To all my fellow (self-published) authors out there...read my latest article on CultureFeast.com: "Networking 101: Getting Back To Basics" where I offer a quick concept to help you develop a reputation, gain credibility with your work and get the book in the hands of the most important people in our lives: READERS!!!
Click here to read the original article on CultureFeast.com.
~Bobby Ozuna author of Proud Souls www.BobbyOzunaOnline.com
Showing posts with label book basics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book basics. Show all posts
Friday, March 28, 2008
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Writing Dialogue: You Play The Part
Last night I was talking to some family and friends about my book, because naturally, when your passion is your art—well quite honestly—there isn’t anything else to talk about. One of the topics of discussion was the concept of dialogue. Primarily, they wanted to know how I created the conversations between characters. Now, for anyone who has attempted to write a scene, you know as well as I, dialogue can be one of the hardest parts of crafting any good story. Oftentimes when we are writing freehand or pounding away at the keyboard, what we interpret as clean, smooth dialogue, actually reads as choppy, blocked and essentially “fake” interpretations of how people actually interact with one another.
I remember years ago while Proud Souls was still in infancy form, running into this same scenario. In my mind I could see my characters interacting and it was as smooth as any scene on television. And to make it worse, after re-reading it (within MS Word), it still seemed to flow magically. Later, like I always do, I printed out my draft and later at night, when everyone would fall to sleep, I would read it aloud, again and again and the more I read the worst it sounded. I had fallen victim to the ever-present trap of formulating dialogue based on the concepts of good grammar and proper English. Needless to say I was stumped for lack of a better word and discouraged—more so than I already was. I stepped away from the scenes for a moment, continually taking mental notes however, preserving them within my mind for a later date.
One Sunday however I got my break. I have happened to become a fan of a show called Inside the Actor’s Studio, hosted by one James Lipton. If you haven’t seen the show, I highly recommend it. In an audience of Master’s Degree students, Mr. Lipton sits in a one-on-one session (so to speak) with many of the great actors of our generation. The environment is relaxed, allowing the guests to smoke a cigarette, have a glass of water, sit on a nice comfortable chair or by the end of the show, have a seat at the end of the stage, where they become readily accessible to the vast array of students and their inquiries. Knowing my passion is for writing and not acting (though I have been told to be something of a character myself) I realized something within the concepts detailed by many of the actors being interviewed. When on the subject of character development, and how so many great actors seem to take on the role of an entirely different person, insomuch that we believe wholeheartedly that they are indeed that person being portrayed on screen, many of the actors had a common approach to formulating and in essence taking on these roles. The answer was simple and I understood what I was missing within my writing.
When these actors are accepting their roles, based entirely on the producer/director’s concepts and visions and later a screenplay, many of the better actors shared how they immediately took on the role of their character, more importantly off the screen. The common consensus between these professionals was this: If they were to truly portray another human being, they would have to become that person for a moment in their lives, to see the reactions of the world around them and better understand their points-of-view and their prejudices, interests, likes and dislikes. And when they did this, they in turn, became that person they were asked to portray from the moment they accepted the role, thereby creating absolutely real fictitious characters.
And that was it! I understood then what I was missing in my own dialogue. If I was to create realistic scenes within my own fiction, I had to—in essence—become the characters themselves. Like these actors on the show, I accepted my role within the various characters of my story. And like an actor, I found a quiet room within my home, took my script or draft in my hand and with a pen, I began making corrections like a screenplay writer or director in a film and acted the scenes as they would appear on a stage. For instance, when the story opens with our hero Justin, sipping his whiskey on his porch swing, watching the darkness envelope his cabin, that was me. I waited for the sun to go down and I sat in a chair in the back of my home and I remained still and quiet, until all that encompassed me was darkness and solitude. In the scenes where Justin is interacting with Tessa Jameson, or with Reverend Polk or Ralph Parison, I took turns playing each part, studying the movements of my own body and natural idiosyncrasies while I spoke and relayed their dialogue. When I did this, I found a multitude of mistakes in my dialogue, much less artificial movements within my characters that indeed made my dialogue “fake.”
Take this example from Proud Souls. Without spoiling anything from the story, here is a scene where our protagonist Justin has his confrontation with the town pastor, Reverend Hillard Ray Polk. What I tried to capture within these few simple lines was not only voice (dialogue), but movement and internal thought process.
“You came here tonight for a reason son. I just want you to talk to me,” Polk said, searching for Justin’s face with his eyes. “Just talk. That’s all.”
In that example, Reverend Polk is addressing Justin in words easily interpreted as how one might talk. But if you notice, with the simple phrase “searching for Justin’s face with his eyes” it is easy for the reader to envision Reverend Polk possibly bending forward or moving his head side-to-side while he searches to make eye contact with Justin.
In continuing with this scene…
“I don’t know what to say,” Justin said. “Or where to start. I have so much anger running through my mind right now that I don’t know where to begin. I feel like I can’t see straight anymore.” He [Justin] ran his fingers through his long greasy hair and then scratched at his beard. “I don’t want to do it anymore.” I’m tired.
In this particular example we can [see] the character running his hands through his hair and then scratching his beard while he explains his feelings for the present situation. This particular passage ends with Justin thinking or saying to himself “I’m tired” allowing the audience to get inside his mental state to better understand the words he was [trying] to convey, being more than a simple I quit attitude, but actually an I give up state-of-mind.
And this state-of-mind is reiterated in a follow-up scene when Justin reaches a point where he wants to convey a message of potential suicide without ever saying the words And this was setup by the internal thoughts, movements and dialogue from previous scenes. Justin stood to continue his plea, waving his arms and hands in a manner of exclaiming his point. “They are dead! You understand that? I had a wife and a son and they are dead. Do you hear what the hell I am saying? They are dead and they left me alone here in this God forsaken world, to rot away, alone in some dirty cabin!”
Now I may never become a master artist at creating dialogue, but I do believe I have grasped a concept that is easily understood and can easily be applied by anyone wanting to add more depth to their interactive scenes. Besides that, when you are in the middle of a tough scene, working to find the right words to get over a particular hump, taking a moment to act out the scenes of your own story is one heck of a way to lessen the stress and quite simply laugh…
I’d love to hear what you think.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Creating "real" fictitious characters: Part I
Creating "REAL" fictitious characters, Part I: "Identifying With The Audience
Since releasing "Proud Souls" I have been asked many questions relating to my ability to create fictitious characters which appear very "real" and "life-like." As ironic as that might sound, I felt inclined to share a few tidbits of information and methodical rituals I partake in to create my characters.
When creating a new story, I never delve into the task "blindly." That is to say, I always have a general idea of how the story might turn out, but unlike many writers, I'm unclear as to how the story might end. I feel this is important considering we as artists should never limit our creativity. Let's take my story, "Proud Souls" as an example. I began writing the story and originally titled it "the Cabin" and I wrote the initial pages on a trip home from Seymour--the setting to my novel. I wrote approximately 14 pages and 90% of those pages were setting, with no character created. I had idea at the time of the draft if the hero of the story would be male or female and I wrote the setting and drew the initial opening to the story with a clear point-of-view. I did this because I didn't want to limit the story to a particular targeted audience. For instance, most romance writer's write from a female perspective, for females. This is not to say a male could not appreciate the emotion and storyline anymore or less than a woman could, but generally speaking, the greater customer base for romance novels is female.So, when the time came to begin compiling a draft for my story, I had to consider the audience and the make-up of the story, as a male character would have different emotional aspects associated with him as would a female. Now, I did write a female, who played a serious role in the life cycle of my protagonist Justin. Her name was Tessa Jameson. I will use Justin Olerude Bower as my example in this lesson however.
Step1: Identifying With the Audience
The first and most important aspect of drawing (as I like to say) or creating real characters would be creating characters the audience can identify with. I write character driven stories, not plot-based, therefore it was imperative that I create true human form on paper, and almost immediately, if I wanted to keep my audience interested and turning pages. I knew right away I would have to draw on basic human emotions that anyone could identify with, if I was to keep the potential reader interested—and I had to do this right away. Now, for those who have read my story (and I promise not to give too much away), you will notice I put lots and lots of emotions within the first opening chapters, which not only helped establish Justin as a character, but these emotions also helped lay the foundations for the theme to my story. "Proud Souls" is a story of loss and in order for me to establish a change within the character, one that will allow him to grow, I had to first draw the character at one spectrum of the character scale, in order for you to see growth and change later, which in turn helps push the story forward.
When I create characters I focus on emotions that are common to most readers. I have often said, a good fiction writer is one that has tasted the water from the well. You can't write about love, until you have had the courage to love someone more than yourself. You can't write about loss, until you have suffered and you can't appreciate victory, unless you yourself—the author and creator of the story—are daring enough to take up the call and challenges of life. Now, does this mean we should write stories that are targeted to particular audiences? Some experts will say yes, but I say no. To do this means you are restricting your own abilities. The stories I write, are the stories that have come to my heart and mind. But, a key element in any good story, again, is emotion. For instance, we (generally speaking) can all relate to love. In some way or another, even the strongest and boldest of men and women have loved someone or something in their life. So, to draw a character that is passionate about someone or something is easily relatable and the art or trick is to create vivid emotion on paper (that is another lesson). We have all experienced love or hate, sickness and health, financial accomplishment and debt. When I begin creating my characters I make sure to touch the senses, those of touch, taste, smell, sight and sound. For instance, let's say you have a character that is standing on the porch, overlooking some passing cars and watching the rain.
You could easily say, "He was standing on the porch when the rain began to fall, nodding hello to the passing cars. That is simple and easily understood, but another approach might be one that captivates and entices more than one sense—more than just sight. Let's say we tried the same approach but this time wrote instead:
"He was standing on the porch when the rain began to fall, waving at the passing cars. As the storm moved in he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, appreciating the cleanliness that comes with an evening rain. He smiled, feeling the first drops spray against his forehead."
In that example, we touched on sight (seeing the storm coming & passing cars), smell (cleanliness of the rain) and touch (drops against his forehead). Now, what I see for a character at this point in the story may be completely different from the next reader, but the commonality will be the senses, as we all can remember the feeling of raindrops on our forehead—for some this might remind them of a bad day when they were caught in a storm and for others a childhood memory when they played in the weather as kids. Either way, you have begun to draw on common emotion, and this my friends, is what readers relate to when getting to know a character.
For my part and "Proud Souls", Justin as did Tessa Jameson, both shared numerous emotions common to us all. Justin is a bitter man, with a hardened heart and he seems to wear the memory of the loss of his family around his neck like a heavy chain. Tessa is sensual and in tune with her more sexual side, something many people might relate to. Some of my readers won't identify with Justin, as they themselves have never lost a family member, much less a spouse or child, but they have known moments where life seemed hopeless and all remained loss, and if they substitute Justin's situation for their own, they will soon find the emotions that come with loss are similar, just weighed and measured on a different scale.
Practice this with your characters-in-progress. Review the scenes or opening chapters and ask yourself, despite the individuality of my character, what emotions does he/she have which can relate to my audience? Remember, you don't want to isolate yourself to any particular group of readers, especially if you write fiction. I myself love fiction of all sorts and when I hunt for the next great read, I try to taste water from the various wells along the bookshelf, not remain isolated to one row. You should always keep an open mind and consider not only yourself and your immediate target audience, but the followers of your genre in general. What emotions do we all have in common? What characteristics are common amongst the various nationalities and groups or sects? Try it… I think you will be surprised how much more "real" your fictitious characters become.
~Bobby Ozuna www.BobbyOzunaOnline.com
Since releasing "Proud Souls" I have been asked many questions relating to my ability to create fictitious characters which appear very "real" and "life-like." As ironic as that might sound, I felt inclined to share a few tidbits of information and methodical rituals I partake in to create my characters.
When creating a new story, I never delve into the task "blindly." That is to say, I always have a general idea of how the story might turn out, but unlike many writers, I'm unclear as to how the story might end. I feel this is important considering we as artists should never limit our creativity. Let's take my story, "Proud Souls" as an example. I began writing the story and originally titled it "the Cabin" and I wrote the initial pages on a trip home from Seymour--the setting to my novel. I wrote approximately 14 pages and 90% of those pages were setting, with no character created. I had idea at the time of the draft if the hero of the story would be male or female and I wrote the setting and drew the initial opening to the story with a clear point-of-view. I did this because I didn't want to limit the story to a particular targeted audience. For instance, most romance writer's write from a female perspective, for females. This is not to say a male could not appreciate the emotion and storyline anymore or less than a woman could, but generally speaking, the greater customer base for romance novels is female.So, when the time came to begin compiling a draft for my story, I had to consider the audience and the make-up of the story, as a male character would have different emotional aspects associated with him as would a female. Now, I did write a female, who played a serious role in the life cycle of my protagonist Justin. Her name was Tessa Jameson. I will use Justin Olerude Bower as my example in this lesson however.
Step1: Identifying With the Audience
The first and most important aspect of drawing (as I like to say) or creating real characters would be creating characters the audience can identify with. I write character driven stories, not plot-based, therefore it was imperative that I create true human form on paper, and almost immediately, if I wanted to keep my audience interested and turning pages. I knew right away I would have to draw on basic human emotions that anyone could identify with, if I was to keep the potential reader interested—and I had to do this right away. Now, for those who have read my story (and I promise not to give too much away), you will notice I put lots and lots of emotions within the first opening chapters, which not only helped establish Justin as a character, but these emotions also helped lay the foundations for the theme to my story. "Proud Souls" is a story of loss and in order for me to establish a change within the character, one that will allow him to grow, I had to first draw the character at one spectrum of the character scale, in order for you to see growth and change later, which in turn helps push the story forward.
When I create characters I focus on emotions that are common to most readers. I have often said, a good fiction writer is one that has tasted the water from the well. You can't write about love, until you have had the courage to love someone more than yourself. You can't write about loss, until you have suffered and you can't appreciate victory, unless you yourself—the author and creator of the story—are daring enough to take up the call and challenges of life. Now, does this mean we should write stories that are targeted to particular audiences? Some experts will say yes, but I say no. To do this means you are restricting your own abilities. The stories I write, are the stories that have come to my heart and mind. But, a key element in any good story, again, is emotion. For instance, we (generally speaking) can all relate to love. In some way or another, even the strongest and boldest of men and women have loved someone or something in their life. So, to draw a character that is passionate about someone or something is easily relatable and the art or trick is to create vivid emotion on paper (that is another lesson). We have all experienced love or hate, sickness and health, financial accomplishment and debt. When I begin creating my characters I make sure to touch the senses, those of touch, taste, smell, sight and sound. For instance, let's say you have a character that is standing on the porch, overlooking some passing cars and watching the rain.
You could easily say, "He was standing on the porch when the rain began to fall, nodding hello to the passing cars. That is simple and easily understood, but another approach might be one that captivates and entices more than one sense—more than just sight. Let's say we tried the same approach but this time wrote instead:
"He was standing on the porch when the rain began to fall, waving at the passing cars. As the storm moved in he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, appreciating the cleanliness that comes with an evening rain. He smiled, feeling the first drops spray against his forehead."
In that example, we touched on sight (seeing the storm coming & passing cars), smell (cleanliness of the rain) and touch (drops against his forehead). Now, what I see for a character at this point in the story may be completely different from the next reader, but the commonality will be the senses, as we all can remember the feeling of raindrops on our forehead—for some this might remind them of a bad day when they were caught in a storm and for others a childhood memory when they played in the weather as kids. Either way, you have begun to draw on common emotion, and this my friends, is what readers relate to when getting to know a character.
For my part and "Proud Souls", Justin as did Tessa Jameson, both shared numerous emotions common to us all. Justin is a bitter man, with a hardened heart and he seems to wear the memory of the loss of his family around his neck like a heavy chain. Tessa is sensual and in tune with her more sexual side, something many people might relate to. Some of my readers won't identify with Justin, as they themselves have never lost a family member, much less a spouse or child, but they have known moments where life seemed hopeless and all remained loss, and if they substitute Justin's situation for their own, they will soon find the emotions that come with loss are similar, just weighed and measured on a different scale.
Practice this with your characters-in-progress. Review the scenes or opening chapters and ask yourself, despite the individuality of my character, what emotions does he/she have which can relate to my audience? Remember, you don't want to isolate yourself to any particular group of readers, especially if you write fiction. I myself love fiction of all sorts and when I hunt for the next great read, I try to taste water from the various wells along the bookshelf, not remain isolated to one row. You should always keep an open mind and consider not only yourself and your immediate target audience, but the followers of your genre in general. What emotions do we all have in common? What characteristics are common amongst the various nationalities and groups or sects? Try it… I think you will be surprised how much more "real" your fictitious characters become.
~Bobby Ozuna www.BobbyOzunaOnline.com
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