Have you ever faced a character in a book so flat they seem to fall off the page? Fear not, fellow wordsmiths, for I, Wendy H Jones, am here to share the secret sauce to spicing up your characters! This episode of the Writing and Marketing Show is a treasure trove of insights into the subtle art of characterisation. From the lush setting of Wester Wootatelle and Spa to the vibrant aisles of the London Book Fair, I take you on a whirlwind tour of a writer's life, replete with the unexpected twists that demand a nimble mind and a flexible pen.
Characterisation isn't just about crafting a biography; it's about breathing life into your protagonists and antagonists with a finesse that makes them leap off the page and into readers' hearts. I delve into the nuances of showing emotions, why a tapping finger can speak volumes more than an exclaimed "I'm frustrated!", and how varying word choices can transform a mere description into an experience. Danny Petrie may not join us this time around, but the conversation doesn't lack for depth, exploring everything from evocative verbs to avoiding the pitfalls of emotional repetition.
Finally, I pull back the curtain on what's ahead and where you can join this literary journey with me. Humor mingles with earnest advice as I navigate the everyday chaos of a husky's treat-time amidst musings on character flaws and dialogue pauses. The promise of next week's special guest lingers enticingly as I bid you adieu, inviting you to stay connected and continue fostering your love for the written word. Remember, the stories we craft are as alive as we make them, so let's keep the pages turning and the ink flowing.
Have you ever faced a character in a book so flat they seem to fall off the page? Fear not, fellow wordsmiths, for I, Wendy H Jones, am here to share the secret sauce to spicing up your characters! This episode of the Writing and Marketing Show is a treasure trove of insights into the subtle art of characterisation. From the lush setting of Wester Wootatelle and Spa to the vibrant aisles of the London Book Fair, I take you on a whirlwind tour of a writer's life, replete with the unexpected twists that demand a nimble mind and a flexible pen.
Characterisation isn't just about crafting a biography; it's about breathing life into your protagonists and antagonists with a finesse that makes them leap off the page and into readers' hearts. I delve into the nuances of showing emotions, why a tapping finger can speak volumes more than an exclaimed "I'm frustrated!", and how varying word choices can transform a mere description into an experience. Danny Petrie may not join us this time around, but the conversation doesn't lack for depth, exploring everything from evocative verbs to avoiding the pitfalls of emotional repetition.
Finally, I pull back the curtain on what's ahead and where you can join this literary journey with me. Humor mingles with earnest advice as I navigate the everyday chaos of a husky's treat-time amidst musings on character flaws and dialogue pauses. The promise of next week's special guest lingers enticingly as I bid you adieu, inviting you to stay connected and continue fostering your love for the written word. Remember, the stories we craft are as alive as we make them, so let's keep the pages turning and the ink flowing.
Hi and welcome to the Writing and Marketing Show brought to you by author Wendy H Jones. This show does exactly what it says on the tin. It's jam-packed with interviews, advice, hints, tips and news to help you with the business of writing. It's all wrapped up in one lively podcast. So it's time to get on with the show. And welcome to episode 196 of the Writing and Marketing Show with author entrepreneur Wendy H Jones, and it's an absolute pleasure to be here with you again.
Speaker 1:I know it seems like I'm only doing one of Fortnite at the moment, but due to the fact I'm still bouncing around from place to place, I'm doing my absolute best and last week, due to signal problems not being able to record with Wi-Fi, the whole thing was really a bit of a disaster last week and it had to be cancelled. I do have an interview for you. I was going to interview Danny Petrie today. Unfortunately, we weren't able to record because of various reasons. I was trying to do it from the public restaurant and bar, from the place I'm currently staying, so it wasn't going to work because there was music on, there was a lot of people in there and obviously that's not suitable for a podcast. So, for professional reasons, I decided not to go ahead with that. We're going to try again tomorrow and do it using data from a phone and we'll do our best, and I'm hoping we will have Danny Petrie next week and we're also talking about setting with her. However, today I am going to be talking about characterisation and showing, not telling, and it's something that's always interested me, but it's interesting me more. I've done a talk on it previously and I'm going to be doing another talk on it and I thought it would make an excellent podcast episode.
Speaker 1:Before that, what has been happening in my life? Well, I've got a very busy time coming up, I have to say. First of all, I'm off to the Wester Wootatelle and Spa in Newcombe, bernalde, and I'm going to be running a writing retreat there for five days. We have people coming from the UK, the United States and from Australia, so it's very exciting really. I'm very much looking forward to that retreat and to helping authors and new writers move forward on their writing journey. It's going to be great fun and I'm sure I'll bring you an episode on writing retreats and running them, probably after I've run that one, because it's in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1:Then in March, I'm off down to London for about 12 days. I was going to go for a bit longer. However, I've got to come back early because I have an event and I will tell you about that in a moment. I'm off down to London Book Fair, and London Book Fair is, for those of you who don't know, I'm sure most of you do that are listening to this, but it is a huge event and people come from all over the world publishers, agents, all the business of books, really. I have got a press pass for that and I'm going to be going with my writer's narrative head on and I'm hopefully going to be interviewing some people for the podcast as well, which would be great. There's a lot going on there and I'm very, very much looking forward to that. I'm going to be meeting with my agent while I'm there as well, the lovely Amy Collins of Tocquehort Notch Literate Agency. She's coming over from the States for it and she's going to be pitching books to everyone there, to publishers, for foreign rights, translation, for audio rights, everything like that. So it's going to be a good time in many different ways. I'm also going to be meeting up with some of my sisters and crime friends there, which will be nice. We seem to only see each other once a year at the London Book Fair, but it is good to be going. I'm going to be listening to a lot of the talks this year. I'm going to go to as many talks as I can go to both so I can talk about them in writer's narrative, but also so that I can talk about them on the podcast. So you'll be getting updates on various aspects of the industry when I get back from London Book Fair.
Speaker 1:I'm having to come back slightly early. I'm leaving early on the Thursday. The reason for that is because on the Friday I have an event at Carim, your library, where I've got an author talk about writing crime fiction, and I'm very much looking forward to that because I love visiting libraries. Libraries are so important and I love doing it and I've also never got back from all of that. Then I'm off back to the West of Lutotel in Spain, cumbernauld, where I will be going to the Scottish Association of Writers as an attendee, and I'm very much looking forward to that because for the last five years I was the president of the Scottish Association of Writers and I had to run the conference. I'm very much looking forward to going and relaxing, and I'm going to go a day early so I can make use of this spa, so it's all very exciting times at the moment.
Speaker 1:I've got some other things coming up later in the year. I haven't quite firmed up plans for them, but I do know I will be going to Australia in. I will be going to Australia in October where I will be running a writing retreat in Australia with my Oscott publishing and retreat business hat on, and I'm very much looking forward to that as well. But I'm hoping to firm up a few other things while I'm out there and maybe even go over to New Zealand. So busy, busy time. I'm also hoping to go out to the States and attend some conferences and book events there and do some book signings again.
Speaker 1:So busy year for me really, but I'm loving it. I'm absolutely loving it. So I'm trying to think that something else came up for July as well, and I've completely forgotten what it is, but I will tell you when I remember. So the reason I'm telling you all of this is, first of all, I told you the bit at the beginning because don't sweat it. If things go wrong, what can you do? What can you do. I get stressed when I cannot do something that I'm meant to be doing. But it can't be helped. Things happen, life happens, and I'm telling you the rest because it's amazing when you're an author how much you can end up doing and how much you can enjoy it all because I love it.
Speaker 1:So before we get on with the show and talk about characterization, I would like to say it's an absolute pleasure to bring you the show each week, even though it's not each week at the moment, but it will be. I am planning on doing it each week. It's a pleasure to bring you it, I enjoy doing it, but it does take time out of my writing. So if you would like to support this time, then you can do so by going to patreoncom forward slash wendagejones. It will let me know that you are enjoying the show and that you would like me to keep doing it. And to be honest, it's $3 a month, which is the price of a tear coffee for a month. In fact, when I was in the States I was paying more than $3 for a cup of coffee, and you will get cut an edge advice on the show which will help you from industry experts. So it's worth signing up. But if you can't afford it, I understand that times are difficult at the moment. If you go to my website, wendagejonescom, you can support me for the price of a tea or coffee, and I would be very grateful because, again, it helps me to keep doing the show. Excuse me, I've got a frog in my throat, as well as everything else. This is all I need, isn't it when I'm trying to do a podcast.
Speaker 1:So what of characterization? I've been thinking a lot about it lately, and I've been thinking about showing, not telling, because very often we can tell the reader what the emotions are of our characters, but it's better to do it by showing, and so I know we do a lot of that with you know, I think I can't remember who it was said it, but they said I think it was Stephen King said don't tell me. There's a piece of glass there, show me the glint of moonlight on the glass. I think it was Stephen King. Apologies if it was someone else. I'm, as I say, my brain's a bit fried at the moment with one thing and another between insurance companies and bouncing around, but that's nothing to do with anything tonight. So we're going to talk about showing, not telling when it comes to characterization.
Speaker 1:So first of all, I'd like to talk about words. What is an award? I think it's important that we make strong word choices. Now we all know that we have to do this when it comes to verbs. Instead of saying she moved very quickly, you can say she scurried or she ran or she bolted or she sprinted, and we've all got into the habit of that in terms of verbs. But we can do it when describing our characters as well. We can use stronger word choices and we can use phrases that will let people know certain emotions without actually telling them what the emotions are. And this is important for a lot of reasons, but one of them is it's more likely to draw the reader in. You know, if you said she was happy, they're not really going to be engrossed in what's going on. But if you use different word choices, then you're more likely to draw your reader in and it gives your story depth. To be honest, when you're using strong verbs, when you're using strong phrases for emotions, then you're giving the story depth, and we all like depth in our stories.
Speaker 1:We don't want a wishy washy, you know story that's not really got any meat in it. You know we want something that we can get our teeth into, but it also gives our characters depth and I like that, the fact that our characters need to be three-dimensional. We're moving out of the two-dimensional into the three-dimensional when we use better words and phrases and giving them emotions. And it can move your narrative out of the mundane, because when we use when we use weak words and weak phrases, the story might be all right, but it's nothing special. You want to move your narrative out of the mundane and keep your readers reading. That's what we all want. We want our readers to get the oh my goodness, I love this character. I want to know what's happening to them. Oh my goodness, they're so real. I can identify with that. That's what we want.
Speaker 1:It can also help give realism to your dialogue and it can play with the reader's emotions as well. You want the reader to feel the emotions that your character is feeling and you're more likely to do that if you choose good phrases and good actions for them rather than saying they were happy, they were sad, they were worried, you know. And also it prevents repetition, because if we say they were happy, well, a bit later on we'll be saying they were happy and a bit later on we'll be saying they were happy. So it avoids the repetition, because you can use different phrases each time and I have to be careful when I say use different phrases each time. My, my characters seem to do a lot of grinning in the first draft, so you do need to look for things like that. I grin a lot, obviously, as my characters grin a lot, which is, you know, we've got to be careful of that so you can look at what you're doing and prevent repetition.
Speaker 1:So what about emotions? Why are they important? Well, emotion is what drives your characters, whether it's anger, whether it's a need for justice, whether it's a right crime. So this is why I'm coming up with this, to start with. Whether it's, you know, they want to have a romance, it's all emotion that drives your characters. We're all emotional beings. Every last one of us is an emotional being, and our characters need to have emotions, otherwise they're just going to be flat, they're going to be two-dimensional. We want them to be three-dimensional.
Speaker 1:And now, obviously, if you're describing a certain character that is narcissistic or doesn't display emotion, then you're going to look at it in a different way, and I'm going to talk about that in a bit as well, because sometimes you can feel that the characters don't have any emotion, but they do. They have their own internal emotion and you need to demonstrate that you know for what's. Demonstrate that to your readers really through their actions, through what they're doing, rather than saying, oh, they were happy in their head. You know, you need to use your, your, your movement. You need to use actions. So Movement and character traits can signify emotion. For example, tapping fingers If someone's sitting tapping their fingers there are a lot of different motions that that can be showing.
Speaker 1:It could be showing tension, it could be showing irritation. It could be someone that's tapping their fingers because they need to move, because they have to do something as well as talk. They need to multitask to calm them. There's lots of different things. Can't look someone in the eyes, crossing their arms, grinning there's that grinning again. Punching the ear. What do they all signify? I mean punching the ear usually means yes, that's good. Or it can mean something else. Totally, it could be we're going to get victory. You know different things it can mean, so you can use it for many different things.
Speaker 1:I'm going to give you some examples. So if we were saying anger. We don't say Joe was angry, because that's one-dimensional. We want to get the readers knowing what he's doing. So you can say legs planted wide. You wouldn't say Joe planted his legs wide, but you could say he stood with his legs wide, you know. Flared nostrils, a shaking fist, moving close to someone, shaking with anger, shooting to their feet, slamming doors, throwing things, clenching their fists. These are just examples. There are so many more.
Speaker 1:And what I'd like you to do, you can either stop the podcast now, or, if you're in the car, you know, or wherever you are, you can stop the podcast anyway. But stop the podcast and think of other actions that signify anger. You know it's a good exercise to do. So another one I'm going to give you some for happiness. So, humming their eyes, lighting up, they laugh, they smile, tears of joy. I also said grinning, but hey, my character seemed to do a heck of a lot of grinning, don't they? So I haven't put that one in. But laugh, smile. What other ones can you think of? There must be so many.
Speaker 1:I just did these off the top of my head before I did the podcast, by the way, because I've actually planned it out, believe it or not. It's not just me doing it off the top of my head, but there are others that you can think of. There's singing, you know. There's lots of different things. You can say that signifies happiness. So there are a lot of other emotions, and I'd like you to do an exercise.
Speaker 1:Usually I tell you everything, but I'm going to give you exercises to do for this one, because it's important that you start to think of different ways. You can do this of your own accord, rather than just listening to me now and then you'll have forgotten it three days later. So here's an exercise. What I want you to do is think of actions which display the following emotions so regret, disappointment, scorn and frustration. And there must be so many of them. Well, there are so many of them. I know that for a fact. So why don't you think of some actions which display them, and then you'll have them at your fingertips. Write them down. Don't just think of them. Write them down, do a chart.
Speaker 1:Go to your computer and do a chart. Then you've got them ready for when you want to use them the next time in your work in progress. When you're writing, they'll be there at your fingertips. You don't even need to look for the notebook. You just need to open your computer document and there it will be. Excuse me, I'm going to have to take a drink because I've got a frog in my throat. Sorry about that, guys. So it's a good thing to do. I've got a book that I use, a notebook that I use and I've got a lot of different things written down. At the moment I can't get my hands on it because everything is everywhere at the moment in my house because of the flood and fire and pestilence. However, I will get my hands on it when I get back to normal. It didn't flood out, thank goodness, and that's a very good way of having things at your fingertips to be able to use in your writing.
Speaker 1:You also need to give your character flaws. Flaws are important and a flaw is a fault or weakness in a character. Nobody is 100% lovely, nobody is 100% perfect. Even Mary Poppins was practically perfect in every way. I would say her flaw was she thought of a lot of herself. Hey, I love Mary Poppins, but that is a flaw and that's why she's practically perfect in every way not fully perfect, because none of us can be and her flaws help to lift the character off the page.
Speaker 1:It makes them more rounded, more three-dimensional, it makes them more likeable, believe it or not, nobody likes a 100% perfect character, because we can't see ourselves in them. We just think, oh, they're too good to be true, they're too nice. Nobody's that nice all the time. Everybody always has a flaw. Nobody is all good or all bad. Ever. Not one person in the world is all good or all bad. They've always got a flaw or something nice about them. You know, it might be the fact that their mother loved them, or it could be the fact they love their mother, you know. But nobody's all good or bad and flaws can be minor, major or fatal. Smoking is an example of a minor one. The next one is a major one Beats her husband. Now look, I've deliberately said Beats her husband rather than Beats his wife, because that's a different flaw. Nobody expects a wife to be beating her husband.
Speaker 1:And you can change the flaws so that they're still more powerful again. So it lifts your story out of the mundane because you've twisted it around. So think of ways that you can tweak the flaw to make it different, to make it original, to make it better, or it could be fatal, it could be a crooked crop who brings about their own destruction. Oh, there's a dog just coming in the room so we've got a husky who might start howling in a moment. Sorry, because she'll be looking for treats. If she does, hey, I told you she would start howling. I knew that was going to happen because she wants a treat. But it doesn't matter. You know here that's a flaw in my podcast tonight. The husky is in here. Nova's lovely, but she likes a treat at this time of night. So think I'm going to say them again, just so you know, smoking can be a minor, beats her husband can be major. Make it different. And a crooked cop who brings about their own destruction could be fatal.
Speaker 1:And it provides conflict. Flaws provide conflict and narratives are much better if they have some conflict. So just some examples. And if someone is emotionless, you can say they might often have their own version of emotion. It's just not our version of emotion. They might need an internal driver, or the emotionless may drive conflict, or it could be they could be fueled by others. Emotions and descriptive word choices are things like shuts down, cold eyes, lack of passion, undemonstrative, no empathy.
Speaker 1:You know you can show all of that in your writing and positive character attributes. Every character has some positive. They have to have some positive. So characters you're cheering on, these are the ones that you want to really succeed. But also you need to show your hard characters in a positive light as well. So, for example, in one of my books I had a serial killer. She wouldn't harm a child, she loved children, she cared for children and she might kill the parents in the most horrific way, but she would nurture and care for the child to make sure they were safe until someone came and found them. Or you can have a thug who buys a meal for a homeless woman. You know and do it that way so they're seen in a positive light as well. Everybody's not all bad. You need balance. You need balance in your characters. So some more examples If people are funny, you could give them witty replies.
Speaker 1:They could tell stories in a funny way. They could do pranks. They could poke fun at themselves. They can laugh at themselves. Use pauses appropriately and use pauses appropriately to judge reaction. That's important. You need pauses. They will sorry, I'm getting this all wrong, I'm tongue tight tonight they will use pauses appropriately to judge reaction of the people around them and you can say that in your narrative. If someone is professional, you can, instead of saying they're professional, you could say they're a team player, that was always on time, they have attention to detail, they dress appropriately, they're reliable, they're a good communicator. These are examples of how you can show things without telling people and which I've done in my narratives.
Speaker 1:Now we just discussed something that was witty and I want you to do another exercise which will you could think about, and I want you to think about sitcoms on the television that are perfect for Analyzing comedic characters and the dialogue they use and to the spring to mind for me and to my favorites to analyze. In the first one, particularly, is Dinner ladies. Dinner ladies is set in a canteen. All the action happens in a Kitchen. It's a factory canteen. All the action happens in a kitchen and in the canteen itself, where people eat. That is it. There's nowhere else it goes. But every single line of dialogue is used to perfection to Demonstrate the different characters. And if you analyze dinner ladies, if you can get hold of it, you will be able to work out the perfect way of showing characterisation without saying this character was this, this character was that, and Dinner ladies was written by the late Victoria Woods, who is a sad loss to the entertainment world. She was an absolutely brilliant comic and she wrote dinner ladies and acted in it and it is outstanding.
Speaker 1:The other one is dad's army. If you can get hold of that, most people can watch dad's army and again, that will show you how they've Lifted, they've changed characters, they've knocked everything on their head. They've turned things upside down. It's not what you'd expect. For example, the sergeant in the second world war and not in the second one is in the home guard, an officer in the first world war and and then the the captain is was a sergeant in the first world war, but he's now a captain because he's a bank manager, so he is in charge just because. So it's about how to twist things and make things different. It's brilliant. Both of these are brilliant for analysing characterisation, and there are many, many more, and I would like you to think of some From your country, because I am aware that not everybody that's here watches Is in the UK and of course, comedy is different depending on what country you're in as well. So think of some sitcoms you can watch that you can anal and sit down and analyse why they're funny, what they're doing, what they're saying and how they've twisted things.
Speaker 1:So I've got another exercise for you as well. This is just another one, and it's for your book that you were discussing earlier, your notebook or your file that you're going to use. Think of ways of showing the following that someone is kind, responsive, talented, helpful, welcoming all of these. Go and think about it now and Write down how you can say, using action, what they're doing there. So I'll give you one and For each of them and I'm doing this off the top of my head right now Okay, to show their kind, you could have them sitting down and chatting to a homeless person, not just throwing a pound at them or a dollar at them, and moving on.
Speaker 1:You know, responsive, they drop what they're doing and Focus on the person that's speaking to them. That they're talented. You could have them singing a beautiful aria. Or, while they're washing the dishes, that they're helpful. You could show them helping someone wash the dishes that they're welcoming. Open the door, come in, would you like a cup of tea? That's a Scottish thing. Everybody that comes through the door in Scotland gets offered a cup of tea or coffee. That that's the way you do. It is welcoming. So it's easy for us in Scotland, and I'm sure you all have your own ways in your country. So think of other ways as well. Think of ways that you can show that people how they are and what type of character they are, without Without actually telling them, telling us what they are like.
Speaker 1:I'm going to give you some writers guides that you can use. There's the writers theosaurus series and by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi, and there's the emotion thesaurus, the emotional wind thesaurus positive trait thesaurus negative trait thesaurus. I had all of these before they Disappeared in a flood. I will be buying them all again once so I get back into my house because these books are outstanding and I will be rebuy them, absolutely 100%. So it's a good these books are, but there are others out there. If you don't like them, take a look at them. Take a look inside to look inside. If you don't think you like them, there are others out there. You can choose others. I've got no skin in the game with these ladies. I don't know them and I've spent a fortune on their books and I'm about to spend another fortune on their books Just because I like them. I recommend them to everyone. So that's the end of the show.
Speaker 1:Again, as I say, next week I am going to be talking to I'm going to be talking to Danny Petrie, who we've heard on the show before, and this time we're going to be talking about setting and how setting is Also one of the characters. So this is one of the reasons I did characterization this week. So I look forward to seeing you again next week and it will be a pleasure to have you here and I'm looking forward to interviewing Danny. So until then, keep writing and keep reading and have a great week. That brings us to the end of another show. It was really good to have you on the show with me today.
Speaker 1:I'm Wendy H Jones and you can find me at wendahjjonescom. You can also find me on Patreon, where you can support me for as little as three dollars a month, which is less than the price of a tea or coffee. You go to patreoncom. Forward slash, wendy H Jones. I'm also Wendy H Jones on Facebook, twitter, instagram and Pinterest. Thank you for joining me today and I hope you found it both useful and interesting. Join me next week when I will have another cracking guest for you. Until then, have a good week and Keep writing, keep reading and keep learning.