Method Writing – Part 2

Method writing is about how a writer approaches writing rather than what they write, and they can do this by getting closer to the characters - they can step into their shoes and spend time being their main characters. It’s the fun of role play, in order to make them multidimensional, real and emotional.

Sometimes it’s better to fully integrate into this side of building each character. Writers can then understand the physical, emotional and sociological structure that makes up the psyche of their characters.

Method writing/role play can encapsulate the following:-

  • Realism

  • Emotion

  • Props

  • In-depth research

  • Improvisation/role play

  • Sensory/ perception.

Realism in writing means bringing life to your story and your characters that is realistic and believable. That means adding extra dimensions – giving them fears, goals, flaws and foibles, emotions, problems and dilemmas – everything that real people have.

Emotion is important in writing. Method actors try to employ what’s known as ‘affective memory’ or ‘emotional recall’ when eliciting emotion. This means remembering key moments in the past, however painful, to convey a character’s emotion or state of mind, so key emotional scenes could invite you to recall emotive memories and feel the sensations that your character is going through in order to translate that to your scenes. 

Props are useful, too. This strategy is very similar to that used by actors. You can use and play with props that can help you add extra dimension and additional layers to characters, with simple things like wearing glasses, moving around with a walking stick, maybe a blindfold to feel what it’s like to have a character who is blind, or ear protectors to muffle sound to mimic deafness. The list is endless and the experimentation can be interesting and enlightening. Being your main character for a day or so can be eye-opening.

In-depth research is essential not only for getting the general facts and background right, but also to provide accuracy with characters, too. That means doing more than surf the internet for information, or making notes from a book – it could mean speaking to ordinary people, different authorities, organisations or leading experts.

Improvise with your story and characters. If you become your character for the day, try to find out how they would act and react to people and situations. What would they say?  What would they do? What behavioural traits do they show? This kind of exercise allows you to step into your character’s shoes to try to gain a better understanding of who they really are. From this you gain a valuable motivational insight. You can discover what really drives your character.

Sensory stimulus relies on all the senses to aid the writer. That includes memory recall, smell, touch, taste, observation and even perceptions of the world around us. Acuity with your characters and your writing makes for a deeper, definitive story.

‘Method’ writing only works if writers are prepared to infuse themselves and lay bare their personality within the character and essence of the story by using every available tool. Essentially, a method writer is prepared to travel along an unknown road with his or her characters.

It means to go beyond what is ordinary and come up with the extraordinary.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Makes a Story Dark?

If you’re a horror writer or you love to write dark, psychological stories and thrillers, or moralistic tales, this is the one question that needs an answer. Wanting a dark story and writing one are two different things, so how do you actually make a story dark? To answer that you first have to understand what is meant by ‘dark’. We usually define ‘dark’ as quantifiable elements that we know and are familiar with, but it’s more than that. Dark doesn’t necessarily mean scary or gory with a crazy psychopath going around chopping people into bits. Instead we have to think of ‘dark ‘as anything outside our accepted rose-tinted reality. Dark is the underbelly of our society; it’s the handling of ideas, themes, social issues and behaviours that would be seen as morally unacceptable. It’s less about fictional monsters but more about the real monsters that lurk in the shadows, something that is underscored by our fears and anxieties. It’s the unknown, because the things we don’t know
Read more

Chapter & Novel Lengths

Just how long should a chapter be? What’s the best length? And does a novel have to fit into a set amount of words? These are just two of the most common questions asked by writers.   They assume they have to work to a strict template of X amount of words and X amount of chapters, usually because most novels have around 30 or 40 chapters and around 80,000 words.   Novel Lengths Firstly, let’s dispel a few myths - novel lengths are dictated by the story itself, not the writer or the editor or a specific written formula.   Secondly, writers don’t have to fit their word count into generic set amounts.   Again, the story will dictate how long the novel will be. It’s also worth knowing the different types of novels that work well with different word counts.   Uncomplicated stories containing minimal characters tend to be short – usually around 20,000 to 60,000 words.   These are called novellas. Longer, more complex stories, which contain a handful of main characters and periphe
Read more

Cadence in Writing

Following on from last week’s article about purple prose, cadence – something many writers haven’t heard of – is something that writers aspire to but don’t always manage it, yet it’s the fundamental difference between poetic language and over-indulgent, flowery prose. Cadence in writing is a sense of rhythm and pace, it lifts the narrative from the page and makes it dynamic; brings a certain tempo to the words and sentences; it’s what makes prose poetic, layered and fluid without it being extravagant. Cadence makes the writing visual and evocative, and to an extent, beautiful . It’s an important element in fiction writing, because without it, narrative certainly won’t be as effective. Writers don’t actively think about cadence – they simply want to write and get the words down. It’s not until later, while editing, that they realise that a sense of rhythm might be missing from their narrative. When poetic description works, it’s called cadence. When it doesn’t work, people ref
Read more