Tuesday's Writer's Tip inspired by John Gardner - People #MFRWAuthor #BWLAuthor #John Gardner #Writing #People

Once again, I'm taking my inspiration from this post from On Becoming a Novelist by John Gardner. When I first read this book many years ago, I underlines passages that spoke of things I knew I must hone to become a writer. There are many passages.

Novels must have characters. Learning how to make characters come to life is vital. One of these is to become a people watcher. That's something I did as a child. I just enjoyed watching people and even interacting with strangers. Observine people when I was a nurse gave me the chance to see people at their best and their worst, at times when life seemed too much. Watching different people react to a similar situation showed me ways people expressed emotions. This later flowed into my writing. Not just a characters physical presence is important. I've been accused of not describing my characters bodies with enough detail. What ahs always mattered to me is their reactions and actions to a situation.

So to become a novelist, a love of language is important but so are the people in the story. Watch people and put what you see in the bank for a later use. You might even be accused of spying on these people. I have been, even when I was a child.

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Tuesday's Writer's Tip - People Talking - Dialogue #MFRWauthor #Becoming Your Own Critique Partner #Jane Toombs #Janet Lane Walters

 On to a new subject using a bit inspired by Becoming Your Own Critique Partner." This time it's to talk about Dialogue. Sometimes those reading your story can't figure who is talking without the tabs. All the characters sound the same.

There are some things to think about here. Your character's background, education, career choice. Also where are they from regionally. Not everyone in the US or any other country sound the same. There are little tells in their dialogue. When you're out, listen to other people and hwo they talk.

Another thing to consider is all those interruptions in dialogue. Uh is one. Those little remarks like Um. Sounds that people in real life use when they're forming their sentences. We all use them, "you know." This doesn't work in fiction except occasionally to showcase a particular character.

So when writing dialogue, try to make your characters sound natural and yet not speaking the way we usually speak.

Next time I'll talk about the two kinds of dialogue. Internal and external.

Wednesday's Writer's Tip.- The People #MFRWauthor #amwriting #characters

You've started the incident that can be good or bad. Remember what is bad for one character can be good for another.

How the character responds to the incident makes you look to see if he's receiving or sending. Each will make him react in a different way. These are value judgments and the character must make a choice. If one character has a distaste for being hugged, think of how he would react to one. If he welcomes the human touch, he will react in a different way. Depending on which kind of reaction you choose, you must show the character functioning so the reader can understand.

How does the character m ake his judgment call? There are things you need to know about your character. You need to know the why. You need to discover the reasons behind this reaction. So you have to deal with the facts and that comes next.