A Writing Exercise from HARRIET THE SPY by Joanna Roddy

I was reading HARRIET THE SPY the other day and was absolutely smitten with Harriet's writer's game from the beginning of the book. Check it out:

Harriet was trying to explain to Sport how to play Town. "See, first you make up the name of the town. Then you write down the names of all the people who live in it. You can't have too many or it gets too hard. I usually have twenty-five....Then when you know who lives there, you make up what they do. For instance, Mr Charles Hanley runs the filling station on the corner."

She goes on to explain that once you know the names of all the families and how many kids they have and what they do for a living, that's when the fun begins. She starts imagining situations that happen in the town and how the people's lives intersect. While one farmhouse is getting robbed in the dead of night, a baby is being born in the hospital and the police chief is strolling down Main Street and senses that something is amiss. And so on.

I thought to myself, now there's an idea. 

So many children's books happen in the center of a community: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, ANNE OF GREEN GABLES, and HARRY POTTER, to name a few. The setting could be a town, a school, a secret government training facility, or a summer camp, but when there's a cast of characters around your heroes, it's good to know who they are and where they come from right off the bat. Then you can start imagining situations that would arise between these characters in this setting, instead of (as I so often do) waiting for scenes and characters to present themselves as you write or outline. I would imagine that this is where great subplots, interesting characters, and plot complexities can emerge. Kind of like real life. 

Anyone want to play town?

Let us know if you have any great exercises for constructing characters, world-building, or beginning a new story idea. We'd love to hear from you!

Connecting music to story by Yahong Chi

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You know that feeling when you discover a new artist whose songs you connect to on another level? Well, for me, it’s not too different from that feeling when you become emotionally invested in the characters you’re spinning right out of your head, the atmosphere you’ve created in this one perfect scene, or the diction that sustains the elevated introspection at the core of this one chapter. So what could be more natural than to join a song with a scene, character or entire novel?

It can be as simple as choosing a song (or two, or three, or ten) that remind you of your current WIP. Depending how much you’re invested in both songs and story, of course, that task could also be immensely complex. At its core, the linking of music with story is an exercise born from emotional connection. Just as some people enjoy assigning real-life actors to their characters and some people don’t, matching songs with your novel isn’t for everyone.

Personally, I like to assign each of my characters a song. It’s their “theme”, similar to how film soundtracks usually compose a score piece for the protagonists. I take a few things into consideration, such as lyrics, melody and production. For the protagonist of my contemporary middle-grade WIP, Victoria, her song is Owl City’s “Hello Seattle”. This song is quirky and imaginative, and by the same hand it’s also a little left of centre, matching her “loner” tendencies. However, it’s upbeat as well, which is in direct contrast to her general attitude, and I like to think that this dichotomy adds more depth to her character.

Sometimes I also match a specific song to one scene in particular, especially if the scene runs high with unresolved tension and emotion. When stakes are particularly high, I find that finding the perfect song to accompany the scene expands my understanding and perception of the way I view the scene, and that in turn inflects the way I write it.

Playlists for entire novels are also common and fun to make. And from a reader’s viewpoint, they also offer an intriguing look into the author’s mindset while they were writing the book—and they offer insight into how the author him/herself views the book itself. Basically, music can be a reflection of your novel, and it can also be a reflection of the way you perceive your novel. If a reader were to create a playlist for your novel, would it be similar (accounting for different genre & musical tastes) in style and meaning? That’s a question that could lead to some eye-opening information in how readers approach your book, as opposed to yourself, as the writer.

Just as you develop character nuances with character worksheets and plan backstory that never makes it into the final book, linking music with your story can add another layer in representing what you want to portray through your writing. With so many websites out there offering quick and easy playlist-making capabilities (try 8tracks or Grooveshark), this exercise in matching music to book can be fun, easy and insightful for you as both writer and reader.

I’m curious: Do you connect songs to your story?

—Yahong

Slipping on Your Character Mask by Dawn Lairamore

There are lots of useful, interesting, and just plain odd character exercises out there, all aimed at helping you get to know your characters better so you can write them more effectively.

Some are pretty standard:

• Give your character a job interview.

• If your character emptied his or her pockets or handbag, what would they contain? Why do they carry these things and what do these items say about them?

Some are a little more in depth:

• Describe a room in the home of your character. Only the room—no dialogue, commentary, etc. Just what the room contains. The idea is to get to know your character through their personal belongings, their choices in décor, the color palette they pick, etc.

• Write a speech your character would give if he or she was speaking in front of a large group of people.

• Write an online dating profile for your character. (I’m assuming actually posting it online is not required, although you never know . . . you might get some hits.)

Some are pretty involved and really require you to immerse yourself:

• Spend a day as one of your characters. Dress like the character, go to a restaurant and order the kind of food this character would eat, go to a park and make observations about the people and environment that this character would make, etc.

• Go to a store and only add items to your cart that your character would buy. (This one could be really interesting. If your character is a serial killer, you could be filling your cart with things like meat cleavers and rat poison, lol! I take it you’re not actually supposed to buy these items. Hopefully you’d put them back on the shelf yourself and not abandon your cart somewhere, forcing an unlucky store employee to do the re-shelving.)

I like character exercises as much as the next writer, but I’ll confess, I have yet to dress up like any of my characters, head to the local pizza parlor, and ponder what kind of toppings they’d order (hopefully it wouldn’t be anchovies—eww!). But who knows—maybe I’ll work up the nerve to do that one day.

In the meantime, please share—what are the most useful and/or weirdest character exercises you’ve come across?

-Dawn Lairamore

photo credit: ~jjjohn~ via photopin cc