Noticing Newbies: January 13, 2010 Issue [#3473] |
Noticing Newbies
This week: Test Characters Emotions by Freewriting Edited by: esprit More Newsletters By This Editor
1. About this Newsletter 2. A Word from our Sponsor 3. Letter from the Editor 4. Editor's Picks 5. A Word from Writing.Com 6. Ask & Answer 7. Removal instructions
Welcome to the Noticing Newbies Newsletter! Our goal is to showcase some of our newest Writing.Com Authors and their items. From poetry and stories to creative polls and interactives, we'll bring you a wide variety of items to enjoy. We will also feature "how to" advice and items that will help to jump start the creation process on Writing.com
We hope all members of the site will take the time to read, rate, review and welcome our new authors. By introducing ourselves, reviewing items and reaching out, we will not only make them feel at home within our community, we just might make new friends!
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Audition Your Characters
Test the Characters Emotions Through Free-writing
In a previous letter, you learned how to let your creative right brain turn a quiet voice into a character you could see and hear. Continuing with his development, we can learn what makes the character tick and what pushes his buttons. Give him a few lines of internal dialogue to allow the subconscious to find the same voice, then bring in an unexpected event to test his emotions. We can learn a lot about someone by watching his facial and body reactions to stress, anger, joy, frustration, fear, etc.
Let him choose his emotion with little guidance from you. This is important in order to show his true character. This exercise can be repeated for each emotion--determining what kind of person he is becoming. Think of your own emotions, especially if you're terribly upset and someone says, "Oh, that was nothing, get over it!" Can you? He might not be the person you thought he was going to be, but he will be real. Add a personality oddity to make him more interesting and real. A twitching eyebrow or jawbone might warn someone he is about to lose his temper; or add a limp to his gait that becomes exaggerated when he...? Look around and use people you know. People watching is the number one asset when developing characters that live.
Put him into a bad spot and find out how he handles it. If you stay with your usual genre it will be easier for you. For example, give him a situation that would happen in one of your stories. Perhaps another character walks into the scene and accuses him of cheating to gain a position they both want--such as The Main Character. Some writers develop a story around the characters at this point, and find it a helpful practice.
Audition potential love objects. Testing them to determine who deserves the love of the Main Character could be interesting and creative. Just because free-writing is fun doesn't make it a time waster. Exercising the creative side is important and it really works to make you a better writer.
Thanks for reading,
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SUBMITTED ITEMS
Submitted Comment: this news letter helps me out a lot! thank you! :)
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Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter! https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
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Comments on "Invalid Entry"
Submitted By: Adriana Noir
Submitted Comment: Great tips on character building. I'm gonna file this away for future reference. This is so helpful for writers of any experiece level.
I appreciate your saying so. I've written several for various newsletters, you may want to check those out too.
Submitted By: Da lVlan
Submitted Comment: I enjoy the letters from the editor section, and would like to say good job. But I have a Question that I would like to ask you. I have a lack of community for writing and that is a problem when it comes to getting feedback. Can you include a bit of information on how to get exposure and some places that may be a good place to find a community.
Thanks and much obliged. Dalinski.
Yes. The best way to get feedback is to post your work on several review forums. That's why they're there. You are usually limited to one item in one review forum, so spread the work among several forums. This will also help you decide which forums gives the most helpful feedback for you. Here is the list.
Submitted By: Morgan Adam Internet Problems!
Submitted Comment: I really enjoyed the newsletter this week! I used to do isolated character profiles all the time, but have kind of gotten out of the habit. Thank you for the reminder!
Great, everyone needs a kick in the seat once in a while.
Submitted By: katherinerose
Submitted Comment: As always Esprit, your articles are worth keeping. Thank you for your way of writing them. Easy to follow ideas and tips. I am always on the lookout for ideas on characters.
Music to my ears, Katherine! Thank you. If they are helping one member, then I've succeeded.
Submitted By: northernwrites
Submitted Comment: esprit --
Using a village/neighborhood/apartment building to test drive your characters by writing interactions between them is an interesting and useful idea. Process-oriented techniques like this are of practical use to more people than abstract directions. Thanks for sharing!
Northernwrites
Thanks, Northernwrites. I'm writing the type of how-to's that I looked for in the beginning of my membership and couldn't find. Writing books assume everyone knows the basics, but beginners don't. I hope breaking it into little pieces helps.
We always appreciate the feedback, thanks!
Editors:
CHRISTMAS cub-BELLS R RINGING!
laurencia
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