Tag Archives: Johnnie Mazzocco Writing Through the Body

The Surprising Secret to Creating Believable, Engaging Characters Your Readers Will Never Forget

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We all know a good story when we read, watch, or hear one. But do you have a clear idea of what makes one story better than another? We could likely create a long list: vivid descriptions, compelling conflict, evocative emotional landscape, intriguing storylines, and much, much more. And while all of these are necessary for a good story, what’s the one thing that if it were missing there would be no story?

Character.

Many people are moved to write stories because they seek to make meaning of this crazy, beautifully confounding thing called life. And they’re compelled to explore the human condition, which means delving deep into the kaleidoscope of human motivation and behavior. This is why creating believable, engaging characters that your readers will never forget is essential. It’s also an art.

Constructing an interesting storyline that satisfies your readers’ need to know the answer to “what happened next?” is important, but when all is said and done, if your readers go away wondering “why?” did that character do that thing, they’ll go away frustrated and unsatisfied.

We want to understand why we do the things we do, and we look to characters for those answers. There’s a way to get to the core of that inquiry. We can study the ancient chakra system, which will help us begin to drill down inside a character’s core to unravel all her hidden desires and fears. This will better inform our creation of her, and it will help our readers embrace her as a flawed, yet lovable, character that they become emotionally invested in.

Stay tuned for more about how we can use this ancient, esoteric system as a practical application to writing deep, profound characters that come off the page and stay with our readers long after they’ve put our work down.

To get you moving in that direction, call a character to mind. Maybe it’s one from an in-progress short story, novel, or creative non-fiction piece. Or maybe you want to make one up for this exercise. (Think simply if you’re creating one: gender, age, physical appearance.)

Put your character on a plane or a train (or some other mode of transportation) en route to visit family for the holidays, and answer this question: What tacit agreement does this character have with her/his family?

Now write at least two pages about what unfolds as the character approaches, or arrives, at her/his destination.

Then either share your piece of writing or let us know what that process was like in the comments below.

Sending you mad writing mojo…

How understanding the Third Eye Chakra can help your writing

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So far, we’ve looked at how understanding the Root, Sacral, Power, Heart and Throat chakras can help with our writing. This week, we’re looking at the Third Eye Chakra.

The Third Eye Chakra is about our intuition and being able to express our higher nature, so ultimately, it’s about understanding our purpose in life and pursuing it.

image credit: thirdeyeindigo.wordpress.com

image credit: thirdeyeindigo.wordpress.com

As with previous weeks, we first have to begin with a framework of some kind, and as I’ve mentioned before, I find it’s usually easiest to begin with gender and age.

This week, let’s work with a 58-year-old male. We can begin to think about what this chakra governs and what this character might have missed in that developmental stage.

From a generative stance, then, if we draw on one of the primary fears or negative manifestations of this chakra, we can begin to create a foundation for a story. Let’s use the inability to make sound judgments based on the reality of a situation. Let’s imagine that, in this case, it comes in the form of the following scenario: This character has lived in the same town all his life and plateaued at his career years ago. He’s allowed himself to stay stuck due to a fear of leaving because he’s never been able to make the decision to go. Now, he’s been offered a stellar job in another state, but he’s terrified of taking it. The reason: he has a domineering mother who guilt trips him every time he thinks of doing anything that could further his career path. She’s a paraplegic and never misses an opportunity to remind him of this. (He doesn’t fully see how she manipulates him, though. He has taken on the belief that it’s his duty to be near his mother.) From this, then, we can see that he has not developed a healthy sense of self or purpose in life. If he had, he would have moved on years before. Instead, he has let himself be manipulated by guilt. We could begin this with a conversation between him and his mother wherein he’s attempting to break the news to her. What will transpire? Will he finally make his break, or will the story end up with him making the decision to stay put?

From a corrective standpoint, if we’re already working with a 58-year-old male who is having issues with his guilt-tripping mother, we can begin to ask ourselves questions.

  1.  How intuitive is this character?
  2.  How imaginative is he?
  3.  Does he think “outside the box” or is his idea of reality based on what he sees directly in front of him?
  4.  Would you describe him as wise or fearless? If so, how?
  5.  Would you describe him as practical? If so, how?
  6.  How able is he to make decisions?

Where does this take you?

 

Why you aren’t writing – Reason #3

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This week I’m writing about how to sort out the endless ideas you have knocking around in your brain. I always liken this condition to a jar full of angry bumble bees. The best thing to do for the poor things is remove the lid and set them free. Same is true for your story ideas.

The first order of business is to get it all outside yourself. You have to.

image from honeybeehaven.com

image from honeybeehaven.com

Follow these steps, and you’ll be on your way to cranking out stories the world is waiting to read.

  • Get a new notebook (don’t try slogging through the mess of notes you already have)
  • Devote one page to each snippet in your brain: Do you have the physical form of a character? Write only that down at the top of the page and move on to the next page. A name? Same idea. Write it at the top of the next page and move on. Are you hearing dialogue, sound, a voice? An image that won’t leave you alone? Do you have a storyline brewing? A motivation? An obstacle? Allow each piece of information to take up space on the page.
  • Begin to expand on each snippet, one-by-one. This may be hard if you’re a person who has way too many ideas, but each snippet is a nugget for a full-blown story. Give each one ample time and learn to be okay with setting the others aside for now, knowing that you’ll eventually get to each one.
  • If you just can’t possible set all the others aside, set a timer and devote a specified amount of time – say, 15-60 mins. – to each page on your writing day(s).

Sounds too simple, I know. But it will work. Promise.

Please leave your nuggets in the comments below.

How understanding the throat chakra can help your writing

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So far, we’ve looked at how understanding the Root, Sacral, Power, and Heart chakras can help with our writing. This week, we’re looking at the Throat Chakra.

The Throat Chakra is about recognizing free will in ourselves and in others and accepting it with compassion. It has to do with how we use our voice to express our will.

image from chakra-anatomy.com

image from chakra-anatomy.com

As with previous weeks, we first have to begin with a framework of some kind, and I find it’s usually easiest to begin with gender and age.

This week, let’s work with a 15-year-old female. When we consider that the Throat Chakra develops between the years of 29-35, we can already see how viewing this character through the lens of the fifth chakra can help build in some inherent tension in the area of self-expression.

From a generative stance, then, if we draw on one of the primary fears or negative manifestations of this chakra, we can begin to create a foundation for a story. Let’s use the fear of having no authority within the tribe. This is a reasonable fear for a teenager, as adolescence is a time when we attempt to individuate from our tribe so we can become autonomous. We can then begin to think about what this character isn’t expressing herself or being heard.

From a corrective standpoint, if we’re already working with a 15-year-old girl who is having issues within her family regarding her desires and her ability to voice them and be heard but we aren’t sure where to go from there, we can begin to ask ourselves questions.

1) What does she want that she’s not getting from her tribe – her family?
2) Why she can’t get it?
3) Is she not voicing her opinion for fear she’ll be shut down, not taken seriously, ignored, or abused?

If you can’t get her talking outwardly, get her to talk inwardly. Start to write down her thoughts and go from there.

Where does this take you?

 

 

Why you aren’t writing – Reason #2

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image credit: deviantart.com

image credit: deviantart.com

This week I’m writing about how to write even when you don’t know how or where to begin.

While this may feel forced and artificial at first, it can get you well on your way to getting a story on the page.

Think of this as priming the pump in three steps:

  • Get clear about the story essentials you need to create a workable framework.
  • Plug in the info.
  • Write.

So, what are the story essentials?

1. Imagine a protagonist/main character (think about gender, age, physical appearance and trust that the rest will come). Don’t spend a ton of time on this. Just jot down what comes to mind. The process actually works better that way.
2. Put the character in a space.
3. Give the character a desire.
4. Give the character a reason for the desire.
5. Imagine an antagonist (the person or thing that will interfere with the protagonist’s main desire).
6. Let the antagonist interfere with the first character’s desire.
7. What desire is behind the second character’s actions?
8. Why does the second character have this desire?
9. Make the two characters talk to each other.
10. Fill out the scene(s) by evoking the five senses.

Don’t think it to death.
Just jot down what comes to you quickly.
Trust your intuition.
Make it easy.
Keep writing…

Here’s an example

Protagonist
43-year-old woman with long, wild red hair in a car
Driving across the country to meet her birth mother for the first time

Antagonist
22-year-old guy
On his way to meet his girlfriend at an abortion clinic, rear-ends the protagonist’s car

What happens next…?

IMPORTANT: It doesn’t have to be good at this stage. It doesn’t have to be perfect. You’ll come back and refine it on the rewrite. That’s what everyone does. Even the best writers.

And that’s how you begin.

Do this over and over and over. Before you know it, you’ll have several beginnings you can build on.

Trust me.

Who are your protagonist and your antagonist?