I am just going to brag for a moment…My son played Daddy Warbucks in this season’s Community Play’s fall show, and did it brilliantly. One of my favorite scenes is when Warbucks wants to adopt Annie, and she turns him down because she wants to find her parents. Warbucks, who loves her, is torn between wanting her to be his daughter, and wanting her to be happy. It’s a powerful scene, without words, and David played it with vivid emotion…first loss and grief, to pure love for Annie, then a determination to make her dream come true. As I sat in the audience, I also experienced a mix of emotions – pride at his performance, sadness that he is growing up so fast, and joy that he would be proud […]
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Ask the Doc: Using Coloring Emotions to create unique scenes!
Question: As I’m writing my wip, I find myself having to describe character’s emotional responses (show don’t tell!) but it’s being difficult to be original every time. What is a good way for describing emotional responses with originality? Answer: I love this question because it’s all about going deeper with your characterization, and really drawing the reader into the story in a way that connects. I believe there are levels to portraying emotion. The first, of course, is the most basic, just the facts. “He was angry.” Of course, this is boring, and holds the reader the farthest away. Second level is involving the body. “Anger filled his throat.” Not bad, because we can understand how that might choke someone, but again, it keeps the reader at arm’s length, unable […]
Read the RestPrescriptions: How to Hook your reader Wk 4
HOOKing the reader – it’s essential for a great story. I was watching television with my children who have apparently been listening to me rant about hooks for too long because my son paused the show (yes, Tivo!) and said… “Mom, there is nothing sympathetic about this heroine that would make me like her!” Ah, the sympathetic hook! We’ve been talking about stakes in a hook, but what is at stake for a character will only work if there is also a reason to CARE about the character. Which brings me today to: Hero/Heroine Identification – Or creating Sympathy (and thereby creating connection with the reader.) We’re only going to read a book about someone we can, at least remotely, relate to. Someone we at least a little understand. Maybe […]
Read the RestSelf-Therapy: An Interview from the Therapy Couch!
As promised, yesterday, I wanted to give you all a look, today, into my own interview/characterization process. These are the actual rough draft notes from Reclaiming Nick – my interview with my hunky hero, Nick Noble: Identity: Nicholas Noble, quiet strength, pensive, narrowed eyes, distrustful, coiled power, well of emotions, Age 30 6’1, hazel eyes Who am I? I’m a broken cop. A man who falsely put someone in jail…well twice, really because the first time, I blamed my father for betrayal, when in fact, I know now he didn’t betray me. I knew it then, also, but as a boy whose mother had died two years prior, it felt like betrayal to me to see him in Adele’s arms. It was a bad moment – I hit my father, […]
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