This month we’re talking specifics: all the ways in which we can make life different as writers. We’ve talked about 13 surprising ways to add depth to genre stories, and the things we writers know that non-writers don’t.
But you know what’s really hard?
Sitting at your desk day in and day out, month after month, year after year, trying to come up with fresh and significant angles on life in an imaginary world. After awhile it seems like every character you create spends all their time flipping through random papers, looking under books, and trolling the blogosphere. (Garrison Keillor once said the characters in his first novel spent all their time smoking cigarettes and looking out windows.)
So let’s get up! Go out in the world. Your characters are living there.
Look for them:
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On a high ladder
This is how your characters feel when they have to do something they don’t want to do.
How do you feel right now? What’s under your hands? Under your feet? In your stomach? Between your ears? Ask yourself what it would feel like if you let go. Then ask yourself what it would feel like if you let go and your foot got caught.
That’s what happens to your characters after they’ve done what they didn’t want to do.
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In an advanced physics class
This is how your characters feel when they’re in a conversation they can’t control.
What are you thinking when you’re talking? What is the person next to you thinking? What is the teacher thinking about you? Ask yourself how you’d teach this class if you were a genius. Then ask yourself what you’d do if the teacher told you to take over with the brain you’ve got.
That’s what happens to your characters when they have to speak.
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In a cold bath
This is how your characters feel when they’re waiting.
What’s your body doing? What’s your skin doing? What’s your brain doing? Ask yourself what would happen if you never got out. Then ask yourself what would happen if your mortal enemy got in with you.
That’s what happens to your characters when they stop waiting.
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In a room full of boxes
This is how your characters feel when they’re facing strangers.
What are your lungs doing? What is your scalp doing? What’s the first thing that flashes through your mind? Ask yourself what’s in these boxes that you’ve forgotten about. Then ask yourself what you’re going to do when you’ve got them all opened and the contents everywhere and you don’t know how to put it all back away.
That’s what happens to your characters at the end of the scene with the strangers.
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Under the sink working on plumbing
This is how your characters feel when they’re trying to break through a stonewall.
How do your muscles feel? How does your spine feel? How do the synapses that are supposed to get you out of this feel? Ask yourself what it would take to get someone else to do this. Then ask yourself what you’re going to say to the person with the gun when you crawl out and explain why you quit.
That’s what happens to your characters when they break through the stonewall.
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In an airplane bathroom
This is how your characters feel when they’re spying on someone.
How cramped are you? How twisted can you get? How does the privacy feel compared to being out there with everyone else? Ask yourself what it would be like to go down the drain and fall through the sky. Then ask yourself what it would be like to get stuck.
That’s what happens to your characters when footsteps head their way.
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In the open trunk of a car
This is how your characters feel when they’re about to die.
How do your eyeballs feel? How do your palms feel? When was the last time you used the bathroom? Ask yourself how it would feel if someone slammed the trunk lid closed. Then ask yourself what it would be like to wake up still in the closed trunk.
That’s what happens to your characters at the moment of death.
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On a bridge over a moving ship
This is how your characters feel when they have a chance to get something they desperately need.
What do your legs want to do? What do your arms want to do? What does your neck want to do? Ask yourself how it would feel to throw yourself off the bridge onto the ship. Then ask yourself how it would feel to miss.
That’s what happens to your characters when they go for the chance.