Authentic
I like writing fiction because I get to make things up for a living. But lately, I have been spending tremendous time making sure the details of my made-up worlds are authentic and REAL.
I think Demon Baby taught me this lesson. When I meet people who think they have a mischievious child, my first internal thought is Piker. I know there is no WAY their little devil can have anything on Demon Baby. And if I were to WRITE about a naughty little guy and NOT be the parent of a Demon Baby . . . I might have details like, "He puts worms in his pockets to keep them as pets." But I would never take it to the extreme. I wouldn't know how to make a Demon Baby story authentic. I wouldn't write that his mother sat on the living room sofa (the formal living room) and saw an earthworm wriggling across the hardwood floor. Or she found one in her wine glass, or she found one in the refrigerator on top of a lovely little brie she had been saving. No . . . I don't know that I would have been THAT authentic. (And yet . . . each of those things is indeed true.)
But more and more, with scene setting and characters, I find that I think I have my arcs down. I think I have my big picture. But I am constantly searching for that detail, that authentic scent or sight or mood or tiny button on a shirt or lost expression or . . . And I realize so much of what creates the very best stories are the details. They take us deeper into story.
Of course the key is doing so in such a way that the details don't bog us down. But that's the art of storytelling.
Oh and I have been thinking about "storytelling" You see, we spend a lot of time saying "show don't tell." But storytelling implies an action. You might call it story weaving. Or story spinning. Or pick a verb of your choice. But the art of storytelling to me implies movement, luring people into your world word by word. The details do that when done right. The connection is made.
So what bit of authenticity are you bringing to your storytelling today?
21 comments:
I think the authenticity in my WIP lies not only in the outward actions and words of the characters, and not only in the scenes and surroundings but in the characters observations of all of the above. I *hope* that is what taps into the readers reality and touches them most of all.
Well, in my SF novel I have to project medical science about 200 years into the future--THEN, because it's taking place on a planet that's basically a theocracy, and in a country on that planet that is a particularly ferocious brand of theocracy, I have to create religious-based problems with medicine--no implants, no mechanical replacement limbs, ritual euthanasia when they perceive a patient is beyond help; then I also pull back on their medicine technology because they're so xenophobic that they have only been willing to trade with other planets in terms of military and communications technology.
Authenticity here can be a little tricky, but I try to give it at least authentic-sounding details.
I've been thinking about this same issue. There are two kinds of authentic details that I try to include (one more successfully than the other). The one I'm good at are sensory details. Small smells, tiny familiar sights, textures and tastes that are intimately familiar to the main character. I myself am I highly sensory person and I can't really think of my backyard without thinking of the grit of the pavers against my bare feet and smell of chlorine.
The second are nostalgic details. These are the fragments of a person lying around, casually, but each contains a whiff of emotion or memory. Talismen. Knick-knacks. Whatever. I have a harder time with this one, but it's an important part of it.
I seem to be in one of those low points where I am struggling with every word so I'm not sure I have any authenticity right now. Unless perhaps it is authentic garbage. Yeah I know I'm feeling sorry for myself, but I shall overcome these woes and get going again soon.
The details make or break a story, I believe. Some writers can weave them in as to draw the reader in, and then there are those who sort of use "cliche" details. An example: The biker rides a Harley, is covered with tattoos, and has a scar across his left cheek. Of course he does! But that's not interesting, right? It's just cliche. Add that he has a voice like Pee Wee Herman, and now he's interesting.
Did I understand your lesson?
I don't have any interesting bits of writing I can share, since I'm not actively creating. But, I AM keeping my ears open to the incredible craziness of people's real life stories, like the guy whose cat died ten years ago, and every time he moved, he dug up the cat and brought it to his new locale. The guy moved four times in ten years; the cat was in a shroud (not a box. I asked.).
This ties into your previous blogs too. I research, I'm inspired, I create more story then recognize I need to do more research, but I don't want to procrastinate. So I figure, okay, I'll write this out hoping I'm right. If I'm wrong then I will rewrite it. I'm going to have to rewrite anyway. Also it gives me the added benefit of knowing what I'm looking for when I research, that one little detail that makes something authentic. Were jail cells in the 1930's paved with stone? Did they use large skeleton keys or more intricate ones?
13 I's. Am I egocentric or what? Make that 14.
I'm researching for my futuristic constantly. Finding details about my vision is peculiar and tough and I'm finding it's helpful to use details from the past (or, well, present). For instance, Trinidad smells incense before walking into his church to stand guard over his priest at service. An armed guard at a church service will probably be pretty out-there to some of my readership; incense and stale communion wafers aren't so much.
I think it's tough to figure out the links grounding present to future.
You take the outward person and what makes them tick, and find out what would likely be their guilty pleasure. I think guitly pleasures tells a lot about a person.
So, I have this hero who is such a control. He's focused. He's no nonsense. He's the ultimate business man. But when no one else is watching, he entertains himself with infomericals.
Underneath it all it's about convincing people in what they need in the most outrageous way. It's still about selling, but imagine a Fortune 500 man admitting he likes to watch infomercials. Snerk.
But then again, how many people, sane, got a good head on their shoulders type of people, like things you'd never guess they would know exists.
So, I live in quirks to make my characters authentic. People interest me. Why they lie, love, work--all of those things can help make your stories real.
Amy:
Observations that are "spot on" in real life attract me to people, so that's a great tool.
E
Mark:
Every time you talk about that sci-fi, I really like the concept.
E
Lurker:
I love that . . . "fragments of a person." In a quantum physics sense, that's really true. But in my own life, I don't generally travel and am never far from my old-fashioned Day-Timer book (have not succombed to a Palm Pilot). I have a car in the front flap from my grandmother written to me when I was eight months pregnant with my Oldest and Grandma was waiting to be a GREAT-grandmother. Sometimes when I take it out I smile. Sometimes I burst into tears. But always, it's a sense she's still part of my life.
E
Travis:
Good luck finding the cure. When I was in a funk about three months ago, I wrote a short story (i.e., not my usual genre or literary form).
E
kath:
First, off-line, when you wrote me the cat story, I totally cracked up.
Second . . . yeah. I don't think authentic has to mean odd . . . but I DO think that authentic details are unique and imply a keen sense of observation on the writer's part, or experiential knowledge, or a lot of research.
E
Richmond:
That's why I don't write historicals . . . those are details I think certain genres need--and writers who do that kind of work fascinate me.
E
sex scenes:
Definitely. I wrote a short sotry set in the future, but it was basically only about ten years ahead, so life was the same . . . I don't read in your genre, I don't read sci-fi, but the worldbuilding is amazing. A lot of "what if" questions.
E
melissa:
I love it.
I've written on the blog once or twice before that I watch QVC religiously at night . . . and never buy anything. My best friend knows this about me. I watch like 10 minutes a couple of times a week, just because I am so intigued and oddly fascinated by the hosts of the show and how they make all of this CRAP sound like it's something people cannot live without. :-)
E
I would have cried for the brie. :(
Man, if I'd done that to my mother I would have had a wineglass thrown at me or something more befitting of our southerness like a chicken.
The authenticity that I've tried to give Nameless is the fact that Piper is not some super brave, wise, strong, beautiful heroin. She's short, snarky, cute, and not ashamed to adimt that she locks herself in the bathroom just to cry sometimes.
In so many books I'm seeing the main character hit a bump in the story that hurts them deeply, but they either jump back up as soon as they hit the ground, or they stay down there until the story is nearly over.
For a level headed teen like Piper neither of these feel right. Sure teens can can down in the dumps, but most times they get back up and keep moving, even if it feels like part of them is still on the ground.
There is no black or white in Piper's story, just a lot of shade of gray.
-J.T.
JT:
In my YAs (which I wrote as Liza Conrad), particularly High School Bites, I write about outsider girls. People just out of step with the norm. I loathed my adolescent years and found them VERY hard. A heroine like yours would have been precisely what I needed to relate to.
E
You found an earthworm on your brie?! That just makes me feel sad!
All your other comments are deep and profound. I'm just thinking about the food.... :)
Lauren:
Ahh . . . well, I learn to live with the oddities of life with DB.
:-)
E
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