These are my notes from Rachel Vail's workshop at the SCBWI LA Summer Conference, 2010.
How to hear your characters? Listen. Try spying. On train, wear headphones with no music playing and eavesdrop. You must like stories. You must like sentences!
Take a note book with you everywhere you go. You never know what gems you'll hear. 'Bump of bread' (her son talking about a roll). 'Sucked his cubes' (a waitress who cleared the drinks from the table of a famous actor!) 'Christopher only likes red. All day long.' (A little girl RV once met).
You know the character by their voice. Figure out who they are to learn their voice.
- What they notice
- What they talk about
- What they don't talk about
Notice how people sit, talk, walk etc.
Use of opposites
Explosive character and an implosive character. Volatile and steady.
How we express our ideas and what we notice differs according to personality. Eg: Dancers use movement, musicians use music, artists notice light and shade, psychologists notice relational information. Some people notice absurdities.
Perspective
2nd book harder to write because of 1st protagonist in your head. “The Friendship Ring” - you see the same situation through someone else's eyes in different books in the series.
Characterisation
Walt Whitman – I contradict myself. I contain multitudes.
Start with yourself. Sense memory. Imagine you are in your father's car (as a child). Write down what you smell, see, hear, feel, think etc.
Think about your mum and a disaster at the supermarket. Most of us know our mum's voice. What would be a disaster to her? Write as if you were her in that situation.
“Sometimes I'm trying so hard to be nice that I forget to think.” RV spent 6 hours trying to write this line one day. Delete, delete, delete...
“I don't know what I want” - if this comes up in your dialogue, you have a problem. The character is speaking to you, telling you that they need a motivation.
If you can't get a character's voice out of your head, what do you do? Sometimes you can't, so it becomes your next book.
Play with dialogue in order to meet your characters.
Rachel read us some dialogue between her characters Justin Case and Elizabeth the Excellent. Elizabeth is spelling her name – it's wrong, but to her it's just right. She believes that the spelling of her name can change. Justin is a perfectionist and is getting very annoyed and frustrated with her because it just isn't correct. Elizabeth stands her ground and just believes that she is right. A lot is revealed about the characters from this exchange.
Tips:
Have a notebook and pen at all times. People say things that can be like gold. Eg. 'A runaway freckle', 'A bump of bread.'
Notice how things smell. It's a primal, ancient sense.
If you get stuck, make tea. Force yourself to remember.
Use forces of opposition. If they usually act one way, make them respond in the opposite way.
Screenwriter once said: 'Take a character's statement out and you should be able to guess who said it.' It should be unmistakeable. Often takes 60 drafts for Rachel to get a 'first draft' that she sends to her editor.
Ask your character:
What do I want?
Why can't I get it?
Who is stopping me from getting it?
Why?
Why do I want it?
What do I REALLY want? (Sometimes it's the opposite of what you think you want – eg. You might want to get away from your mother, but at the root of it you want to be closer to her).
What will happen if I don't get it?
What is a risk?
Rachel described writing a book with her friend Avi (Edward). The story was called 'Never Mind!'
It started as a joke – Rachel wrote a chapter (left the end hanging) and emailed it to her friend Avi. It was from one character's point of view. He edited her chapter and wrote chapter two from another character's point of view. They went back and forth until they had a whole book.
Note: a particular voice may not be to the editor's taste.
Rachel uses her 'Form to Form a Character' list of prompts. Some of these are listed below.
My name is
How I look (from outside)
How I look (from character's point of view)
I can't stand...
I love my mum, but...
My friends...
I wish...
If I could change one thing...
My favourite food is...
I love to wear...
When I grow up...
The worst thing I ever did...
The best part about school is...
I wish I were more...
The thing nobody knows about me is...
My dad always...
I am afraid...
When I get mad...
I don't care about...
I used to like...
My life would be better if...
My family is...
A great day for me...
I don't think I'll ever...
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