| Don't Be Afraid To Show 'Em Your Short's Author, Meagan Hatfield As writers, we love our characters. At first it’s almost like dating. We spend time getting to know them—getting them to open up to us and tell us their deepest darkest fears and secrets. Sometimes this process can take days, weeks…even months. But as time passes, do you ever catch yourself daydreaming about those other characters inside your head, screaming to be written? Begin to think perhaps these new characters are more interesting, better crafted, have more conflict, or tell a better story than the one you’ve invested so much time in? But no—you cannot stray from your novel to write about them, or you might risk {{gasp}} never finishing it. Right? Nope. I’m telling you to “cheat” on them...with a short story. Spend a few adventurous weeks penning a new tale, with a new hero/heroine and believe me—your mind, spirit and yes even those tried and true characters from your novel will reap the rewards. Sounds great, you say. But wait! You can’t possibly write an entire story in 5-6,000 words! No way, no how! You need the security of 90,000 words and your comfortably tailored characters. Well, never fear, I’m here to show you just how fun, exciting, rejuvenating and yes, easy it can be...and in just six easy steps. The first step—Shopping! Easy enough, right? You are going to need 3x5 cards…lots of them. Good news, they are cheap. I got three packs for a buck. Next up, large binder clips. Another no stress item—most writers have these on hand for sending manuscripts out. If not, try office supply stores or heck, I even saw them at Target the other day. While you’re there, pick up your last items…poster board and colored Sharpies. The great news about these tools, they are not only cheap, but they can carry into your novel writing as well. That, and you can write them off on next years taxes. (Note to self: Keep receipts!) (Another note to self: you can tailor these items to your likes/dislikes &/or budget. You can use notebook paper instead of poster board, color pencils instead of sharpies—you get the idea!) Second step—Brainstorm. If you are writing your short story for an anthology, they will usually have a theme for you to mold and fit your story to. If not, you’re on your own. Either way, this is where the poster board and colored Sharpies come in. If you know the title and/or theme of your story, put it across the top. Next, draw three large circles—each a different color and label them with the main characters of your story. I use Blue for Hero, Red for Heroine and Black for Villain. (In shorts you want to keep secondary characters to a minimum, simply because you do not have time to use them.) Fill the inside of each circle with the characters name, age, appearance, occupation, brief background, Goal-Motivation-Conflict, and anything else vital to the story. You should be able to bounce from one character to the other, see connections between all three in areas of conflict and goals, and you should be getting some pretty solid ideas about who your characters are, what they want and how the story is going to unfold. Third step—The cards. Once you've brainstormed your ideas, it's time to break out your index cards. Now, I didn’t make this up. I got this from Jack M. Bickham’s novel – “Writing the Short Story” and if you plan on writing a lot of shorts, I highly recommend owning a copy. In it, he goes in depth of what I’m summarizing in this section for you. *First up are your character cards. On your first few cards, copy all of your character information from your poster board onto the cards, using as many separate cards, as you need. Add to each of your characters card one that says: What are they like? What do they see as their problem? Why is it vital they reach their goal? For the villain: What is the villain like? What is this villain's plan? Why is it essential to your villain's happiness to fight the hero? *Next come your story cards. Each one of these answers should be thought out and answered on a card: What kind of story is this? (romance, historical, paranormal, gothic, etc.) Where does the story take place? (setting - feel free to go in depth with your setting cards. Sensory details, specific location, taking notes on anything you might need to research.) What is the time frame of the story? (With short stories, you want to try and make the time frame as brief as possible.) How and when does the story start? How and when does the story end? (In other words, how do you intend to set up the climax?) What is the overall story question? This is important. You want to make sure your story question is obvious to the reader early on and is answered at the end of the story. (i.e.: Your story question could be: Will the H/H defeat villain and live happily ever after?) Fourth step—Plotting out your story on the scene/sequel cards. This is the fun part! Here you get to let your imagination run wild. You can write as many scene/sequel cards as you can think up. My theory is it's always much easier to toss away a card than a fully written out scene or chapter. *On the first side of one card write: Scene - 1 (or whatever scene you're doing) Viewpoint - (whichever character's viewpoint you are in) Then a brief, one-line synopsis of what the scene will be about. On the backside of the card write: Goal - Problem - Conflict - Disaster Then fill out what the viewpoint characters goal is. What problem is keeping them from this goal? What conflict arises and then what disaster befalls them, (this leads in to the sequel card.) *On the front side of a different card write: Sequel - 1 Viewpoint - (same character as in scene card) On the back side of card write: Thoughts - Feelings - Decision Then fill out the thoughts, feelings and decision your character goes through and ultimately makes after the disaster that just befell him/her when they tried to reach their goal. This decision will play out into their either new or renewed goal in the next scene card. This way, even if you change POV for the next scene, you’ll know how and why they are in the situation they are in, and the emotions and mentality of the now non-POV character. Continue doing this until you've essentially plotted out your story. Remember - arrange what you need, throw out what you don't. And most importantly, this is a romance AND a short story—make sure the H/H meet early! This may take you an hour or two weeks or longer. That’ s what I love about this card system. You can bind them in a stack with the clips and carry them around with you. If inspiration strikes, you have them right on hand. Step five—Write it! You have done the hard work...you've already plotted out your story on the cards! Now you just have to sit down and flesh out the cards into a living, breathing story. Set the cards out in front of you, flip through them as you go, and write, write, write. You will not believe how easy it is using these cards. You'll know exactly what is motivating your characters, how they are feeling and what they are going to do next. Doesn't get any better than that! Step Six—Editing out the fat. Deborah MacGillivray has a wonderful article on getting all the unnecessary verbiage out of your story. If you tend to go over on word count, like me, you'll love her tips and tricks. Visit: http://deborahmacgillivray.co.uk/onwriting_editout.htm to read her article. That's it! You're done! See, I told you it would be fun and easy. The whole process only took you a few weeks, (if that), and I bet it rejuvenated your mind, got those creative juices flowing and if your lucky, it just might even get you some pocket change. Now get out there and show 'em your shorts! Meagan :-) ©2006Meagan Hatfield. No unauthorized duplications of works or content allowed without permission from the author. I am more than happy to give it, please just ask first. :-) |
