Writing to Find Emotional Truths vs. Behavioral Truths

Robert McKee is a brilliant teacher.  If you ever have an opportunity to attend one of his workshops, I'm telling you--do it!  Even if it means selling your vintage collection of Barbie dolls, or flipping flea market furniture (I just wanted to say that for the alliteration!) It will be well worth the $$$. 

Or, if you are cheap like me, you could buy his book!  It's titled STORY:  Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting.  But, his teaching can be extended to novelists as well... and I would argue FIRST because Hollywood writers don't write treatments anymore, they depend almost exclusively on novelists for good stories.  IMHO.  I said ALMOST, so don't get all testy out there, screenwriters.

Anyway, Robert McKee writes about creating a scene from the inside out by finding your way to the center of the character and experiencing it from his/her point of view.  Ah, POV.  So, very, very important for us authors to master.  He argues that you can either write as an anthropologist RECORDING behavior, which would be Behavioral Truth.  Or, you can crawl inside a character's head by asking, "If I were the character in this situation, what would I do?"  That is Emotional Truth. 

Linda Urban spoke at a conference I attended once.  She taught us about Personal Third Person POV.  I think Linda and Robert are speaking of the same thing here... For my reader to experience anger, fear, joy, suspicion, disappointment, excitement my character must experience those emotions.  And if my character must then I must!  I used to do improvisational theater.  I love it.  It's child's play for grown ups.  And writing is another form of improvisation.  I think what stops me from getting into a Personal Third POV is my mean inner-editor.  She is a composite of every single person who has ever told me I'm terrible.  Am I the only lucky person in the world to have one of these?  In not so many words, she says, "Don't tell the truth.  Because once you've told the truth you have nothing left to tell... and what if it sucks?"  So, I try to stay in the safe lane, which leaves my writing feeling flat.  No more, I say!!  Inner Editor, you're fired!  Oh, and hey there's a job that has just opened up.  Outside-my-head editors wanted. :)

So, in previous posts when I said I'm writing TRUTH, I meant my character's emotional truth.  And the only way to do that is to be inside the head of my characters.  That is what I aim for!

Happy writing,
Rachel

Funny... With Heart, Not Put-Downs

Be funny, not mean.  Please.  Here are some ways to do that in your stories (from The Comic Toolbox by John Vorhaus:)

1.  Center and Eccentrics--Everyman (standing in for you or I) surrounded by eccentric characters
2.  Fish-Out-of-Water--A normal character in a comic world or a comic character in a normal world
3.  Character Comedy--Direct emotional war between strong comic opposites
4.  Powers--A comic story built around magical powers, the powers themselves being the comedic premise.
5.  Ensemble Comedy--A group of characters at odds with themselves and their world
6.  Slapstick--Denial of self-doubt results in physical comedy; the target of abuse gets exactly what he/she deserves and no one gets hurt
7.  Satire or Parody--Attacking social or cultural icons or phenomenon

There you have it!  Comedy in a box.  Sort of.  Just don't be cruel about it!  Or I might have to punch you in the face.  Haha.  See?  That's funny. 

Happy Writing,
Rachel

I wrote pages today.

I'm a unicorn!

Another New Title Alert!

First, it was... Finders Keepers.

Then, it was Unplugged.

Presenting the new and improved title for the soon-to-be award winning New York Times best selling book for children in the middle grades...

The Do-Nothings

by

Rachel Delovino

 

 

 



I REALLY need an editor.  Stop the madness!!!!!

If I'm Not Flawed... Neither Are My Characters

“You see, when weaving a blanket,

an Indian woman leaves a flaw in the weaving of that blanket

to let the soul out.”

- Martha Graham

 

 

Rejection sucks.  I'll be honest.  Every time I receive a rejection letter, or I don't receive a letter at all, it feels like a victory for every single person who has told me I suck throughout the years.  I'm waking up, with a very bad headache from a very long and gratuitous pity party I threw myself when Ballet for Bullies was turned down for publication.  Dang.  I'm not perfect.

 

I'm flawed.  I tried and I failed.  A decision needs to be made.  Will I try again?  Will I?  I'm in the middle of a dilemma.  And my mettle is being tested.  Just like I aim to test the mettle of my characters in the stories I write. 

 

My soul is out. 

 

And I'm writing.

 



Unplugged

New title alert!

Finders Keepers by Rachel Delovino is now... drumroll please... Oops!  You already know!  It's the title of this blog post. 

Unplugged

by

Rachel Delovino

 

 

I can picture the front cover something like this:  A girl with long hair pulled back into a braid.  She is holding her braid in one hand and shrugging her shoulders.  With a WTF look on her face.  That's "What the Foreclosure?" for those of you who don't know :) And at the bottom of her braid, her hair has turned into a plug.  She is unplugged.  And none too happy about it. 

 

Here is a blurb:

 

When a popular ten-year-old, Amber Hart, is forced to quit using electronics she turns her attention to the woods outside of her home.   Her imagination fuels hours of play, and she makes an unlikely friend... Sam, a boy whose family are "Doomsday Preppers."  They build a bunker, or a hut made out of sticks and fir tree branches, and plot to spend one night sleeping in the woods.  But just before they've finished building the fort, Amber's parents forbid her playing outside.  They won't say why.  When the parents are distracted, however, Amber and Sam pack up and head to the bunker... to find it is already occupied.  And a night of "survival" becomes just that. 

 

Happy writing,

Rachel



My Hero Writers

The characters from the Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum were rewarded for achieving their goal.  My goal, of course, is to write lots of books!  If I could choose... I would have:

The heart of Linda Urban's books.  Her stories are like a warm hug.  A whisper of, "I understand.  I am just like you.  And it will be ok."

The delicious humor of Roald Dahl.  It is a stream of consciousness type of laughing at the odd and quirky and sometimes dark side of life.  A giddiness in observation. 

The expert storytelling of Gary Paulson.  Perfect form without formula.  An element of danger... the sense that the stakes couldn't be higher. 

There are more, but that's a lofty start.  If my books have a tiny measure of what those three authors have, I will say I've reached the end of the yellow brick road.

Happy writing,
Rachel