Teach and Talk T-day: Peggy Eddleman

Editors Note: This is a blog post from the fabulously talented Peggy Eddleman. If you don't follow her blog (Will Write for Cookies), you should. She has amazingly useful content and a rapier-sharp wit. Peggy and I were on a panel at a conference once and let me tell you she is one smart cookie (pun only partially intended.) She also has a YA book called Through The Bomb's Breath coming out next fall. Keep your eyes peeled. I'm sure you will hear more about it on this blog as it gets closer.

We're told to put our characters up in a tree. And then throw rocks at them. Maybe even light the tree on fire. Right?

Have you ever done just that, but the emotion just wasn't there? And you're left thinking, WHAT?! I just killed off my character's dog, trapped them in a labyrinth in Siberia with no coat, and gave them a deadline to find their way back out of the maze, and if they don't make it, the love of their life will permanently move to another country. And not only that, the other country has no cell service and no Internet, and my Main Character never told said love interest how (s)he really felt. How in the world can there not be enough emotion here?!

 

There's a little piece of advice I heard once, that I think is spot-on. 

When you want to heighten an emotion, look at it’s opposite.

If you need to make your MC sad, make sure (s)he is incredibly happy first. If you want to make him/her uberly excited? Start out with him/her being bored. Want them to really be frightened? Have it happen in a place where they feel the most safe. Want to show that a secondary character has an incredibly calming presence? Start with your MC being angry.

 

If your MC is hanging out at home in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, after having seen most of the people he/she has known has turned into zombies, when MC's neighbor / bff comes knocking on the door as a freshly made zombie, it's kind of like this:

 

 

But if MC just comes home from reuniting with long lost bff, and all is right with the world and everything in it, it's going to make a huger impact when said bff comes knocking on the door, being the first in what would become many freshly made zombies. Then it's a little more like this:

 

 

Give a kid who's on top of the world tickets for his family to go to Disneyland, and it's icing! Give it to a kid whose always wanted to know what lies beyond the streets within walking distance of the alley that holds the cardboard box he lives in, and it's life-changing. 

 

If the emotion they experience before an emotion is it's opposite, you're cashing in on maximum distance between the two, which makes for a bigger punch. So go make your characters jump off some really high cliffs! Because then those of us along for the ride really enjoy the ride.

 -- 

Peggy 

THROUGH THE BOMB'S BREATH

(Random House, September 2013)

http://peggyeddleman.blogspot.com/

Twitter: @PeggyEddleman

Teach & Talk: Kaylynn Johnsen

Guest Post: Today we have Kaylynn Johnsen who was willing to post a poem that she wrote even though she's never done anything like this before. So if you like what you read make sure and give her some love for being so brave!

Box Tops 4 Education or My Education in Parental Love

by Kaylynn Johnsen

When I was younger I wrote copious amounts of poetry. I still write; although I am much more selective about my subject matter.  This particular piece is a tribute to what I’d finally learned about life, love and a life spent loving your children. 

In honor of Mother’s Day and to mothers everywhere “It’s going to be good.”

Cans Without Labels

“Green beans, green beans, green beans,”

I’d sing in the kitchen

At the top of my lungs,

For no good reason.

                       

Remember?

I had every doll in the world,

But I carried the bread loaf

And those little cans of tomato paste;

You called me creative.

You loved me.

When I colored blue, green and yellow roses,

Instead of red,

I was brilliant, insightful.

You were my best critic.

Remember?

I was fond of plaid and stripes,

Before it was in style.

I got my arm caught up in the

Gum ball machine, wasn’t I thrifty?

You loved me.

Too many times I said, “I hate you!”

When I meant to say, “I’m angry right now.”

Sometimes, I had to admit you were right.

I hated that too.

Remember?

I loved overhearing you on the phone,

“My daughter this, my little girl that.”

I’d ask you to tell me about me,

When I was little.

You loved me.

Even when I knew everything,

You listened.

And when I told the same joke every day,

You laughed.

Remember?

I cut all the labels off the cans for school and

Every dinner was a surprise,

You never knew what was inside,

You’d hold your breath and pray, “It’s going to be good.”

You loved me.

Did you say that about me?

“It’s going to be good.”

Did you hold your breath?

Did you pray?

Remember?

I asked, “Would you love me if I looked like this?”

And disfigured my face.

You always said, “Yes.”

You always loved me.

Remember?

“It’s going to be good.”