Unpacking Boxes + Developing Characters

Last month, I moved into a new apartment. Moving made me appreciate many things anew, such as how each room its own unique space with its own special function and purpose -- and yet, the individual rooms meld wonderfully into a whole space. A home. To me, this parallels the way a successful story or novel melds individual elements -- characters, place, theme, tone -- into a wonderfully whole, cohesive piece.

I have been dreaming about this move for a while. It is a big new leap for me, and an exciting step forward in my relationship. I am “living in an atmosphere of growth” -- one of the main keys to happiness that researcher Gretchen Rubin writes about in her book The Happiness Project. Every day when I come home and fit my key into the lock, a tiny thrill passes through me to realize: I live here now.

And then I open my front door. And I remember that, as exciting and beautiful and necessary as moving forward is, it is also messy. Moving is hard work. Moving is boxes and boxes and boxes to unpack and sort through and put away. Changing, growing, building means re-examining every single one of those things we are carrying through this life with us and asking ourselves whether it still serves us. Whether it is worth holding onto. Or whether it is perhaps time to let go. 

Yes, in order to fully embrace all the bright potential of the future, we must loosen our grip on the past. On the way things have always been done. On our preconceived notions and expectations. Change, even positive change, is chaotic and uncomfortable and a little bit scary. The best way to overcome our fears is to embrace them. How do we embrace change? By being creatively open to new ideas.

From one of my many boxes, I unearthed notes I had jotted down during the AWP (Association of Writers & Writing Programs) Conference two years ago. These notes are from a session about developing the emotional lives of our characters.

Character questions: 
- What does this character love more than anything else in the world? 
- What would hurt this character more than anything else in the world? 

You need to believe that the story can surprise you. Think about what you know about the story and go in the opposite direction. If you can surprise yourself, then you can surprise the reader. If you do the work of place and character, then the story can surprise you.

I love this idea of being surprised by the story, and not by a cheap gimmick or trying to play a trick on the reader; rather, being surprised by the story because you have done the real work of developing your characters and walking around spaces with them. In other words, you have unpacked their boxes. And there might be a box or two way over in the corner, or hidden in the back of their closet, that will surprise you in a genuine, authentic way. That is the type of discovery I aim for in my writing.

In his masterful book Genership 1.0: Beyond Leadership Toward Liberation the Creative Soul, author David Castro spends a whole chapter delving into human emotional motivation. Not only is this insightful information for us as people existing in a complex society, it is also very helpful to think about when developing characters:

"Emotion deeply informs motivation; strong emotional intensity provides the energy for action. Weak intensity manifests as low energy, producing ineffective or meaningless responses. Individuals and teams may learn to mask their emotions, expressing feeling only through movement toward what they desire and away from what they detest. In some cultures, direct displays of emotion are not common and may be viewed as wasted opportunities for action. Expressions such as 'Don't get mad, get even' and 'Still waters run deep' exemplify this recognition that powerful emotional responses may remain hidden while they animate action from beneath the surface." -- pgs. 155-156

What great questions to ask yourself -- and to ask of your characters! I'll add them to my jotted-down list from above:

Character questions: 
- What does this character love more than anything else in the world? 
- What would hurt this character more than anything else in the world? 
- What hidden emotions animate or amplify this character's actions?
- On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being a robot and 10 being dramatic fireworks) what is the baseline emotional intensity of your character?

By asking these questions, we get to know our characters on a deeper level. We have a blueprint for them as individuals that we can carry throughout our journey with them. When we develop the emotional lives of our characters, they become whole, flawed, nuanced, authentic human beings. In short, they become REAL.

Now... time for me to head back to unpacking. Like so many worthwhile activities in life, moving is hard work -- but it is good work, too. The only way for us to deepen and expand as people -- and the only way for us to grow as writers -- is to keep moving forward. To keep unpacking our boxes. To keep using our creative imaginations to explore the rooms in this diverse, lovingly rooted, marvelous world we share together.

Guest Post by Mariana Ashley

Writing about writing: 

The importance of a writing journal 

by Mariana Ashley

At one point I wrote so much I felt as though I was going crazy.

On top of my freelance writing duties, I try to write a little bit of my own fiction on the side every day or at least a few times a week. If I’m really on a roll, I could be writing over 3000 words a day counting my professional writing and the fiction that I do in my spare time. I wish I had more of those days, but sometimes I just don’t have the energy to produce content constantly.

About a year ago, amidst a particularly grueling week of writing, I found read a post from some writing blog (I can’t remember the name for the life of me) that advocated for keeping up a writing journal. Is this person out of their mind? I thought. I’m putting in tons of hours to write for work and for my own personal enjoyment, and now it’s expected that I keep up a journal too? How could a person possibly cope with that much time in front of a page? 

Despite my misgivings, I tried keeping a journal on the side of everything else. The post made it very clear that this writing journal was meant solely for you to express how you were feeling at that moment, no matter what was on your mind. Relationships, writing habits, career ambitions, and general musings were all fair game. The writing journal isn’t about sketching out a new story or figuring out the next plot point in your novel; it’s time for you to reflect on you.

According to the blogger, the point of the writing journal was for you to wrestle with any emotions or troubles that kept you from making progress or breaking through on your other work. Rather than sublimate and dismiss any negative emotions, you could feel free to write them out in full in the journal.

I can’t even begin to articulate what the writing journal did for me. I had been plagued with doubt about so many writing projects at the time that it had seriously affected the quality and quantity of my writing. Once I started working out those doubts and inhibitions on paper, I could see clearly that the things that worried me and kept me up at night had no basis in reality—they were just negative thoughts that kept me from taking serious leaps in my work. I worried too much about how people would receive my writing rather than take the time to actually develop and shape it. Seeing these thoughts splayed out on the journal was like a revelation.

Now I write in my writing journal almost every day. It’s an indispensable tool for keeping my emotions in check and staying level headed when the writing process because particularly grueling and difficult. I recommend a writing journal for any writer, if just to get in touch with your emotions.

Do you keep a journal of any sort? I’d love to hear about it!

BIO: This guest post is brought to you by Mariana Ashley, a prolific blogger who provides web content to a number of blogs and websites. She's most interested in providing guidance to prospective college students who wish to attend online colleges in Montana. When she's not writing or researching online education trends, she enjoys riding her horse, George, and spending quality time with her four nieces. Mariana welcomes your questions and comments at mariana.ashley031@gmail.com.

Interview with Sarah Tate

Sarah Tate is an English born mother of three who lives and works in Switzerland. She is the author of Web of Lies - My Life with a Narcissist, an autobiographical novel about living with a person with a personality disorder. Web of Lies takes the reader on an emotional journey, as Sarah describes in great detail how she was wooed by, fell for, and almost had her life destroyed by, a pathological personality. Dr David Holmes, leading forensic psychologist at the University of Manchester in England, has endorsed the book as being a valuable tool for anybody who may have found themselves involved with a narcissist or psychopath. Her second book, Renaissance - A Journal of Discovery, charts the progress of Sarah and her children as they escape from the deceit, and carve a new life for themselves alone. It details the road to recovery from psychological abuse. 

Tell us about Web of Lies. What was your inspiration/motivation behind this book? Was it difficult to revisit these memories? 

Web of Lies is an emotional rollercoaster which takes the reader on an incredible journey and gives a deep insight into what it’s like to be sucked into the world of a narcissistic psychopath, and moreover, how to escape.

Narcissists and sociopaths live amongst us, yet many people don’t even recognize their character traits and can be easily left distraught and confused thinking that they are the ones with the problem. By telling my story and sharing it with the world, I hoped to help other women (and men) who have fallen for the seemingly endless (yet superficial) charms of one of these individuals. This is not a self-help book, but an honest and emotional account of what it feels like to be entangled in the world of a person whose reality is different to our own. Leading psychologist Dr David Holmes recommends the book to his psychology students as an extremely valuable case study. Apart from being a gripping read, it’s an important book for all those who have suffered in an unhappy relationship.

I had been encouraged by friends and relatives to write down the extraordinary events which happened to myself and the children. I was doing some research on the web about the psychological effects may be for us, when I came across an article on NPD & APD. When I read the article I thought it had been written about my life! I realised then that I had a very important story to tell.

It was quite draining to re-live it all in such detail, and to be honest it was quite difficult to read it all back again when it was finished. The book is of course very condensed, you get six years put into twenty-four chapters, so of course it's more intense than it was in real life. I'm glad I wrote it though, as the feedback I've received has been overwhelming and made it all worthwhile.

What was it like to publish a memoir? Was it a release? Freeing? Was there any anxiety in the publication process? Is publishing a memoir different from publishing fiction? 

 It was scary. You are laying bare some very raw and emotional events in your life and you don't know how they are going to be received by the readers. There was much trepidation at fist, but it helped that I had a strong belief in the book and it's message. I'd say it has been quite liberating, yes. I know I've helped people, as I get regular Emails to thank me for sharing my story. This has made it liberating for me. It's exactly what I wanted to achieve. I've not yet published my first novel so I can't say if it's a different process.

How did you get started writing? 

Web of Lies was my first book, but I've always enjoyed writing and have written poetry and short stories for as long as I can remember.

What is your writing process like? 

Computer. I plan out each chapter and exactly what I want it to achieve. I do this in some detail. Then, I go back and 'fill in the gaps'!

How do you get ideas for what you write? 

Well, obviously the first two books are based on my own experience so that was easy! My third book is a novel called The Middle Aged Twist -- with this book I have used examples from real life as well as a lot of imagination. I'm really enjoying creating characters and watching them take on their own life in my mind.

What are some of your favorite books? 

Anything by Stephen King, Emma Donoghue (in particular, Room), Jodie Piccoult or Patricia Cornwell. I love psychological thrillers or historical fiction, but I'm also not adverse to some chick lit from time to time! 

What is your biggest advice for young people reaching for their dreams? 

Go for it and believe! Keep trying and never give up. Don't let negative energy from others dissuade you. Remove negative energy from your life and stay focused!


Contact Sarah:
www.sarahtateauthor.com
http://singlemumsal.blogspot.ch/