The Kilted Writer

With the trailers for the new film version of Lois Lowry's The Giver showing up more and more, I thought I would start a series of posts looking at the book's introduction and characters. I must admit I have never read The Giver , but I'm correcting that error as I prepare these posts. The first thing I noticed as I was listening (I do better with audio due to some reading problems) to the book was the use of the "Show; Don't Tell" principle. Jonas lives in a dystopian society that is described very well through scenes in the book's introduction. First, we see a jet flying over the community. An announcement forces people inside, leaving their bicycles lying where they were dropped. From this, we know this is a very disciplined society that is monitored by some unseen group, and this group can communicate to everyone at any time. We also learn the severity of being "released." Lowry could have simply defined the word for us, but Jonas's ...

I try to teach concepts that are universal, which means they should apply across genres and across time. That's why I try to include examples from older, classic literature as well as more recent releases. In this post, I will be illustrating the concept of "importance" using Agatha Christie's The Mirror Crack'd . This book is written from a third-person point of view. Despite this, the world of the story is revealed through the eyes and mind of the main character, Miss Marple. The most important thing in Miss Marple's life in this story is her garden. No one can care for her garden the way she can, and the first few paragraphs in the story center around the care of her garden. After the garden, Miss Marple reflects on the village in which she lives. Rather than describing the village outright, Christie let's us see the village through the eyes of an aging woman who longs for the "good old days." In one part, we learn more about the village...

The Unvanquished , by William Faulkner, is a great example of "importance," revealing the world of your story in order of importance to the main character. The story starts with a description of two young boys playing a game of war out by the wood shed. From the game, we understand the story is set during the time of the Civil War. If we know our history, we can also easily deduce the story is set on a Southern plantation. The war is not important to the main character, but the game is, so we learn about the setting through the game. Faulkner does not leave it up to our knowledge of history, though, to reveal the world of the story. He refines the setting through the main character's remembrances of his father. Again, the war itself is not important to the main character, but the fact that his father is away fighting in it is very important. The relationship between the main character and is friend is another great example. At first, we see a young boy playing a gam...

The Devil Wears Prada , by Lauren Weisberger, is a great example of "expansion" in revealing your world to your reader. In fact, this book's introduction was how I first became interested in the topic of reveal your world to your audience. I was at a workshop given by Pikes Peak Writers and the person leading the workshop used this introduction to illustrate how starting close to your character and expanding the world outward was a good way to draw your audience into your story. Ever since then, I have been more aware of story openings and how authors reveal their worlds, studying them and breaking them down to see what commonalities I could find. The result of that research and study is my new workshop, "Let There Be Light: Revealing your World to Your Audience." Just like with my "Brains, Brawn & Bravado" workshops , one small spark has grown into a flaming inferno of information. The Devil Wears Prada opens inside at a busy New York City ...

In addition to my "Brains, Brawn & Bravado" posts, I will start adding additional analysis related to my new workshop, "Let There Be Light." This will be the first of those analyses. If you attend writers conferences or workshops, even occasionally, you have most likely heard the phrase "Show; don't tell." While that axiom is important to storytelling, it is critical to effectively introducing your world to your reader. Think of it this way. You want your reader to become a part of the story, to be drawn into the story through the senses of your characters. You do not want your reader watching your story unfold as if through a window pane. A great example of this lesson is Clockwork Angels , by Kevin J. Anderson. The book has a short prologue that does a lot to introduce the main character's personality, but very little to introduce the world in which he lives. I will focus on chapter one, the beginning of the actual story Anderson is tel...

I am currently developing a new workshop! Right now, I have two workshops I am giving at various conferences and writing groups. The first is "Brains, Brawn & Bravado: Mind, Body, and Spirit in Character Development," and the second is "Brains, Brawn & Bravado: Mind, Body, and Spirit in World Building." Both teach writers how to use the mind, body, and spirit symbolism I have been writing about in this blog. My new workshop also falls under the category of "world building," and is tentatively entitled, "Let There be Light: Revealing Your World to Your Audience." Basically, I will show how to pull your reader into the world you create, whether  your story is set in modern-day Chicago or a galaxy far, far away, using techniques of incremental revelation. I was first exposed to the concepts as part Write Brain workshop hosted by Pikes Peak Writers several years ago. I have taken those basics and expanded them into a more...