Writing Exercise: Character Development

If you're struggling with one of you characters, try writing a letter as your current character to their older or younger self. Think of what they might want to tell their past or future self, this might help you pinpoint what's important to your character.

You (AHC 294)

Be advised: a Code 3 lockdown is in effect. Do not leave your post unless instructed to do so. Do not change your radio’s frequency. Please stay calm.

You hear the loud, piercing emergency signal punctuate the announcement. You know you shouldn’t, know it’s against protocol, but you find yourself turning the volume knob every so slightly so that the even-toned female voice quiets down a bit as she repeats her announcement.

Be advised: a Code 3 lockdown is in effect.

Pretty middle of the road code, you remember. One of the AHCs must have escaped. You recall that a Code 3 means only one AHC loose in the facility. You notice that the voice coming from your radio hasn’t yet told you which of the AHCs to look out for.

Do not leave your post unless instructed to do so.

You tap the toes of your boots on the ground, and it produces a gentle clinking sound. It’s hard to not feel frightened when you’re stationed in a basement tunnel with darkness surrounding you. The air is both stale and damp, like something left sitting in a puddle for far too long.

You fidget with the stun baton in your hand. You’re almost itching at the thought of giving the clever creature a little buzz and sending them on their way. Wouldn’t be the first time. It’s how you survived the Alternate History Facility.

“Who’s that?”

You hear a voice echo down the tunnel, sudden and unexpected. You turn your radio down even more, fail to hear the flat, calming voice say something new.

AHC 294 has breached containment. All personnel report to the nearest safe room in a calm and orderly manner.

“Hello?” you ask the darkness, voice tentative and unsure. Was it a supervisor coming down to check on you? You’d done exactly as the emergency channel told you -

“Show yourself!”

You are sure that voice sounded different from the first one.

“You first!” you exclaim.

All you hear now is the gentle cadence of slow footsteps. You clutch your stun baton and switch it on out of panic. You hear the piercing sound of the emergency signal and turn your radio’s volume back up.

AHC 294 has breached containment. Humanoid class. Shapeshifter. Mimics humanoid voice -

You’ve heard enough. It’s time to go. You start walking north down the hallway to the closest elevator, and your stun baton crackles and sparks with blue light with every step you take.

You reach the elevator and see that it’s locked down too.

It’s too late now.

Heavy steps from behind you cause the metal grate covering the ground to tremor. You turn around to face whatever is here with you.

“Oh,” you sigh. It’s only your supervisor. He must have come down here to look for you.

“I thought I was a goner.”

Your supervisor says nothing. He only stares at you with hollow eyes.

“I said,” you begin again, “I thought I was a goner.”

“Show yourself!”

Your heart stops and you feel your body freeze. It’s already too late.

It’s seen you. It’s heard you.

The creature, because that’s what this really is, slides in and out of focus as its true form emerges. It licks its jowls, and leaps.

Now, instead of two bodies, there is only one. It looks just like you, skin a little paler, eyes a little more vacant. It drops your baton and your radio to the ground and begins walking further down the hall.

AHC 294 has breached containment. Humanoid class. Shapeshifter. Mimics humanoid voice. Will attack on sight. Do not engage. Do not acknowledge other employees until you’ve reached a designated safe room.

Soon, it will find that nice boy you wanted to have a cup of coffee with. Your voice will ring light and sweet, but it is not you.

It is AHC 294.

“I thought I was a goner.”

Writing Exercise: Character Development

"You"

Second-person point of view is an intimate way of looking at a character's thoughts. As an exercise, take a scene from the book you're writing. Choose a character, and then re-write the scene entirely from a second-person POV, noticing what details shift because of this perspective change.

Guess where?

This is a story about a place that no longer exists.

But it did, once.

We were given the letter A, because of course they gave us the infamous scarlet letter, to remind us of who we were at our cores. Perhaps you've over-analyzed that bit. But if you wander the halls, you might hear indistinct wailing echoing from behind thick, wooden doors. Could be howls of joy, could be screams of sadness, exhaustion, and homework that can't be understood.

This is where we met. In a land of green carpet and white-washed concrete walls, of inconvenient fire drills and hidden liquor bottles.

The B for Boy land was a foreign and unreal place. Each time a door was kicked open, you heard loud rap and hip hop music, smelled dirty clothes and showers not taken, saw hallways littered with trash. It was definitely lived in. It was a place we dared not go, unless we accidentally started loving one of them.

C was for the miscreants, the odd ones out. Too old for purely gendered halls, too out of place, or just too angry to deal with people in general. It was clean. Fox News was their white noise. Every person a ghost, sleeping, at work, in class, avoiding homework. Sneaking in and out of those rooms felt natural, like we were all adults here and we could be trusted and besides the RA isn't our mom anyway.

They tore it down. We don't miss it, but we miss the memory of it.

Exercise: Setting

Guess Where?

Good worldbuilding is when the author can bring a place to life for the reader. Using your powers of description, describe (in 2-3 paragraphs) a place or setting with which you're familiar. Then show your work to somebody who knows the spot and see if they are able to guess it through your words.

Writing Exercise: Dialogue

Famous Lines

Dialogue isn't exclusive: characters may say the same things, but mean something entirely different in the context of the scene. Pick one of the below famous lines from literature and film. Then start a scene by having a character say it. Develop the scene that follows in 500-600 words and see where it takes your characters.

• "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.
• "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse."
• "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!"
• "You're gonna need a bigger boat."
• "Oh, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars."

Writing Exercise: Setting

Room

Write a description of the room you are in from the point-of-view of a character in your work-in-progress. If the character is from another time or place, so much the better. What would the character notice first? What would she find odd? What would she love about the room? What would she dislike? Go beyond describing the physical space and capture her attitude about what she sees. Let her be snarky or wax poetical. Whatever captures her emotions about the space.

Writing Exercise: Setting

Establishing The Background

Think of some information your readers will need to learn to understand the story. This could be technical information or character backstory. Now write an argument between two characters in which you use conflict to share this information.

Project Assignment: Gratitude

Why yes, it is November, and everyone is extra grateful this time of year, and our characters should be too. If you already have characters, how do they show gratitude? What do they do for Thanksgiving (if they even celebrate it)? How do they say thank you? If you don't have characters, go ahead and make something up to throw into the mix. 500 words. One week. I realize Nanowrimo has claimed primacy on this month, and I've been a super slacker to boot, but go with it. :)

Project Assignment #3 - poetry

Let have a good old standby.

Hit us with something new, or in lieu of that, if you are super busy, then post your favorite that another author has written. :)

Project Assignment #2: Modernize a classic

In 500 words or less, modernize a classic, a la "The Lizzie Bennett Diaries" on YouTube or something a little less dramatic, like Eric the geeky emo kid who always hides behind his hair offers to help cheerleader Christine become a better singer. No need to build a whole world - just one scene. Be as creative as you like! If you can, make your readers guess. Good luck this week, writers, and revisit your favorite classics.

Challenge #1 - Begin Again

So to jump in and get our feet wet, how about we take an old piece we have done and rework it. Less pressure to produce something new, and at the same time we can get used to editing and rewriting. (This is for me) Post the previous piece along with the reworked piece in once post.

Ready... Set... GO!!!

Happy Writing!

Project #87: Secrets, Take 2

This year, we're going to re-up an old challenge: Secrets. 100-500 words. Tell a character's secret. Or have a character tell a secret - what secret, and to whom? Or have a character being asked to keep a secret. Or maybe a character accidentally overhears a secret. What does she do with it? Past variations on the 'secret' them include vice and confessions.

Happy writing!

Project Assignment #86 - Proverbs

Sorry for this one coming in so late in the day. But this week is Proverbs.

Have fun let's keep it to 350 words.

Posting may be light from me. It's coming up on the end of the semester, but I will try to post as often as I can.

Project #85: Allusions

Apologies for getting this in a day late. This week's assignment is to quote something, allude to something, reference something in your piece, 100-350 words. It can be pop culture or esoteric ancient scripture, it can be an idea or a song lyric or a poem, a famous aphorism or a whisper on the wind. Make it obvious, make it subtle, throw it in or make it the title. It's up to you! Time to put that education to use.

Project Assignment #84 - Deadlines

This week is about deadlines! Deadlines for work, applications to school, projects...

Do your characters crack under pressure? Do they carefully plan out everything so there is hardly any stress involved? Do they perform best when time is short? Are they procrastinators or the type that is right on top of things? Do they abhor deadlines with a passion or work best when they have one?

500 words max

Have Fun!!

Project #83: Raise a character

We've done this before, and we're going it again, but this time with a longer word count and one day less. You have 100-400 words to raise a character, from birth to death (because everyone is born/created, and everyone ends, even vampires and gods). You can choose your moments from societally acknowledged rites of passage, like learning to walk, learning to ride a bike, learning to read, learning to drive, going on a first date, getting married, becoming a parent – whatever you choose. You can choose a character you've been working on or try a brand new one. It's up to you!

Happy writing.

Project Assignment # 82 - Books

What is your characters favorite book? Have the written a book or do they just like to putter around? Why is the book their favorite? Does Tobias like historical fiction? Maybe Bryan likes fantasy books.

500 word limit.

Have fun!!!

Project #81: Musical Instruments

I realize we have a list of challenges we'd like to do, and I know we did songfics recently, but I'd like to see how your characters deal with musical instruments. Can they play? What instrument can they play? Were they classically trained or self-taught? What kind of music do they play? Are their instruments expensive or cheap, rented or owned, family heirlooms or bought on a whim? Do they refuse to play? Is there an instrument they like listening to best? 100-300 words. Musical instruments...go!

Project # - 80 Poetry

I know you probably expected it from me sooner or later, but poetry is the challenge this week. Open write or closed form. It's up to you.

Have fun and hope (for my sake) that the posting is better from me this week.