Notes

The following comes directly from my notebook, scribbled things to help remind myself of "how to write good". haha, get it? (it should be, how to write *well*.) Ahem. Anyway, on to the notes.

 The characters are continually discovering things about themselves, others, and the world through their thoughts, talking to others, and their experiences. They make breakthroughs with each other and themselves; they have troubles. They don’t , the NEVER, just “talk” to each other

 Make your climaxes intense. As intense as you can make it; Spend time building it; A horror/fantasy climax better be *really* trippy/freaky; A romantic climax better be seriously emotional; A comedic climax better be jaw-droppingly over the top. A mystery/suspense climax better make your audience do a double-take.

 Never lose your conflict/tension

 If you must make a decision in regard to plot (a decision not in regards to “what does my character choose” rather “what should I impose on the character”) choose the path with the MOST AMPLIFIED conflict/tension; Don’t give your characters good choices vs. bad choices; Make their decisions FRAUGHT with COMPLICATIONS.

 Make the ending surprise the hell out of em (your characters as well as your audience)

 Give your characters a breaking point… (So that you may test the hell out of them!)

 Make your characters fret about the decisions they’re faced with, cause them to disagree with each other, let them speak out against each other, keep them true to themselves.

 Let your character’s attitude fluctuate... remember, all of the following (plus more) must be accounted for: mood, stress level, time of day, current events, memories, people around them at the time and their relationships to these people, etc.

 Create conflict in the small, mundane and everyday

 Remember, every one of your characters has their own goals: Remember the three c’s: community, commerce, and currency. Remember your characters each have their own destination within these transactions

 In conversation (dialogue), each character is trying to push the conversation to go his way; to get the information he seeks

 CONFLICT: different types include conflict of interests, romantic conflicts, external (environmental, etc.) conflicts; they can be subtle, or obvious.

 Information unknown to the audience or the characters is a great place to insert a twist.

 Break up large chunks of information through “splicing” (going back and forth between scenes), or your scenes may become too drawn out/ boring!

 Your characters do not see things the way you see them, they do not see the things you see

 Your character’s ambitions, what excites them, are not your ambitions, or what excites you.

 War stories: don’t leave out war slang, degrading racial slurs used in reference to ‘the enemy’, kids shouldering responsibilities far beyond what they should be able to handle

 Remember your character’s reason/logic gets muddled by emotion (like yours!), and, reversely, they ignore their emotions for reason (like you!); use this as an opportunity for your character to err.

 Remember: What does your character have to say about it? Think of the different ways you can unfold your events: Which sequence will impact your audience the most? Affect your characters?

 No two characters will see completely eye to eye (they can try to convince each other!) Differing views between characters opens the door to great comedic scenes, or dramatic, suspenseful, violent, enlightening, etc. At the heart of every major scene, no matter the mood, should be a differing of views.

 Every character agrees on some point with another character (or at least they think they do); How do they relate to each other; because of their views? Despite their views?

 Every character has higher power they strive for: examples are a hero or leader; a purpose or goal such as vengeance or proving themselves; religion/God; a crush they worship; money; power; fame; family; knowledge; acceptance; protecting / guarding something or someone; etc. Anything they place on a pedestal, above themselves, is their higher power.

 What strange little things does your character find amusing? (Even the gruffest of people have something that can make them laugh); what makes them break into uncontrollable (and even inappropriate or embarrassing) laughter? Likewise, what can dissolve them into tears? Many things, few things? What are they? What is the one thing they are direly afraid of? Is there more than one thing? Etc.

 Never underestimate the Impact of Music (when writing, rewriting, or editing, I play inspiring music selected to enhance the mood of my scene; You’ll be amazed how the writing flows and weaves like music if you are listening to it while you write) ;)

 Make it hard for your characters to cope with what’s going on; let their flaws (whether there are several or few) be really big

 Your character’s actions have consequences; whether they be big or small doesn’t matter; these consequences can show themselves immediately, in a couple of days/weeks, or may not even show themselves until years later; remember, everything that happens to them is the result of something that happened earlier;

 The longer your characters have known each other, the better they know each other; remember, your characters do not know each other the way you (hopefully) know your characters; they are constantly learning about each other; this information varies, taking into account the depth of their relationship; some characters know relatively nothing about other characters, leading to false (or accurate) assumptions, judgments, etc.

 Some characters may do UNTHINKABLE things for their higher power (see above);

 Make every ‘episode’ a crafted work of art; remember each episode needs (in varying proportions) straight dialogue scene(s), straight action scene(s), and mixed dialogue and action scene(s)

 Don’t try to mush all your characters into one ‘episode’. Only include the characters *directly relevant to the segment’s plot*, and characters who are *indirectly relevant to the segment’s plot*. Some of your characters may be left out, but they will each enjoy their turn in the spotlight. (If you don’t have very many characters, don’t worry about this one. It is mostly for those with a rather large cast [like me])

 Be realistic: your characters need to eat and sleep regularly; they need entertainment, rest leave; they need to be around other people, and time to be alone; Deprived of these things for varying amounts of time will affect them; If they are in need of one or more of these things, have that need distract them; have them think about it;

 Nothing builds conflict like having your characters lost or separated (or both!) in the midst of a dangerous, foreign environment!

 Wait to reveal things to your audience; do not give them the whole pie at once! Once all your ammunition is used up, there is no longer a reason to keep reading. You want them to keep reading until the end. Make your information last.

 Make your battles (if you have battles) intense and complex; edge out of your seat stuff!

 Build every path of events in your story to a single-headed climax (if possible).

 Remember, some age does not define your character: some are wise beyond their years; others are behind in maturity; remember it varies also; some characters can be wise in some areas, while revertedly immature in regards to others; these are their strengths and weaknesses!

 Don’t underestimate your children/teenage characters.

 When you have kids/teens fighting kids/teens, the battles tend to be more personal; The fight is about them,;

 Don’t forget, that no matter how many (or little) responsibilities your children / teenage characters have, that they are just kids/teens, and eventually, their age is going to show. (Even the most mature child needs to play and be loved.)

 Keep in mind: (whether it is part of the story, or back-story that only you know): Some of your characters had to grow up far too soon; and, conversely, some of your characters still need to grow up in certain areas; Age is not a measure for your character’s maturity. You must know your character. Age is merely a gauge for where your character is in his growing process.

 [For fantasy, sci-fi or horror] As far as plot goes, go crazy! Pretend you’re designing a role-playing game, or video game; Place cut scenes around every turn, and make your obstacles (whether internal or external) original, fantastic, and awe-inspiring.

 [For stories which span many years] Remember the generations of your characters! Compare Peter Pan to the movie Hook. Many of the characters are the same, but it’s a different generation. (Wendy and Peter especially, grew and changed much, yet remained the same.) The Ya-Ya books are perhaps better examples. We follow Necie, Vivi, Teensy, and Caro from early childhood to old age (including their children, from birth to middle age)... great to read if you have a story of any genre that spans several generations.

 INCORPORATE “PLAY” IN YOUR CHARACTER’S WORK TIME : Sarcastic banter, crazy antics driven by boredom, on the clock, shifts, forbidden stuff behind the boss’s back, making total messes, fooling around, messing around, goofing off, etc.. War time: people on shift are going to get goofy- take advantage of low-stress environment- getting to be friends, building friendships, having fun, designating a scape goat. Every one lets their hair down once in a while!

 There is no happily ever after- ILLUSION—your characters go through waves of good & bad—misery & bearing life—rarely do your characters enjoy life; rare is the character that does…

 Your characters may truly love each other—Don’t Forget As Author- Knowing what’s in their hearts, and Showing it are TWO DIFFERENT THINGS—your characters will take each other for granted—or take for granted what good thing(s) they have—they will – (the majority of them) over-focus (or just focus) on Bad Things in their life—taking the Good (including Love) for granted

 YOUR ADULT CHARACTERS ARE NOT EMOTIONALLY INDESTRUCTABLE—(or for the most part, even stronger than your younger characters—emotional development, maturity and strength depends on the character themselves, NOT their AGE!) Your adult characters are just as vulnerable to their children as the children are to them... their children (if they have children) Really Impact them—DON’T FORGET, OR LET IT SLIDE!

 Possible Settings: Hollows, valleys, villages, ice caps, swamps, mountains, cities, docks, beaches, capes, bays, islands, caves, temples, underground dwellings, fields, farms, seas, palaces, carnivals, fairs, volcanoes, bases, taverns, ships, deserts, battlefields, fortresses, haunts, secret entrances, slides, waterfalls, pyramids, mazes, tombs, pools, lakes, factories, inner workings of great machines, bowels of ship, sky, clouds, cemetery, bank, arena, church, house, courtyard, dirt & mud, prison, market, underwater, camps

 NEVER UNDERQUALIFY A GOOD OBSTACLE COURSE!

 When in need, design your boring locations (ex: interior of mansions, fields, etc.) like a video game designer would… with maximum fun and difficulty in mind! That’ll spice up your story line!

 Don’t forget any one of your settings can be enclosed, open, dark, lit, summer, winter, spring, fall, daytime, nighttime, crowded or empty, natural or manmade, brand new or crumbling (or somewhere between the extremes!)

 DON’T FORGET THE FANTASTIC SETTINGS OF YOUR DREAMS

 The mood of your scene can go from boisterous, happy, and cheerful to grim, tense, and serious in the matter of a moment—make that moment count!

 (For war stories)—Loud, boisterous singing, one main ‘good’ singer (recreation)

 TRAINING ON DUTY—the young boys/soldiers are taught in the midst of crisis/battle; may or may not have someone looking out for them

 Medical affairs are a group thing! It’s their entertainment- onlookers crowd around and gawk in awe

 The younger characters idolize their role models, how their role models treat them will be of great impact

 Music and dance when all the work is done!

 Don’t stop the dialogue in the midst of rushed work... keep it flowing

 PAY ATTENTION TO COSTUME/CLOTHING- AT ALL TIMES-- What is who wearing when and why?

 Never underestimate a woman’s power over man… psychological

 Some wounds NEVER FADE WITH TIME—your characters may break down about an incident the same way 3 years after it occurred, as 7 years after, as 1 year, as 15 years—. As time goes on, Breakdowns or mourning for something / someone may happen LESS FREQUENTLY (or more...) but the INTENSITY never changes, no matter how much the character has grown or changed, etc.

 Your characters all react differently to pain, and seeing others in pain

 If your characters don’t have much fun, they may find fun in the mundane—washing leads to water fights, relaxing like kids!

 Your leader will make tactical sacrifices for an individual of his team, and VICE VERSA—makes sacrifices on the part of his team for tactical reasons! Depending on what kind of leader he is, how much will his team sacrifice for him?

 There is NO ONE TO CODDLE your characters, no matter how much you or they want there to be!

 Remember real pain is not too over the top (or under), things to take into consideration is breathing, expression, sweat, inability to speak, etc.

 Remember most people WALK and talk simultaneously (especially in new places you have to describe)... along with taking notes, observing, drawing, crafting, playing, exploring etc. Most people are capable of multitasking.

 Animals and plants have use to them

 Don’t forget to make your setting three dimensional—flats, hills, groves, etc. Never just one straight thing.

 For a unique location, just blend two or more locations into one!

 Some of your characters are experts in subjects your other characters are clueless about, and vice versa.

 Make practice fun

 Children who are functioning in an adult world see eye to eye, they relate to each other

 Don’t underestimate the role of a speech. The audience is grim when the speaker is serious, they hang on to his words, smile when he smiles, laughs at jokes, idolization, ends in unity

 Massive group fighting is fast-paced and messy... there’s a lot going on, all at once... visualize swarms of ants going at each other.—don’t forget, someone always dies

 How does a child deal with losing a friend, in the adult world?

 The leader has many roles, including leading in prayer, eulogies, writing letters to the families, etc.