Finding the Belief Systems Within Your Fiction World

Today is Easter, and for those who celebrate it, I wish you the most joyful of days. This has been a big week for two of the major world religions. For the Jewish community, Passover was commemorated, and for the Christian community, Holy Week culminates in the celebration of Easter today. Each of these religious holidays have a large impact on our society at large. With school often canceled for Good Friday, and various rituals and traditons practiced by families and friends across the nation, this week served as a reminder for such how deeply these holidays are woven into the fabric of our society; of just how greatly these ideologies shape our lives.

Likewise, our fictional worlds must have these ideologies as well. While such traditions don't always have to be overt or a tremendously large part of our stories, it is undeniably important to understand just what beliefs lie behind the everyday life of our characters' worlds.

Ideologies, religious beliefs, superstitions, or whatever else you'd like to call them all inform the way our characters act. Although we may not spend virtually any of our story's real estate discussing the long standing history behind these beliefs, or even include a direct practice of a belief itself, the ideas that govern the greater society matter to the quality of your narrative. Your readers may not notice, particularly within contemporary, realistic stories in which the world you explain closely matches the culture of your reader's world, but regardless, you do have to have some kind of ideology within the story itself.

Beliefs are the back drop of every society. They dictate what characters do — and what they don't do. For example, religious traditions or areligious superstition might inform the gender norms of your story. Practices surrounding food might play a significant role, and even contribute to the conflict of your plot.  Your character might meet a friend whose beliefs are different than there own. She might even explore a new system of beliefs herself. Even for contemporary worlds like our own, communicating the tradtions remains important, because all of these things can be both character building and contribute to your plot.

Here are some questions to consider about when thinking about the beliefs of your fictional world:
• What holidays does the society celebrate? Do any of these holidays come into play within the narrative?
• Do superstitions play any role in the lives of your characters?
• Regardless of whether your character personally believes or not, are their religious beliefs held within the society that mandate certain behaviors, practices, or traditions in your character's society?
• How do your characters view nature? Are there any spiritual associations with the natural world?
• Are there various ideologies within the culture? Are they at odds or do they coexist peacefully?
• What does your protagonist personally believe? What do the characters around her belief?

Examine these questions within your current project. Perhaps contemplating belifs may open up a way to deepen characterization and complicate your plot. Also, think about these questions for a potential new project. Maybe you can even develop a whole new story idea from these questions!

Wednesday's Writing Prompt — Sunshine

The sun is shining. Spring is on its way. Your character looks out the window. He notices the change of weather. But this change means something greater to your character. It signals something for him.

Perhaps it is a memory of a past event or a reminder of a tragedy. Maybe it is the suggestion that something new is coming, that a new chapter of his life has begun. Pick a scenario and assign emotion and meaning to the change of seasons. What is going to happen with the oncoming of Spring? What is your character now responsible for?

Or, perhaps your story isn't set in a contemporary or historical setting. Perhaps it takes place in a secondary world where the sun does not always bring joy and the seasons are not quite as friendly. Think about the ways the season can have a direct effect on your character's life. What does all this mean to him, and what must he do in response?

Fights and Explosion! What to Look Out for When Writing the Exciting Scenes

You know that moment when you've reached the moment you've been waiting for? When you've been writing toward this big scene all along and now you are there? When you know the next pages will just fly out of you because you've been thinking about them so long? When the scene is so filled with emotion that you have to chase down your words because you brain is thinking faster and jumping around quicker than your fingers can type? That's where I was this weekend. One of the few and far between times when writing isn't just amazingly easy but it's also truly exhilerating. And now we can all collectively sigh, as we all think if only it could be like that all the time.

The reality is that exciting writing moments such is this don't occur often even though, man, they feel good. As I saw on my friend Peter's facebook post this week, most of the time we all just need to keep our butts in the chair until we produce that pages we need. But occasionally we hit the lucky moment of one of those rapid scenes where somewhere you magically just know what the characters say and think and move and do.

So what do we do when we reach these moments? I mean, obvious answer is we go with them, and enjoy them greatly. But what do we have to make sure not to miss? And in what ways can we elevate the scene to an even greater level?

Here are some things I think we should look out for. These are important all the time really, but especially in the most exciting scenes, and particularly those that are pivotal to the plot.

• Consistency of character. In our excitement, sometimes we come up with that great line and think of our future reader just being so in awesome of that witty line or poignant sentence. But the truth is if it doesn't work within who you are character is and what he consistently says or does, unforunately, it's got to go.

• Including important details. Sometimes in the heat of the moment, we forget to mention the little ticks and details that make the scene so tangible. Adding just one small fact such as the color of a shirt or a reference to a character's unique mannerism, or even inserting a subtle clue into the dialogue can make all the difference. Not only does it make the scene exciting, but it keeps it memorable. It makes it matter more.

• Watch your pacing. Pacing is a huge part of story writing, and often something that can be hard to figure out. When the pacing picks up in the exciting scenes, one thing to be careful of is that while you want it to be an accelerated pace in comparison take the time to help your reader understand exactly what is going on here — how the characters are feeling. Conversely, you want to make sure your scene isn't too slow. It still needs a decent clip to it. Rereading your scene with fresh eyes after a day or two can often help you evaluate this more clearly.

• Pay attention to what isn't be said (or isn't being done). So often, we focus on what characters say and the movements a character does. I think part of that comes from the fear that we want our readers to understand our message. We don't want to make it too subtle that they miss something. But what a character refuses to say or do speaks volumes. The secrets they keep are just as important as the words they reveal. Such secrets don't always have to be implicit either. You can call attention to the fact that a character started to say something and stopped. Or that in the chaos of a situation, she didn't choose the hallway everyone else did. Things don't always have to be verbalized to make an impact. But you want to make sure they are noticed. Because even if it does take a more sophisticated reader to pick up on the nuance of a moment, that moment can inform your character, or your situation, in ways perhaps no words can.

And, more for the sake of the writer than the writing,
• Remember this feeling to help you through the more difficult writing days. Because even though it might take a while, it is sure to come again.

I hope your exciting scene comes soon! Enjoy the writing, and know we're all struggling through the same things :)

Go Explore! Ideas Come from Everywhere

This past week I went on vacation, and had the chance to take a small break from my writing and go see some sights I had never seen before. Strolling the streets of San Francisco, seeing the flashy lights of Vegas, taking a tour through wine country, walking through the redwoods, and just driving new city streets provided great memories. But my trip also provided a wonderful chance to encounter many new sights, people, and cultures that all serve as the basis for great new ideas.

I think there is something to be said about the way we see things when we are encountering them for the first time. Fresh eyes, a bit of wonder, and keen observation allow for a viewing experience we don't often get from the things we see every day. How easy it is for something to be overlooked when it  becomes repetitive or familiar. But when vacationing, or visiting a new museum or landscape, we have a new perspective that interests the mind and sparks a thread of creativity is a new way.

One of most common things you hear in writing is to write what you know. Of course, there is ample room for imagination and fantasy, but I do think there is lots of value to this statement. When you know something, when you can deeply understand a place or a concept or a feeling, it comes across in your writing. Paired with this idea of exploration and new experiences, I think great things can happen in your writing. Not only are we increasing what we know by seeing and experiencing anew, but combining the exciting, inspired creativity of a new place with the more concrete, though perhaps intangible reality of what we know in our hearts and minds can provide the basis for a truly fabulous story. We need the newness as well as the old. We need to blend the architecture and dialect and unique aspects of a new city with the familiar characteristics and emotions and regions we know to make a story that is both alive and moving but also fully believable and grounded.

My trip reminded me of the value of simple observation. It reminded me that I need to get out and experience the greater life beyond my small niche. The world is happening all around us. There are millions of conversations and sights and ideas to be taken in. And the details you pick up from all different sections of the world will combine beautifully with the unique, important truths you already know.

So explore. Go for a long walk. Venture into a new neighborhood. Take the bus in a different direction and see what's out there. Seeing new sights doesn't have to mean traveling across time zones and state lines. It can simply mean opening up your eyes to the little, unfamiliar things that exist all around us. It will improve your stories, I know it will! And it might just give you a great new idea or two.

Writing About Yourself - Applying What You Know About Fiction to Your Nonfiction

This guest blog was written by Jonathan O'Connor, a M.F.A. Writing student in Atlanta, Georgia. O'Connor has been published in SCAN Magazine and The Connector, and continues to submit to literary journals across the country. Currently, he is working on a novel and creating a professional portfolio. His inspirations include Lewis Carroll, Angela Carter, Neil Gaiman, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Albert Camus. O'Connor keeps a blog, Words From a Caterpillar, where he talks about writing, life, and the writing life. 

In second grade my teacher had us keep a journal that we would write in every day for at least fifteen minutes. We could write whatever we wanted, but I always found myself drawn to fiction. I thought my life was too boring. Most of my stories were about dinosaurs that could talk or people with superpowers. Sometimes the two mixed. Those stories were the best.

Although I've scaled it back a bit since then, I have to say that not much has changed. I'm still drawn to fiction, to magic, and the impossible. Through writing I'm able to create worlds, to use my imagination and birth characters that often take a life of their own. Because of this, I always made fiction my focus. I believed it was the only venue to release the creativity inside me. I was wrong.

This past year I found the journal I kept in second grade. I read all the stories I wrote in it. Not to pat myself on the back, but for a second grader, they were pretty good. As I turned the pages I saw that each story was more fantastic than the next. I began to wonder why I so vehemently opposed writing a simple journal entry. Then it occurred to me, although part of my love of fiction is world-building and character creation, I think there is an equally strong side of me that is terrified of nonfiction.

As a fiction writer, I can pick my moments. I can choose to insert my thoughts, feelings, or experiences in a story at my discretion. Nonfiction can be much more personal. By their very nature essays, memoirs, articles, and the like, tend to focus on some aspect of self. Even writing a cookbook can be extremely personal when you think about the role food plays in our lives. Today, however, for the sake of brevity I am going to focus on the personal essay.

When I first entered my writing program my idea of writing an essay was the same as writing a research paper. The funny thing was that I had been reading tons of different types of essays my entire life, but I never cared enough to examine how they were different. Take Walden for example. Sure, Thoreau is tackling a much larger idea about living simply (I know this is an oversimplification), but his collection of essays also rings very personal. He is talking about his experience and ultimately who he is, who he is becoming, and who he wants to be.

A good personal essay does these things. A great personal essay does this and adds aspects of fiction writing to help tell your very nonfiction story.

Here is a cheesy example of how applying your fiction hand can make facts fun:

1. UNAPPLIED: When I was seven I went to the beach for the first time. It was crowded and I got separated from my family. I was scared. 
2. APPLIED: The sand looked like it was steaming. I was holding onto my mother's sweaty palm before she let go. I don't remember why or how, maybe I was distracted by the orange sun or the foaming waves, but within seconds I had lost her. My unheld hand began to shake as older beach-goers surrounded me.

Nonfiction is about communicating facts in a engaging way. The best nonfiction I've read has been so stuffed with this that at times I forgot that what I'm reading is a true life experience. Most recently I've read A Common Pornography by Kevin Sampsell which is completely non-fiction but is so entertaining that I forget how diehard fiction enthusiast I can be. This is true of other books as well (I often get roped into books by Chelsea Handler for beach reads), but no matter the nonfiction, what stands out is that they all follow and much more strongly written and conceived version of "APPLIED" option two. 

In fiction, writers are tasked with creating a world from scratch, filling it with characters, and creating conflict. In nonfiction, much of that has been done for you, but the writer must take the information they have to work with and communicate it is the most creative, vivid, and authentic way possible. Maybe you aren't creating a brand new world for yourself, but to your reader, the nonfiction world you describe can be just as vivid, engaging, heart-wrenching, and new as any fictitious world you could have ever dreamt up. 

Wednesday's Writing Prompt — Delivery

You character is awaiting a delivery. She paces in front of the door. She checks her watch. She sighs continually. What is she waiting for? Is it a package for herself? A project she must complete? A gift she is hoping to give? Or perhaps it is something more secretive? A tool to help her carry out a heist? A piece of information she needs to figure out a mystery? An item that will help her get revenge?

She continues to wait. Does the package arrive? What will happen if it does, and what will happen if it doesn't? Explore the two scenarios, choosing the one that leads your character to the biggest moment of conflict. 

The Beauty of the Unknown — The Importance of Sometimes Feeling Lost in Your Writing

On my to do list today, after blogging, of course, is to pack. I am going on a trip to visit my wonderful friend in California, so naturally I have to prepare. Although I have a few days before I will actually be in the airport, waiting with the rest of the anxious travelers for the boarding announcement, seeing as it is the weekend and week days are usually packed with a variety of things, I figured I would get a head start. So with some laundry done and a mental list in my mind, I will begin gathering clothes and other items and stacking them in a neat little pile in my suitcase.

We all have an idea of what our trips will look like when we travel. What we pack reflects what we anticipate our trip to be. The general climate, any potential weather storms, the need for toilettries, outfits for varying occasions, and the itinerary for the week. But trips never exactly going as planned. Something unexpected happens for good or for bad. Someone becomes ill. The scenery isn't quite what we expected. A series of fortuitous events make your trip even better than you had imagined. Regardless of specific occurences, travelling is and always will be unexpected. No matter how much you may try to anticipate the trip, things will happen as they will, and while packing might help you to navigate the twists and turns, packing can't change the inherent uncertainties of travelling.

Such is writing.

Much like traveling, writing is a similar foray into a unknown world. And while we can outline and research, character sketch and plan, the experience is never as we anticipated. Although we might be prepared, we are certainly in the unknown.

This is both a fun, exciting part of writing as well as a bit of a downer. I know I certainly wish that writing could be easier sometimes — that all my preparatory work of brainstorming and outlining and mapping made the words flow beautifully onto the page as the scenes flew by with ease. But while some days prove tremendously fruitful and enjoyable, other days are equally as difficult. Yet, there is something rewarding about the days that are harder. You know, that moment when the scene finally comes out just as you'd planned or the hours of agonizing over the perfect details to solve your mystery and bring your character into their promised land culminate into one brilliant idea. In the unexpected, darker times of writing, where you have your luggage in your hand but just can't seem to figure out what corridor to go down, often that is when the best ideas come. When you are feeling most vulnerable and beat down, that's when you can truly delve into the adventure of the page. That's when some of the best scenes are writting.

You see, writing is like life — fully of uncertainty and never what you expect. We don't know what will come around the next bend. And although we can try to plan the heck out of everything, you know it will never quite turn out that way. There is always a surprise waiting just beyond your line of sight.

To be honest, this is not always something that is easy for me. I'm a planner, for better or for worse. But   while I wholeheartedly believe in the importance of packing and preparing to the best of our abilities, I also know that sometimes when you're lost you might just stumble upon what you've been looking for — or even something better.