Why Writers Should Watch Movies

Photo Credit: Freedigitalphotos.net

Writers should watch movies.

Before you all flock to the nearest theater or video store and spend all your egg money on popcorn and soda pop, let's talk about a great way to get your money's worth out of that oh-so-expensive theater ticket.

Disclaimer: I will not be held responsible if vindictive theater go-ers come to this post thinking I put you up to shouting at the screen because the hero didn't get the heroine, I will vehemently deny it. ;-)

While you as a reader can consume a novel relatively quickly, it generally will not be read within a two and a half hour period. By the time you've reached the ending, there are aspects about that book that you remember and have learned and gleaned from, but it's often harder to be critical of the overall picture of a novel than the overall picture of a movie.

Within two hours, you've got: home world, inciting incident, noble quest, hero's journey, black moment, storm the castle and happily ever after.

Just thinking about how much has to be packed into a two hour movie makes my head spin! But the best movies do it with masterful skill. Within two hours, you've got a story that would have taken you three days at the least (most likely) to read.

When you enter your theater (be it home or professional) don't go just to be entertained, watch how the actors and writers work together on the scream to paint a story. What do they do WITHOUT speaking that speaks the loudest? Identify the inciting incident and watch how long it takes the hero to decide whether he is going to save the damsel in distress. Watch the middle. How do they keep it from sagging, while also continuing to contribute to characterization and plot momentum? Watch how the character changes on the screen. The best movies don't stand up and shout: LOOK OUT OUR CHARACTER IS CHANGING. The best movies make subtle changes until the character is confronted with a choice and the answer to that choice truly shows the audience that he is a different person than when he started.

The best movies will make it clear of something the hero can do at the end that he couldn't do at the beginning. Most often in our books we forget to add this concept or make it obvious. Movies, because they are visual, do a great job of making it obvious. You as a reader might not overtly notice, but inherently, you have noticed a difference and it makes all the stronger theater-going-viewer experience.

Find a really great television show. Don't watch it as a it airs every week. Wait until it comes out on disk and get it from Netflix and watch it one show and disk at a time, one right after the other. A GREAT example of this would be ABC's Castle. I don't get the channel and have started watching all the shows from the beginning. Talk about great characterization! Since the beginning of the show, I've been watching the characters change and grow on minute levels across three seasons. We don't come back week after week, show after show for the murders, we come back for the relationship between Castle and Beckett that is ever evolving and changing. The writers are masterful as SHOWING everything and trusting the viewer to be an intelligent audience. We get it. We love it. Take a lesson from great television shows and watch how they extend a relationship over hundreds of shows.

Learn the lesson of showing and not telling from movies. What they utilize for characterization by body language, facial expressions and tics that belong only to the character who uses them. How do you as a viewer identify with those characters because of how they act? Use that to your advantage upon the page in your descriptions. What does your character do, that speaks for all the words they don't say?

So much to learn and glean from in movies! Even from the ones you don't like. Instead of saying "I didn't like that film" identify WHY you didn't like it and use those skills to improve your own writing and what same concepts might be showing up.

Let's talk: what's the latest movie you watched and loved? Why?

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Casey Herringshaw is a homeschool graduate and has been writing since high school. She lives in rural Eastern Oregon in a town more densely populated with cows than people.

Talking Heads In Your Novel Writing

Photo by geralt @ pixabay

In the beginning of my writing journey, I was overcome by an invasion - an invasion of the Talking Heads. I was blindsided by these creatures, because I didn't know any better. These Talking Heads took over my manuscript until I learned how to creatively combat them.

Talking Heads occurs when two characters converse together without any action, description, setting, or mood. It's just two people talking back and forth, confusing the reader as to who is who, and therefore losing the flow of the story.

So how do we get rid of these pesky buggers? 

Action Tags: Break up the dialogue with action from the character. Have a character cook, open the refrigerator, get a drink, pick up toys off the floor, etc. Simple things that a character can do will help identify them and give the reader a sense of placement in the scene.

Descriptive Setting: Add a touch of descriptive setting into an action tag. Have the character pick at the folds of the red checkered tablecloth; or plop into a worn, threadbare recliner; or step over a huge mound of dirty laundry. These give the reader hints into the life of the character and anchors them into the scene.

Inner thoughts: Get into deep POV and express the thoughts of your character. Have your character say one thing, yet think the total opposite. Or let the character think through a problem he/she is arguing about with the other character.

Body Language: This may be one of my favorite things to combat Talking Heads. Using the character's body to give a sense of their feelings helps to identify them in the scene. Have your character roll their eyes, heave a sigh, slam a door, or run their hands through their hair. These convey (show) feelings instead of "telling" them to the reader.

What else can you add to the list of defense against the Talking Heads?

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This post is brought to you by

 Sherrinda Ketchersid

Sherrinda is wife to "Pastor John" and mother to three giant sons and one gorgeous daughter. A born and bred Texan, she writes historical romance filled with fun, faith, and forever love.

Self-Editing Checklist: Externals

In my limited experience as a contest judge, I'd say there's one common mistake among all beginner writers:

Too much internalization.

Thinking and walking. Thinking and driving. Thinking and eating. And somewhere along the way, *bam* there's another character who talks! Then it's back to thinking and walking. Thinking and driving, etc., etc., etc.

In order to create a compelling story, we can't ignore the externals. What do I mean by externals? I'm glad you asked. :-)

By externals, I'm talking about physical actions, body language, and the five senses. Internalization and dialogue aren't enough. Establishing the setting isn't enough (more on how to do that in a future post). A perfect blend of these elements along with externals creates a can't-put-it-down kind of book.

So let's get to the meat, shall we? Here are some things to check for:

1) Do you have a good balance of physical movement in your scenes? Is your character sitting in one paragraph, then all the sudden she's standing next to the window in the next? How did she get there? Act it out if you have to.

I'm not saying you should outline every single physical action. Too much non-crucial stuff keeps the story from moving forward. But the goal is to combine action with emotion. For example, instead of just having your character walk, you could say, "She paced from the couch to the fireplace and back again, her feet gaining bounce with each step." Now we can see firsthand she's excited about something.

2) Do you show a character's reactions and emotions through appropriate body language? Casey did a fabulous post about body language a couple months ago. It's a must-read. The key is making sure you vary the physical reactions, making them unique to each character and to the situation.

3) Do you use all five senses effectively? Are they appropriate to the scene and the character? Do you fuse them with emotion to enhance the story? Here's an example:

"The dingy walls crept closer, and the basement's musty smell pressed deep into the crevices of her being. How could she follow through on his offer when she wanted nothing to do with him?"

This character is struggling with a choice, and the setting and smells of the basement mirror her feelings of being trapped. So using the five senses is more than just having smell, taste, sound. It's about using them to enhance the scene and make the reader feel as if they're living the scene with the character.

Resources: In my mind, there's one primary resource when it comes to writing externals. I'm a huge fan of Margie Lawson's classes. If you haven't checked out her lecture packets, what are you waiting for? :-)

Your homework, should you choose to accept it: Analyze your scenes and act out the physical action if you need to. Study the body language and senses, making sure you have a variety that is unique to the scene and the characters.

So tell me, have I missed any "externals"? Are there any tricks you use to make sure your manuscript has the right blend of movement?

*This post is part of the Self-Editing Checklist series. For the rest of the series, click here.

**Edit photo by ningmilo / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
***Jumping photo by photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When Search and Replace Is Not Enough



courtesy of ehow.com

Body language has always been a struggle for me. I either have too much or not enough and much of what I include all revolves around the same motion. Twisting hands that knot themselves in your lap are the same thing. An eyebrow that lifts is the same one that quirks.

But because I am trying to write “fresh” I often take the same ways of saying something…and using different words to describe it.

Sorry. Can’t get away with that anymore.

After taking a recent Margie Lawson class (Empowering Character’s Emotions), I realized my body language (BL) was not good enough in my writing. And it suddenly became quite plain what I was doing wrong.

It was all the same.

Every bit of it revolved around a few parts of the body. A wince of a smile, restless hands, pacing, stomping, nodding or shaking of a head. There was no variety to any of it and I saw how my work suffered.

A great deal of BL that comes across on the page has the potential to speak louder than the words the character says. For example: (in the most simplistic form)

“Oh, why would you say that? I’m not nervous.” Her legs uncrossed and tapped a dance on the floor before hooking a toe on the barstool. Where a jittering rocked it from knee to toe. “Not nervous at all.”

Her actions completely contradict the words of her mouth. Now obviously I could have written that better, but do you see my point?

I decided to go through my manuscript and mark all my BL. Physically write it down on a pad of paper with a pen instead of just highlighting it on the screen. By writing it down in physical form you can see how many times you repeat a certain motion, because your mind is engaged to take it from the screen to the page.



Courtesy of linked2leadership.com



The reason you can’t use “search and replace” for this method because if you do a search for “smile” you won’t find all the other times you used a different word or description. Like: “his lips titled upward” (a pet phrase of mine…)

When I went through my first six chapters I marked not only BL, but also actions. I know I often use the same verbiage to describe something, so this was also a chance to mark those areas and see how they compare later on in the story. Don’t get stuck on marking “only” the BL. Look for the verbs that jump out at you as pet phrases.

My characters do a lot of smiling. I marked every single one so I can see how often they do. They also mess a lot with their hands, marching, stomping and nodding. Mark, mark, mark and mark them all!

If your main character doesn’t do the action, then make a little side note with which character did. Be fastidious about this exercise; take the time to mark them all. And when you are done you are going to have a resource at your fingertips that will catalog the emotions and BL of your characters, so when you start to write one that sounds similar you can search through your short-hand notes to see if you have or not.

Make your fiction “fresh” and “vibrant” by not settling for less. Take the time to go through these little extra steps (I did six chapters in a little over an hour) and you’ll plainly see what is working and what isn’t and those pet phrases to avoid.

What have you found that helps your editing process?

Writing Lessons from "The Bachelor"

Some of the best dialogue in a book is the unspoken dialogue. The eye roll, the hunched shoulders, the tight jaw. Physical action can show a person's true feelings much more than words ever could.

A couple months ago I talked about a writing takeaway I learned from watching TV. So I thought I'd share another way to watch TV and hone your writing skills. Are you ready? This will revolutionize your life, I promise. Here it is.

Watch your TV on mute.

Yep, you heard it here first, folks. Grab a bowl of popcorn and the remote, then settle into your couch and watch TV with no sound (and no closed captioning).

I first discovered this trick when watching The Bachelor. I know, I know, people, don't hate me because I watch senseless television.

One night I was watching the show, and I muted the TV during commercials like I always do. I got preoccupied doing something else and next thing I knew, the show had been back on for five minutes. I glanced up and instead of unmuting, I realized something amazing was happening (other than the bachelor telling the fifth girl in a row that he's falling in love with her).

There were some major body language cues flying back and forth.

They were holding hands, and she was leaning close to him but he stayed back in his loungey position. Pretty soon, I started to have fun plugging in my own dialogue based solely on their body language.

[Girl leans forward and puts hand on his shoulder.] "So, what do you think of the other girls?"

[Guy glances across room at Smoking Hot Girl, then looks down at his drink and shrugs.] "I'll tell you they're all right, but really I just want to choose Smoking Hot Girl and be done with this stupid show."

[Girl locks eyes with him.] "I know this will sound kind of crazy, but I feel such a connection with you."

[Guy clears his throat and scoots one inch the other way.] "I'll say same here, but really I can't wait to get out of this conversation so I can look at...I mean, talk to Smoking Hot Girl some more."

I don't remember if I was right in my assessment or way off, but the bigger takeaway was the tool I'd discovered. These people's words meant nothing in light of what their body language said. Sure, I would have picked up on the vibe of the conversation with the sound on, but having the TV on mute forced me to study those body language cues, to take mental notes so that next time I sat down to work on my book, I could show the unspoken dialogue between the lines.

(And in case you're curious, this technique can work with both reality and non-reality television.) :)

Where do you draw inspiration for the unspoken dialogue in your stories? Do you have any tips or favorite ways to study body language?

*Eyes Photo by Graeme Weatherston / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

*Remote Photo from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

*Bachelor Photo from abc.com