N- Narcissist

by Shelly Brown

You know what this blog needs? Another picture of me.

I'm not narcissistic. How do I know? I probably look in the mirror no more than once a day because I figure, 'what's the point?'. I'm not particularly fond of getting my picture taken and I probably only put on make-up 3x a week. It's all rather unnarcissistic of me.

But I do have a great little experience that I will most definitely be writing into a book somewhere about how I even learned what narcissism was.

In college we recorded all of our film acting assignments and then we were forced to watch them again and again, trying to evaluate our own work. After the first couple assignments I started wearing make-up to class everyday (it made watching it more tolerable- sad but true) and I started practicing my pieces in front of the mirror to note subtle things that I did with my face and make sure that my expression was conveying what I was meaning for it to convey. It worked and my acting improved.

One day I was at an audition for a film and was working on my audition piece in one of the 'dance mirrors' on the wall. I always felt sheepish talking to myself in a mirror but I knew that my work improved leaps and bounds when I did so I just kept it up, quietly saying my lines to myself in the mirror.

As I was whispering and emoting my lines into the mirror a young man walked up beside me and made eye contact with me in the mirror. I smiled and shyly stopped saying my monologue.

"Are you narcissistic?" he asked.

I must have looked confused because he continued, "Do you like to look at yourself in mirrors?" I could tell that he did and I didn't want to make him think I was judging him so I just smiled and shook my head a little. He then went on to tell me the story of Narcissus from mythology. "I can understand how it is." He looked at himself in the mirror. "It's a condition where you just can't stop looking at your own reflection." He smiled a knowing smile at me.

I knew nothing. I was quite befuddled.

"Sometimes I catch myself looking in the mirror for like a whole hour." He was still looking at himself and then occasionally looking at my reflection. "You're really pretty. Pretty people are the ones who get narcissism. Because we can't help notice how good we look. It's just good to know that I'm not the only one who has it." He was very good looking in the symmetrical-nice jaw-twinkling eyes sort of way.

I didn't have a clue how to respond. I think I tried to explain that I was just working on my monologue but he seemed to have just laughed that idea away. 

For the rest of the time as we waited for our audition times I couldn't shake the idea that someone it that room thought I was full of myself. And as far as I could tell someone in that room WAS full of himself.

It was textbook.

It was epic.

So if you are looking for a character quirk consider narcissism. It is much more complex than his explanation and gives some people a reason to do things completely selfish. And those people really make conflict EASY! 

Have fun writing!

(Article on Narcissism)

Teach & Talk T-day: Randy Lindsay

Guest Post by Randy Lindsay. You can catch him on his blog or twitter.

Film Based Plot and Character Development

by Randy Lindsay

            Hold on a sec. This doesn’t look like my blog.

            Oh, that’s right! I’m guest blogging for the delightsome duo of Shelly and Chad. Whew, I thought I walked into the wrong place. How embarrassing would that have been?

            < Randy looks around the blog and nods his head in approval. >

            I really love how they . . . use plenty of pictures to keep the page vibrant. It sort of figures that Shelly and Chad would each have their own side of the blog. Isn’t that nice that they have “Awesome Stuff” that links to other blogs.

            < Randy looks in the direction of the readers and stops dead. >

            Riiiiight. The guest blogger thing.

            I’m here to discuss movies. If you’ve had a chance to check out my blog you probably noticed that I do movie reviews and frequently post about film related topics. There are some excellent lessons that novel writers can learn from Hollywood about plot and character development.

            Or in other words, this is what I learned about writing from eating popcorn in the dark and watching movies.

            When done correctly, movies are a marvelous platform for storytelling. By necessity, plot and characterization have to be compact because of the limited amount of time that can be devoted to them. This requires a tighter writing discipline than many novel writers have had a chance to develop.

            “Opening Image” is a concept that I have borrowed from Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat. His book is intended to help people craft screenplays, but I believe that most writers can benefit from it. The opening image gives us a quick flash of the hero and the world while setting the tone for the film. This is often done during the credits.

            When applied to novel writing it means that you have a page, or two, to give the reader a glimpse of the overall story. The audience is treated to a visual blast of what the hero normally does, how he normally acts, and the way that people respond to him. You are creating a snapshot of the story.

            Think visually. Picture your protagonist. Then cram the essence of what he does on an average day into a few paragraphs. Once you do this, go back and tighten it up. Make sure the protagonist’s personality shines through. Then tighten it up some more.

            Here are a few examples of successful opening images:

            The Warriors – opens with a view of the neon lights of Coney Island’s Wonder Wheel. The cinematography and the carnival music give an other-worldy feel to the scene. Credits are then interspersed with shots of the members of the Warriors gang on a subway train to Queens. A quick consultation of a subway map on the train shows us that it will be a long way home for these travelers if something goes wrong. A quick bit of dialogue between the Warriors not only reveal their character to the audience but informs us that they will be attending a huge meeting that has been setup by the leader of the biggest gang in New York. Shots of other gangs boarding similar subway trains established the gang-filled landscape of the story and the dark camera work sets the mood.

            By the time the credits have ended the viewer knows exactly what is going on in the story and is ready for the inciting incident. 

(This is one of the snapshots of a rival gang that is displayed during the opening image.)

            Major League 3 – opens with Gus Cantrell pitching a game in a minor league park. He struggles with his pitches and is ejected from the game for cheating.

            That’s it. This is a story about a baseball player at the end of a long career in the minor leagues. The audience is immediately thrown into the casual setting of a minor league ball park where the majority of the story takes place. Bob Uecher provides the sports commentary during the game that tips us off that this will be a comedic look at the topic. And when Gus resorts to the use of a “frozen ball” to strike-out a batter we glimpse the unconventional nature of the hero.

            Once again, in a very short period of time we are ready for the inciting incident.

           

(This is actually a photo from a scene at the turning point of the story-arc.)

            If you can picture the scene you’re writing the chances are it will come out more vividly to the reader. Once you have an opening image in your head the description, lighting, sounds, and body motions should all translate nicely to the written page and your story will be richer because of it.

            Next time you sit down to watch a movie pay special attention to the first couple of minutes. Watch how Hollywood develops the base story in an incredibly short amount of time. Then take a look at your work-in-progress and see how you can do the same thing for it.

Killer Character Blogfest: Antagonist

     One of my all time favorite books is Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The antagonist, Count Dracula, is a being with social power and money, not to mention the ability to assume the form of an animal, control the weather, and he’s stronger than twenty men. He can turn the living into the undead and preys on women in hopes of trapping men.

     There are plenty of stories with villains who have powers like these nowadays but the protagonists usually have some things to help them fight. The protagonists in this book have almost nothing. No magic, no powers, no technology. They are sadly ignorant as to what they are fighting and have to research all of the legend that we know from childhood (garlic, wooden stake, daylight) to even have a chance. And research in those days meant travel and libraries and folklore. It took months. None of this ‘google it’ stuff we do now.

     Dracula is a formidable villain because he is trying to expand his buffet, if you will, by traveling to crowded cities. Where he was a far-away threat before, he becomes a threat to all that the protagonist hold dear. And when the Count is able to take one of their dear ones the protagonists must steel themselves to kill her again.

The Dracula of the cinema could never hold a candle to the Dracula of literature.

I hope you all have bars on your bedroom windows.

My friend Flat Stanley

This is Flat Stanley, the hero of the Flat Stanley books since 1964. Did you hear that they are making a Flat Stanley movie? Well they are! Proof HERE.

It's all good and well that this Stanley is flat.

He needs to be flat.

It's important to ALL of the plots in his stories.

But what about when your characters get flat?

When they don't seem as three dimensional.

When you can't relate to their perfection

or their pure evil.

Well, we're in luck because I've asked Tara Tyler to talk with us today and the topic she chose is creating characters with personality.

Take it away, Tara!

Thank you, Shelly, my dear! Guest posting here is the cherry on my dare-you-to-eat-the-whole-sundae week! Consider me geeked!

My "Writing a book" posts are my journal entries of things I've learned to help my writing on my way to getting published. Here is my latest installment.

Do you ever have trouble choosing characteristics for your characters? The MCs can't just be good looking and intelligent and funny, they need flaws. And the villains can't always be nasty and evil, they need redeeming qualities. Characters need to be plausible and relatable. Think about your MC and protagonist and other supporting roles. What are they like? Are they believable or a little too perfect? Then look around you at the mall. Is your character a movie star, prima donna that would never set foot there? If that's what you're going for, great! But my MC would probably make fun of her behind her back, it's one of his faults =)

SO! On a seemingly unrelated topic, ever play Apples to Apples? I love playing games and Apples to Apples is one of my favorites. It's best with a big group, like with family at holidays and boy do we get carried away. Here's how you play: you are dealt cards with people, events, items, etc (various nouns) and a judge reveals an adjective. You offer a noun that you think the judge will choose to go with the adjective. It's funner in person...(funner?)

But one of the best parts of the game is when we've had enough and are ready to clean up. We added a twist of describing ourselves with the adjectives we've won. For example, I could be shy, miserable, explosive, unusual, cute, and insulting.

Now put all this together. These descriptors could be great inspiration for developing a character! Randomly choose an adjective card or two and there you go, instant personality!

Fun idea, Tara! 

You know what's funny is that my family always reads their cards in their hand at the end, pretending like those are words that describe the holder, as well! Great minds think alike (or it's in the instructions- I dunno?)

Tara week has been a Tara-ific!

One last shout out to Tara

at Tara Tyler Talks

Tuesdays Thought: Characters

CHARACTERS ARE NOT OUR CHILDREN. Never hesitate to throw them into the path of a bus.
-Angela Ackerman