Category: Uncategorized

Ulterior Motives

On By Terry ConnellyIn Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

I enjoy the reality show Survivor because the players are constantly working towards goals. From the beginning, they try to form alliances that they feel will benefit them as they play the game. The motive is to create a voting block that will keep them on day after day.

They also have to build shelter and fire in order to survive the elements and to eat. On many days they compete in games that test physical stamina as well as the ability to outwit a mental challenge. The motive to win is huge. Not just for the glory of winning, but to get the prize, which can be in the form of food, means of survival, as well as not being forced to vote someone off of the team.

Ulterior motives are not just the thing of games, but of real life. We perform for a variety of reasons. Sometimes we do things just because we want to, but many times it’s because we yearn for something in return.

For example, a person runs for elected office in order to win, not just to see their name in the news and on the ballot.

The dating game is all about ulterior motives. Two strangers meet, size each other up, talk a bit to establish if there are any common grounds, all with the motive of going out on a date. The eventual outcome could be falling in love and getting married.

Our characters must also have ulterior motives or they are not fully developed. Three-dimensional people make decisions based on perceived outcomes. So must your characters.

Let’s say you’re writing a thriller in which someone dies. Why? What was the purpose of the death? Is your character the murderer or the one who will solve the crime? In order to find out who did it, the detective must be able to analyze the motive for the crime.

Your task is to take something that you’ve written and reread, looking for places where ulterior motive drives the action. If you cannot find any, then you must rewrite.

Start with the first page. Somewhere within those words the reader needs to understand what drives the main character to action. If that information is missing, put it in.

But don’t stop there. Throughout the piece we need to see the motives change as the situation changes. Don’t barrage us with motives, but find a way to keep us informed.

Seeing motive unfold drives the story forward and keeps the reader entranced.

Have fun with this one!

 

 

The Happy Zone

On By Terry ConnellyIn Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

It isn’t natural to be happy all the time. We prefer being happy, but there are people and issues that bring us down. Hurt or embarrass.

How we react to the hurtful depends upon how we feel about being happy. For example, an ex-boyfriend spreads embarrassing information about your character. What does she do? Does she counter with hurtful information about the ex or does she allow it to pass, put on her happy face and go out into the world?

Some of us are happier than others. We love a good joke, we laugh at ourselves, we smile when we hear an interesting story. We prefer feeling pleasant and will work hard to maintain that equilibrium.

What about your character? Where is her happy zone and how hard does she work to maintain it? What makes him feel good inside and how often does he shrug off miserable thoughts just to return to the zone?

Your task is to write a scene in which your character’s happy zone is threatened. It could be due to a piece of bad news, something happening in the world, or a sad movie. Whatever the cause, in your scene it brings your character down.

Then something happens to return your character to the zone. It could be a phone call, a letter, a promotion, a chat with a neighbor.

So, the pattern is this: happy character is saddened for a bit, then gains equilibrium and ends up happy once again. Easy, right?

Have fun with this one.

The Mentor

On By Terry ConnellyIn Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

Everyone needs someone to look up to, the mentor who provides guidance in an increasingly difficult world.

For some of us it’s a relative. Maybe Mom, who teaches love, kindness and caring toward others. Maybe it’s Grandpa who shows us how to work with our hands, takes us camping and teaches us how to barbecue. Perhaps it’s an aunt who struggled hard to be an auto mechanic in what has traditionally been seen as a man’s job.

For those of us who lack a strong family member to emulate, our mentors come from the outside world. How many of you fell in love with a teacher? This teacher offered praise and encouragement and made us feel smart and worthy.

Maybe it was at college at school or at work, who came to us offering advice on projects. This individual never made us feel inferior, but rather kindly took us under her wings.

Many kids worship athletes and want to be just like them. I once worked with a student who sought to be an astronaut shortly after the launching of a space probe, and at another time with one who wanted to be a famous skateboarded.

Your character needs a mento9r in his life. Someone to whom she can turn when stuck or feeling out of sorts.

As you develop your list of characters, write down several who could serve as mentors, and in what ways. Match up one from this list with your character’s interests or skills. Then enhance your list, writing down several possible scenes in which the two might interact, as well as the possible outcome of the interaction.

Your job is then to put the story in motion. Your character comes in contact with her mentor. A problem is discussed. A solution found.

Make sure that everything is logical. Dialogue should not sound forced, but rather flow naturally.

When finished, reread and edit. Add in details that flesh out the story.

How did it work for you? Does your character feel more three-dimensional?

Have fun with this one.

Searching the News

On By Terry ConnellyIn Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

Politics makes good fodder for storytelling. Think about what’s happening in the news right now.  All over the world you can find stories that need telling.

For example, if writing about war and conflict is your thing, choose any of the war-torn countries as the beginnings of your story. You most likely will have to do some research first to sort out the issues and sides, but as soon as you have a basic understanding of what’s going on, create some characters and put them in action.

If famine or flood or other natural disasters interest you, then seek out reports that cover those topics. Find one that interests you. For example, right now California is being pounded by a series of storms that are causing flooding, road collapse and fallen trees. Think about the stories you can tell with just that information!

Meanwhile southern California is experiencing continued drought. Think of water wars, hoarding of water, stealing water, transporting water and so on. Fodder for stories!

Within the political world, you just have to check Twitter to find quips that can be turned into stories. Take one or two, change the wording and reformulate the writers, and you’ve got a story that needs to be told!

Your task is to search the news and find something that peaks your interest. Do some basic research, if needed. Then write a short story that has your characters responding to or causing whatever storm you have brewing!

Have fun with this one.

 

Family Story

On By Terry ConnellyIn Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

How many times have you heard that you should write about what you know? And what do we know most about? Family, of course.

We’ve got quirky aunts and uncles, feisty grandparents, argumentative siblings and overly protective mothers. Maybe. In your family it could be that mom was standoffish, dad was aloof and unconcerned, and that your older sister ran the household.

No matter the formation of our family, it is something that we share in common. Even if we don’t have an uncle who sat a little too close or an aunt who baked the most delicious apple cake, our family is unique and therefor interesting.

It is through our family unit that we figure out where and how we fit in and who we are as a person. This is something that all of us can identify with, and so it becomes fodder for our writing.

If you are intimidated by the prospect of writing about family, then construct memories  that are similar but not identical. Change names and appearances. Make someone older while another is younger. The clingy one becomes strong and dominant while the dominant one becomes shy.

Your task is to take a family story and write it. At first keep the details as is. Even the names. The setting is your hometown, the house the one you lived in. The bedroom you shared with a sibling. The fights you had when someone took your toy. Your joys and sadness.

After you have written this story, then sit back and reflect. First of all, what are the easiest things to change? Names, personalities, appearance. Start there.

Next alter the setting so that it takes place in a completely different time and place. When you think of the house, make it an apartment in a high-rise building. Instead of an inner city bungalow with a tiny yard, move it to a sprawling ranch house in the heart of farmland.

If you wrote about your school, change it in physical appearance as well as in perception. If the school was small, make it huge. If the teacher was warm and welcoming, make him a bit of a grouch. Change your best friend to someone with darker/lighter skin, longer/shorter hair, taller/shorter than you.

After you’ve rewritten your story, does it still reflect what actually happened and how it impacted you? Hopefully it does. If not, then what needs to be changed?

Do this over and over until you have a story that resonates.

Have fun with this one.

Love in the Story

On By Terry ConnellyIn Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

Love manifests itself in many forms.

We understand like from a very young age. We like ice cream, listening to stories, running around the yard. We like school, the playground, learning new things. We like boys if we’re male and girls if we’re female until we become adolescents and then it’s no longer the “in” thing to like only same-sex friends.

We also learn love. Love of family. Love of our dog or cat. Even love of turtles, elephants, unicorns. We love specific foods and colors. We love styles of clothing. We love our electronics devices and spend countless hours before them.

At some point in time we feel love of the other for the first time. A true, heartfelt desire to be with the other forever and ever. Because of this love we are willing to make sacrifices, to change our lives, to try new things, all to be with this love.

Whoever your character is, then, he must have loves in his life. He probably has a gazillion likes, but he should have one true love. If not, then it’s time to give him one.

Think about your character’s personality and what types of people she feels a kinship to. Does she like tall, muscular body builders? Thin, reedy intellectuals? Those with blue eyes and blond hair or dark brown eyes and tight curls that encircle the head.

Once you’ve discovered the type, then create the person that she will fall in love with. Figure out how they meet. Is it at work or in a coffee shop? At a ballgame or in line to buy the latest Apple product?

Your task is to write the falling in love scene. Remember that even the most villainous of us love something or someone, so don’t be afraid to have your evil character find love.

Put them in the place of meeting. Have them exchange glances, smiles, shrugs. Let us see inside one of their heads so that we know what he is thinking. Is it love at first sight or simply intrigue? What things do they say, do? How do they find out each other’s name and contact information?

Take us to the point where one of them knows it is love.

Have fun with this one.

 

The Comfort Zone

On By Terry ConnellyIn Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

I am terrified of heights, so you’d never find me zip lining over the rainforest canopy, standing on the precipice of a canyon or climbing the side of a mountain.

But what if my life was threatened by rapidly rising waters? Would I climb a tree to save my life? Most likely I would, but not without first trying to come up with other less risky options.

What are the parameters of your character’s comfort zone? Is she so terrified of spiders that she freezes when one lands on her? If a snake slithers across the trail, will he turn around and go back to the car?

You need to think about this. Begin by making a list of possible scares that fit within the parameters of your character’s personality. For example, someone who loves flying might be willing to bungee jump off a bridge, but would never swim in the ocean.

Try to come up with at least five things that fit within the comfort zone and at least five that do not.

Now, write a scene in which your character must face her fears. Make the stakes high enough that the story is intriguing. No if I do this I win a candy bar stuff, but rather if I don’t do this my friends will tell everyone that I’m a wuss, further damaging my already fragile relationships.

Or even make it life threatening. If I don’t jump out this window, I’m likely to die in the fire or be shot by the robbers or be bitten by the frothing-at-the-mouth dog.

When you are finished, reread, adding tension whenever it is appropriate.

Have fun with this one.

Setting Aside Time to Write

On By Terry ConnellyIn Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

I’ve read countless times about how important it is to set aside time, every single day, to write. Some advocate writing in the morning before work. Others say as soon as you get home from work. And then there are those who write after the kids go to bed.

This is a particular problem for me. I think about writing every day, topics rolling around in my head, being rewritten several times over before finally committing to paper.

Considering that I’m retired, you’d think I’d have whole days before me, but that’s not true. I’m busier now than I was when I worked!

So what works for you? Are you a morning person? Do you get up extra early, turn on the computer and type away? Or can you only squeeze in time once dinner is over and the dishes put away?

I do think it is important to read every day in your genre and to think about story as you read. To analyze story beginnings, middles and ends. To examine how characters are introduced and developed. To look at major plot points, how story surges forward and then falls back.

Have you done this? If not, this is your task for the week.

Pick up a book you’ve been dying to read. From the first word on the first page, think critically. If it will help, take notes. What happens on page one? Ten? Twenty?

How does the author end each chapter? Begin the next? How do the characters interact? What kinds of things do they do together? Apart? When they are together, who is dominant and how does that impact their relationship?

For example, who decides where they go for dinner, what movie to see, which party to attend?

So, your work for the week is to read and take note, thinking all the while how this will impact your own writing.

Have fun with this one.

Establishing Setting

On By Terry ConnellyIn Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

I’ve always had a hard time getting the introduction of setting on the first page. I realize that it’s important that readers know when and where a story takes place, but how do you insert the details without being pedantic?

I’ve tried beginning with a description of the scene, such as John  Steinbeck did so well in both Of Mice and Men and The Pearl. What seemed to come naturally to him is forced from me. Steinbeck was able to set the scene so well that you could almost hear the wind blowing through the trees and smell the smoke from the cook fire.

Science fiction writers have to describe a whole new world in such a way that the reader understands exactly what’s going on. Many might begin with a map, naming places and drawing boundaries in such a way that readers will feel at home as characters pass through the different areas.

Stories set in the past have to establish historical accuracy from the get-go. This includes foods, dress, language, environments and so on. It requires a great amount of research to make sure that this world depicts the way things were.

My stories tend to be contemporary in my world, which means in the San Francisco Bay Area. I do this on purpose. First of all, it’s a world I know and understand. Secondly, I don’t have to use too much imagination to place my characters in the world and set them in motion.

So how do you establish setting? I recommend looking at authors that you respect. Reread the first pages of many different books. Take notes. Imitate what you read, down to the sentence structures, replacing a noun for a noun and a verb for a verb.

Do this over and over until you feel comfortable working on your own.

This is your task. Think of a story that you want to tell.  Using one of the models that you have created as a beginning, tell the story. When you are finished, go back and reread. Does the setting work? When you start reading, do you know the time period and the place or do you have to guess?

If you, the writer, don’t know, then neither will your reader. In this case, go back to your models and try again. Repeat this process until your setting works.

Have fun  with this one.

Going Home

On By Terry ConnellyIn Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

Your character has been traveling to new places and having interesting experiences, but has she been thinking of home?

Does he miss his dog, wondering how lonely the poor animal is?

Does he dream about home? Being among her possessions and having a variety of clothing options?

It’s time to bring her home. Plan her route home.

Think about what goes through his mind. The emotions he experiences.

Write the story of her longing for home and how she gets there. What goes through her mind as she nears home.

Describe the emotions he feels when he walks through the door and is greeted by his cat.

Have fun with this one.