Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

The post Recursive layering as I write ~ my 3 steps first appeared on L. Darby Gibbs ~ Author.

That depends on what you mean by character. Human character: I would say Mick Jenkins from books 1, 2 and 3. Non-human character: Puff from book 4.

Mick Jenkins: I really like Mick because he is a good mix of the tough old bird that won’t take anything from anybody and the kind fellow with a soft spot for those he cares about. (I always imagined he looked like Brian Dennehy. His face always came to mind when I thought of Mick.)

Brian Dennehy was the inspiration	f	or Mick Jenkins

Mick is used to being the boss, running the show, the guy with the last say. At the same time, he pays attention to people, and he has serious limitations that keep him from doing the things he wants to do, so when someone else is facing terrible loss or feeling frozen with uncertainty, Mick can sympathize. But he doesn’t approach the issue soft. He hits you where it hurts so that you know where the pain is coming from and can begin to figure out what will get you through it. And he’s not gentle with his own flaws either. He faces them head on. Mick and his better half, Emily, are the main characters in book 3, No-Time like the Present.

Puff – Book 4 ~ That’s the Trouble with Time

 
Puff: Well, that’s a critter of an entirely different type. Doesn’t everyone want that secret weapon, the seemingly innocuous thingamajig that in a tough moment can turn Doberman Pinscher on trouble when you most need it. That’s Puff. He’s a soft white frothy furred thing that can fly, squeak, cuddle and when needed tear the eyes and brain matter out of something with claws, high speed reflexes and no interest in asking questions.

In a sense, Puff is Mick in miniature and on split-second steroid injections. And he can hold your hair back in a mean French braid, which is what he does for his best human friend Sarrah Marsh.

The post A Stab at a Self-interview: Question 5 ~ Students of Jump favorite character first appeared on L. Darby Gibbs ~ Author.

Lately, due to my lighter teaching schedule, I have been reading a book a week, minimum. (Last year, a book every two months was my average.) Usually I will read a book to the end, waiting for it to redeem itself if it is less than engaging. “Maybe the writer needed more practice and the end will show improvement,” I tell myself.

Often even a book that starts off rough will, over time, gain its feet. The adage the act of writing improves writing and every writer gets better as they continue to produce often applies. But some problems will bother me so much that I will have to remind myself that redemption might yet flower if I keep reading. But I have given up on a few books.

These are the top ten which will, if enough appear, convince me to give up on a book.

1. Unnecessary sex – though it isn’t presented this way, it will have the effect of a quickie with a prostitute. I can ignore it once. But if it repeats, I will probably drop reading the book.
2. Unnecessary swearing – and even worse, if the swearing is the same word and everybody who swears in the book uses it and only that one word.  I recently read a really great book that had this one flaw. It was as if the characters kept saying “um” or “like” every few words. Made me cringe every time, but it did not make me stop reading because it was an excellent story and thankfully, the swearing was not a constant, just consistently repetitive and frequently unnecessary.
3. Introductions that tell how bad things are now without providing any real imagery, characterization or depth of story. Sort of a “by the way, first you have to know this.” Now you can read my story.
4. Too many characters with different color eyes and hair or stripes or accents, and that’s all I get to tell them apart. Everyone sounds the same.
5. One woman and every guy wants her or vice versa. And I don’t even like the character, so how am I going to be convinced every Tom, Dick and Harry will?
6. The story plods along, I realize I have been reading for half the book and nothing has happened, and I still don’t know the characters well enough to want to continue the journey with them.
7. The characters are really tense, but there was nothing to make them tense. Everybody is grumping along or sparks are flying every time they touch, but nothing led up to it.
8. Really poor punctuation and sentence structure. I can deal with an occasional missing word, an unnecessary fragment, etc. A good story is a good story. And many a time I and others will trip over our words while we tell about something interesting. We don’t lose our listeners and the writer won’t lose this reader for an occasional writing issue. The story is everything. But really bad grammar and punctuation skills can kill even the best story.
9. I put the book down (voluntarily) to go have lunch or chat with a friend and I can’t remember what I was reading. That is a really bad sign. I am about twenty pages into a book right now and have put it down twice. Both times I had to think a bit about what was happening before I opened it up to read more. Nothing is happening yet that is keeping my interest which is funny as the White House has just blown up, people are fleeing and a crazy man is on the loose. No real tension. The main characters are just walking away from the burning building.
10. Using known characters and relying on the reader’s knowledge of them to carry the characterization. That is not the way to create memorable characters the reader is going to care about.

#reading
#books

The post The 10 problems that will make me giveup reading a book first appeared on L. Darby Gibbs ~ Author.

We fiction writers attempt to create authentic character experience, largely from events we have never experienced. Of course, we often draw from memories to bring verisimilitude to our writing, but just as often, if not more so, we write of things we have never seen, touched, emotionally felt or responded to.

Writers attempt to create the familiar and unfamiliar daily. If we
are true in our creation, our readers will believe in the moment we
depict.

Writers attempt to make readers sympathetic. We
turn them into partners who can feel what our characters are feeling to such a
degree that, however momentarily, they are in the same emotional instant
of being as the character we painstakingly created.

In other words, our
readers laugh, cry, wince, tremble, and smile just where we want them
to as they read. Either the reader never experienced the situation or
they have. In either case, they deepen the connection through
imagination and through their own personal experience.

With
the desire to develop our characters so our readers commiserate and
celebrate with them comes the need to grasp the nuances of these unique
and often powerful incidents.

There are six main ways writers do this:

1. We talk to friends, family and professionals who can provide the needed information
2. We research by reading texts, maps, and internet sources, etc.
3. We seek the experience
4. We keep copious notes about what naturally occurs in our lives
5. We observe closely when others go through events around us
6. We draw from our imagination, using all of the above to produce something that has yet to be experienced by anyone

Consider the following list:

1. getting married/divorced/widowed
2. childbirth
3. being burned
4. breaking a bone
5. being hit by a car
6. falling a great height
7. sneaking/breaking into a home/business/institution
8. stealing
9. lying for the sake of survival
10. flying a plane
11. grave illness
12. flying in space
13. crashing a car/plane/motorcycle/boat
14. losing a limb
15. fighting a monster
16. being shot at
17. shooting someone
18. making a movie
19. abusing
20. being abused
21. building a house
22. crafting a work of art or necessity
23. fixing a machine
24. programming a computer
25. building a computer
26. running a country
27. taking over a country
28. assassination
29. jumping on/off a train
30. falling in love
31. hate
32. raising a child
33. teaching a skill or knowledge
34. running a plant/warehouse, business
35. running from an enemy/attacker
36. running any complicated machinery
37. running a marathon/extreme sports
38. climbing a mountain
39. hunting
40. dressing a deer/pig/cow/etc. (I don’t mean with clothes; however, that might be something a character might have to do, so perhaps that should be on the list)
41. cooking a complete meal
42. painting a picture
43. losing one’s mind/memory
44. caring for the elderly
45. raising a child with a disability
46. training a horse/dog/monkey/donkey/etc.
47. sculpting
48. treating an injury
49. designing clothes/interiors/architecture/etc.
50. drowning 
51. miscarriage of a pregnancy

Key:
red – events I acquired information about or observed from family, friends or professionals so I could use it in something I’ve written
purple – what I have personally experienced and may have used
orange – what I had no experience in but I did use in my writing and augmented through additional research
white – have not needed to know yet

Obviously, the list is incomplete and infinite in potential length.

We writers are busy creating characters who go through believable experiences. If you are a writer, what unusual or challenging experience did you have to craft for your work? If you are a reader, what experience did a character go through that captured an emotional and physical connection from you, that made you respond because it felt that real?

#writing
#research
#characterization

The post 6 Ways Writers Bring Verisimilitude to a Character’s Experience first appeared on L. Darby Gibbs ~ Author.

I read an article about the various distinct cultural nations within the United States and found it very useful for determining the underlying influences of characters in fiction. In this article which made use of the work of Colin Woodard, Matthew Speizer provides (This map shows the US really has 11 separate ‘nations’ with entirely different cultures) descriptions of the type of people who live in specific areas in the US and what their political/cultural viewpoints are built on.


At first while reading it, I was focusing on identifying where I fit in the demographics described. It wasn’t hard to figure out. I’ll give you hints and let you pick my niche: born below the Mason Dickson line, but raised into my teens in northern New England, I then lived several years in Oregon after finishing high school in California. My adult life was largely in the Northwest, with southern influences. 

Now that I’ve written it down, all I can say is good luck with locating my cultural position within these described “nations.” I might be harder to label than I first thought.  Blame my dad who never seemed to be able to stay in one place very long.


But my point is how great is this for determining the underlining influences for character building and interaction. Imagine a “Yankeedom” having to rebuild a demolished world with a “Greater Appalacian.”  Utopian leanings vs very constrained. The conflicts are built into the individuals and the “cultures” they bring with them.


How about a (space)ship’s captain with “el Norte” sympathies with a first officer who’s a “Left Coaster.” Plenty of room for common ground and still areas where the two would argue specific issues of “expression,” “exploration” and regulation.


In my SF time travel novel (book 3 of Students of Jump), Next Time We Meet, Mick Jenkins is largely Greater Appalacian. But the society he is now trying to make a home in is New Netherland in many respects. He wants order where they encourage a general “go with the flow attitude.”


I can see these “culture” breakdowns of political viewpoints as one more useful tool for building individual character behavior and interactive conflict between characters. As you design characters, consider where they fall in these niches. Support the influences with attitudes, heritage, and biases that add depth to the individuality of your characters.  

Follow the link to the article and take a look at it yourself.  11 Nations of the United States.


Do you see any of your characters falling under these cultural labels? If so, which character, which story, and what qualities most standout?


#culture
#characterization
#writing

The post Use these 11 “nations” of the US to create depth in the characters you build first appeared on L. Darby Gibbs ~ Author.

I moved all over the place when I was a kid, and I collected words and differences in pronunciation of words like most kids collected bubble gum trading cards.

Milkshake, cabinet, frappe

Even though these words reference the same thing, each brings a different feel to the image. When I think of a frappe being served at my table, the imagined tall glass of white is full of lumpy froth at the top with condensation on the glass so thick it is opaque, and the only places where I can see the milky fluid is where the fingertips of the waitress touched.  And the container is cold, and I cannot view it as any color other than white, with the smell of vanilla beans thick in the breath I take before slurping in the first taste of half air half tantalizing sponginess that sounds like distant firecrackers as the tiny bubbles pop against my lips. 

Tennis shoe, sneaker

I wore sneakers into my teens.  When I first heard there were shoes called tennis shoes, I thought I had to play tennis to wear them.

route: route (root) or route (rout)

Don’t ask me for directions unless you are prepared to hear me switch back and forth in my pronunciation of this word and not even know I am doing it.

aunt: aunt (ant) or aunt (awnt) or aunt (tante)

I only used the first two of this one.  I had two aunts, one on each coast.  I met them when I was a child.  I thought saying Aunt (ant) Sue and Aunt (awnt) Peg was just a case of that being their names, similar to Sally Ann or Jim Bob. Later I understood that they resided on different coasts and geography made all the difference.

submarine sandwich, hoagie, grinder, sub, Italian, hero, wedge

I can still remember when my family was moving from Massachusetts to New Jersey.  We had been traveling for what seemed like all day, and we went into one shop to get something to eat.  I looked at the menu and had no idea what they were offering.  I wanted a submarine sandwich, but there were none listed.  Would a hoagie taste good?  I was about 12 years old and thought this was probably the only place in the US silly enough to call them hoagies.

purse, pocketbook, bag, handbag

This one still gets me in trouble.  I say pocketbook and my students give me blank looks. They trust that I know what I am talking about, but they don’t know what I am talking about.

toilet, john, head, loo, porcelain pony, commode

I only came across the first three of these in my travels.  Toilet is my word of choice, but recently my husband was explaining what a room in the house we are building was and said “commode.”  My daughter looked at me unsure of what we were putting in the house. So I had to explain.

The second one I am very familiar with, but “john” is one I just can’t use.  Both my grandfathers were named John, my brother and my father.  But my mom thought it was quite funny to say things like, “John is in the john” or “We have several johns, are you looking to talk or use?”  My dad was a Navy man, and when out on the ocean fishing, he always said “head” but never in the house.  And he never referred to a toilet as a john.

What makes word choice so important? It adds characterization and settings if you are picking a specific region for your story. What regional words have you noted?  Do you know the reason behind their use?

The post Regional word choice: would you rather a frappe or a cabinet? first appeared on L. Darby Gibbs ~ Author.

Let’s face it, Ernest Hemingway does everything right, so I could focus on a variety of qualities in his writing and gain insight.  But for the purpose of this post, I am giving my attention to his use of theme, so I am turning to the high school standard read The Old Man and the Sea.

Loyalty, respect, not giving up, creating one’s own luck, appreciation for life: these are all themes that apply to this book. 

These themes appear in the relationship between the boy and old Santiago.  Their reliance on each other is exemplified in the way they play out the fiction of their hopes versus the conditions of their reality.

“What do you have to eat?” the boy asked.
“A pot of yellow rice with fish. Do you want some?”
“No.  I will eat at home.  Do you want me to make the fire?”
“No.  I will make it later on.  Or I may eat the rice cold.”
“May I take the cast net?”
“Of course.”
There was no cast net and the boy remembered when they had sold it. But they went through this fiction every day. There was no pot of yellow rice and fish and the boy knew this too.

There is loyalty and respect in this exchange, but it also is imbued with not giving up.  The boy does not see the man as not facing the truth.  He sees that the old man will not approach life with a view that there is only poverty to discuss.  He will act as if all is as it should be because it will soon be so even if it does not appear to be likely.

The boy brings the old man food and wakes him up to eat.  And the old man questions him about where the food comes from.  He then asks the boy if they should eat.

“I have been asking you to,” the boy told him gently.  “I have not wished to open the container until  you were ready.”
“I am ready now,” the old man said.  “I only needed time to wash.”
Where did you wash? the boy thought.  The village water supply was two streets down the road.  I must have water here for him, the boy thought, and soap and a good towel.  Why am I so thoughtless?  I must get him another shirt and a jacket for the winter and some sort of shoes and another blanket.

In these two examples, the love the boy has for the old man is clear, and the depth of his loyalty to him is shown in the boy’s effort to see that he eats and the remorse the boy feels for not providing better for him.  The fisherman was his teacher and mentor, and though now he cannot fish with him because the old man’s luck is not good, the boy has not let go of the respect he feels for him and the obligation that comes with having received training that will allow him to make his own luck in the harsh fishing life the two lead.

Hemingway followed a natural path of behavior for these two characters and by staying tight to the simplicity of their honest relationship, he cast hope in what was hopeless.  It had been 84 days since the old man had caught a fish.  Strength, the help of the boy, respect from many of the villagers and the chance of catching any fish were falling away.  There was no great hope that he would break his streak of bad luck, and over the run of the story that lack of chance follows the arc from bad to worse because in the moment of triumph there is also a longer run of defeat.  Yet by the end of the story, the reader is still left with the hope the old man and boy have sustained.

Santiago loses his great fish, but he never loses the boy, the boy’s respect nor his loyalty.  In the village, there is more respect for him though he returns with little to show for all his effort.  Hemingway built a deep, reliable underpinning through the relationship between the boy and the old man.  Through characterization he supported multiple themes and left the reader somber but hopeful in the way the old man was always hopeful because it may not appear that all will be well but it will soon be.  That is the only view the boy will allow: “You must get well fast for there is much that I can learn and you can teach me everything.“

#writing

The post Learning from the masters series: Ernest Hemingway carries theme first appeared on L. Darby Gibbs ~ Author.

building character from within

The post Learning from the Masters: Orson Scott Card and character perception first appeared on L. Darby Gibbs ~ Author.