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Character Tags

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

What is a tag?
It’s a label you slap on your character to make him/her identifiable to your reader.

Tag Categories:
1. Appearance
2. Speech
3. Mannerisms
4. Attitude

Appearance: A tall, broad shouldered man leaves a much different impression than a frail, hunched-over man. Well-dressed vs. sloppy. Manicured fingernails vs. callused palms. Appearance says a lot about your character.

Speech: Does he have an accent? Does she talk fast, without taking any breaths? Does he stutter? Does she use verbose vocabulary or does she stick with monosyllables? How a person talks says a lot about his or her background, level of education, career, and social status. Pay careful attention to the speech tags you give your characters.

Mannerisms: nail-biter, hair twirler, fidgeter, lip licker, eye-batter…the list could go on and on. Be careful to avoid cliche mannerisms. Get creative here. My favorite is by Jill Kemerer, who has this awesome post about a character who picks the same scab on her arm over and over again.

Attitude: AKA Traits. punctual, bitter, energetic, flirtatious, competitive….

The purpose of tags:
1. To distinguish one character from another
2. To characterize

If a woman is flirtatious, show it via tags. Does she bat her eyes at men? Bite her lower lip in order to draw attention to its fullness? Does she touch men on the shoulder or forearm when it’s not necessary? If a man is high-strung, does he pace? Does he mess up his hair when he’s stressed? Is he a chain-smoker who holds his cigarettes with trembling fingers?

That’s basically it about tags. Thus ends my series from Dwight Swain’s book, Techniques of the Selling Writer. Sad, right? I hope they were helpful! I highly recommend the book. It’s wordy, for sure. But chalk-full of insightful information.

Question to Ponder: What tags do you give your characters?removetweetmeme

Using a Gimmick

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

I thought this was pretty clever advice from Dwight Swain. The gimmick. To fully understand this post, you’re going to want to read last Wednesday’s post about writing the perfect ending.

What is a gimmick?
It’s a tool you can use to make your character’s choice believable. How will you make your reader believe that your character would really choose principle over personal gain? Enter gimmick.

The gimmick can be anything. A smell. An object. A food. A saying. Music. Anything. As long as it evokes a strong emotional reaction from your character and the emotion is linked to the principle at stake.

For example:
Billy’s father raised him to protect the innocent. Growing up, Billy’s father modeled this principle day in and day out. When Billy turned twelve, his father got cancer and died. Before he died, he gave Billy a medallion he earned while serving in the military. This medallion is the gimmick. Whenever Billy sees it, it reminds him of his father (emotional) and what his father stood for (principle: protect the innocent).

To make the gimmick work, you need to introduce it in the beginning of your story and come back to it at least a couple times throughout the novel. Too little, and the reader won’t understand why the gimmick matters at the end. Too much, and your reader will start rolling his eyes.

During the critical moment, when your character faces the choice between the easy way (personal gain) and the difficult way (principle) and he’s leaning toward the easy way, you bring in the gimmick. Character reacts emotionally and chooses principle. And the reader believes every minute of it.

Example continued:
Billy is in the middle of a bloody civil war in Uganda. Throughout the whole novel, Billy’s goal has been to escape to safety. The climax comes. Billy has the perfect opportunity to escape. It’s sitting right in front of him, ready to grab. But if he leaves, he’ll leave an orphaned boy unprotected. Billy’s so close to his goal. All he has to do is get on the helicopter. Shots ring out. Chaos is everywhere. The helicopter pilot is yelling, “Get on! Or we’re going to die.” Orphan boy is far away, but visible, caught in the midst of the chaos. Billy throws his bag into the helicopter, ready to get inside, but the strap catches on the chain around his neck, and the medallion his father gave him rips off and falls to the ground. He sees it. And he’s reminded of everything his father stood for. He reacts emotionally. He chooses to risk his life to save the orphan boy.

Questions to Ponder: Have you used a gimmick before? Have you read a story where the author uses the gimmick? Do you like this idea?

removetweetmeme

3 C’s – It’s Friday!

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

Cares:
Ryan is such a blessing to me. I take my husband for granted much too often. My prayer each morning has been: Lord, let me be a blessing to my husband.

I hope it’s a good school year.

Concerns:
Back to work on Monday. Nine hours at work, then family time when I get home. What precious little computer time I will have needs to be spent working on my WIP. After drawing up a schedule (I’m a teacher, I can’t help it, schedules are part of my DNA) I figured I will have about 45 minutes each evening to check emails and blogs. I apologize in advance if I’m not visiting yours as often as I used to!

Brogan’s nose has turned into a faucet.

I’ve been very irritable and overly sensitive lately. What’s that about?

Celebrations:
The beginning of a new school year is always exciting. New faces. A fresh start. Even though I’m not looking forward to leaving Brogan and having less writing time, I do sincerely enjoy teaching. And since I sort of have to work right now, I’m very thankful that the work is something I enjoy.

Question to Ponder: What are your cares, concerns, and celebrations on my last Friday of summer break?