Submissions for our Show Off Writing Contest: Love Story Edition will close at midnight EST tonight. Make sure you have your pieces in before then. Thank you so much for participating. Every month I'm overwhelmed at the response.
Pardon the terrible pun in the title, but today we're going to put our drawing skills to work in a simple and fun characterization exercise.
Why?
Getting a sense of your characters is one of the most important parts of writing convincing fiction. When I edit people's work, one of the biggest things that pops out is when characters don't act like themselves. One fiction writer told me you need to know everything from what your characters at for breakfast to what they would do if they passed someone stranded on the side of the road.
So in an attempt to get to know one of our characters better, I propose this simple activity.
You'll want to grab a journal or a piece of paper and a pen.
PRACTICE
Step 1: Draw an outline of your character.
You can see my outline to the right. It doesn't have to be perfect or very advanced. Just draw a large outline of a figure.
The bigger the better. You're going to be writing in it. Once it's drawn, you can write his or her name above the outline.
Also, if you don't trust your drawing skills, you can print out this picture. And if you're really brave, you can get a big sheet of butcher paper and draw a really really big outline.
Step 2: Write an important scene.
Fill in the outline with a story that's important to the character you've drawn. It could be:
- A story of something traumatic from their past. An emotional scar or wound they carry around, whether they admit it or not.
- A fantasy about the best possible outcome. How would they like their story to end?
Step 3. When you're finished.
When you're done, take a picture of it with your cell phone and post it in the comments (there's a little button that says +Image in the bottom left of the comment box. You can upload your picture there).
You can tape your character to the wall above your desk, and every time you look at her, you'll remember what she carries around with her everywhere she goes.
I have never thought about being a famous writer, although I think it might be fun to be a guest on the Tonight Show. A few months back I wrote for a prompt for a writing group I participate in. The prompt was, “Why Do I Write.” They didn’t want reasons like, “because I have time on my hands.” We were told to look within for the reasons we write.
Here are my reasons.
Why I Write
All writers find a reason to write. Have you ever considered what is contained in the short story we call a check? Where you live and where you shopped, how much you spent with a merchant and on what, it’s all there. Are you a person who likes old lighthouses, antique cars or nature? That information is there as well. How many short stories did you write last month?
As I get older and my memory fades I write because writing is a way not to forget. I write for friendship. When I can’t remember the name of a friend I knew I’ll be able to look at something I wrote and find him there, laughing, flying, playing or grieving.
I write for travel. When I can’t remember a place I visited or what it was like to be there, I’m sure it will be in a story that I contrived so I can visualize my adventure again and again. I write for hope. When my memory can no longer conjure the emotions I felt when I held my granddaughter that very first time, a tear stain on the page will remind me what it was like to see an angel.
I write for love. When I can no longer visualize my beloveds face as I watched her eyes glisten with love while saying the words “I do,” I will read about it in a story written by an unknown author who writes of love while hiding inside my computer.
When I stack what I’ve written it will be a delicate heap of papers in disarray, laughing with joy, crying with friends and whispering secrets, all while shouting of love and screaming about injustice. It is because I know of these emotions that I write.
I write when I’m lonely, creating characters that won’t forsake me. And I write when I’m happy so that I have more people to share my happiness with. I write so that I can learn. I write so that I can teach. I write because I have so much to say, and so few have time to listen.
I write because I can’t photograph emotion. The awe of witnessing the sadness of a grieving mother, or the innocence of a child’s trust can only be felt in my heart. I write so that my heart can communicate. I write because I have a soul that is kept in check by my conscience. I write because of love, because of loyalty and because of secret thoughts that life has taught me. I write because at a point in time I crawled onto this landscape and I saw the sun, the moon, misty mountains, and tranquil lakes, and the deep blue of the ocean. I write because I know there are those who cannot see this world.
I write so I can commemorate my life. Because I know my time here is limited, and long ago I asked myself.
“If I don’t write, how will anyone know I was here?”
that’s beautiful Angelo. I said a the beginning of a class once when we were asked that question that I wrote to leave stories for my daughter that I might forget to tell her.
After considering Michael Cunningham’s idea though. I did think maybe I’ve always written because I want to make something beautiful or true, to contribute to art in some way, but I was afraid to say that. It sounds conceited (and ridiculous) for me to think I can make great art but if I want to just contribute to the body that is literary art then maybe I can do that.
After reading your remark. I think good story telling, no matter why we think we do it, is both. I can imagine writing a story without thinking about who might read it, but I can’t imagine editing a story without considering the reader since at that point you are the reader rather than the writer.
Sorry to go on for so long. I’ll go draw an immortal picture now.
Thank you Marianne…and you didn’t go on too long at all.
“I’ll go draw an immortal picture now. ” Ha!
I like the idea of incorporating visual arts into one’s writing process, and writers should know they can just go at it, that the drawing doesn’t have to be “good.” It works the right brain, but a different part of it, which should spur creativity.
I was at a creativity workshop recently, and in an exercise we were asked to solve a problem by FIRST drawing a picture, without allowing our left brains to think about what we thought the answer was. To my surprise, as I started drawing randomly, the answer emerged in my head, and the drawing started to reflect that.
I’m experimenting with something similar, Patrick, and have experienced similar results. Drawing /painting / art are great ways to allow your subconscious to get activated to solve your story problems.
By the way, what was the problem?
Add music to the list! I find that sitting down at the piano is a great way to get the writing juices flowing.
I read that Michael Cunningham likes to listen to music before he writes, and that they music affects the stories. I was basically kicked out of a choir for being tone deaf (that was a trauma I should write about) but I still can see what Cunningham met.
I use music, Steph, but in a different way. I created a playlist of songs to help me with my latest novel. I’d hear a song on the radio or on my iPod and I’d think, “That’s how (character) felt when (scene). Now when I play through the playlist (45 songs) I see my novel unfolding with each song.
Oh, for sure. Me, too, Dawn! I also think that talented lyricists are among the best storytellers out there.
martha and the poison berries
martha and the red berries
my picture won’t work
In checking back, I don’t think mine did either. My phone doesn’t take pictues, so I just tried using the lowest resolution on my camera. Maybe it was too much. Oh well, it is on my blog if anyone is interested: http://writex3.blogspot.com/2012/02/drawing-my-character-out.html
Steph I’m glad to see you. I just went to your blog. I realized you hadn’t been on here in a little while. The forth time I tried to load it the computer told me that the image had to be approved before it would load.
How sweet. Thank you, Marianne, and I’m glad to see you, too. It has been a tough week )-: . I’m just now starting to feel my way back into my writing.
Hi guys,
I’m a new subscriber to this blog. Can’t quite figure out how to leave a comment other than clicking on the ‘reply’ button. And I wasn’t going to ‘reply to Steph’ specifically. Rather, I wanted to say I like this idea of drawing the character outline and filling it in with words. It’s a brand new one on me! I am working on a middle-grade trilogy – first book is out making the rounds of the publishers – and am working on the second book at present. So the characters are already there, familiar to me and yet I’m always looking for ways to ‘bring them out’ further, therefore this will be helpful. Thanks!
@Yvettecarol – I screw up in the comments all the time. Joe has magical powers and fixes things. And welcome! I learned about this site when it won the Top 10 award and am now totally hooked. Great ideas and super people here.
Yvettecarol, if you want to respond to someone’s specific comment, hit the “reply” button at the bottom right corner of their paragraph (next to the “like” button). otherwise, to make a general comment, go to the very beginning of all the comments. You’ll see an blank box with the header above it: “Add New Comment”. That’s where you go to town!
This is super fun community, hope you visit often! We’ll look forward to reading your contributions.
Sorry about that. Technology fail. It should be up now.
Here is my MC, showing off his catch from the back of his boat. I only summarized the “story” because a) I have it outlined already elsewhere and b) I can’t write with an actual pencil for very long anymore! 🙂
Super-fun exercise, Joe. Perfect for a Friday. Have a good weekend.
finally got it right – Martha eats bad berries on the playground
Seth.
First of all, Casey, you have beautiful handwriting.
Second, what a crazy, amazing story.
Third, I like how your drawing has only one hand.
Wowza. That was intense.
It is fun to see everyone’s handwriting! I agree with Joe, yours is very pretty.
I loved how strong your Martha looked in your drawing. She may be naive, but at least your drawing’s version doesn’t lack confidence.
Now that I look at it, she is kind of Amazonian. I wanted her to be big enough to give me room but I still wrote too much to fit on her, and I forgot the part about whether she admits it that she has a problem or not (I don’t think she would), or the story could end well for her. She would have to take up two pages. That was fun Joe thanks for the idea.
Amazonian. Well put.
I’m glad you liked it. Should we do these kinds of things more often? Combining art and writing? Does it help the juices flow or is it just a distraction?
I was very impressed with your drawing.
So glad you liked this. It’s kind of different, hopefully in a good way.
I can’t see your story Casey, could you possibly add it the regular way. Joe says it’s crazy and amazing so of course I want to see it.
Sorry about that Marianne. I had to scan it, and it came out as white on white, of course. Here it is:
“Lay your hand right down there, Seth” Eli said to his brother. “Just like that–and stay out of the way. I’ll give you something you’ve never dreamed of.”
Seth obliged his brother, out of curiosity. He expected that Eli might put something into that open, waiting palm.
“Now close your eyes, and when you open them, let’s see what you will see.”
“It better be a good one, Eli–”
Seth heard the whump and the crack before registering the flare of exquisite pain that come from his hand. He opened his eyes to see his hand severed at the wrist, and Eli dancing about with high-pitched, hysterical war-whoops, and his face wet with tears of mirth.
When their mother came out to the barnyard a minute later, Seth was screaming in perfect time with Eli’s laughter.
Oh how horrible, a psychopath in the making. That’a really crazy. I love the line “Seth obliged his brother out of curiosity”. Wow!
wow, that is quite a story. And only one hand on your figure really brings it home.
Very cool, Marianne. Are you writing a novel about her?
Thanks Steph, but no I’m not writing a novel.
What a trick to play. Kids can be masters of cruelty or the sweetest things on earth–or both.
Can’t read the rest on the side very well, though.
Mine said – and this is without spelling corrected or punctuation or things that I just left out at the end because it was too long.
Martha was a naieve girl who believed things others told her. When she was in third grade some of the other kids told her to eat the berries off of a vine that grew on the chain link fence at school if she wanted to be (smart – lined out) able to play kickball. She ate the berries, (and – lined out) her lips puffed up. Her friend June called the teacher, who called the EMS who took her to the hospital where she was treated for poisoning. She physically recovered but always after that she asked people questions like “Why do you think that” and “how did you find out about that” Other people offended by Martha’s interruptions.
Darn. A cliff-hanger. When will the novel be out, did you say? 🙂
Ha! Rex is just my imaginary friend whom (?) I write stories about to amuse myself. Long winters, what can I say? 🙂
Joe, would you mind putting up in the comments what you’ve got written in your drawing? I would like to read it, and I can’t read the writing because of the blur factor. Unless that was done on purpose, of course.
I second that motion.
You guys are terrible. I wanted to say no, that it wasn’t ready for public viewing yet, but I don’t really have the right to say that do I, since I make you guys bare your souls everyday in the comments. Alright here it is:
“It was a black night and he came home from a party still kind of buzzed. When he stepped in the house there was the kind of silence that comes after a recent loudness, and he stepped through the kitchen nervous, went through the door of the living room, through, and he was floating now and he saw his father’s study was open, the light on. Inside there he was. His father dead. Blood pooling around his face down head and Uncle Abraham sitting beside him doing nothing.”
…and?
What happens next?
!
Well, the short answer is, my novel.
And the long answer is (will be) the rest of my novel. 🙂
That’s good Joe. Why do you not like it? It’s just rough. I do think we should do this more often. I think it’s a good idea to use this kind of exercise on two levels.
The drawing is helpful to the brain, because it engenders creativity, rather macabre creativity in some cases here I might add. That a compliment I love macabre.
Also I think if we turned in our rougher stuff, handwritten, then we could see more of the process we use in writing. In each of these pictures, Steph’s, Casey’s, and Joe’s I can see so much about your writing that I didn’t see before. It’s very odd. There’s so much personality in all of these and they are all so different, and all so good.
It’s time consuming though for people who have a lot to do. Being retired I think everything is a good idea not giving a thought to how much time you all have to spend on stuff that’s even more complicated than writing.
Great points, on all counts, Marianne. If techniques like this save time on my novel in the long run, though, it might be worth it.
I think I may be doing something wrong, but for some reason I do not see the +image feature on the comment box. Also, I am not able to see anyone’s posted images.
I very am grateful to those of you who toed out what was in your drawing!
Can I not see the images because I’m using my iPad?
Hi Dawn,
It’s not there in the bottom left corner when you go to leave a comment? Weird.
I don’t have an iPad so I can’t test it, but I wonder if it’s a java thing? You might try it on a computer and let us know.
Excellent exercise! The idea of visually filling our character with baggage and seeing our characters in different ways is compelling and, as a former teacher, I’ll argue quite valuable. I’m going to be doing this when I get home. There may be color coding.