Walk, Amble or Shuffle?

by C.L. Phillips

Over the weekend I attended a college graduation and watched hundreds of shiny bright faces as they walked across the stage and collected one of life's great achievements.  Except nobody walked.

Some ambled.  Others glided. One young man, wearing a fishing ensemble glued to his cap, bobbed across the stage, as if propelled by a mysterious current.

At StoryMasters in Houston, Chris Vogler, author of The Writer's Journey, told a story about his early days at Disney.  He mentioned one of the animators that worked with Walt Disney told him that they could not make a cartoon character walk.  As I watched each person collect their diploma, I realized the animator exposed one of those fundamental truths about man.

Man does not walk.  Nor does woman.

Whatever a person carries in their heart fuels their movement.  The heart, the face, and movement are intertwined.  Ever see a smiling face shuffle?  Or an angry face skip? 

When you put a song in your heart, a smile on your face, how do you move?
How do you move when your heart is filled with anger, your face clouded with rage?

What about those times when you are on auto-pilot, focused on the errand and chores you have to finish before Christmas?   Does your movement change if you start singing Jingle Bells?

It's official.  None of my characters will ever walk again.  Amble or shuffle, absolutely.

Happy Holidays!

Keep Writing.

 

Story Masters : The Emotional Landscape

by C.L. Phillips

Would anyone like a ringside seat to the detailed recap of the Story Masters workshop in Houston Texas, held November 4-6, 2012?  The first day kicked off with eight hours of Donald Maass.  What follows are the key questions and statements from his lecture.  Hope you enjoy!

What moves reader's hearts?  The emotional landscape.  

 How do you get in touch with that emotional landscape?  Answer these questions:

1)  What is the feeling you are most afraid to put on the page? 

2)  What do you avoid?

3)  What would people not understand?

4)  When does this feeling occur in my life?

5)  What feeling makes you tremble when it occurs?  Who provokes it?  How does it manifest in your life?  How do you know ou are having this feeling?

Answer these questions in detail, and you have an authentic feeling backed with reason.  Find an example of this feeling from your own life and ask where you can place this feeling into your protagonist's journey.

Now of course, I have more notes, but I thought these questions make a nice exercise.  If you read the questions one at a time, work on the answer for three minutes and then move to the next question, you will have wonderful material.

When I attended the workshop, I'd recently finished two manuscripts, so I made a set of tables for each, and worked on both novels at the same time.  What made that fun was the fact that I had to work so fast I couldn't edit any thoughts that came into my head.

So my advice for today - lock and load.  Lock down the questions.  Load up the answers and don't look back.  Your story may be gaining on you.

In Nanowrimo we trust....

Keep writing!