ADDING TEXTURE...
Last weekend (when I wasn't working) I went to 'From Text to Texture' a great workshop run by Writer's Victoria for the Casey Writers Project over at Bunjil Place. This was a great day, spent with like minded folks, most of us with the same trials and tribulations of wrangling a piece of work into some sort of sanity, the workshop led by Toni Jordan.
Toni was inspiring and enthusiastic.
We looked at character and how to use minimal dialogue tags. We talked about adverbs (the devil's own in Toni's opinion) and setting. We were given writing exercises - which for some is so easy....others find it very daunting to write cold, without research and data at your side.
I came away with some new insight, and eager to get back into the WIP.
One thing that really got me thinking was when Toni said 'why does your scene have to be set here?'
She made us think about our settings we have chosen. Are they vital to the story, move it on, do they add detail, depth or reveal more about the characters.
One question was 'why here and not in some coffee shop?'
My WIP is about Emma, searching for answers about her mother. She finds an old school friend of hers, who does know the truth and will/ perhaps reveal all. The majority of these scenes are set in R's studio. She is an artist, as was Emma's mother, and so I kept thinking why have I got these revelations happening here? Why not, for example, having these secrets revealed in a coffee shop? With the background burr of coffee machines, laughter of small children and high pitched voices of harassed mothers?
And the more I thought about it, the more it made perfect sense.
R doesn't know Emma at all. She was great friends with her mother, but there is a reason they didn't stay in touch. There are some dark family secrets to reveal...and here, in her art studio, she has the advantage.
It is HER place. She is comfortable, she is at ease. She has also chosen to paint Emma's portrait while they talk. So once again, R is in perfect control.
Emma, on the other hand, is thrown off guard. She is out of her comfort zone in a room she has no familiarity with, posing for a portrait, again throwing her off point, and she wants to ask questions. Questions that she is beginning to realise, will reveal answers that can never be taken back.
This scene could work in a coffee shop...but it wouldn't have the nuances, the revelation of character that the setting of R's art studio has.
I have texture. Perhaps not enough, which is something I will look at when I go back over my draft.
Workshops such as this one, are always great to give you that push to keep you working. Chatting with others who understand, who struggle with getting characters to do what we want, who can't decide if they are adding detail or extra fluff.
And sometimes, sometimes like this day, you catch up with a lovely friend you haven't seen in quite a while.
A total win win all around.
Vicki
Toni was inspiring and enthusiastic.
We looked at character and how to use minimal dialogue tags. We talked about adverbs (the devil's own in Toni's opinion) and setting. We were given writing exercises - which for some is so easy....others find it very daunting to write cold, without research and data at your side.
I came away with some new insight, and eager to get back into the WIP.
One thing that really got me thinking was when Toni said 'why does your scene have to be set here?'
She made us think about our settings we have chosen. Are they vital to the story, move it on, do they add detail, depth or reveal more about the characters.
One question was 'why here and not in some coffee shop?'
My WIP is about Emma, searching for answers about her mother. She finds an old school friend of hers, who does know the truth and will/ perhaps reveal all. The majority of these scenes are set in R's studio. She is an artist, as was Emma's mother, and so I kept thinking why have I got these revelations happening here? Why not, for example, having these secrets revealed in a coffee shop? With the background burr of coffee machines, laughter of small children and high pitched voices of harassed mothers?
And the more I thought about it, the more it made perfect sense.
R doesn't know Emma at all. She was great friends with her mother, but there is a reason they didn't stay in touch. There are some dark family secrets to reveal...and here, in her art studio, she has the advantage.
It is HER place. She is comfortable, she is at ease. She has also chosen to paint Emma's portrait while they talk. So once again, R is in perfect control.
Emma, on the other hand, is thrown off guard. She is out of her comfort zone in a room she has no familiarity with, posing for a portrait, again throwing her off point, and she wants to ask questions. Questions that she is beginning to realise, will reveal answers that can never be taken back.
This scene could work in a coffee shop...but it wouldn't have the nuances, the revelation of character that the setting of R's art studio has.
I have texture. Perhaps not enough, which is something I will look at when I go back over my draft.
Workshops such as this one, are always great to give you that push to keep you working. Chatting with others who understand, who struggle with getting characters to do what we want, who can't decide if they are adding detail or extra fluff.
And sometimes, sometimes like this day, you catch up with a lovely friend you haven't seen in quite a while.
A total win win all around.
Vicki
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