Rio Vista and Foothills Week Three: Scenes

Set the Stage

This is the part of writing I liken most to working on stage or interior design. It is also the place where a writer can really get a God complex. It is time to build the world characters play in.

In terms of the interior design aspect, I like to think of my scenes as the studio set the actors need to interact with. I fully admit, my scenes are much better since script writing a few times. Making a list of required props and realizing how much space actors have to move helps add plausibility to a story.

What would you tell a set designer if he were to build your props? Be specific. It is not so much that all of this needs to be written into your descriptions but your final product will be much better received if you have considered all the props your actor/ character could interact with.

Lighting and sound is important too. To set the mood in movies or stage the light and sound technicians adjust volume, add effects, brighten or dim the lights, and sometimes change the filter color to be even more dramatic. Think of your Scene Outline as directions for the technicians at your disposal.

Be as wild as you want to be! Movies, television and stage are still more limited than the written word. A scene written on paper is limitless in financial budget, it is only a deficit of imagination that can slow production. While makeup, CGI programs, set construction, costumes, and fire codes create hurdles for the visual arts, writers put the imagination machine into motion and the possibilities are boundless.

Exercise for class or group:

Use Scene Outline worksheets to pick apart descriptions.  Do this to your own work or trade with others. 

Exercise for Lone Writers: 

Use worksheets to build a scene for your story or recall important moments in your life.  Decide if it is easier to use the sheet to create a scene or as follow up to writing one out.

*Worksheets can be helpful, but over analyzing, can cause hang-ups in creativity.  It’s all about balance.* 

Rio Vista and Foothills Week Two: Dialogue

Week Two: All the Things They Say

If your characters are human they likely enjoy dialogue. We are a social species, we humans, and we are a little bit narcissistic too. Humans love to hear ourselves talk. We will run our mouths dry on a topic we are impassioned with. We have entire systems of education, and communities based on chattering at one another. So, what makes our characters any different? Purpose.

The dialogue in a story has intention. Whether the words we offer our characters to speak offer insight into plot or personality, they do have purpose. If characters are discussing the weather it should probably have some greater point than making small talk.

Exercise for Class or Group:

Trade Week One Dialogue assignments with another writer.  Write the dialogue for one another’s observed actions.

Was the description in the Week One Exercise enough to guess the mood of the characters?  If so, did you feel the dialogue added or reduced the flow of the ‘story’.  If not, how would you improve upon the description, what is missing?

Exercise for Lone Writers: 

Talk to yourself!  Walk around the house or sit very still, but always be looking in a mirror.  Let the dialogue flow.  Just be a chatterbox.  Soliloquy your heart out, or tell someone how they have made you feel and play the part of the other too, listen to the responses. 

Or

Maybe mom was wrong, eavesdropping could be good for the writer’s soul.  Play super spy at a public location.  Listen in and try to write down the conversations of those around you.  Note little nuances of speech and if there is a gesture or facial affect that goes with certain moods.

Rio Vista and Foothills Week One: Action Only Exercise

 I Promised to post this. Like I mentioned in class at Foothills, it is not what one might think is going on, but it was fun either way.

Week One: Action Only

 

Mike sighed and took the first step toward the diner door.  He scanned the dining area for the reason for his visit. 

He was seated at the counter, concentrating intensely on the cup of steaming coffee in front of him, a man in unassuming suit.

Mike slid onto the stool beside the man, and turned the clean cup in front of him over to accept hot coffee offered by the passing waitress.  He waved the girl on before she could ask the typical, managerially programmed questions.

Mike leaned to mumble to the quiet man. 

The man did not so much as tip his gaze from his coffee to respond.   

Mike tapped anxiety around the coffee cup.

The man in the suit offered nothing in his demeanor to betray his emotions. The man looked from his coffee to direct his attention on Mike.  Mike leaned away impulsively as the man’s eyes caught him.

Mike focused on his own coffee cup.  He wished he had not made contact,

The man continued to stare at Mike, the coffee cup forgotten.

Mike glared in the man’s direction a flash, but avoided extended eye contact.  The man smiled, showing teeth glowing white.

Mike looked away. Mike swallowed his trepidation.

The man sipped his coffee.  He made no exhibition of the heat though the cup was steaming.  The man tried to lock with Mike again. His smile wolfishly displayed.

Mike sipped his coffee.  His face contorted as the liquid scorched his tongue. He set the cup down.

The man raised an eyebrow; Mike watched it instead of the glinting blue eye below it.

 The man sipped his coffee.  His focus floated around the emptying restaurant. He drained his cup and tossed an assortment of change onto the counter.

Mike covered the coins from the passing waitress, she scowled but continued by.  He did not want to give the waitress grounds to send them away.

 The man nodded.

Mike noticed the attempt at eye contact.  Mike looked away then back again.

The man leaned away slightly.  He smiled and straightened in his seat.

Mike’s eyes darted around the diner. 

The man put a hand on Mike’s arm.

Mike drew away, slow enough, he hoped, not to draw attention to his alarm. 

The man settled his hand back around his coffee cup.

Mike worked to regain a more offensive pose.

The man seemed finally to reconsider the situation Mike put him in.  He looked Mike over; he nodded.

The man’s hand indicated an empty booth near the door.

Mike’s suspicion held him in his seat for only a moment.  His curiosity wanted to take the chance.

Rio Vista and Foothills Classes Week One: No Dialogue

Action Speaks Louder Than Dialogue

Dialogue is a great thing, it is also very difficult to perfect. Before even getting inside those quotation marks there is much work to do! The action surrounding any dialogue is often more important than the words said by the character. This is as true in writing as it is in life. You have been there, I am sure, in a conversation with a client, friend, or new acquaintance, and you are feeling things out. It is not so much about what he is saying as how it is being said. 

In life we watch for the little things, even if we do not realize we are watching; the girl twirling her hair as she speaks to her lover, the widening of eyes as a friend tells of an exciting night out, wringing of hands when waiting for important news. We all do this and we all watch for it. Why not make that as clear in our writing? 

The exercise in week one focuses on this process by taking away the dialogue altogether. Try it when editing a piece. Pull all of the dialogue and save it is a separate file. Does your story carry well without it? Do your characters speak as clear with their body language as with their words? Are your characters saying something completely different in action? These are all questions that make for a strong base to build dialogue upon. 

In some rare cases, dialogue is not even required to carry the plot of a good story. Take the example of Raptor Red by Robert T. Bakker. Paleontologist, Bakker, wrote the story of a young Utahraptor through the eyes of the dinosaur. With a main character whom has no distinguishable language the weight of the story falls on description alone. I read Raptor Red some years ago and was surprised at how wrapped into the characters I became. 

So, it can be done! This is not to say your goal as a writer should be to remove dialogue from your toolbox, only to imagine if you had to. Keep in mind as you work on exercises without dialogue to make note of mannerisms and emotional cues. You might find yourself reading people better too.

Rio Vista and Foothills Classes Week One: Everyone is a Character

Classes at Rio Vista Community Center and Foothills Aquatic Center have begun again! I am always so excited to meet new writers, and the Junior Authors class just gives me so much hope for the future. Class sessions are eight weeks long and each week, at least once, I will post the in class assignment and basics of the discussion. If you do happen to miss a class this is a great way to catch up. It is also just in case I got to chattering too much and didn't really cover the topic I intended. 

So, here it is, week one.

Everyone is a Character

One of the many things I have noticed as a writer is that my mother, and likely yours too if she was a good role model, was wrong. It may be rude to stare and tactless to point out the little ticks that each person you meet might have, but it is also how we make our characters breathe.

Exercise for Classroom or Writing Group: 

Have each writer choose one person in the room, do not mention who, write a detailed description of his/her mannerisms. Description of hair color, eye color, complexion and dress are okay, but this is more about the way the person behaves and carries rather than the police sketch artist interview.

Learning to pick out subtle gestures and twitches in each person you meet makes your characters more believable.  Have you ever read a book or watched a film, and thought; “oh I know that guy”, when a character enters with a certain something you have encountered?

Exercise for Lone Writers: 

Do you have pets or very young children?  Take the time to observe their actions.  Convey their emotions, needs, personality without the use of dialogue. Babies and animals have the most expressive faces and body language, making it easy to understand their desires if we just pay attention.

Or

Visit a crowded location - airport, mall, restaurant, etc.  Wear headphones or earmuffs.  The point is not to be distracted by the sounds, just take in the sights.  Choose a few characters and describe, in action only, their interactions.

*Note: If you wear the earmuffs, especially indoors during warm weather, noting facial expressions should be much easier.