Pernell Rogers – Writer

Archive for August, 2022

I ran across an article by C.S. Lakin at livewritethrive.com which made me which I took psychology. Instead, I took philosophy – and LOVED IT! Anyway, the article is titled ‘How Fiction Writers Can Show Emotions in Their Characters in Effective Ways’. For me, this is the Holy Grail of writing. The old ‘show, don’t tell’ mantra every writer has heard before. In her article, she states a fact about human behavior that shouldn’t be overlooked (I’m paraphrasing here):

Thoughts, good or bad, can lead to emotions, which may lead to actions.

Once I read that, I stopped and thought about every character I ever created. Each of those characters had something to motivate them to perform some action, and that’s where I think I hit the disconnect. I focused on motivations instead of their thoughts about a situation or event. Motivations, for me, can be broken down into thoughts and emotions, but I’m not sure if they are separate in my stories. Did I explain their thoughts and jump right into actions, or did I describe emotions and jump right into actions? That’s the disconnect.

I have a lot of stories that I’ve finished recently, in one form or another (1st draft vs. 6th draft), and I’m re-editing all of them using something I call ‘TEA’.

Thoughts…
Emotions…
Actions…

I’m going to examine the actions my characters perform to see if I introduced any of their thoughts in the story. If they are there, did I add any of their emotions (dialogue, gestures, etc.) to explain their thoughts? If I’m missing either of them, I’ll have to re-examine that character and how they fit into the story. It was an eye-opening read. Take care!

Hi again! In a previous post, I mentioned many of the short stories I want to develop into full stories revolve around events or situations with my characters instead of being complete stories. Well, I happened upon a website (below) that explained the difference between the two, and it was a revelation:

www.writermag.com/improve-your-writing/fiction/how-to-structure-a-premise-for-stronger-stories/

I used the following criteria to see if my short stories or fresh story ideas were situations or were eligible to become complete stories:

A situation is a problem or predicament with an obvious and direct solution.
A situation does not reveal character; it tests problem-solving skills.
A situation has no (or few) subplots, twists, or complications.
A situation begins and ends in the same emotional space that it started in.

I discovered that most of my ideas were situations, but sprinkled among them were stories that could be developed if I added more characters and explored the motivations behind their actions in more detail. I wish I would have found it sooner, but I’m glad I found it, anyway.

For a story, I should be able to make a complete sentence describing its premise:

[When] some event sparks a character to action, that [character acts] with deliberate purpose [until] that action is opposed by an external force, [leading to] some conclusion.

In the 11 years I’ve spent learning how to write stories, I’d never run across any websites or books that made the distinction, but thanks to my editor, I started doing more research, and I look at my story ideas much closer now. Take care!

Hello all! I’ve received my latest collection from my editor, and I still have more work to do. She’s really helped me with my storytelling and highlighted areas where I’m lacking. And that’s what I’m focusing on now. I’ve already modified 3 stories using her suggestions and developed a brand new one to add to the collection. Unfortunately, I’m not going to include two stories since I think I could use them in a much bigger piece. Take care!