Reality is boring

Just someone from planet earth who loves stories of all kinds #ProudRavenclaw #SuperWhoLock #writer

[writingdotcoffee]

“People on the outside think there’s something magical about writing, that you go up in the attic at midnight and cast the bones and come down in the morning with a story. But it isn’t like that. You work, and that’s all there is to it.”

— Harlan Ellison

[michaelbjorkwrites]

There’s nothing easy or magical, I think, about the process of writing – the process is hard work and hours of commitment. But what comes out on other side? That’s the magic. The extraordinary results of ordinary diligence.

[michaelbjorkwrites]

Unforgettable: How to write imagery your readers will always remember

A baby sleeps in a bundle of blankets on the step of number four, Private Drive. He has black hair, and on his forehead is a lightning bolt scar.

Rain falls upon the streets of Derry, Maine – and in the darkness of a gurgling storm drain, there lurks a clown with a white-painted face and a toothy smile.

Just outside the village of Market Chipping (where a 17-year old hatter is having her youth cursed away), a large moving castle navigates the horizon.

A boy with a lightning bolt scar.

A killer clown in the gutter.

A castle that moves across the countryside.

These are some of the images that come to mind when we think about iconic stories like Harry Potter,  It,  Howl’s Moving Castle, and others. They’re locked into our memories, helping elevate their source material above the swirling sea of competing stories.

Your stories can stand out the same way.

If you learn to craft unforgettable imagery.

What makes an unforgettable image?

I don’t think anyone could identify every quality that makes an image memorable, but in my experience, such imagery is often:

Unique

Dissonant

Emotional

Prominent

Unique.

For an image to be unforgettable, it needs to stand out – and that means being unique in the context of the story’s genre and surrounding stories. For example, we’ve read about many boy wizards and chosen ones, but how many of them have had a lightning bolt scar?

Dissonant.

Part of what makes readers sit up and pay attention is when there’s something odd or wrong about an image. Scars, for example, are rarely a particular shape, let alone like a lightning bolt. Clowns most certainly do not belong in storm drains (killer clowns themselves are a dissonant mirror of what clowns are intended to be). And castles don’t roam freely across the countryside. That dissonance helps catch and hold the reader’s attention.

Emotional.

To be remembered, images need to create an emotional reaction, which helps solidify their place in the story and in the reader’s mind. Harry Potter’s scar, for example, calls up various emotions throughout the series, ranging from curiosity, to sadness, to a sense of foreboding; the clown in a gutter elicits terror; and Howl’s moving castle inspires a sense of wonder.

Prominent.

If an image appears briefly or holds no importance to the overarching story, it will be easily forgotten. Memorable images, in contrast, tend to be either repeatedly featured as set pieces (such as Harry’s scar or Howl’s moving castle), or pivotal enough to be remembered or called back to throughout the story (such as Georgie’s murder at the storm drain, which ignites the plot of It and becomes a fixation of guilt for his older brother, Bill).

Unique. Dissonant. Emotional. Prominent.

Check, check, check, and…. check.

Now how do you actually write this kind of imagery?

Tips for writing unforgettable imagery.

Trust your gut. The 4 qualities listed above are helpful to keep in mind, but in the end, these images will often arise naturally as you write, guided by moments of instinct and inspiration. So trust your gut, and go down rabbit holes – even if (especially if) it gets weird. Leave all doubting for later drafts.

Write with specificity. Vague language rarely yields memorable descriptions, so push yourself toward specific nouns and verbs. This will increase your chances of stumbling across a key detail to elevate your image.

Don’t give your image too many distracting bells and whistles. Give your image a clear focal point. For example, Harry’s Potter’s visual focal point is his scar. He has black hair (from his father) and green eyes (from his mother), which are important details, but they never compete with the scar. If Harry also had a glowing, magical aura, for example, it would dilute the memorability of the scar, because the aura would fight for our attention. (Think of your image’s focal point as the tent-pole detail I describe here.)

Don’t pin all your hopes on one image. As I said in Tip #1, memorable images will often arise organically rather than intentionally, so don’t be afraid to plant a lot of seeds. Pack your story with all the odd, surprising, memorable images that come to you! Then while revising, elevate the best of them and trim back the clutter.

In summary? When trying to write memorable imagery: get weird, be specific, give your best details room to breathe, and try to write a bunch of memorable images while drafting to increase your chances of finding one that sparks.

Now go write something unforgettable.

— — —

Hey there! My name’s Mike, and I’m a writer & copywriter with an MFA in fiction. For more tips on how to hone your craft and nurture meaningful stories, follow my blog.

[michaelbjorkwrites]

Thought I’d give a few more examples of unforgettable images! Feel free to add your own favorites to the list:

Indiana Jones’s bullwhip: Indy’s appearance is iconic as a whole, with the fedora and leather jacket, but the bullwhip is what makes him unforgettable. There isn’t much emotion associated with it (except our own excitement for adventure), but it’s unique to the character, prominently featured, and dissonant in that whips have only occasionally been portrayed as heroic weapons of choice.

The black button eyes of the Other Mother: In Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, a shape-shifting monster takes on the appearance of the main character’s mother, but with black buttons for eyes. The image is unique, dissonant, horrifying, and prominently repeated. (This example comes from one of my followers on Instagram, @rjschloss).

The Cheshire Cat’s smile: In Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland (and every adaptation of it), one of the most iconic images is the smile of the Cheshire Cat. Carroll introduces the Cheshire as a cat that’s lounging on a hearth, “grinning from ear to ear.” The unnerving grin is simple, yet unforgettable, especially when paired with the cat’s tendency to vanish, reappear, and speak philosophical nonsense. The dissonance and off-putting nature of the grin, I think, are what make it so unforgettable.

[michaelbjorkwrites]

2 Tips for Adding Emotional Weight to Your Story

As writers, we want our work to hold weight — for our characters’ actions, emotions, and desires to resonate with and impact our readers. But how do we make that happen?

The most helpful advice, in my experience, has been to:

Make the internal become external, and

Make the external become internal.

Let’s talk about what that means and how these tips can help you add emotional weight to your story.

1. Make the internal become external

To “make the internal become external” is to take the interior aspects of your character (their fears, desires, pains, and epiphanies) and find ways to express them with external actions. For example:

If Marcos realizes his girlfriend doesn’t truly love him, don’t just make him mope; have him throw the engagement ring he purchased into the river.

If Amelia feels overworked and stressed at her new job, don’t just show her exhausted in bed; show her bailing on plans with the people she cares about or giving up her favorite pastimes.

If Kara is afraid to get onstage and perform as Lady Macbeth, don’t just have her wait in fear; make her run out on the show on opening night.

By expressing your character’s emotions and realizations through clear external actions, you add weight to what they’re going through.

2. Make the external become internal

The goal here is similar, but reversed. Where before you were taking an internal emotion and accentuating it with action, now you’re taking the external elements of your story (plot, character actions, external conflicts, etc.) and making them have internal ramifications for your characters. For example:

If Thomas gets slapped by his older sister during a disagreement, don’t just move on like it never happened; make it change the dynamic of their relationship for the rest of the story.

If Davy’s new boyfriend excessively dotes upon him, don’t just have him awkwardly brush him off; make Davy tentative and uncertain because he’s never been in a healthy relationship before.

If Anna loses the championship match of a tennis tournament, don’t just have her grudgingly accept defeat; make her feel crushed because of her impossibly high expectations for herself.

By taking external actions or events and tying them to your character’s deepfelt emotions and, when possible, their core struggle, you add weight to what happens in your story. Everything starts to matter, and that makes for captivating storytelling.

A Final Word

I want to clarify that I’m not telling you to make your characters act and react in ways that don’t make sense for them. Always stay true to your characters. 

But I do encourage you to always look for opportunities to merge the internal and external aspects of your story — because that’s the key to telling stories with true emotional weight.

Good luck, and good writing, everybody. :)

— — —

Your stories are worth telling. For tips on how to craft meaning, build character-driven plots, and grow as a writer, follow my blog.

[luseroftheyear]

tip for adhd writers:

everyone will tell you to outline, to anaylze every personality trait of your characters and plan every plot point, but the truth? don’t. not only does it waste precious spurts of motivation, but it makes it less enjoyable. and what happens when adhders don’t enjoy something? we lack the motivation and focus needed for it.

i used to write, 24/7, and i developed my characters with vague ideas until they became fleshed out in the story without any extra manipulation and extensive notes. looking back on my old writing, these were the best characters I have ever written.

and then i stopped, and i spent months mapping out my characters to an exact t because I thought it would be better, but when i went to write, it was really hard. it seemed more like a chore. and because i had already planned their attitudes and perceptions, it was almost impossible for me to change anything without worrying about my endless sheets of character analysis.

just write. seriously. you can learn about your characters as the story goes. and then you can edit after. then you can add details and take things out while still having the fun story you enjoyed from the start.

[dasblinzelmaedchen-blog]

Don’t forget the magic

I’ve been writing on my story for almost 6 years now and nowhere near anything u could call a book, but I’ve learned how easy it is to get caught up in the little things - especially if it’s a fantasy or sci-fi story - and I just want to share that

that’s okay (!!!)

it deepens ur understand of ur story immensly. BUT remember what fascinates u about stories, what ties you, literally handcuffs you to a book u just picked up so that u can never let it go again. Over all the other things THAT’S what u mustn’t forget -

don’t forget the magic

it can be different for everyone what that is, but it is in any case what brings your story to life, because that’s what makes u love it

[qvotable]

How amazing it is to find someone who wants to hear about all the things that go on in your head.

Nina LaCour // Hold Still (via qvotable)

[dasblinzelmaedchen-blog]

The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination

Albert Einstein (I believe)