by Mervyn Love

A character's backstory is important whether you are writing a short story or a novel. With a short story it can be less in-depth than for a longer work, but it will raise your readers interest when you present them with a character they can believe in. In fact, that is the secret really: If YOU believe in the character, the chances are your readers will as well - and vice versa.

Building a backstory is fun and easy to do. All you need is a pen and paper, or even just Notepad on your PC. Simply work through a checklist like the one below and jot down the important points.

1. First, decide where they were born and in what year. Were their parents poor or comfortably off? Were they brought up in a one-parent family? Were they an orphan? These beginnings will have shaped their lives in various ways. Write down in what ways your character has or has not been affected by their origins.

2. Next, write down a brief summary of their schooling (if they had any) and on to their first job. At what age did they start work, and what were the factors that led to this choice? It may be that your character could not find work. Write down why this was and how they managed to live without the income a job would produce.

3. The third point is crucial in building your character. Write down the significant events in their life so far, that were instrumental in moulding them into the person they are today. Did they come up against any strong people who influenced them? Have they loved and lost? Have they been conned or duped? Have they been through some disaster, natural or man made? Write these down.

As you begin to build up a life story from the above, almost certainly you will think of other things to include which I haven't mentioned. If you do that's good, because it shows that the character is becoming a real person to you.

Once you have got the bare bones recorded, you can always go back and add or fine tune, but remember that for every part of the backstory there should be some reason for including it. You, the writer, should know what each event did in shaping the character you are presenting to the reader.

You will soon find that with a little practice, you can build up a plausible backstory in just a few minutes. Put that small amount of effort in and it will reap dividends.

Mervyn Love is the Editor of WritersReign, a lively and fact-filled website for the aspiring writer, which provides help and encouragement as well as many resources including writing competitions listings, markets listings, article archive, Q&A section and more. Sign up for his FREE Creative Writing Course: http://www.writersreign.co.uk.

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by Suzi Elton

When you do your business writing, consider incorporating the principle of Excite, Delight and Entice. What this means is that you emotionalize your writing in such way that your readers cannot only picture themselves living a more satisfactory life, but can feel the excitement and satisfaction they would have. This produces a strong pull to explore working with you. In effect, they say to themselves, "If s/he knows enough about what I want to write like this - like they know me and my problems - I REALLY want to talk to them about what they do."

Most business people have had an experience when someone you are speaking to becomes very excited about your business. This is usually the result of your impassioned description of your work having the good luck of being delivered to someone who is seriously seeking that solution. Of course, part of the result is the coincidence of delivering to the right target market at the right time, but overwhelmingly the result comes from our passion and obvious competence shown in the way we speak. Here are a few ideas about how to excite, delight and entice when you write.

1. Excite. Write from your passion. Tap into your own excitement when you put the words down on paper. If you aren't excited about what you do, how can you expect to excite anyone else to be excited about it? Often, there's a disconnect between the passion we have when we talk about our business and what we are able to convey in written words. In fact, this is very common.

If you experience this, you might get help to record yourself when you are talking about your business and transcribe that (or have it transcribed) as your starting point. You may need someone to interview you to get you into that spoken "groove" that brings out your passion. Do what it takes to translate this to paper.

2. Delight. Delight your readers with word "pictures" that have them "living in" the fantasy of the solution you provide. Don't exaggerate or go "over the top." What works best in "painting" your word pictures is to draw on your considerable experience of all those you have helped.

Describe the profound changes you've observed your clients experience. Talk about their relief, freedom and newfound ease living with the solution you provide. Go into the details of the contrast between their life with the problem and their life after the solution. The objective is to have them "feel" themselves living the life they could have free of the problem.

3. Entice. Once you've excited and delighted them, you want to entice them to move one step closer to working with you. That might be getting them to ask for more written information about your business or to pick up the phone and call you. What can you do to entice them closer?

A good idea is to offer some sort of "sample" of working with you. This might be a complimentary session where you explore the solution they are looking for. It might be a free in-depth report that helps them get an even better idea about the results they might expect while subtly showcasing your expertise. Perhaps you have an assessment that can cleverly illustrate to them where they "hurt" and suggests what the solution could look like. Perhaps you can sell an assortment of paid "mini sessions" focused on single issues and designed to whet their appetite for more.

The next time you do business writing, consider exciting, delighting and enticing your readers. It will pay off for you - and your clients.

Suzi Elton works with highly creative types to create income that matches their talent. Through strategic coaching amd marketing writing, she has helped hundreds of clients make dramatic changes to live their creative desires. Her current emphasis is working with those clients who are ready for dramatic increases in income (double, triple, quadruple) within a matter of months.
Coaching: http://mylifepurposecoaching.com
Writing: http://WOWFactorWriting.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Suzi_Elton

The most gifted item this past year? The Amazon Kindle.

Years ago, I bought a Palm Tungsten C, which at the time was on the forefront of the technology frontier. It was a fantastic little device that could connect to the internet, manage a calendar, play videos, listen to music, play video games, and had more than 10,000 other little applications that programmers made for it. It could also do one other thing: read ebooks. This was long before the PDA smartphone really got going, when netbooks were just a dream.

I loved that little device and one of the best things about it was the ability to use it as a book. In seconds I could download George R.R. Martin's entire "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. Then I could pop out my Tungsten on the road, on the train (which at the time I took every day), at home, in the office, in bed at night and get completely lost in another world. I could flip between books with a single stroke, pop it on and immediately be at the same page I had finished reading the night before. I loved it until the screen broke.

This is why I am not surprised at Amazon's success with the Kindle. Ebooks are very convenient. But I am a little surprised that the Kindle doesn't do very much besides deliver and store nearly any book that you want. The Tungsten C did that and more and was smaller to hold.

Still, it is not the Kindle I am interested in. It is in the fact that ebooks are so popular right now. I love them. But I still love holding a physical book in my hands. I like the rough feel of the page between my hands and hearing the pages scratch against each other as I turn the page. I love looking at the covers and stacking then on top of each other. I like knowing that at any time I can walk into my den and pull my favorite book off the shelf and not have to worry that some electrical catastrophe or accidental misplacement will lose my beloved books.

It does make me wonder what the future holds for the physical book in twenty years, in a fifty years. Will book companies still print physical copies or will they do away it to cut costs and boost profits and make their selections even more diverse and more available? I thought they would always have free TV and radio. But those things are beginning to disappear. Will physical books disappear too?

It is kind of ironic that as an editor I get so many submissions that take place years in the future where physical books are museum pieces worth more than a car's weight in gold. I used to think those submissions were dire futures where something terrible had gone wrong. But now, I see that they may just be a sign of changing times where technology renders much obsolete. Who would have thought that landline telephones would disappear? But they are.

I am glad I live in this time though. It is an exciting time where every day brings something absolutely fascinating. It is a time when I can walk into the airport or into the mall and pick up a book. And it is a time when I can pick up a piece of plastic and get almost any book in seconds. I have both realities at my fingertips and that choice is great.

With all this said, here is my reading list for 2010 (partial of course - I plan on reading much more than 10). These are the books I am choosing to invest my time in.

1) The Bible: Nothing comes close to this classic. It has truth for every conceivable area of life.
2) The Law of Nines-Terry Goodkind. A departure from The Sword of Truth, but still great writing.
3) The Gathering Storm - Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. It will be bittersweet reading this.
4) Night Angel - Brent Weeks. The first couple pages are so promising that I hope the rest of the series is as good.
5) The Principle of the Path - Andy Stanley. Excited to read this, because I fall into this trap so often with my best ideas.
6) Napolean's Pyramids - William Dietrich. From the bargain bin, but looks like an Indiana Jones or Davinci Code type.
7) Saving Fish From Drowning - Amy Tan. She is just great. Great character development.
8) The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch. Another book with a great beginning.
9) Easy Recipes for Wild Game and Fish - Ferne Holmes. If you know me, you know this is like gold.
10) Tuck - Stephen R. Lawhead. My favorite author and his latest. Have to read it.

© Seth Crossman

As I went through college, I always imagined I would end up being a high school English teacher. Maybe even a college professor. And one of my main duties would be picking a reading list for my students. As I thought about it, my temptation was to choose books they would enjoy reading. I remember being in English class that first day when the teacher handed out the syllabus and I looked through to see what books she had selected. I groaned when I saw the Grapes of Wrath on that list. I just knew that any book all the stuffy old critics said was America’s premiere classic had to be boring. The rest of the list didn’t look any more promising. I mean where were the dragons and car chases? I told myself that if I was ever in that position I would pick good books. My students were going to love my English classes.

When I read those books on my syllabus, even as a sixteen or seventeen year old, I had to admit they were pretty good. So good in fact that not many books can sit on the same shelf with them in terms of quality subjects and treatment. Good reason to call them classics.

If I ever became a teacher, this is my list of classics and briefly why I chose them.

Great Expectations – Charles Dickens. Few writers have come along who could build characters and character struggle like Charles Dickens. Miss Havisham’s bitterness about lost love shapes her entire existence. Pip has a pure heart and an entrenched belief in love.

Moby Dick – Herman Melville. I pick this book for its larger than life conflict, the pursuit of a enigmatic whale, and the great character studies that can be done with Ishmael and Captain Ahab. And for some reason I really love the symbolism of ocean journeys.

The Name of the Wind – Patrick Rothfuss. Just great writing in this book. If there were ever a book that could take you places that were not real and make you believe they were, this is the one. And I think so many kids need that hope in something magical.

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis. I cannot leave C.S. Lewis off of a list of classics. And it is hard to pick one book. But I pick this book as a representation of the whole series. In part, it can be an allegory, and one of the best christian fiction has. But this story is also a journey of belief, of redemption, and the ultimate battle between good and evil.

A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving. A great book showing how the instances of our life and our decisions can shape our destiny. John Irving is reminiscent of Charles Dickens in the way he builds characters and twists his plots so that all the dangling strings come together at the end in meaningful and powerful resolutions for his characters. This book really packs a punch.

Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck. The American Dream. It is what America was built upon. This book has some real and poignant struggles that arise in two men’s pursuit of the American Dream. Great conflict, great characters, great themes.

The Call of the Wild – Jack London. Great conflict and themes. Nature versus nature. Nature versus man. Man versus man.

The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien. Tim O’Brien’s style in this book is worth studying itself. The book also takes on an intimate and revealing point of view of war. It is one of those inside your head books.

Animal Farm – George Orwell. Written at time when Capitalism and Communism were dominant and soon to be warring ideologies, this allegory is one of the best I have ever read.

The Lord of the Flies – William Golding. What darkness lies within all of us? A captivating story of what man will do when pressed to the limit, when given the chance to remake Eden.

Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien. It goes without saying that this book launched fantasy and did so by being the one that all others will be judged by, whether that is fair or not. It is also an incredible read and written in a style that few will ever be able to match.

Honorable Mention – 1984, Atlus Shrugged, Robinson Crusoe, The Grapes of Wrath!

Yes, I would get to the end of the year and feel like I had left a mark on my students. I do admit there are so many classics and so many I left off the list. But I wouldn’t want to force my students to read the whole library!

I would love to hear your thoughts on my choices or some of your own choices of classics.

© Seth Crossman

image courtesy of hiddentrenton.com

Evergreen.The planet Evergreen is ripe for exploitation, and corporate Earth is only to happy to harvest the lush timber and mining resources to provide luxury goods for a world whose own resources were long ago eradicated.

Like the frontier towns of early America, Evergreen draws the misfits, the outcasts, the unwanted of Earth, who exist as little more than slaves to pay off the huge costs of their trip to this magnificent wilderness. But others have come as well–a priest obsessed with finding God, an exobiologist convinced she has found what may be the next species capable of reaching true sentience, an archaeologist whose young wife is torn between her love for him and her lust for her stepson.

There is one other player in this game of greed and desire, however. And that player has grown more and more certain that the creatures that have infected it must be destroyed.

Better Than Chocolate. Noah Dane is a mid-21st Century San Francisco police inspector who, while hunting his partner’s killer and investigating a pair of seemingly unrelated murders, stumbles onto a conspiracy that threatens all humanity. Noah is driven by the guilt over his partner’s death. That guilt begins to eat at him, eventually rendering him impotent.

Much to his dismay, someone in the city’s bureaucracy has a warped sense of humor. Noah’s new crime-fighting partner is a celebudroid created to look and act like Marilyn Monroe. Comic juxtaposition ensues when her original programming seeps into her police work.

Chastity Blume is a celebrity talk show host known as “America’s Favorite Virgin.” Her father forced a sheltered childhood on her, and now she’s a vocal opponent of what she refers to as society’s “rampant sexuality.” Her quest to find the mother she’s never known uncovers family secrets she would rather not have learned, along with a sinister plot that involves her father.

Together they lead a cast of quirky characters through this science fiction mystery towards a climax of comically sexy proportions that’s Better Than Chocolate.

Editors are mostly hardworking folks who spend much of their time pouring over the written word of fledgling writers. It is not a glorious job; the writers get all the credit, the fame, and the wealth when things go well. And when things don’t, well editors get all the blame and bad eyesight. I am sure there are several things that most of them would like to be doing instead of reading another submission or manuscript, like writing their own masterpieces, playing with their children, or enjoying a sunset on the beach. Instead, editors are investing time and energy into your manuscript. They are more willing to do so if you follow the advice below.

Proofread your submission before you send it. About 60% of the submissions I receive have serious spelling and/or grammar problems. I can deal with one, but when I find that second one I am finished with the story. Don’t waste my time. Don’t waste yours. You took the time to write it, now take the time to make sure it is well-polished. The best advice is to get someone else to proofread your stories. They have a more objective view as well as a respectable distance from the prose. They will spot errors that your own eye won’t. Yes, I am sure you would like to finish off a story and get it out into the published realm as soon as possible, but a few mistakes can kill that a story before it gets its breath.

Your cover letter or cover email is important. It should be short and to the point. As an editor, I do not care if you have a cat or are happily married (as a human I love to hear these type of things after you sell me a great story and we have become friends). If it doesn’t have anything to do with the story or why I should give the story extra consideration, it shouldn’t be in that email or cover letter. Mention the name of the story (a good name can make a difference by the way), why I should consider it (it is a perfect mix of Arthur C. Clarke’s innovative ideas and Charles Dickens’ character studies, or it has a character I will fall in love with, or it is a suspenseful page turner with an ending that will surprise me), and how long it is. Some editors like a short synopsis and I do too. A little anticipation goes a long way. If you have been published, mention three to four of your best paid publications. Do not list every publication you have ever had, especially if they are non-paying markets. Honestly, publication credentials aren’t worth as much as people think. They can make an editor pay attention a bit longer, but normally there is a reason an author is published by Asimov’s or Fantasy and Science Fiction and it shows in their writing. Definitely mention any awards you have won. It doesn’t merit a story any special consideration, but it might put a good story into the sellable category. And lastly, I’ll address one that really puts the polish on a cover letter. Find out who to address it to. Often it takes just a few minutes familiarizing yourself with a publication to know who is going to be reading your manuscript. Take the time to find out and address it to that person.

Accept rejections with grace. Humility will get you further than anger or arrogance. If an editor happens to respond to your story with comments, use them to make your story better. If I take the time to write a personal note to a writer, it is because I see something in their story, or perhaps in their writing, that I like. I see potential. Honor the time I have invested and see if my advice can make your story better. Maybe it won’t. Maybe we are just thinking on different wavelengths. And that is ok. But never respond to me by telling me I don’t have a clue or telling me I have no appreciation for true art. I am willing to admit that that might be true. More often than not, it is not and my advice could really help turn a poor story into a good one, or the principles I suggest could be digested and later help sell a hundred stories. Humility suggests a willingness to be taught, a willingness and desire to grow and become a better writer. I love it when people write me back after I have rejected their story, but tell me they appreciate the comments I had. It makes me feel bad about rejecting their story and I earmark their name so that I pay particular attention to their next submission. Maybe I won’t like that one either, but I am more likely to continue giving them advice and pointers than not. An angry or arrogant response will immediately close my door. Basically, you’re telling me I wasted my time trying to help you out.

Read the guidelines for a publication. Our guidelines specifically state that I do not want attachments. I want the story pasted in the body of the email. Do you know how many of my submissions come in meeting the conditions of our guidelines? Forty-five percent. Forty-five percent! Little things like this tell me how badly a writer wants to be published. If they address it to me, if they follow our guidelines, if they talk about our past issues, I know they are familiar with our publication and have been hoping to get published here for a while. I love that. It makes me want to publish them. Now, I must say that I read rtf attachments. I even accept rtf attachments. It actually can make the editing and publishing process easier. But it is the principle of the thing that bothers me. That said, I suppose I will change our guidelines in the very near future to accept rtf.

Most writers put a lot of effort and time into writing their stories. Those stories deserve the best shot they can get. Following this advice could be the difference between a rejection and an acceptance.

© Seth Crossman

Let’s look at this example. “Paul and Mary sat together on the bed talking long into the morning. Paul was surprised when he saw the sun peeking past the curtain. With much regret he rose from the bed and left, promising to return again the next night.”

What happens here is obvious. Two people are falling in love. But this paragraph doesn’t do much to show that love or help the reader fall in love too. It is not an interesting paragraph. When you read this you want to know what they are talking about.

Now look at this example.

“Mary, I have been thinking a lot about you lately.”
“What kind of things?”
“Well, about how you love children. I’ve seen you at the school. The children just love you. I think you would make a great mother.” Paul smiled as he talked. “And I’ve been thinking about that situation you had with Mr. Sutter. Now most women I know would have backed down. But you held your ground and it was Mr. Sutter backing down and even offering to prune those trees for you.”
“Oh, Paul! Are you just saying those kind of things because you know a girl likes to hear them?”
“I wouldn’t do that, Mary.”
Mary hesitated and then leaned forward slightly. “Paul. Is there anything else you’ve been thinking?”
Paul blushed. “So many things Mary. I, well Mary, I think you are the most beautiful girl I’ve seen in all of Oklahoma.”
“Just Oklahoma?”
“Well, I’ve never been out of the state.”

This bit of dialogue reveals so many things. It reveals Paul’s feelings about Mary. It reveals Mary’s traits as a woman. It foreshadows Paul’s move out of the state. It let’s the reader see the interplay between the two and how Mary needs and wants to hear what Paul thinks about her and how Paul is falling in love in doesn’t quite know how to tell her.

Dialogue can also reveal the mood, the conflict, and the theme. Check out this bit.

“I can’t take it anymore. We gotta do something! We gotta get outta here before I go mad. It’s bombs all the time. Even when they are not falling I still hear ‘em! My ears just keep ringing and ringing. I can’t even fall asleep without dreaming of those goddamn bombs falling around me. That’s even worse. In my dreams they make no noise. They just fall and the whole world explodes in dust and dirt and fire. Then I jerk awake and my ears are still ringing. I hear ‘em falling even when they aren’t falling. We gotta get outta here!
“Then stand up and let yourself get shot. That’ll buy you a ticket home,” Pozanski said. He puffed on his cigarette and turned away to stare at the horizon. “Me. I’d rather hear those bombs falling than ever hear my father’s voice again.”

In this example, two men are in the same conflict, but they both have different personal struggles going on. This example also sets the mood for the story. And it even reveals the theme: two men trying to cope with war. What makes this a good example is that it shows how dialogue should be used. Dialogue should reveal something. A writer should never use dialogue to fill pages. It must do something or it should be cut out.

There is also internal dialogue and this can be just as important as spoken dialogue.

“Where was she? She was late and that was not like her. Sammy stood. His legs ached like mad. Why did she pick this park? Why did she pick this bench? It was in plain sight. There’s people everywhere! He didn’t want to make any of his deals in plain sight. That was just stupid. He should have just worn a sign that read double agent. He should have worn jeans. This suit was making him stand out. Who came to the park in a suit unless they were doing something shady. Where was she? Maybe he was at the wrong bench. Had he sat for half an hour at the wrong park bench? Could he have been that stupid? Sammy began to run. Running was stupid. Everyone who hadn’t spotted him before would see him now. No one ran in a suit. Not unless they were stupid or there was something wrong. ”

This internal dialogue reveals Sammy’s neurotic personality. It reveals some hints about the plot. It sets the mood.

Hopefully, with these few brief examples you can see how important dialogue is to a story. Dialogue is an excellent tool to draw the reader into a story, to create conflict, set the mood, and build characters.

© Seth Crossman

Let’s give you a case study of how you can take a decent character and build a story around him.

We have Fred. He is nearing his mid-thirties and has never had a long term relationship. He’s not particularly good looking, his job won’t turn any heads (he works at a travel agency – a job he uses solely to go what he calls “adventuring.”), and he doesn’t have a motivating passion other than to make it through his days and find a woman to share his life with. He currently has a fiancé and he is just about to get married to her but he is terribly afraid that he will lose her (like all his previous girlfriends) and what will that say about him as a man? Most of his friends call him a decent guy, but think he is still a bit immature. They base this on the fact that he has never gotten a career job and seems to have no desire to. Still, he is one of the first people they call when they want to go to the ballgame or bowling or take a road trip down to New York City.

This is the character we are going to start with. Fred has some problems, some flaws. That gives him room to grow. He has some things readers will be able to identify with: his lack of purpose, his desire for adventure, his fear of losing his mate, his fear about his own worth as a man. All we need now is a situation that will put Fred into a situation where he will have to grow.

The story begins like this: Fred comes home to find an old girlfriend naked in the bathtub. It just happens to be two days before his wedding. His future mother and father in law are coming over for dinner in two hours. He expects his fiancé at the house any moment. Now Fred has a conflict. Fred is going to have to do some kind of damage control to convince his fiancé that he is innocent and doesn’t know why his old girlfriend is in the tub minus her clothes. He has to defuse that situation before her parents arrive. In this situation, Fred’s character traits come into play. His fear of losing his girlfriend. His inability to handle stressful situations.

Now what happens when we throw in the fact that his old girlfriend is naked and dead in the tub? There is evidence in the bedroom that she just had sex on his bed and the bullet that killed her came from his old hunting rifle which is lying next to the tub. Do you see how easy it is to heighten the tension and create a situation that will propel the story and our character forward?

Now let’s say that Fred is just about to call the cops, thinking it is the wisest thing to do, but also the best way to convince his fiancé he had nothing to do with it, when the NSA arrives at his house looking to speak to “agent Covelli.” Fred swears he doesn’t know any Covelli until they show him a picture of his old girlfriend. Without his permission they come into the house and begin searching around while he desperately tries to stop them. Now, he has two struggles. How does he keep his fiancé and how does he persuade the NSA he had nothing to do with her death? Notice how we have both character struggle and a compelling plot?

All the time the story is unfolding in details and events, but also in the way Fred is reacting to the situation, physically and mentally. These details need to be revealed to enhance Fred’s stance as a character that readers are interested in.

Now that we have gone this far, let’s add some new elements to really get this story going. Maybe we decide that Fred and Covelli never really broke up. She just disappeared one day without saying goodbye. That fueled Fred’s fear of rejection. It also left him wondering and hoping she would come back for two years. He finally gave up, met his current fiancé and moved on. But the way the relationship ended still lingers in his mind, maybe even the hope she would one day come back. Let’s also say that one of the NSA agents finds Covelli’s briefcase with a single empty folder in it. That folder reads “The German Situation.” Stamped all over the outside are the words “classified information.”

Do you see how many struggles Fred has now? Do you see how many different directions this story could go? Do you see how many teasers there are in there that hopefully entice the reader to keep reading to find out what happens? And what other Fred characteristics have yet to come into play? His love of travel? What if Germany was the last place he traveled and also the last place he saw Covelli? Does the NSA think he is a spy? Does Fred adventurous side want to know what happened in his house just hours earlier? Does Fred want to know what “The German Situation” is? What about Fred’s fiancé? What if her parents were German. Could she be a spy? Does a thread of doubt about her love enter Fred’s mind?

The story “The German Situation” is created by building a character with the potential for conflict and then inserting events and details that force him to respond.

© Seth Crossman

How do you describe your character’s physical appearance? It’s not always easy to describe your characters without resorting to the cliched “She looked in the mirror and saw…”

Likewise, setting the scene for each part of your story is an important element of building your fictional world. In fact, some authors go to great lengths to describe the weather patterns, the scenery and the passing traffic in detail so that the reader has a sense of the world around the characters.

This kind of descriptive narrative can sometimes be long and cumbersome. It can also bog down the pace of your story if not done right – especially when all the gurus are saying Show – don’t tell!

Many authors are careful to explain exactly what is going on in their fictional worlds. What people look like, what objects around them look like, what characters are thinking about, how the weather is behaving, the precise color of an object, what characters are seeing around them… This means the author is telling the reader what to see.

Not many authors actually take the time to write HOW their characters are seeing the things that are going on around them. This is where the author should be showing the reader what’s happening. Your own characters are a perfect tool to use when you need to show events or appearances or even moods.

Let me explain…

Every person on the planet sees life through their own personal perceptions. How they choose to interpret those perceptions is largely up to that person and can be affected by a multitude of factors.

These differing perceptions are what make us unique as human beings. What excites one person may repel another. What one person sees as attractive, another may find repulsive. What one character yearns for may send another character into panic attacks.

For example: A sunny day might brighten the mood of one character and seriously frighten a person with a phobia of skin cancer. The same sunny day would therefore have a completely different effect on the latter character and would skew many of his other perceptions, too.

The same is true for personal relationship preferences. Some people are attracted to curvaceous women, while others are repelled by them. Still others prefer the exotic features of Asian people while others veer toward the svelte, slinky blonde types and others still just love the creamy coffee colored skin tones and dark features of some Mediterranean people.

Because we all have such different tastes and opinions, these perceptions of what we find appealing and unappealing will color your descriptions of those things.

Remembering to use these differences in character perspective can add depth to your characters by showing your readers much about their personalities – all without actually using narrative to TELL your readers what’s going on.

Show, Don’t Tell

So how does a writer show things happening, or describe another character, without resorting to large chunks of descriptive narrative AND remember to add the unique perspective of the character at the same time?

The simple answer is: Dialogue.

When your characters talk to each other, you should be using the opportunity to express much more than simply words. Dialogue can propel your plotline, it can highlight the importance of conflicts, it can show character perspective and it can show the reader many other things – all at once.

“I hate this miserable rain. All I can do is sit around and mope in the house until it stops,” Fred said.

“If we run, we can get to the stream and catch some frogs. The rain always brings out the frogs!” Jack called.

In just two sentences within the dialogue tags, I have (hopefully) conveyed something about the weather, given a sense of the character’s mood, described what the character is doing, and given each character a unique perspective on what is happening.

Both characters are viewing the rain in a completely different way – and neither of the above examples required lengthy blocks of narrative to achieve the same effect.

Describing Physical Traits

“Jane tossed her long golden tresses over her shoulder to flow down her slender back. Running the tip of her tongue over wide, full lips, her emerald green eyes glinted with a hint of promise to come and she crossed her long, supple legs slowly.”

“John ran a perfectly manicured hand through his raven black hair, his sparkling blue eyes taking in every inch of her…”

Have you ever read a book in which the characters are described in unwieldy chunks of narrative as though they were no more than cardboard cut-outs of a Barbie and Ken promotional poster?

In over-exaggerated examples like the ones above, it is obvious that the ‘narrator’ has stopped the story and interrupted you – the reader! – to remind you how fabulous the author wants you to think these people look.

The problem with this approach is the author has forgotten that all readers have different opinions on what’s attractive. More importantly, her characters should be the ones voicing their thoughts and preferences.

So is it necessary to include these bland descriptions in your narrative at all?

Recently I read a lengthy book (1,050 pages). The book was very detailed, the scope was sweeping and the cast was huge. Yet nowhere in the entire book did the author mention what any of the characters looked like during his narrative. He only ever offered his character’s perceptions of other characters. I actually read the book twice to check how the author achieved this effect.

I found this method to be extremely effective. It showed me each character’s viewpoint as a distinct and separate perception. Each person saw different qualities in the people they interacted with, so the physical traits altered to suit those perceptions with each description. He did the same thing with certain furnishings, scenery, weather patterns and moods. Every description in the book came from another character commenting on it in some way that was relevant to the story.

Indirect Description

Several times throughout the book the author made references to certain features to identify who people were talking about. For example, the main character had a scar running along the left side of his face. The reader only knows this because we saw it through another character’s eyes during the dialogue – and not in a narrative description.

“…I tell you, Stan, when Alec glared at me with those dead eyes, I nearly passed out with fear. I knew he was angry when hideous scar started to twitch. When it does that, the whole left side of his face contorts and you just know he’s thinking he wants to cut your throat…”

And yet – a different character describes Alec this way:

“…Miranda sighed and let her chin rest in the cup of her hand. “He’s got those deep, dreamy blue eyes. The kind you just want to get lost in, I guess. And when he looks at me, his scar jumps – like he’s trying to hold back a smile.”

These two people are describing the same character – Alec. One perceives him as hard and violent. The other sees him as dreamy.

During the book a male character tried to tell Alec what a woman looked like (she was the target for an assassination).

“The target has the classic hooker look. Bleached blonde, cleavage on display for anyone to see and legs that go forever under a cheap leather mini. And a face that could break concrete. Hard as nails, she is.”

That was HIS perception of the person – not the actual physical traits of the woman in question. Alec found her sweet and attractive, but those were his perceptions of her, so of course they differed.

Nowhere in any of those descriptions did the author say “5 feet 10 inches, blonde, 98 pounds, blue eyes, full lips”. His descriptions only encompassed what the person doing the describing saw through his or her own perceptions.

Adding small differences in the way your characters view the objects around them will add a sense of realism to your work and bring depth to your characters.

Lee Masterson is a freelance writer from South Australia. She is also the editor of Fiction Factor – http://www.fictionfactor.com – a free online magazine for writers, offering tips and advice on getting published, articles to improve your writing skills, heaps of writer’s resources and much more.

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