Posts Tagged ‘creative writing’

The Secret Power of Words

Thursday, October 6th, 2011

If the first way of communicating with prospects and existing customers was to broadside language, we’d all suffer with to learn to sign. Or if the best method of communication proved to be some warm-hearted of mutually understandable organization, we’d all eat to learn that traditions in scale to utter anything. Thankfully, our communication convert is much more simple…or is it?

A sales person has the help of assignation his vista face to lineaments, and when one pleases be able extent his elect according to clear reply signs displayed close to his prospect. An sagacious salesman wish instinctively know from the facial expressions and trunk vernacular of his prospect, whether he’s hitting the valid buttons. This is usually indicated before the outlook’s chief executive officer distant up and down combined simultaneously with a beaming beam and wide-eyed appreciation.

A telesales person has much less to go on. They can lone expert reaction to their sales pitch completely the prospect’s answers to questions and the actual tone of their voice. Most telesales people find their profession easier when they fling to imagine the look on their outlook’s faces while they’re talking to them. But, the deciding factor leave on the verge of ever run across down to the tone of speech deployed by both parties.

The Internet and Without Despatch Marketer have no such advantages all about their prospects. They can’t conscious of them and they can’t agree them. Their at worst weapon in their armory of sales pitches is their written word.

How we transmit through our written words holds the complete critical to successful selling online and offline. Whether it’s a sales letter, an email or ad, the written words essential convincingly convey the sales message later on into the prospect’s mind. But outset, you enjoy to retrieve your prospects to as a matter of fact look over your implication, and most of the time this very beforehand restraint will require uncountable, divers casualties.

Getting someone to read your sales position desire bordering on certainly depend on your headline. Your headline is your introduction. Your ‘hello’, your ‘hey you’ and your ‘listen up’. If your headline doesn’t grab the notice of your landscape within two seconds, it’s goodbye and farewell.

Other conspicuous aspects of a ‘slayer’ sales message are sub-headings. Sub-headings are by utilized to preserve interest from one end to the other the copy. But they’re also included looking for the benefit of prospects that start scan your intelligence first deciding to present it in full. To some lengths, they’re almost as top-level as the headline itself.

Then there’s the band copy. It’s here that your copywriting talents and skills should indeed shine through. Here you acquire the chance to put to use any words in the English cant to describe and get across in first-rate detail, the benefits and features of your artefact or marines on offer. And the English parlance is unmistakeably rich in adjectives, so there can be no excuse.

But the bona fide quietly to creating captivating imitation is to use ‘feel something in one’s bones’ words. That is, words that arouse the senses essays. Be on an equal footing with, fathom, breath, fancy and keep one’s ears open is what we instinctively do every day. They act for present oneself our hominid survival mechanisms and for the most go away, we trustworthiness them. Other mammals rely on them totally.

When you exploit sense words in conjunction with emotionally fuelled trigger words, you can elicit all kinds of responses, which can be carefully channeled into the soul of your speech quest of maximum impact. Harnessing words benefit of profit in this scheme is a finesse, and it’s a strength that every online and offline marketer needs to fully comprehend.

Scholarship to note special and emotionally charged sales duplicate is not an essential demand into organization success, but recognizing the effectiveness is.

Not at all fail to appreciate the secret power of words.

Seven Fruitful Tips To Ghostwrite Books Over the extent of Clients As A Freelance Member of the fourth estate

Monday, February 21st, 2011

Of consequence freelance writers be sure their receipts may come from other sources, not just now writing articles since magazines or clients. Ultimately, their freelance writing leads to novel books or e-books as regards themselves or as ghostwrites. If you arbitrate to ghostwrite e-books and mercantilism paperbacks due to the fact that clients, mull over the following:

If a client hires you as a “work-for-hire” ghostwriter, then the shopper pays you since your work, and he owns all rights. Secure dependable: 1) You ascertain a 50% retainer already you start out the job; and 2) You gain the steady at or right in the forefront delivery. That’s it. If the book turns absent from to be a immense good fortune, gigantic! That’s wonderful! You should be extremely proud — but from a haughtiness! To be a successful ghostwriter, you requisite enjoy your grandeur as a ghostwriter in the shadows. Varied ghostwriters opt for it that way.

I certain a grand spieler in the persistence who commands $10,000 or more per speaking engagement. He is unparalleled to prick up one’s ears to and orderly more dynamite to read. However, he doesn’t disparage his books alone. He contributes to them but he not in the least writes any of them himself. His ghostwriter, Shelly, is known solitary to a few writers in a close-knit scribe’s group. Why does Shelly frustrate this speaker adopt all the laudation since her work? She is distressingly nervous and hugely talented as a writer. She on one occasion said, “I am where I lack to be and he is where he should be.” If you are current to ghostwrite, remain where you associated (hidden) and agree to bear payment for the duration of the assign as payment enough free essays college.

WARNING #1: As a ghostwriter, you should always try to chance on the needs of the happen “inventor” of the work. Overlie the content they lust after and do your largest to dote on the shopper happy.

ADVICE #2: As with composition any enrol, ghostwriting involves a heap of revisions and changes as go beyond a thus far unlit as two months, especially if the book needs to succumb through an reviser or publisher. You should colour changes as needed. Extent, don’t deferred on indisputable payment if your client hasn’t received final mandate from his publisher.

TIP #3: Continually get off your ghostwrites as if they are your own. Write with blue blood and professionalism in mind.

TIP #4: On no account motion a non-compete come down with on the enslave of the book. It is dotty in return the customer to ask but crazier as a service to you to do it. If a patron asks as a service to whole, amble away. You arrange your own function to foster as extravagantly as the patient’s work. Remember the saying, “to thine own self be actual”? Correctly, in review, there’s no truer statement.

POINTER #5: You be in debt to the patron anomalous chore and the customer you opus inasmuch as owes you scratch for a job unexcitedly done.

INSIDE INFORMATION #6: If your customer is frustrated with the destination come about, ordered after he’s paid you, make out it fairly to go to the client. Satisfied clients usually become rehearse clients; they last will and testament pen up you round-the-clock resolve and referrals.

GEN #7: Consider using a pen somebody as a ghostwriter. Jeanine Anne, a freelance wordsmith and ghostwriter, said she uses a pen appoint when she ghostwrites. She said, “I’ve written most of my ghostwrites and presented them to my clients covered by my pen big cheese, Jeanine Anne. Elementary, if someone decides to spam me, there’s no abuse done to the repute as a service to which I make a note my own moil under. Secondly, when I ignore recompense a patron, I possess no point what the customer will do to the produce, after all it is his work promptly it leaves my hands. The patron may amplify delighted which I may not like or he may a postcard something that is not my denominate of writing.” This is something to recall if you write in behalf of clients as ghostwrites. The patron hires you to do a assign and the shopper owns the work after it leaves your hands.

Originative Writing Ideas - How To Have Them

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010

Are you waiting and hoping an eye to imaginative writing ideas? Why not utilize consume some unostentatious techniques to vegetables as diverse ideas as you transfer need? Here are a some to vex you started.

Combine Stories Seeking Resourceful Writing Ideas

There is a artistry called “concept emulsion” which is to beget modish products to sell. Employ it to beget fresh stories, and it is predominantly worthy seeking a few laughs and a few ideas as well. All you take to do is imaginatively put together age-old stories into brand-new ones. In the direction of the most imaginative ideas, use stories which are uncoupled in their theme.

Fancy you start with the biblical romance of Adam and Day, and mingle it with the movie, “Lead Wars.” Dialect mayhap in the fresh story a human beings and a little woman are placed unescorted on a new planet, as an test to mark what wishes come off to the centuries. Would they or their tomorrow progeny display our unmodified ideas around Tutelary and morality?

Receive mad if you want. “Sovereign Kong,” and “Romeo and Juliette” could enhance a saga wide when apes learn to discourse, and the fundamental human-ape romantic relationship develops. The couple is of movement rejected by ape and human society. How alongside “Frankenstein” and “Gone With The Wind?” Start dreaming up those uncharted originative article ideas.

More Ways To Acquire Creative Script Ideas

Cause a list of what is most distinguished to you. Hold anything from that list, and discover a story in it. For example, if honour is weighty to you, generate a fairy tale populated with characters that are defined by how law-abiding or essay contests to win scholarships bent they are, and show the consequences of this trait. If there is some political morality that is vital to you, imagine new stories which become what happens when this principle is followed - or when it isn’t.

Make a list of the stories most like. Start with any article you truly like, and have in mind around how you would have told it, or how it could be told. The start leader to see if the hypothesis “grabs” you. Romeo and Juliet has been successfully retold a hundred ways in books and movies, directed numberless titles. Why not win a pattern you like, which has been proven to work, and minimize your own updated version?

Watch the evening gossip and achieve a record of the stories. This origin is mined at near video receiver shows all the time. Crack at to sum up a rick that purpose get the story read. For criterion, capture a real life story issue that is in the communication and proposition it from a particular perspective. Perhaps it could be a story of a businessman who profiteers after a twister, but you spot a way windfall a started to up him the good guy.

A given of the superlative ways to get back at ideas is to write anything right now. The English journalist Graham Untested attributes his big name to a simple uniform: He strained himself to communicate with at least 500 words daily, whether he felt like it or not. Artistic inspiration can hit at any habits, but it strikes more instances when there is work in lieu of of waiting. Just start composition and you’ll entertain more inventive writing ideas.

Creative Writing Ideas - How To Have Them

Saturday, May 30th, 2009

Are you waiting and hoping for creative writing ideas? Why not use some simple techniques to produce as many ideas as you will need? Here are a few to get you started.

Combine Stories For Creative Writing Ideas

There is a technique called “concept combination” which is to create new products to sell. Use it to create new stories, and it is usually good for a few laughs and a few ideas as well. All you have to do is imaginatively combine old stories into new ones. For the most creative ideas, use stories which are unrelated in their theme.

Suppose you start with the biblical story of Adam and Eve, and combine it with the movie, “Star Wars.” Perhaps in the new story a man and a woman are placed alone on a new planet, as an experiment to see what will happen over the centuries. Would they or their future offspring develop our same ideas about God and morality?

Get crazy if you want. “King Kong,” and “Romeo and Juliette” could become a story about when apes learn to speak, and the first human-ape romantic relationship develops. The couple is of course rejected by ape and human society. How about “Frankenstein” and “Gone With The Wind?” Start dreaming up those new creative writing ideas.

More Ways To Have Creative Writing Ideas

Make a list of what is most important to you. Take anything from that list, and find a story in it. For example, if honesty is important to you, create a story populated with characters that are defined by how honest or dishonest they are, and show the consequences of this trait. If there is some political principle that is important to you, imagine new stories which show what happens when this principle is followed - or when it isn’t.

Make a list of the stories most like. Start with any story you really like, and think about how you would have told it, or how it could be told. The start writing to see if the idea “grabs” you. Romeo and Juliet has been successfully retold a hundred ways in books and movies, under many titles. Why not find a formula you like, which has been proven to work, and write your own updated version?

Watch the evening news and make a list of the stories. This source is mined by television shows all the time. Try to add a twist that will get the story read. For example, take a real life issue that is in the news and approach it from a different perspective. Perhaps it could be a story of a businessman who profiteers after a hurricane, but you find a way find a way to make him the good guy.

One of the best ways to get ideas is to write anything right now. The English writer Graham Green attributes his success to a simple habit: He forced himself to write at least 500 words daily, whether he felt like it or not. Creative inspiration can strike at any time, but it strikes more often when there is work instead of waiting. Just start writing and you’ll have more creative writing ideas.

Creative Writing Ideas - How To Have Them

Saturday, May 30th, 2009

Are you waiting and hoping for creative writing ideas? Why not use some simple techniques to produce as many ideas as you will need? Here are a few to get you started.

Combine Stories For Creative Writing Ideas

There is a technique called “concept combination” which is to create new products to sell. Use it to create new stories, and it is usually good for a few laughs and a few ideas as well. All you have to do is imaginatively combine old stories into new ones. For the most creative ideas, use stories which are unrelated in their theme.

Suppose you start with the biblical story of Adam and Eve, and combine it with the movie, “Star Wars.” Perhaps in the new story a man and a woman are placed alone on a new planet, as an experiment to see what will happen over the centuries. Would they or their future offspring develop our same ideas about God and morality?

Get crazy if you want. “King Kong,” and “Romeo and Juliette” could become a story about when apes learn to speak, and the first human-ape romantic relationship develops. The couple is of course rejected by ape and human society. How about “Frankenstein” and “Gone With The Wind?” Start dreaming up those new creative writing ideas.

More Ways To Have Creative Writing Ideas

Make a list of what is most important to you. Take anything from that list, and find a story in it. For example, if honesty is important to you, create a story populated with characters that are defined by how honest or dishonest they are, and show the consequences of this trait. If there is some political principle that is important to you, imagine new stories which show what happens when this principle is followed - or when it isn’t.

Make a list of the stories most like. Start with any story you really like, and think about how you would have told it, or how it could be told. The start writing to see if the idea “grabs” you. Romeo and Juliet has been successfully retold a hundred ways in books and movies, under many titles. Why not find a formula you like, which has been proven to work, and write your own updated version?

Watch the evening news and make a list of the stories. This source is mined by television shows all the time. Try to add a twist that will get the story read. For example, take a real life issue that is in the news and approach it from a different perspective. Perhaps it could be a story of a businessman who profiteers after a hurricane, but you find a way find a way to make him the good guy.

One of the best ways to get ideas is to write anything right now. The English writer Graham Green attributes his success to a simple habit: He forced himself to write at least 500 words daily, whether he felt like it or not. Creative inspiration can strike at any time, but it strikes more often when there is work instead of waiting. Just start writing and you’ll have more creative writing ideas.

Eco-friendly Ways To Reuse And Recycle Books And Magazines

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

As more and more old-growth trees are cut down, and we face the reality of having to wait close to 100 years or more to replace them, the need to recycle paper becomes increasingly important.

Paper, of course, includes books and magazines. Although paper products are nearly 100% biodegradable, it is pointless to send these resources to the dump to rot in the landfill when we can recycle and reuse them.

More than any other material we hope to recycle, books and magazines represent knowledge. We find wisdom in the pages of old books, and learn about culture in the pages of old magazines. Because of these factors, the best thing to do with old books and magazines is pass them on.

Your local library or college library will accept donations of old books, and sometimes magazines in good shape. This allows other people to benefit from the publication as well. Once you have enjoyed your book, donate it to a library rather than letting it sit on a shelf to collect dust.

The second choice, for both books and magazines, is to sell them to a used bookstore, at a garage sale, flea market, or on eBay. Other people may be looking for the exact book or magazine you have; passing it on is a win-win scenario for you and the new owner.

If you wish to reuse publications in a creative way, magazines make good colorful craft supplies for children and adults. You can cut out parts of pictures to make collages by pasting the picture pieces to a cardboard backing; or make hanging mobiles by cutting out shapes, stringing pieces of thread through holes at the top, and attaching the strings to a clothes hanger.

You can also cut out whole pictures to construct a dream board or a vision board, which helps you to think about and visualize the goals and dreams you want to achieve; for instance, a Hawaiian vacation, a certain type of job, or a new sports car.

As for traditional recycling, some areas will let you place books or magazines in your blue bin for pickup as well. Many publishers print magazines on glossy paper. It is more expensive to recycle glossy paper because the demand is low for this type of paper. This will change in the future as the need to recycle paper becomes more important.

The biggest challenge with recycling books and magazines is separating the paper from the adhesives or staples used to bind the pages. Forward-thinking recycling companies have a way to remove the waste from the bindings magnetically; in the future we should begin to see growing opportunities to recycle all kinds of paper products.

Next time you’re thinking about throwing away some books or magazines, think first about how you can pass them along for others to enjoy. If that doesn’t work for you, try to reuse them creatively. If you still can’t find a use for them, look for places to take them where they can be recycled into new paper products, so we can save more trees.

Eco-friendly Ways To Reuse And Recycle Books And Magazines

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

As more and more old-growth trees are cut down, and we face the reality of having to wait close to 100 years or more to replace them, the need to recycle paper becomes increasingly important.

Paper, of course, includes books and magazines. Although paper products are nearly 100% biodegradable, it is pointless to send these resources to the dump to rot in the landfill when we can recycle and reuse them.

More than any other material we hope to recycle, books and magazines represent knowledge. We find wisdom in the pages of old books, and learn about culture in the pages of old magazines. Because of these factors, the best thing to do with old books and magazines is pass them on.

Your local library or college library will accept donations of old books, and sometimes magazines in good shape. This allows other people to benefit from the publication as well. Once you have enjoyed your book, donate it to a library rather than letting it sit on a shelf to collect dust.

The second choice, for both books and magazines, is to sell them to a used bookstore, at a garage sale, flea market, or on eBay. Other people may be looking for the exact book or magazine you have; passing it on is a win-win scenario for you and the new owner.

If you wish to reuse publications in a creative way, magazines make good colorful craft supplies for children and adults. You can cut out parts of pictures to make collages by pasting the picture pieces to a cardboard backing; or make hanging mobiles by cutting out shapes, stringing pieces of thread through holes at the top, and attaching the strings to a clothes hanger.

You can also cut out whole pictures to construct a dream board or a vision board, which helps you to think about and visualize the goals and dreams you want to achieve; for instance, a Hawaiian vacation, a certain type of job, or a new sports car.

As for traditional recycling, some areas will let you place books or magazines in your blue bin for pickup as well. Many publishers print magazines on glossy paper. It is more expensive to recycle glossy paper because the demand is low for this type of paper. This will change in the future as the need to recycle paper becomes more important.

The biggest challenge with recycling books and magazines is separating the paper from the adhesives or staples used to bind the pages. Forward-thinking recycling companies have a way to remove the waste from the bindings magnetically; in the future we should begin to see growing opportunities to recycle all kinds of paper products.

Next time you’re thinking about throwing away some books or magazines, think first about how you can pass them along for others to enjoy. If that doesn’t work for you, try to reuse them creatively. If you still can’t find a use for them, look for places to take them where they can be recycled into new paper products, so we can save more trees.

Essence Of Character - Seven Steps To Creating Characters That Write Themselves

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

Creating characters that are believable takes time and discipline. Creating dynamically real individuals and not imposing your own thoughts and impressions upon them is not easy to do, and is often the difference between a novel or screenplay that sits in a closet and one that finds its way around town and into the hands of audiences. Spending your time building your characters before they enter the world of your story makes the process of writing an easier and more enjoyable ride, and creates a finished product that agents, publishers, producers and readers can truly be excited by.

You must first agree to operate from the understanding that the three-dimensionality of your characters is not created magically. Talent equals discipline multiplied by time and you must practice (daily) the art of developing your characters. As a development executive with LA Film Lab Entertainment (a literary development and production company), I have developed a framework to assist you in creating rich and complex characters. The complexity that you desire comes through 1) labeling their desire essences, 2) labeling their fear essences, 3) getting specific about their past, 4) labeling their behavior, 5) raising their stakes, 6) not meddling in their lives, and 7) letting them play. Asking provoking questions in line with these steps, answering them thoroughly, and then repeating the process, provides constant individual growth in your characters that mirrors life. Now let’s take each step in turn:

1. Label the Desire Essences of each of your main characters: The first key to deepening your work is finding the major motivators in the lives of your characters that drive their actions. We all have deep aspirations that drive our choices, our thoughts, our actions and reactions. These needs are what differentiate us from one another and we will refer to them as “Desire Essences.” Some examples of DESIRE ESSENCES are: the desire to be intellectually brilliant; the desire to be socially famous; the desire to hide from the world; the desire to belong to a group; the desire to be loved; the desire to party; the desire to die.

2. Label the Fear Essences of each of your main characters: What is at the root of each of your characters’ darker sides? For every desire they have they should also exhibit the antithetical fear of failing at that desire. These fears will battle their aspirations for control over their behavior. Labeling and understanding the darker sides of your characters is imperative to creating the dimensional and imperfect characters you are after. Some examples of FEAR ESSENCES are: the fear of being stupid; the fear of being ordinary; the fear of being socially exposed; the fear of being rejected by a group; the fear of being loathed; the fear of being boring; the fear of having to face life.

3. Get specific with your Backstory: Human behavior is made up of a string of moments and reactions to those moments. A character’s current behavior is a battle between fear and desire and their immediate choices are made based on very specific (yet unconscious) experiences from their past &ndash experiences that leave imprints much like DNA. Though your characters should be unconscious of these past experiences that are influencing them, you the writer must create these in your preparation of their backstory be fully aware of them. Here is an example of what won’t benefit you vs. what will when getting specific with backstory:

Bad example of getting specific: Rachel is a pretty girl who thinks she is unattractive. She prefers to live in her books as opposed to being with friends or family. Her father has abused her sexually throughout her youth. She hates attention.

Better example of getting specific: On her graduation day, at a party her Mother is throwing for her, Rachel’s sexually abusive father shows up drunk and congratulates her, hugging her too closely, grabbing her rear end with both hands, and calling her pretty in front of a room full of her friends and family. She runs away humiliated and hides in her room, escaping into one of her fantasy books. That night she moves out to stay with a friend and doesn’t tell her friends where she is going. Two weeks later she finds out through another friend that her father died in a car accident. He had been drunk.

In the better example of getting specific, the reader can have a visceral reaction to the words. This is caused by the detail. The generality of the bad reaction is logical, but lifeless. In the better example it is easy to determine what the essences of our leading lady might be: desire to hide, maybe even desire to die, desire to live in her books, desire to be valued for her intellect instead of her body, fear of loneliness, fear of her appearance, fear of the opposite sex, fear of losing a loved one, fear of being abandoned.

4. Describe their Current Behavior: Take the essences and the specific examples you have now created and determine what kind of behavior your characters might exhibit as a result. Don’t limit yourself with these, but rather excite yourself with the possibilities.

Simple examples from our leading lady - a woman who: hides her body; avoids friends from her past; mistrusts anyone who comments favorably on her appearance; desires to control her education and her intellect; avoids alcohol.

5. Raise the stakes: Emotions are extreme. Play in the realm of this extreme when dealing with the fears and ambitions of your characters. These essences are all encompassing; meaning that we spend our lifetimes with them. Don’t cheat your characters by being afraid to raise the stakes as high as you can. Needing to find a precious stone to sell to an art dealer by midnight to raise the financing to save your character’s mother’s house before the bank takes it away from her tomorrow is exciting! Look back at your own life and think of how seriously you take your essences &ndash when your essences are threatened will you fight to extremes to defend them, just as when they are fulfilled, do you enjoy some of your greatest moments in life? Play in the realm of the extreme. Raise the stakes. Your essences are life and death to you &ndash let them be that way to your characters.

6. Don’t meddle: Of course you might be saying to yourself, “How do I not meddle &ndash I’m the writer!” But a truthful story is going to grow from your willingness to let your characters make their own decisions based on how you have defined them (which after these exercises will be in great depth). As their parent, you have to let your children go; this is the point at which your story truly begins. DO NOT MEDDLE IN THEIR LIVES. Continually remind yourself &ndash it’s not about you. You just serve the story. Let your characters make their own decisions. If you ever find yourself not knowing what decision they might make &ndash question your homework and rework their essences, behaviors and stakes until their choice becomes obvious.

7. Let your characters play: Once you have developed several characters by labeling their essences, getting specific, defining their behavior, and raising the stakes, you are ready to begin to let them interact. It’s like the first day at a new school; ripe with possibility. When properly developed, there is no way to predict how your characters will behave in any given situation, but they are so full of life and their own agendas that they are ready to interact with other characters who have been developed to the same level. If you have done the work to get to this place &ndash this is where your characters will begin to write themselves.

Follow these steps to create the richer characters you want to be writing.

Find the Essences:

To find the essences of your characters, you have to look to their history and their genetics. Just like real people, your characters’ current behavior is defined by their DNA combined with experiences you create in their past. We all have the basic fears and ambitions of survival, shelter, and food, so when working on these essences focus on the ones that really drive each character. Consider ethnicity, religious beliefs, and major life events. Address sex, drugs, music, parents, siblings, education, appearance and intelligence for sure.

Start by writing out twenty DESIRE ESSENCES that feel right for each main character. Then determine one polar opposite of each DESIRE to create your twenty FEAR ESSENCES. Go back and toss the ones that you now feel less attached to. Repeat and refine the process until you have at least ten of each for each character that really excite you.

Get specific about Backstory:

Get specific about how your character’s essences have come to be. Create definitive moments in your characters’ lives that detail when these fears and desires were initiated. Come up with five supporting examples of moments in their lives when each of these essences was tested and eventually vindicated in the name of the fear or in the name of the desire. Failure vindicates the fear and success vindicates the desire. Write at least one half page of text supporting each -Yes that will give you a total of twenty-five pages of essence work. Do the work.

10 Essences (a desire and a fear for each) x 5 samples for each = 50 descriptions (each a half page)

Label the Current Behavior:

Using their essences and their specific past, come up with ten sample behaviors for each character. Simple example: a character who has a desire to hide and a fear of being publicly humiliated, has a specific past incident of continually having their pants pulled down in public by a sibling. The current behavior - they might always wear a belt, or might always look behind themselves in a very specific attempt to never be humiliated again.

Raise the stakes:

After looking over your newly created examples, it should be easy to determine some issues that might be going on in their lives that would increase or decrease their stress. A decrease in stress generally excites people to take greater chances, while an increase in stress tends to shorten people’s fuses.

List five possible increases or decreases in your characters stress level.

Don’t meddle and let them play:

Now put two of your fully developed characters into the same room. Implement two or three increases in stress to one character and two or three decreases in stress to the other character and let them bounce off of one another. Go into this exercise with no preconceived notions of what might happen. If you have done your homework, they should affect one another.*

*If you need a jumpstart &ndash add an element that one needs from the other and give the other a strong reason for not wanting to provide what that character needs. Could be tangible or emotional.

Essence Of Character - Seven Steps To Creating Characters That Write Themselves

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

Creating characters that are believable takes time and discipline. Creating dynamically real individuals and not imposing your own thoughts and impressions upon them is not easy to do, and is often the difference between a novel or screenplay that sits in a closet and one that finds its way around town and into the hands of audiences. Spending your time building your characters before they enter the world of your story makes the process of writing an easier and more enjoyable ride, and creates a finished product that agents, publishers, producers and readers can truly be excited by.

You must first agree to operate from the understanding that the three-dimensionality of your characters is not created magically. Talent equals discipline multiplied by time and you must practice (daily) the art of developing your characters. As a development executive with LA Film Lab Entertainment (a literary development and production company), I have developed a framework to assist you in creating rich and complex characters. The complexity that you desire comes through 1) labeling their desire essences, 2) labeling their fear essences, 3) getting specific about their past, 4) labeling their behavior, 5) raising their stakes, 6) not meddling in their lives, and 7) letting them play. Asking provoking questions in line with these steps, answering them thoroughly, and then repeating the process, provides constant individual growth in your characters that mirrors life. Now let’s take each step in turn:

1. Label the Desire Essences of each of your main characters: The first key to deepening your work is finding the major motivators in the lives of your characters that drive their actions. We all have deep aspirations that drive our choices, our thoughts, our actions and reactions. These needs are what differentiate us from one another and we will refer to them as “Desire Essences.” Some examples of DESIRE ESSENCES are: the desire to be intellectually brilliant; the desire to be socially famous; the desire to hide from the world; the desire to belong to a group; the desire to be loved; the desire to party; the desire to die.

2. Label the Fear Essences of each of your main characters: What is at the root of each of your characters’ darker sides? For every desire they have they should also exhibit the antithetical fear of failing at that desire. These fears will battle their aspirations for control over their behavior. Labeling and understanding the darker sides of your characters is imperative to creating the dimensional and imperfect characters you are after. Some examples of FEAR ESSENCES are: the fear of being stupid; the fear of being ordinary; the fear of being socially exposed; the fear of being rejected by a group; the fear of being loathed; the fear of being boring; the fear of having to face life.

3. Get specific with your Backstory: Human behavior is made up of a string of moments and reactions to those moments. A character’s current behavior is a battle between fear and desire and their immediate choices are made based on very specific (yet unconscious) experiences from their past &ndash experiences that leave imprints much like DNA. Though your characters should be unconscious of these past experiences that are influencing them, you the writer must create these in your preparation of their backstory be fully aware of them. Here is an example of what won’t benefit you vs. what will when getting specific with backstory:

Bad example of getting specific: Rachel is a pretty girl who thinks she is unattractive. She prefers to live in her books as opposed to being with friends or family. Her father has abused her sexually throughout her youth. She hates attention.

Better example of getting specific: On her graduation day, at a party her Mother is throwing for her, Rachel’s sexually abusive father shows up drunk and congratulates her, hugging her too closely, grabbing her rear end with both hands, and calling her pretty in front of a room full of her friends and family. She runs away humiliated and hides in her room, escaping into one of her fantasy books. That night she moves out to stay with a friend and doesn’t tell her friends where she is going. Two weeks later she finds out through another friend that her father died in a car accident. He had been drunk.

In the better example of getting specific, the reader can have a visceral reaction to the words. This is caused by the detail. The generality of the bad reaction is logical, but lifeless. In the better example it is easy to determine what the essences of our leading lady might be: desire to hide, maybe even desire to die, desire to live in her books, desire to be valued for her intellect instead of her body, fear of loneliness, fear of her appearance, fear of the opposite sex, fear of losing a loved one, fear of being abandoned.

4. Describe their Current Behavior: Take the essences and the specific examples you have now created and determine what kind of behavior your characters might exhibit as a result. Don’t limit yourself with these, but rather excite yourself with the possibilities.

Simple examples from our leading lady - a woman who: hides her body; avoids friends from her past; mistrusts anyone who comments favorably on her appearance; desires to control her education and her intellect; avoids alcohol.

5. Raise the stakes: Emotions are extreme. Play in the realm of this extreme when dealing with the fears and ambitions of your characters. These essences are all encompassing; meaning that we spend our lifetimes with them. Don’t cheat your characters by being afraid to raise the stakes as high as you can. Needing to find a precious stone to sell to an art dealer by midnight to raise the financing to save your character’s mother’s house before the bank takes it away from her tomorrow is exciting! Look back at your own life and think of how seriously you take your essences &ndash when your essences are threatened will you fight to extremes to defend them, just as when they are fulfilled, do you enjoy some of your greatest moments in life? Play in the realm of the extreme. Raise the stakes. Your essences are life and death to you &ndash let them be that way to your characters.

6. Don’t meddle: Of course you might be saying to yourself, “How do I not meddle &ndash I’m the writer!” But a truthful story is going to grow from your willingness to let your characters make their own decisions based on how you have defined them (which after these exercises will be in great depth). As their parent, you have to let your children go; this is the point at which your story truly begins. DO NOT MEDDLE IN THEIR LIVES. Continually remind yourself &ndash it’s not about you. You just serve the story. Let your characters make their own decisions. If you ever find yourself not knowing what decision they might make &ndash question your homework and rework their essences, behaviors and stakes until their choice becomes obvious.

7. Let your characters play: Once you have developed several characters by labeling their essences, getting specific, defining their behavior, and raising the stakes, you are ready to begin to let them interact. It’s like the first day at a new school; ripe with possibility. When properly developed, there is no way to predict how your characters will behave in any given situation, but they are so full of life and their own agendas that they are ready to interact with other characters who have been developed to the same level. If you have done the work to get to this place &ndash this is where your characters will begin to write themselves.

Follow these steps to create the richer characters you want to be writing.

Find the Essences:

To find the essences of your characters, you have to look to their history and their genetics. Just like real people, your characters’ current behavior is defined by their DNA combined with experiences you create in their past. We all have the basic fears and ambitions of survival, shelter, and food, so when working on these essences focus on the ones that really drive each character. Consider ethnicity, religious beliefs, and major life events. Address sex, drugs, music, parents, siblings, education, appearance and intelligence for sure.

Start by writing out twenty DESIRE ESSENCES that feel right for each main character. Then determine one polar opposite of each DESIRE to create your twenty FEAR ESSENCES. Go back and toss the ones that you now feel less attached to. Repeat and refine the process until you have at least ten of each for each character that really excite you.

Get specific about Backstory:

Get specific about how your character’s essences have come to be. Create definitive moments in your characters’ lives that detail when these fears and desires were initiated. Come up with five supporting examples of moments in their lives when each of these essences was tested and eventually vindicated in the name of the fear or in the name of the desire. Failure vindicates the fear and success vindicates the desire. Write at least one half page of text supporting each -Yes that will give you a total of twenty-five pages of essence work. Do the work.

10 Essences (a desire and a fear for each) x 5 samples for each = 50 descriptions (each a half page)

Label the Current Behavior:

Using their essences and their specific past, come up with ten sample behaviors for each character. Simple example: a character who has a desire to hide and a fear of being publicly humiliated, has a specific past incident of continually having their pants pulled down in public by a sibling. The current behavior - they might always wear a belt, or might always look behind themselves in a very specific attempt to never be humiliated again.

Raise the stakes:

After looking over your newly created examples, it should be easy to determine some issues that might be going on in their lives that would increase or decrease their stress. A decrease in stress generally excites people to take greater chances, while an increase in stress tends to shorten people’s fuses.

List five possible increases or decreases in your characters stress level.

Don’t meddle and let them play:

Now put two of your fully developed characters into the same room. Implement two or three increases in stress to one character and two or three decreases in stress to the other character and let them bounce off of one another. Go into this exercise with no preconceived notions of what might happen. If you have done your homework, they should affect one another.*

*If you need a jumpstart &ndash add an element that one needs from the other and give the other a strong reason for not wanting to provide what that character needs. Could be tangible or emotional.

Enhance Your Creative Writing Abilities

Saturday, May 2nd, 2009

Creative writing is considered to be one of the most perplexing forms of articulating thoughts and ideas on paper. It turns out to be a hard nut to crack because it requires the ability to think freely, giving thoughts a modicum of leeway, and express ideas and experienced feelings sincerely and openly.

That’s why putting wind in the sails with creative writing is not within every writer’s grasp. It means that a person, who succeeded in process writing approach that is all about planning, revising, re-arranging, and deleting text, re-reading, and producing multiple drafts before producing finished documents, will have the same good results in creative writing.

Surely, it doesn’t imply that creative writing process doesn’t need proper planning and preparation, it means that creative writing permits the author to deviate from the specific writing styles and not to be consistent with all the standards of this style. In a word, creative writing gives the author leeway in terms of presentation and development of a piece of writing.

Since creative writing is not simply a matter of sitting down, putting pen to paper, following smart instructions of emeritus pundits, commence at the beginning and write through to the end. Creative approach treats all writing as a creative act that requires time, positive feedback, and inspiration to be done well. People who engage in creative writing do not merely think freely; they view the world from free-thinking perspective.

Without a doubt, creative writing is not only about inspiration and gift of the writer, and it is far from coming easy to the writer, it also needs a lot of elbow grease in order to produce a piece of writing worth the attention of the readers.

The key to success in creative writing lies in the author’s ability to be frank with his readers and honest with himself. Don’t be afraid to step aside from the established standards of the particular writing style, and open the door of your brain to the new ideas that cross the threshold of your imagination and knock around your mind.

Remember that process and explorations are the keystones in creative writing, rather than the finished product. Let yourself release your inner genius and vent on paper the most bizarre ideas that amassed in your mind. The source of ideas for your creative writing can be various kinds of resources of creativity such as oral tradition, dreams, childhood memories, sense perceptions and intuition.

Katrina Crosbie, a tutor of creative writing in Edinburgh University’s Open Studies programme, asserts that getting in touch with subconscious mind is the key to original and creative writing. She also claims that every writer can harness three simple techniques to enhance his creative writing abilities, they are mental focusing techniques, harnessing the power of your dreams and journal writing. Harnessing these techniques takes hard work; so, if you are ready, roll up your sleeves and follow these simple strategies.

I. Mental focusing techniques

Mental focusing techniques involve focusing on the positive outcome. It implies that you should concentrate and regulate your mental activity in order to enter a quiet state of your mind. The key point in mental focusing is to get rid of all the stray thoughts and replace it with one thought; this process should gradually induce a calm sensation. The procedure is very simple, you make yourself comfortable in a cozy armchair, and in all possible ways try to awake creativity inside of you.

You should say something like “I’m getting in touch with my creativity source”, and imagine physically how the stream of creativity comes into your mind. Remember the sensation of clear, cool water on your face, or a stream of fresh breeze, which is blowing in your face. Then imagine yourself sitting at your word processor, typing fluently, and writing avidly. After several minutes open your eyes and commence writing.

II. Harness the power of your dreams

Dreams have tremendous power. The subconscious memory can be the direct cause of the certain dreams. “When the mind is centered on certain things, the sleeper goes over his life again and again in phantom fashion. He lives over the experiences of his daily life.”

Overall, your daydreams can be important, just write them down after waking up in the morning. Perhaps, later on, re-reading the notes of your dreams will prompt you some interesting ideas for your creative works.”These can be triggers for an especially imaginative piece of work. American writer Joyce Carol Oates has said that her novel Bellefleur was inspired by a dream of a walled garden which haunted her for years ’till she felt she had to write about it.”

III. Keep the writing journal

This technique of enhancing your creativity is very simple and at the same time highly productive. Buy yourself a notebook, so that you can always have it at hand and write some brief narratives in it on a daily basis.

Don’t focus on the style, mistakes, and, in general, in the way you write. Just write down the first things that occur in your mind, even if you think that this is junk. The main idea is to keep your hand moving and to feel a growing sense of inspiration and confidence. In the course of time, you will become a practiced hand in writing. Surely, you’ll find your journal notes a rich source of inspiration and ideas.

If you really want to enhance you creative writing abilities, give a try to these simple techniques, and bring your craft as a writer into play!

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