Writing Prescription Fifteen

"You happened to me. You were as deep down as I've ever been. You were inside me like my pulse." Marilyn Hacker

Today’s Prescription centres on connecting with your reader. Here are a few pointers:

1. Use adjectives that reflect the characters view and not your own, since the emotional bridge you want to build is between the character and the reader;

2. Have your character interpret everything he/ she experiences with emotions and the five senses;

3. By attaching his/ her opinions and observations and having him/ her make judgements on everyone else's behaviour, he/ she not only becomes a stronger character, but your reader will form a stronger emotional bond with him/ her.

4. Use sensual writing - the reader doesn't simply watch a character; he enters the characters body;

5. Include texture and smells, sounds, visuals;

6. What aren't you hearing?

7. Establish your voice in the first line. You will lose your reader if you are coy, phony, boastful or whiny;

8. A reader has a subconscious need for order. Your story should be like a road map with a starting point leading to the destination - you don't want your audience having to stop to figure out where in the devil you are taking them.

Here are a few tips for SHOWING instead of TELLING:

1. Show the characters actions as they're occurring, in real time;

2. Use deep point of view to get right into the skin, head and heart of your character;

3. Show the reader your characters hidden reactions, feelings, emotions and thoughts;

4. Add in sensory information: what is your character seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, feeling?

5. Include lots of spirited, to-the-point dialogue;

6. Look for 'was' or 'were' and rephrase the sentence, replacing the adjective with a compelling verb or verbal phrase;

7. Cut way back on narrative description, exposition and lengthy explanations of the characters past or motivations;

8. Keep flashbacks short and show them in real time, with action and dialogue;

9. Throw in plenty of conflict and tension;

10. The more intense the moment, the more showing you need to do;

11. Never tell the reader, after the fact, about a critical scene. Instead, dramatize it in the here and now, with dialogue, action, and lots of sensory details to bring it to life for the reader.

Your readers want to know how your characters feel about what's happening to them; readers want to see your characters response to the words and actions of others and events unfolding around them - have your characters react immediately, as they would in real life situations.

Today's new word: TUMID - swollen, bulging, pompous, bombastic.

Character flaw # GULLIBLE: will believe any information and is easily deceived or duped.