elibats

so i'm writing a story. i know exactly what i want to happen. i even have all the conversations down that are going to be spoken between characters. *I* know who these characters are, but I have a feeling the things they say could be said by anyone and dont really express their personalities. i know the background of their lives, i know what their fears are, basically, i KNOW them, but i don't know how to get those things in the story in a smooth way. in fact i haven't been able to bring myself to write much more than the facts. that's scary for me because i've always considered myself perceptive and intuitive and yada yada over factual and logical, know what i mean? i'm not sure what i'm scared of, but i was wondering what other people do in this situation.

thanks, p

kellykat60409

I have the same problem, that is why I make a character profile then add things like personalty type and what they would say when asked certain things

teflon

I think it’s important to avoid writing down their everyday dialog. (“Hello” he said, opening the door to…)

In your mind make clippings of the most important scenes that happen between the characters, and task yourself with relating the story without your narrative, through the characters’ exchange. Avoid tipping off readers by your narrative, let a character casually comment on a crucial fact, let the reader guess and fill in and figure out what happened from the blocks of dialog.

You can spare yourself from narrating by reporting voice (I think I lost it. in italics; OR: Come on, hit the button, Phil said to himself.)

Or:

The preacher was a bigot, Cal told me.

Father dropped the gun, as my sister told Jim later.
INSTEAD OF

Father dropped the gun after Jim ran out of the shack.

And also avoid being omniscient. Base narrative from one point-of-view only. If there are Sue, Bill, John, - stick to one of them, and do not tell the reader what the others are feeling, thinking etc.

To summarize:

Express their personalities through dialog, actions, and reactions. Dialog should have mirrored responses. “Mom?” –“Yes?” “Where’s dad’s crossbow?”- “What crossbow?” ( and from here you have a plenty of premise for your imagination run free)

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Schumi

So do you leave the reader to come to their own conclusion on how they are thinking and feeling, or do you express it through your lone viewpoint? I am finding the viewpoints in my novel difficult because I've read in books and on the internet that you shouldn't have to many. I have what I would consider 3 main characters, with one of them being the absolute main character if you know what I mean. When I move from one scene to another, I also change the viewpoint to show what that particular character is doing and feeling at the time.

Basically, I don't know how to do it any other way.

Dresdor

Eh...do you really know these characters as well as you say? Do you know not only who they are but why they are that way?

Once I know my characters they come alive, and they write the dialogue for me so to speak. Maybe if they speak in everyday phrases they use improper grammar, or speak in a strange way. Develop the way they speak a little more, because no two people talk the same way. A proud person will use "I" and relate himself to others a lot, and other characters will act differently.

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amusinglackoftalent

Elibats, have you ever heard the phrase, 'Good writing can not be taught. It must be learned?'

I read and reread your question several times and I kept going back to the portion that I quoted. Are you actually 'comfortable' with your ability to construct meaningful dialog at this point? If not, just sit yourself down and do what you have confessed to NOT doing in the above quote. Start writing! If you have all the details worked out the way you say, you have the 'hard' part done. Now all you have to do is enjoy the process of 'creating' your work. Have I given you ZERO advice here? Stop sitting there and THINKING about this thing so much and start WRITING it. You might be amazed at how natural your characters sound once you get 'in the groove' with the story. Good luck with your WRITING...

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Jimbob

Elibats,
First, don't have any more characters than you need. Then decide what kind of people they need to be in order to do what you want them to do. Then avoid the temptation to get inside their heads and tell the reader what they're thinking. Also, describe them physicaly if you need too, but let them present themselves as the kind of people they are.

For example instead of saying "the mayor was a racist," you might have him say, "You'll like our little town, no blacks at all and only a few Mexicans."

Then start writing. Never mind if it doesn't seem to be working, just keep at it. If you get bogged down in the narrative, you might dig a little deeper into the souls of your characters. Give them a background. Did somebody grow up poor? did another have a drinking problem? and so on.

When you've said all you can say and reached some kind of conclusion, look over what you've writtten. It will be a big, mostly incoherent mess, but that's Ok. It will contain some kind of general thread, and it will contain a lot of useful stuff.

Now, you can start on structure. As you put it together so that it has a beginning, as middle and a conclusion, you can continue to revise. When you have it finished, re-read all that you've written and make any changes you think are needed.

Then you might want to post it on one of the story forums and see what other writers think of it. Then it's up to you to decide whether to incorporate their suggestions.

Jimbob

cbrmale

The first thing you need to do is go beyond the superficiality of your understanding of your OWN personality. Have a deep think about who you are, why you are the way you are, what are your subconcious fears and desires. What sort of dreams do you have? Get to know yourself as a unique person, not the person that others see. We all hide our 'real' selves and we project a persona that we think is acceptable to the rest of the world.

Once you understand yourself, try to gain a deep understanding of those who are closest to you. Particularly a deep understanding of your partner or lover. Understanding your partner is good, because it means you have begun to understand the opposite sex.

Once you get to this point, you will be ready to build deep, meaningful, unique three-dimensional characters.

But as long as the only you that you know is the superficial you, it will be impossible for you to build characters that are anything but superficial. As long as the partner in your life is only known at a superficial level, they will only be the template for superficial characters as well.

Mike C

I think I'd be quite hurt if someone said that to me!

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Dookie

Sounds like you just need to work on your character development a little. It may be that in this stage of the story there are no opportunities to get to know the characters or to introduce flashbacks which could help us to get to know these characters. That's fine. Just wait until later in the story and strangely enough an opportunity always makes itself available, just wait for it.

Icywind

I also have had that fear...but I think that fear stems not from bad writing...but from fear that it's not "good" enough.

Try this when you write..for the first five minutes..just write down a scene that you've wanted to put down.

Don't worry about punctuation or grammatical errors..just write the story down.

This is what I usually do...and it helps me a lot.

I don't find myself evaluating the story, and it comes down smoother.

After writing it all down...then check for errors.

Don't worry, all writers get this at times..we delve into our story too much..stifling the flow of it all.

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cbrmale

Why would you be hurt? Are you afraid to explore who you really are? In fact, what I am advising is using some of the elements of Jungian psychology.

I have done a bit of self-analysis; those who suffer serious illness often look for a deeper meaning in life. As do those who have suffered traumatic shock and near-death experiences. It is a hard thing to do; my mistress wants to have revelation without the pain that many of us suffer! She's not sure she'll get there though.

My understanding of myself was my catalyst to write fiction after a career of writing other things.