a good ten minutes of thorough relaxation). Instead, I think about the life my POV character has led. I think (and sometimes write) about their childhood, their family situation, the wonderful highs and horrific lows that made them who they are at the time of my story. I assemble the person in my mind and then place them in the situation I’m writing. I think about how they would react to all that they are going through in this scene. I engulf myself in this person and their life to become that person. To think the way they would. And then I begin to write – in the first person, no matter how my text is going to end up (if I need to switch to third person later, I do that when I read through and edit my work). This way I write completely from within that character’s mind as if what is happening to them is happening to me. That is truly deep writing. That is method writing.

How do you get deeply into your character’s mind? Do you try to become the character you’re writing or keep one step distant?

And just as little side-note, after I had the idea to write today’s blog on method writing, I looked to see if I’d ever written about it before. Turns out I have – exactly this week, two years ago! I wrote about first drafts and discussed, briefly, method writing. Here’s the link to that blog posting, in case you’re interested.