Write Drunk, Revise Sober

Hair of the Dog - 3/31/10

2010-03-31T12:59:00.001-04:00

Write a story that takes place entirely in a moving vehicle.

Hair of the Dog - 3/30/10

2010-03-30T13:20:00.002-04:00

Want to create a strong villain? Think of Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken." Try writing about a singular traumatic event that put the villain on the road to villainy. Where the hero might have reacted one way, the villain reacts another, and that "made all the difference" as the poem says.

Hair of the Dog - 3/29/10

2010-03-29T13:02:00.002-04:00

How far would a parent go to save his child? Write about a child in trouble somehow and what the child's parents do to help.

Hair of the Dog - 3/23/10

2010-03-23T13:23:00.001-04:00

Write about a prophet or prophecy. It can be as mundane or esoteric as you like, and can take place in whatever time period suits your fancy.

Hair of the Dog - 3/22/10

2010-03-22T17:48:00.002-04:00

Write about losing something. It can be a person, an object, or even something intangible like innocence.

Hair of the Dog - 3/19/10

2010-03-19T11:50:00.002-04:00

Choose a minor or secondary character from a famous work. Write a story or poem from that character's perspective. For example, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is a play by Tom Stoppard told from the point of view of two secondary characters from Hamlet. How would a character only tangentially involved in the action perceive the events? Or if the character is directly involved, what is his unique perspective that wasn't shown in the original work?

Hair of the Dog - 3/17/10

2010-03-17T11:27:00.002-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Write about a tradition of some kind. It can be related to a holiday or special event, or can just be something that is done in the same way every set time period.

Hair of the Dog - 3/15/10

2010-03-15T15:26:00.002-04:00

Beware the ides of March! Write about the middle of something. It can be a place or time or book or situation or child, as long as it's middling in some way.

Hair of the Dog - 3/11/10

2010-03-11T17:19:00.003-05:00

Write something new using the first line of something you've already written. Use a portion of the first line if that suits you better, but at least make it a complete clause.

Hair of the Dog - 3/9/10

2010-03-09T14:12:00.001-05:00

Write a story that includes a device called Chekhov's gun. As per Wikipedia, "Chekhov's gun is the literary technique whereby an element is introduced early in the story, but its significance does not become clear until later on. For example, a character may find a mysterious object that eventually becomes crucial to the plot, but at the time the object is found it does not seem to be important."

Hair of the Dog - 3/8/10

2010-03-08T15:22:00.001-05:00

Start a story or poem with "The last time I saw Paris..."

Hair of the Dog - 3/4/10

2010-03-04T10:15:00.002-05:00

Write about school. It can be any kind of school from preschool through college and beyond, perhaps even a class being taken for fun.

Hair of the Dog - 3/1/10

2010-03-01T21:07:00.001-05:00

Write a spring poem.

Hair of the Dog - 2/25/10

2010-02-25T11:55:00.002-05:00

Write a detailed description of a location. Treat the location as if it were a character, conveying its outward appearance and its inner self, its aspirations and temperament. Include as much information as possible, and then revise it so that it is pared down to the most essential details.

Hair of the Dog - 2/24/10

2010-02-24T14:41:00.001-05:00

Write about the apocalypse or end times. Apocalypse literally translates to "lifting of the veil" or "revelation" so you can also write about something hidden, perhaps some falsehood or misconception, being exposed.

Hair of the Dog - 2/23/10

2010-02-23T12:46:00.002-05:00

Write about an unforeseen delay. Someone can be stuck in traffic, or waiting for a package, or due to give birth but the baby is disinclined to vacate the premises. What kind of surprising outcome might result? Is it fate or causality, and does it end up being good or bad for the protagonist?

Hair of the Dog - 2/22/10

2010-02-22T15:48:00.002-05:00

Write about someone who is pretentious. Or, if you'd prefer, write in the most pretentious style you can imagine.

Hair of the Dog - 2/21/10

2010-02-21T11:38:00.001-05:00

Write about the birthday of a friend or relative.

Hair of the Dog - 2/19/10

2010-02-19T10:09:00.003-05:00

Write about a disaster in which an incongruous secondary character appears. For example, in the middle of a pitched battle, the general sees a civilian man riding around on a small horse and wants to know why.

Hair of the Dog - 2/15/10

2010-02-15T10:56:00.002-05:00

Write about love. It can be any kind: between parent and child, or dog and owner, or even man and machine. It can be love for an object or love for a location or love for a season, anything goes.

Hair of the Dog - 2/13/10

2010-02-13T13:46:00.001-05:00

Write about someone who is guilty of one of the seven deadly sins, but denies it.

Hair of the Dog - 2/12/10

2010-02-12T13:18:00.002-05:00

Write about a case of mistaken identity. It can be you mistaking another person for someone they're not, or them mistaking you, or it can be a third party observing such a scene. Detail the mild embarrassment or wild misadventures that result.

Hair of the Dog - 2/11/10

2010-02-11T15:43:00.002-05:00

Take the last sentence from a book or poem you like and use it as the first sentence of a new story.

Hair of the Dog - 2/10/10

2010-02-10T12:36:00.003-05:00

Write about a small role that ended up having a major impact. It can be theater-related or otherwise. Perhaps an offhanded comment by a stranger led to a change in career, or a fortuitous wrong number prevented a suicide.

Hair of the Dog - 2/9/10

2010-02-09T12:03:00.002-05:00

Write about being rejected in some way. Maybe someone of the opposite sex rebuffed your advances, or you applied for college and didn't make it, or you submitted a story for publication and received a form letter that began, "We regret to inform you..."

Hair of the Dog - 2/8/10

2010-02-08T14:01:00.002-05:00

Write about a window. You decide what it looks onto, if anything, or who is looking through it.

Hair of the Dog - 2/7/10

2010-02-07T15:03:00.002-05:00

In honor of the Super Bowl, write a story about something super. It can be super as in great, or extreme, or high quality, or larger, better and more advanced. The super thing can be a person or an object or even a situation.

Hair of the Dog - 2/6/10

2010-02-06T11:12:00.002-05:00

Write the story of your own birth. Embellish if necessary. You may also write about the birth of a celebrity or person of significance to you, or you may use one of your existing characters or create a new one for the exercise.

Hair of the Dog - 2/5/10

2010-02-05T14:06:00.002-05:00

Write your own obituary. It can be as believable or fantastic as you like. If you're not comfortable writing your own, write one for a character you've previously written about or create a new one.

Let the prompts return!

2010-02-05T14:04:00.001-05:00

My, what a hiatus this blog has taken. No longer. Prepare to be prompted, prodded, and otherwise propelled into actively writing once again.

Hair of the Dog - 12/21/07

2007-12-21T13:34:00.000-05:00

Write a conversation from the first person perspective in which two people with different ideologies (for example, political parties or religious affiliations) discuss some contemporary moral issue. Then rewrite the conversation from the opposite perspective.

Hair of the Dog - 12/19/07

2007-12-19T18:07:00.000-05:00

Write a movie trailer for something you've already written, or for something you intend to write. Don't worry about putting it in script format; just go watch a few trailers and try to imitate the style, however it ends up looking on the page. Make sure you give enough detail to hook the audience, but not so much that you spoil the plot.

Hair of the Dog - 12/18/07

2007-12-18T14:56:00.000-05:00

One simple tarot card reading involves choosing three cards, which represent the questioner's past, present and future respectively. Pick three random tarot cards and do a "reading" for a character, basing your plot around the indicated past, present and future. Do not reference tarot cards within your work unless it is particularly relevant.

Hair of the Dog - 12/14/07

2007-12-14T21:45:00.000-05:00

Find a book or website that has the names and pictures of flowers. Prowl around outside your home or office and see how many different flowers you can identify. Describe them so that their unique characteristics can be conveyed to people who aren't familiar with these flowers. Try not to make the descriptions dry or scientific; the goal is to get to the essence of the flower rather than simply noting the surface details. You may want to include environmental details such as where the flower is located, what time of day it is, and so on.

Hair of the Dog - 12/13/07

2007-12-13T18:05:00.000-05:00

Take something that you've already written and rewrite it as a haiku. Try to retain the same theme and tone as your original piece. You don't have to completely rewrite it; you may use portions of what you previously wrote, but it may be more difficult to restrict yourself to the 5-7-5 haiku format that way.

Typically, a haiku uses two contrasting images of nature to represent big ideas like loss and love. For an extra challenge, once you're finished, rewrite your new haiku using nature imagery to represent the concepts you previously addressed. If your haiku did not have a contrast or conflict before, try to introduce one now.

Hair of the Dog - 12/12/07

2007-12-12T12:30:00.000-05:00

Because humans are very visual creatures, it's easy for us to get bogged down in descriptions of how things look while neglecting the other four senses. Describe something--an object, a place, or a person--without using any visual details; write about how it smells, tastes, feels and sounds instead. As an extra challenge, don't say what or who the subject is.

Hair of the Dog - 12/11/07

2007-12-11T17:40:00.000-05:00

Write about a time that you or your character had a revelation that changed your or his perspective on an event or situation. For example, perhaps you thought your friend's dad was a nice, quiet guy until one day you found out he was a serial killer. Or your character thought he was delivering a boring package to a boring place for his boring uncle, but it turned out to be a beautiful painting destined for a famous art gallery.

Hair of the Dog - 12/10/07

2007-12-10T16:55:00.000-05:00

Someone approaches you or your character with an implausible proposition--for example, the keys to a fantasy kingdom in another world or immortality for as long as you want it (don't use those, as they've both been done). How would you or your character react? What would be the pros and cons of accepting the proposition? What cost or trade-off would be required to seal the deal--murder? money? loss of youth? loss of freedom?--and would it have to be paid up front or over time? Would you or your character take the deal or not? Then what?

Hair of the Dog - 12/7/07

2007-12-07T14:11:00.000-05:00

Think about a piece of writing that has profoundly influenced you or your character. It can be a novel, short story, newspaper article, poem, play--any format so long as it is written. When and where did you or your character first read it? Was its impact immediate, or did it take several exposures to really hit home? In what way did it change how you or your character thought, felt or acted? Try to focus on a specific anecdote that illustrates the change, rather than describing general impressions like "it made me a nicer person" or "it made me more sensitive to my mother's feelings."

Hair of the Dog - 12/6/07

2007-12-06T14:57:00.000-05:00

Write about where you or your character were during a historically significant moment, and what you were doing. For example, many people like to discuss where they were when John F. Kennedy was assassinated, or when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, or when the first astronaut walked on the moon. Focus on your or your character's location and actions more than the important event that occurred simultaneously--we probably know what happened from the news, so no need to rehash the details like a history teacher. Just give enough information so that the reader knows what you're referencing.

Hair of the Dog - 12/5/07

2007-12-05T14:49:00.000-05:00

Describe the exterior of a building. It can be any kind--a house, an office, a store, a restaurant, whatever you want. Don't go crazy using architectural terms, or if you do, then try to explain what they mean visually. For example, don't just say "flying buttresses"; show what they look like. Make sure to use all five senses in your description rather than sight alone, excluding taste if you can't work it in. You can try to create a specific atmosphere or evoke a certain emotion, or you can simply make this an exercise in description.

Hair of the Dog - 12/4/07

2007-12-04T11:52:00.000-05:00

Write about a visit to a psychiatrist. This can be a monologue, in which you or your character works through things with or without implied prompts from the doctor, or it can be a dialogue or conversation between the people involved. It can be group therapy or a one-on-one session.

National Novel Writing Month is over!

2007-12-04T10:27:00.000-05:00

It has been a grueling thirty days, but National Novel Writing month is finally over. This means that we return to our regularly scheduled prompts and so forth. Enjoy!

The Pre-Drink - 10/9/07

2007-10-09T21:43:00.001-04:00

Some premises may sound like proverbs or platitudes. If you're still having trouble forming your premise, try finding a saying that at least comes close to what you think the moral of your story should be. Then rework it so that there is a clear cause and effect relationship within the statement. Bam! Instant premise.

Here are some good places to start your search:

http://www.manythings.org/proverbs/
http://creativeproverbs.com/
http://aesop.pangyre.org/morals.html

Remember: slow but steady wins the race!

Sobriety Test #2 - Premise

2007-10-08T17:11:00.000-04:00

The premise of a story is, basically, its theme. What is it about? Where does it start and where does it end? What is the cause and what is the effect? What is the moral of the story? The premise answers all of these questions succinctly but accurately.

One of the best introductions to the concept of the premise was written by Lajos Egri in his book The Art of Dramatic Writing. You can read the first chapter at http://www.writerswrite.com/fiction/egri.htm. His work was written primarily in relation to plays, but is applicable to just about any narrative writing.

The most notable things about his approach are his emphasis on premise as arising from character, and his notion of the explicit cause and effect nature of premises.

Some of his examples of premises include:

Bitterness leads to false gaiety.
Foolish generosity leads to poverty.
Honesty defeats duplicity.
Heedlessness destroys friendship.
Ill-temper leads to isolation.
Materialism conquers mysticism.
Prudishness leads to frustration.
Bragging leads to humiliation.
Confusion leads to frustration.
Craftiness digs its own grave.
Dishonesty leads to exposure.
Dissipation leads to self-destruction.
Egotism leads to loss of friends.
Extravagance leads to destitution.
Fickleness leads to loss of self-esteem.

Now that you have your protagonist in place, you can create your premise. Think back to the character's strength and flaw, his want and his need. If this is a positive story, the premise should describe how the strength leads to the achievement of the goal. For example, "Faith in friends leads to triumph over evil." With that statement, you've set up that the protagonist will succeed in his quest to defeat some evil by relying on his friends.

You can also think back to your antagonist's goal; whatever it is, the protagonist should probably keep her from achieving it, right? So your premise could also be a statement describing how the hero's strength leads to the villain's failure. For example, "A mother's love overcomes a kidnapper's greed."

Try to use your character's strength and need to create the premise for your story. It should be very brief, no more than a short sentence, and should have both a cause and an outcome. Keep it simple but precise; you can embellish with more details later, when we start to worry about plot.

The Pre-Drink - 10/5/07

2007-10-05T13:47:00.001-04:00

Now that you have a protagonist and an antagonist, you're finished with character stuff, right? If only.

Think of all the people you've met in your life: friends, family, classmates, colleagues, coworkers, and so on. Pretty long list, huh? And in their own ways, they've all impacted your life somehow, making you who you are and helping bring you to the place you are today. Thankfully, you'll never have to put that many people in your story, or even worry about defining them in order to create your characters. However, you will need to do some brain work to come up with the supporting cast for your story.

There are three basic categories of secondary characters: those who 1) help the protagonist, 2) help the antagonist, or 3) help the reader. Don't go crazy coming up with every minor character in the story at this point; just define the ones who will be most important to the character. You can work on the "extras" when you discover that you require them.

Characters who help the protagonist can be just about anything. Usually they will be friends or family who stand by your hero in his hour of need. They can also be the professor who provides a necessary clue to help solve a mystery, or the good Samaritan who gives him a ride when his car breaks down; basically, anyone who assists your character, in whatever way, to achieve his goal goes into this category.

Conversely, characters who help the antagonist (or harm the protagonist) can also be just about anything. They will usually be friends or minions of the villain, or simply enemies of the hero, and they are determined to get in the hero's way and stop him from achieving his goal. Perhaps the protagonist is being chased by the police for a crime committed by the antagonist; those police officers, even if they are good people, are helping the antagonist and hindering the hero.

What about this helping the reader thing? Characters in this category won't necessarily help or hinder the hero, but they will usually help the reader understand what is going on in the story somehow. They may explain vital plot points, or describe aspects of the setting, or they may exist mainly to provide the reader with a sense that the world of the novel is a realistic one populated with real people. Few characters will tend to fall into this category, as most of the people who would deserve any attention in your world should do something to further the plot, and would thus be either #1 or #2. But, say, a girl who stumbles on a spaceship sometime prior to the events of the story, thereby letting the reader know that aliens are abroad, doesn't really help anyone but the reader.

It's fine if you want to hold off on this until you have a better idea of what you need based on your plot. You don't want to create a really great minor character and then find yourself with absolutely no reason to include him in the story. But if you already know that your main character won't get along by himself, or that your antagonist needs some goons to do her dirty work, now is the time to develop those characters so that they can be as realistic as your hero and villain.

The Pre-Drink - 10/4/07

2007-10-04T14:20:00.001-04:00

Some people are better at remembering faces than names; something about having a live person attached to words on a page can make the name more realistic and more memorable.

And thus, your easy (relatively speaking) task for the day is to try to put a face to your characters. Scrounge around on the internet and find photos for (at least) your protagonist and antagonist. You can use movie stars as they are or as characters from specific films. You can find random people's vacation photos. You can even use artwork if you're so inclined, but find some visual representation for your character. Bonus points if you can draw it yourself, but that's certainly not required.

Enjoy the scavenger hunt!

The Pre-Drink - 10/3/07

2007-10-03T16:58:00.001-04:00

Once you have a firm handle on the basics of your protagonist (his want, his need, and his flaw) then you can move on to the next most vital character: the antagonist. This is the person who will, quite simply, oppose your character.

Unless you're writing a Bugs Bunny cartoon, the antagonist needs to be as realistic as the protagonist, meaning you have to know a lot about her as well. As with the protagonist, the antagonist will have a want, a need and a flaw. The good news is, once you've answered these questions about your hero, it's as simple as flipping the coin.

Whatever the protagonist wants, the antagonist probably doesn't; in fact, she probably wants the opposite thing, so you've already got that part taken care of. However, it may instead be that she merely wants something that would, by its nature, conflict with the protagonist's want. Either way, by already having the protagonist's want established, you're most of the way to determining the same thing for your antagonist. If you're making the antagonist an all-out villain, what she wants will probably be motivated by some vice or flaw like greed, envy, insanity, revenge, power, etc.

Assuming you are writing a fairly straightforward story, what the antagonist needs is, well, to lose. Alternately, you might say that the antagonist needs to realize that her want is wrong and that the protagonist's want is preferable. Or you can give the antagonist a completely different need based on her flaw. Which leads me to...

The antagonist's flaw will not necessarily relate to the protagonist's flaw, but her flaw will be the thing that eventually leads to her downfall. Whether this flaw is directly manipulated by the protagonist, or whether it impedes the antagonist in some other way, this is what will make the difference between winning and losing. Typically, the antagonist will be able to clearly see the protagonist's flaw, but not her own, and because of that she will never change. If you want your antagonist to be redeemed at the end, you'll need to make her aware of her flaw and give her a means to correct it, just like you did with your protagonist.

As a side note, I've noticed something about villains: It is likely that the antagonist will never truly comprehend the protagonist's source of strength. Because of that, she will underestimate him and he will beat her. This is something useful to consider when creating your antagonist, because it may give you an open door into her back story. For example, a protagonist who finds strength in his friends would lead to an antagonist who cannot understand why the protagonist would rely on other people for anything. This kind of antagonist probably didn't have many friends growing up; why not? Answer that question and you're on your way.

When creating your antagonist, use the same questions and template you used for your protagonist. Always keep in mind the basics discussed above, and make sure that they are supported by the rest of the details that you add to make your character more realistic. Few things kill the joy of victory so much as having a fully realized hero but a one-dimensional villain; after all, if the bad guy is made of cardboard, how hard is it to beat him? And how good does it really feel when you do?

The Pre-Drink - 10/2/07

2007-10-02T16:19:00.001-04:00

Since this week's focus is character, check out this website for an exhaustive list of questions you can answer about your protagonist (and other characters):

http://www.errantdreams.com/static/pc_questions

Some of the questions are, in a sideways sort of fashion, actually questions about setting. You may want to hold on to these for later, or you can answer them now and fill in more details when we get to Sobriety Test #3: Setting.

Don't let yourself be overwhelmed; you don't have to answer all the questions, and you certainly don't have to answer them all at once. Try tackling one group at a time, or just pick the ones you find interesting, or set a timer and give yourself ten minutes to answer as many as possible and skip the ones you don't know. You can always go back and change your answers, so don't worry about being right or wrong.

The more you know, the less you have to make up while you're actually writing your novel, which avoids potential conflicts and confusion. You'll also be better prepared when we get to Sobriety Test #2: Premise.

So load up on knowledge about your character. As the great Terry Pratchett said, "...a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance."

Sobriety Test #1 - Character

2007-10-01T17:12:00.002-04:00

Character and premise are the foundations for any story. Most of the time, the argument goes that character yields premise, but it's sort of a "chicken or the egg" question: you can start with a character and then craft a premise, or you can start with a premise and then craft a character. Either way, there are important questions to answer about both your character and premise.

Your protagonist, or main character, is the motivator of your story. Why? Because he is the one making the decisions that lead to the events in the story. If the character isn't developed, then the actions don't seem motivated, and the characters become puppets going through the motions at the whims of their master. It's tough to relate to a character that has no control whatsoever over what's going on around him or seems to make inconsistent decisions. It's even tougher to relate to a character that has no depth, no past, no defined personality and quirks. The more you develop your main character, the more the reader will sympathize with him and become concerned for the outcome of his story.

So what do you need to know about the character? If you know nothing else, you need to know:

* What he WANTS
* What he NEEDS
* What his MAJOR FLAW is

Those three things will create the premise for you. Unfortunately, those three things are not always immediately apparent, so it's usually easier to do some other work first. Let's try to answer some basic questions about the character, stuff that won't necessarily be included in the story but can be helpful for creating a realistic, compelling character. Try these questions on the protagonist first, then move on to the antagonist, then to secondary characters and so on.

1) What is the character's name?

I'm terrible about picking names. I always want them to be significant, but not cheesy; cool, but not so cool that they sound unrealistic; unique, but not ridiculous. Baby name websites can be a good place to start, because they'll often give you information about what names are currently popular and what weird names celebrities are using for their kids and so on. They also let you search by various criteria such as country of origin or meaning.

Sometimes it's best to pick the name of one of your friends or family or coworkers just so you have something to call the character until you answer more questions. You can always go back and change it later, no charge.

2) When was your character born?

Every year, Beloit College puts together a list they call the Mindset List, which includes a number of factoids regarding the students who enter college that year. For example, this year's introduction states, "Most of the students entering College this fall, members of the Class of 2011, were born in 1989. For them, Alvin Ailey, Andrei Sakharov, Huey Newton, Emperor Hirohito, Ted Bundy, Abbie Hoffman, and Don the Beachcomber have always been dead."

When your character was born can affect his outlook on the world, his knowledge of history and culture, his tastes in clothing and food, and many other important aspects of his personality. The good news is, you get to decide when he was born so you can pick a time frame that's convenient to you.

You might also want to consider the astrological significance of your chosen birthday. This can help you focus on specific character traits if you don't have a clear idea of what you want your character to be like. Scan the horoscopes and see if you'd rather your character be an Aries or a Libra, a Pig or a Dragon. Not only is this a useful tool, but if you get rich and famous and people become obsessed with your character, this kind of thing will become important and significant to them and you don't want to get caught with your pants down, figuratively speaking.

3) Where was the character born?

See above regarding outlook, tastes, etc. You can always make your character a rebel in his hometown, but be sure you know what he was rebelling against in the first place.

It's probably best to have the character come from a place you are familiar with. I am reminded of an episode of CSI: Miami, in which the main character visits a house in Coral Gables. To anyone who lives in or near Coral Gables, there was no doubt that this house and its neighborhood were most definitely NOT in Coral Gables. If people in your audience can tell that you don't know what you're talking about, you've lost them. However, if you're willing to expend the time and energy to properly familiarize yourself with a specific location, go nuts.

Also, you can make your character from a specific place, but set it up so that the character moved at such a young age that he doesn't remember anything about said location. It's cheap, but it works if you absolutely must have him come from a place you haven't visited. I don't see why you'd do that, but to each his own.

4) Where does the character live now?

See above. This may or may not be where the story takes place; if it is, see above harder. Also see Step 3: Setting for more on the subject.

5) What is your character's race/ethnicity/heritage?

This may or may not relate to both #3 and #4, but see both for details. Don't pick a heritage unless you are familiar with it, because again, you'll just end up looking like an idiot to people in the know.

Each culture has a different set of norms and moral imperatives, so keep those in mind when you decide what ethnicity to choose. In addition, race can be a volatile issue depending on the setting of your story; don't set a story in the Deep South and make the character Hispanic unless you intend for sparks to fly.

6) What does your character look like?

Write at least the basics: height, weight, eye color, hair color and skin color. Consider race when making your choices. Try to avoid really strange options if you're going for a realistic character, even if you're writing fantasy or science fiction. Exceptions are characters that are deliberately trying to be strange or rebellious, i.e. a teenager who dyes her hair purple and gets yellow contacts that make her eyes look like a cat's. Keep in mind, however, that the "normal" people in the story will not be overly accepting of an abnormal appearance.

The height and weight of a character will affect how he acts and moves. How muscular or athletic is your character? Don't create an overweight middle-aged character and then have him sprint after bad guys unless you intend for him to die of a heart attack during the chase. Likewise, don't create a tall swimmer-type and then have him collapse in exhaustion after minimal exertion.

Decide whether your character is attractive or not so much. Most main characters are above average in the looks department, but whether that is true for your character is up to you. This can also affect the character's personality; good-looking people usually have more self-confidence and are less introverted than not-so-good-looking people. Another popular trend is for a character to be good-looking but not know it; this is bordering on trite at this point but is still an option if you so choose.

Does your character have any tattoos or piercings? Again, this affects how other characters will react, and it can be a telling factor with regards to your character's personality.

7) What does your character do for a living?

The broader question here is one of lifestyle. Does your character make a lot of money or not so much? Does he like his job? Does he have a dream job that he idly lusts after or is actively pursuing?

A character's job can say a lot about him, or it can stand in contrast to his personality. Imagine an accountant who secretly wants to paint nude models, or a janitor who can do advanced mathematical proofs in his head. Or, perhaps consider an engineer obsessed with making everything perfectly straight, or an actress who immerses herself in her roles to the point of losing contact with herself. Whichever you decide, make sure it's realistic given your character's age, location and physique.

8) What is your character's major strength?

This could either be a virtue that your character possesses--wisdom, courage, prudence, mercy, honesty, etc.--or it could be a source of strength for the character, such as love for his children or a sense of justice and fairness. This is the thing that keeps the character from giving up when the odds are stacked against him and failure appears to be imminent (or it has already happened). Usually, this is something that the antagonist lacks, causing him to underestimate the protagonist's will to succeed.

Be very careful with this question; a trap that many burgeoning writers fall into is that they load their protagonist down with strengths and go light on the weaknesses. This kind of character is called a "Mary Sue" or "Gary Stu" and is typically an idealized version of the author, created to allow the author a fictional realm in which to be awesome and revered. All of us have fantasized about something like this at one time or another, but it doesn't make for good reading to everyone else. Try to pick one central strength, or a few complementary ones, and leave it at that.

9) What is your character's major weakness?

See above. This could either be a vice--lust, cowardice, greed, indifference, etc.--or it can be something that weakens the character like an emotional Kryptonite, perhaps a phobia that paralyzes him or the sound of his father's voice that makes him feel like a helpless little kid again.

This is the thing that makes the character fail, the thing that he must overcome in order to succeed. Typically, the events of the story will cause this flaw to be exposed, acknowledged, then squashed like a bug. Unless you're writing a tragedy, the character must change between the beginning and the end, and this is where the bulk of the change is focused.

For example, a proud person might not want other people to help him reach his goal (what he WANTS). By the end of the second half of your story, this character would understand that he is flawed and can't do everything himself, and that he needs his friends/family/whoever to help him reach that goal. He overcomes his pride and succeeds. Roll credits.

Remember those three things I mentioned in the beginning? The ones you MUST know about your character? This is one of them. Give this considerable thought before you commit, because it will be used to create your plot, if not your premise and theme as well.

10) What does your character want?

This is a pretty heavy question. People visit psychiatrists for years trying to figure this one out for themselves, and now you have to do it for your protagonist. The answer to this question will determine at least the first half of your plot, during which your character will spend his time trying to get what he wants. Think of it has his driving goal, the motivation for the story. It can be an object--Dude, where's my car?--or it can be a person, or it can be some outcome of events--revenge, workplace success, learning to use the Force, etc. Whatever it is, you must be able to clearly identify it in, say, five words or less. Yes, five is an arbitrary number, but the point is to keep it short and sweet.

Will your character get what he wants? That's for you to decide. As the Rolling Stones say:

"You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you might find
You get what you need"

Which leads us to the next question...

11) What does your character need?

This is even more important than what your character wants. Think of a toddler screaming at his parents in the middle of a grocery store: what he WANTS is candy, but what he NEEDS is a good spanking. It's like that with your character as well. He may know what he wants, but rarely does he realize what he needs until the second half of your story, if he ever realizes it at all. Your job is to figure out what he needs and see that he gets it. Maybe he wants to learn to use the Force, but he NEEDS to gain the maturity and discipline to use it properly. Maybe he wants to get the girl, but he NEEDS to learn to respect women instead of treating them like objects. Maybe he wants to win the big game, but he NEEDS to discover that winning isn't everything.

There are near-infinite possibilities, but as with determining the character's want, you must be able to define the character's need very succinctly and specifically. The two can be complementary, in that your character can achieve both in the end, or the need can surpass the want. Whatever you decide will influence both the premise and the plot, so don't go changing one unless you're prepared to topple a whole house of cards in the process.

There are many other questions you can answer about your character--Does he like coffee or tea? How often does he brush his teeth? Is he allergic to anything?--but these will give you the solid foundation you need to start thinking about the next step in crafting the novel: Premise.

Sobriety Test - Introduction

2007-10-01T17:12:00.001-04:00

Like most writers, when I decide that I'm going to write a story, I usually have one of five reasons:

1) I have an interesting character whose story I want to tell.
2) I have an interesting theme or idea that I want to convey.
3) I have an interesting setting that I want to describe.
4) I have an interesting plot that I want to explore.
5) I have an interesting scene that needs a home.

Saving the last one for discussion later, the other four reasons have to do with the four basic elements of literature: character, theme (or idea, or premise), setting and plot. Every story has all of these elements, be it short short fiction or a multi-volume novel, but the best stories are able to interweave them into a cohesive whole without letting one or the other dominate. Unfortunately, it's rare to have all four of these things magically appear in my head all at once, so while I generally start with one, I have to work to create the other three.

But how to approach that work? What's the most efficient and effective way to assemble these elements into the proverbial well-oiled machine that is a good story? Different methods are successful for different people, but here's my take on the subject, step by step. I'm assuming that you're writing a fairly straightforward story with a relatively happy ending; if not, you'll need to make some modifications to some of the points I discuss. Hopefully, however, this will be useful no matter what kind of tale you plan to tell.

Octoberfest begins today!

2007-10-01T16:29:00.000-04:00

No, not Oktoberfest, which technically began in September this year. I'm talking about the inaugural edition of our 31-day festival of preparation for that most overwhelming feat of literary abandon, NaNoWriMo!

We'll be starting each week with a "lesson" on a specific topic, and the daily prompts for the rest of the week will focus on that topic. By the time the month is over, each of us should have done enough pre-work on our novels that when we actually have to start writing them, we'll be practically drowning in ideas.

The one rule for this month, in keeping with the rules of NaNoWriMo, is that you absolutely cannot write anything that is intended for direct use within the novel. By that I mean you cannot write any scenes, excerpts, dialogue--nothing that would be copied verbatim later, because that would be cheating. All you can do is make notes and outlines and diagrams; NO WRITING OF THE ACTUAL NOVEL CAN BEGIN UNTIL NOVEMBER 1.

For more information, the NaNoWriMo website is http://www.nanowrimo.org/. Sign-ups should start tonight, barring technical difficulties.

Happy Octoberfest! Let the drinking games begin!

Hair of the Dog - 9/28/07

2007-09-28T17:11:00.001-04:00

Write about you or your character's favorite or least favorite holiday. Pick a specific occurrence that stands out, like the Thanksgiving that your uncle came out to the family, or the New Year's Eve that your character's dog was hit by a car. Don't let yourself get abstract or philosophical about it; just describe everything in as much detail as possible.

Hair of the Dog - 9/27/07

2007-09-27T17:43:00.001-04:00

Write about pet peeves, those little things that drive people crazy. People who chew with their mouths open. Drivers who don't use their turn signals. That woman? in your office? who ends every phrase? with a question? even if it isn't one? Dog owners who don't clean up after their pets. Pick a pet peeve and either go on a rant or write a scene in which you or your character has to deal with the pet peeve.

Hair of the Dog - 9/25/07

2007-09-25T16:18:00.001-04:00

Write about you or your character going on a blind date. Who is it with? Where does it occur? Does it go well or poorly?

Hair of the Dog - 9/24/07

2007-09-24T14:55:00.000-04:00

Use a nursery rhyme as the foundation for a story or poem. If you're stuck, use the first line as your first line and the last line as your last line. Try to keep any characters from the original rhyme, but modify them as necessary to fit your theme or narrative.

Hair of the Dog - 9/20/07

2007-09-20T12:54:00.001-04:00

Write about garbage, either yours or your character's. What gets thrown away? What does it look like? Smell like? How full is the trash can? How long has the garbage sat there? What does the garbage say about you or your character?

Hair of the Dog - 9/18/07

2007-09-18T13:36:00.001-04:00

Write about being drunk. Describe how things look, feel, smell, etc. Explore, if you desire, the reasons why you or your character got drunk in the first place, and perhaps describe the process of getting drunk and the differences between the various stages of inebriation. You may also want to describe how sober people interact with drunk ones, or how drunk people interact with each other.

Hair of the Dog - 9/17/07

2007-09-17T16:09:00.001-04:00

Write a poem/story/journal entry about arrivals or departures. Set the story at an airport, train station, bus stop, or at some other location where arrivals or departures typically occur. Your main character(s) can either be waiting for someone who is about to arrive, or waiting to leave. Who are they waiting for or where are they going? Why?

Hair of the Dog - 9/12/07

2007-09-12T20:25:00.000-04:00

Write about the actions or behavior of an animal. Be as specific and detailed as possible. How does it differ from the way a human might perform the same action or behavior? How is it similar?

Hair of the Dog - 9/10/07

2007-09-10T18:14:00.000-04:00

Think of a person you went to school with but haven't seen or heard from in years. Create a fictional story about what that person has done since graduating and what s/he is doing now. Does s/he have a spouse? Family? Job? Has s/he done anything remarkable or scandalous? How different is s/he from the way s/he was in school?

Hair of the Dog - 9/6/07

2007-09-06T17:21:00.001-04:00

Write about your name or your character's name. What feelings does it evoke in you/the character? What does the name mean and is that meaning apt? Is there some history behind the name--perhaps it's the name of a relative or a famous person or a character from a beloved novel? How do other people react to the name, if at all? Is it a popular name? Is it difficult to spell or pronounce, and has that been a recurring problem? Is there some nickname that is preferred, or is the nickname worse? What effect did the name have on your or the character's personality, if any?

Hair of the Dog - 9/5/07

2007-09-05T18:01:00.000-04:00

Describe your room or a character's room. Use as many specific details as possible: write about the objects in the room and their locations, the predominant colors, notable smells and sounds--anything that would give the reader insight into the personality and values of the person who lives in that room. Don't actually describe the person in any way; let the room do the talking and the let the readers draw their own conclusions.

Hair of the Dog - 9/4/07

2007-09-04T17:01:00.000-04:00

Choose an old saying or proverb and write about it. You can make it clear that you agree or disagree with the saying, or you can leave it up to the reader to decide. You should integrate the saying in some way, whether you make it the title or include it as dialogue within the piece. For an example, read "Mending Wall" by Robert Frost, which uses the saying "Good fences make good neighbors" as its basis.

Hair of the Dog - 8/31/07

2007-08-31T11:39:00.001-04:00

Write about a food that you or your character loves. What's so great about it? What does it taste like? Describe its look, flavor, texture, etc. Why is that food so special? How do other people feel about it?

Hair of the Dog - 8/29/07

2007-08-29T16:48:00.001-04:00

Write about something infamous that one of your character's family members did when they were young. It can be something from the distant past, or from a close relative. Your character knows nothing about this story, but it affects how some people in the know perceive your character. For example, neighbors might treat your character suspiciously because the character's great-uncle killed a local police officer, but the character has never even met that great-uncle.

Hair of the Dog - 8/28/07

2007-08-28T18:09:00.000-04:00

Write about a time when you or your character did something out of the ordinary. If you're shy, write about a time you yelled at a stranger in public. If your character is afraid of heights, write about their daring rescue of a trapped kitten on the roof of a tall building. If you usually play it safe, write about the time you took a chance and acted on an impulse. It can be something minor or something drastic, but it must have a profound effect on the events of your story or poem.

Hair of the Dog - 8/27/07

2007-08-27T17:10:00.001-04:00

Write about a time that you or one of your characters experienced deja vu. Try to make this either significant to the story or a way of developing the character. Is there any difference between the remembered moment and the actual one? If so, what is different, and why, and how is it important?

Hair of the Dog - 8/24/07

2007-08-24T16:34:00.000-04:00

Go to http://images.google.com/ and type your name into the search box. Pick one of the pictures that the search engine finds and write about it. You may use your full name, just your first name, or a nickname that you usually go by.

Hair of the Dog - 8/23/07

2007-08-23T15:14:00.001-04:00

Write about an argument. This can be an argument that occurred in the past, or is currently occurring in the present, or is expected to occur in the near future. It can be autobiographical or fictional. You can make it entirely in dialogue or have no conversation at all.

An interesting way to approach this would be to have some important underlying issue that is not being addressed, while the argument is about something comparatively insignificant.

Hair of the Dog Archive

2007-08-23T10:57:00.000-04:00

Here are some of our previous daily writing prompts. Enjoy!

7/26/07

Your favorite possession has climbed to the top of the Empire State Building and is threatening to jump. Talk your beloved item out of jumping by expressing your love and letting it know why it's so important to you.

7/27/07

Write a detailed description of someone at work. For example:

Old Florist
by Theodore Roethke

That hump of a man bunching chrysanthemums
Or pinching-back asters, or planting azaleas,
Tamping and stamping dirt into pots,--
How he could flick and pick
Rotten leaves or yellowy petals,
Or scoop out a weed close to flourishing roots,
Or make the dust buzz with a light spray,
Or drown a bug in one spit of tobacco juice,
Or fan life into wilted sweet-peas with his hat,
Or stand all night watering roses, his feet blue in rubber boots.

7/30/07

Write down an actual overheard telephone conversation - it might be someone in your family or a stranger on the train on his cell phone. After you've written the observed half of the conversation, write again, making up what the second person said.

7/31/07

Think of three characters or pick ones you are currently working with in your writing. Imagine that they all visit the zoo. Which animals will which characters want to see? Not care about? Watch intently? What will they say about their favorite and least favorite animals? How will they behave while visiting their cage/ enclosure?

8/2/07

Write about a visit to a fortune teller of your choice. This can be fictional, involving characters you create or are currently working with; or it can be nonfictional, involving you or someone you know; or it can be a mixture of the two.

8/3/07

Write a poem or story using the opening line: "It was the wrong house."

8/6/07

You or one of your characters receives a note/email/voicemail that simply states: "We need to talk." Who is the message from and what is it about? Does your character know (or think s/he knows) or is it a mystery?

8/8/07

All of us do things as a matter of necessity -- sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously, and sometimes consciously but against our wills yet still as a matter of necessity. Write about a time that you or your character acted out of necessity for whatever reason.

8/9/07

Write about the death of a famous person that strongly affected you or your character. Why is that famous person so important to you/the character?

An example, about the death of Billie Holiday:

The Day Lady Died
by Frank O'Hara

It is 12:20 in New York a Friday
three days after Bastille day, yes
it is 1959 and I go get a shoeshine
because I will get off the 4:19 in Easthampton
at 7:15 and then go straight to dinner
and I don't know the people who will feed me

I walk up the muggy street beginning to sun
and have a hamburger and a malted and buy
an ugly NEW WORLD WRITING to see what the poets
in Ghana are doing these days
I go on to the bank
and Miss Stillwagon (first name Linda I once heard)
doesn't even look up my balance for once in her life
and in the GOLDEN GRIFFIN I get a little Verlaine
for Patsy with drawings by Bonnard although I do
think of Hesiod, trans. Richmond Lattimore or
Brendan Behan's new play or Le Balcon or Les Nègres
of Genet, but I don't, I stick with Verlaine
after practically going to sleep with quandariness

and for Mike I just stroll into the PARK LANE
Liquor Store and ask for a bottle of Strega and
then I go back where I came from to 6th Avenue
and the tobacconist in the Ziegfeld Theatre and
casually ask for a carton of Gauloises and a carton
of Picayunes, and a NEW YORK POST with her face on it

and I am sweating a lot by now and thinking of
leaning on the john door in the 5 SPOT
while she whispered a song along the keyboard
to Mal Waldron and everyone and I stopped breathing

8/10/07

Take the song you are listening to right now or the first song you think of and write a story or poem using it as your template. Do not use any of the actual song lyrics, either verbatim or paraphrased, except as dialogue that is also dialogue within the song. For example, you cannot use "up ahead in the distance I saw a shimmering light" as dialogue for the main character, but you can use "you can check out any time you like but you can never leave" as dialogue for the night man character.

8/13/07

Write a scene from real life or in fiction when an ordinary person has an interaction with, or at least sees from a distance, some famous person.

8/15/07

Rewrite something you are unsatisfied with by changing the gender of one of the central characters. Consider how this changes the dynamic between your characters and the way they would approach certain conflicts. This may even lead to a different outcome to the events of the story; it's up to you.

For a greater challenge, take something autobiographical and give it this treatment. What would you be like as a member of the opposite sex?

8/16/07

In some movies, you see a news report that refers to something happening in the movie, only it gets the facts wrong or only scratches the surface of what actually occurred. Pick a recent news story and write about what REALLY happened.

An example: http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSCOL43279620070814

"U.S. troops care for Iraqi baby rescued from garbage"

Who is the baby? Where did she come from? Who are her parents? Why did they leave her there? What is her story?

8/17/07

Write about a moral dilemma. Try to write it from the perspective of a character who has a different moral code from your own, or choose a topic about which you are unsure of your position. Please don't write about abortion because everybody writes about abortion; it's too easy and too obvious.

8/22/07

Write about alienation. This can be autobiographical, about a time you felt alienated in some way, or it can be fictional. The alienation can be based on cultural or religious differences, personality conflicts, internal perceptions--anything that would make someone feel separate
from other people. You can also write about alienation as presented in a particular work of literature, if you want to try a research paper or close reading.

I swear to drunk I'm not god

2007-08-23T10:51:00.000-04:00

"A drunk man's words are a sober man's thoughts." - Oliver Reed

"Is there anything more beautiful than a beautiful, beautiful flamingo, flying across in front of a beautiful sunset? And he's carrying a beautiful rose in his beak, and also he's carrying a very beautiful painting with his feet. And also, you're drunk." - Jack Handey

"Drink moderately, for drunkenness neither keeps a secret, nor observes a promise." - Miguel de Cervantes

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." - Ernest Hemingway

"Often people display a curious respect for a man drunk, rather like the respect of simple races for the insane... There is something awe-inspiring in one who has lost all inhibitions." - F. Scott Fitzgerald

"If you ever reach total enlightenment while you're drinking a beer, I bet it makes beer shoot out your nose." - Jack Handey