Asking Intelligent Questions

I have read in numerous books about strategies for character behavior.

James Frey suggests making a list of possible behaviors that characters could take when faced with any given dilemma.

Noah Lukeman writes about writing down situations that would set a character up for a "peak" situation or a really negative experience.

The folks at "Writing Excuses" most recently discuss where authors get their ideas, proposing that asking the right questions about fiction.

As a teacher, I teach students strategies for reading, specifically what sort of questions they should be asking about what they are reading. I find that my questions as an experienced reader are fundamentally different than the questions my students ask.

Every author I have encountered who dispenses writing advice says to read voluminously.

I have heard from some NaNoWriMo friends that they do not know how to get their story where they want it to go or that the story has veered off in a direction different from what they expected, perhaps even different from what they had hoped. I am confident they will keep on track.

If I can play diagnostician of my NaNo experience so far, I have had trouble identifying exactly who my characters are. If I knew this more precisely, I would know what was within the characters' range of possible behaviors that they might to. Because I am still discovering who these people I have brought to the page are, I am not sure what they are capable of. Could she run a marathon, could he bring himself to quit his job, and so on.

For some of my characters, I know the answers to these questions.

So, to summarize, there is knowledge about my characters and then there is knowledge about technique.

Technical knowledge is something that can be gleaned from other reading. This is the sort of thing that it is too little too late to do a whole lot about during NaNoWriMo. Chris Batty has suggested watching a T.V. show or movie and taking note of the pacing, dialogue, and plot revelations during the show and seeing if you can apply this to your novel. I suppose this is as concise of a crash course in technique that you can get. Well, that and the earlier posts in this blog.

I am reading Lord of the Flies and Out of the Silent Planet currently during NaNoWriMo. So far my novel has not turned into either of those books, but it is a fascinating exercise to read a novel with the eyes of a novelist, specifically.

Anyway,

I have an hour to go during which I would like to shower and write about 1000 words. We'll see which wins the upper hand.