  Drama
This week: Life is a Subway Edited by: NickiD89  
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| Like many of you, I've considered myself a writer my whole life. But in 2007, I shifted out of hobbyist mode, started writing for an audience, and embarked on the exciting journey towards publication. As I continue on that path and delve ever deeper into the craft, I feed an insatiable appetite for creative writing theory. I seek out how-to books and workshop experiences to augment and amplify whatever talent I possess. For those of you like me, here's a little theory to appease your hunger. |
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Life is a Subway
A subway car is a microcosm of life. Its riders are a random sampling of society, the characters in that scene from life's novel. Close your eyes; imagine you can see into the train car right now. Who are the people riding? Now, what would happen if a disaster struck, if the train suddenly jumped its tracks? The answer depends on the personalities of those people thrown together and the priorities and life experiences they each carry with them.
I'm a virgin novelist, as many of you know. I may be approaching the project backwards, but it's occurred to me that assembling my first cast of characters is a little like walking onto a subway train and picking out a handful of people to work with. As I get to know the strangers I've invited into my project, I'm reminded of a great truth in life: We're all struggling down our life paths.
Nobody has it easy in life. You can take five people, for example, and in the group have:
 A successful Marketing Rep
A gorgeous fitness model
A creative storyteller
A well-known entertainer
A Martha Stewart-style homemaker
But within that same group and in shuffled order, you also have:
A person paralyzed by fear of failure
A woman who kicked her cheating husband out but is afraid to divorce him and truly be on her own
A drug addict, in and out of rehab
A blind person
A first-time mother transitioning to the life of a parent
If you were sitting on a subway train with these five people, you probably couldn't guess which description from each list went with what person (unless New Mom had Baby with her!).
As I flesh out the characters for my novel, I appreciate the importance of acknowledging all the successes and failures with which a character is dealing. How a person acts and reacts in a scene is dependent on the combination of their conflicts and what they've experienced in life. I'm enjoying exploring what those things are and deciding how they will impact the plot of the novel.
Question For Next Time: What about you? When you start a project, are you more apt to know the personalities you need and build characters around them? Or are you like me and create characters who then reveal themselves in ways you didn't anticipate, so that you have to adapt the plot to accommodate them?
Thanks for reading!
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Question For Next Time: What about you? When you start a project, are you more apt to know the personalities you need and build characters around them? Or are you like me and create characters who then reveal themselves in ways you didn't anticipate, so that you have to adapt the plot to accomodate them?
Last Month's Question: What's your take on exclamation point usage? Do you agree? Have anything to add? Here's what readers said:
BIG BAD WOLF is Howling  -- (Submitted item: "Monsters Versus Aliens Sequel" ) -- Depends on the situation. Ahhh! Monster! Run!
Oh, it's just mother's lezangia. Think I'd rather face a monster.
Ouch. 
Quick-Quill  -- I do blog but not every day, week, YES!!! not even every month, it seems.
As you can see I do use the !! I do not say "Don't do that!" she shouted at me. or "What?!" he demanded loudly. I try to let the ! make the point.
I agree: if you use an exclamation point with spoken words like, say, "Don't do that!" I would leave off the dialogue tag altogether. Thanks for the comment!
bambigirl -- Thank you for including my item "Unhinged" in your newsletter! It means so much to me and I truly appreciate it. You added a "rockstar" moment to my day.
Lots of Love,
QuietLove
Best.Comment.Of.The.Month! 
2serious  -- That was helpful. It reminds [me] of growing up and being told not to use profanity because those words are just a cop out for inarticulate folks. I like a good swear word and overuse exclamation points. It will be a challenge to express myself without those shortcuts. Thank you.
Relying on exclamations and swear words all the time is taking shortcuts, but there are times when either could be necessary to make the character's voice sound authentic. I think the key is choosing the right time to indulge. Great comment, thanks! 
CactusWren -- I agree about the exclamation point. When I read prose and find a lot of them, I feel like I did as a substitute teacher grading 8th grade papers.
But wouldn't it be nice to see everything in life as something so important or wonderful that it deserved an exclamation point?
I agree!
Marci Missing Everyone -- I had a great laugh when reading your last comments about being an exclamation point abuser in real life. I am so with you on this!!! I love exclamation points in real life. I also agree with the use of this punctuation in writing. Thank you for the great article.
Thank you so much!!!!
Kanish ~ we got this! -- It felt as if you were talking to me!!! (oops :D)
I tend to go overboard with them when I want to show surprise/horror. Will keep in mind the last DON'T in particular. Will be choosy about it.
Thanks for the advice! :)
Haha, I was talking to all of us!! I know I'm guilty...often!
Pennywise  -- THANK YOU - I haven't wrote anything for over two years and "Tax Day" was my first step on my journey back. I was happy when I received good reviews for it, and jubilant when it won the contest and now it's made my weekend as it's been included in your newsletter too.
Not too bad for my first story of two years!
Not bad at all! Congrats on all the success, and keep up that momentum. Write on!!
See you all back here on June 12, 2013. Until then, have a great month!
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Drama: May 15, 2013 Issue [#5667]
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