So a few of my Jumpstart Monday prompts have dealt with character and I wrote scenes related to my current w-i-p (work-in-progress). Today I’d like to go deeper and give you a specific example from one of my published books to illustrate.
Prompt
Put a character in the following scenario, writing a scene showing how s/he would respond/react/take action. This will help you understand what makes your character tick.
A despised relative/acquaintance of your main character shows up unannounced and ends up staying for dinner. How does your MC respond/react internally and externally? WHY? Answering why will help you go deeper into your MC’s motivation.
Write the scene again with your MC reacting/responding in the opposite way. In other words, whatever your first instinct was above, recast your character so that s/he has the opposing reaction. Does it still work? What challenges and/or new avenues did this create?
Which direction do you think the story would take if you continued with this scene?
My example:
In my book, Fact of Life #31, main character Kat Flynn actually has this experience when Libby, a girl from school whom she can’t stand, ends up at her dinner table because Kat’s mom invited her.
Excerpt (p. 251)
“So Lucy’s going to teach me how to play dominoes after dinner,” Libby said. “Right, Luce?”
“Yeah!”
She was staying after dinner? And where did she get off calling Lucy “Luce?” That was my name for her.
The rest of dinner was agonizing, with Libby sucking up to my parents and them eating it up. Even Lucy was entranced. Libby had once again cast her magic spell over unsuspecting humans, and I was left invisible. In my own house.
Later, after the game of dominoes…
“Kat, why don’t you walk Libby home?”
I snorted. “It’s three blocks, Abra. I think Libby’s a big girl.” And who was going to walk me back home?
“Of course she is,” Abra said. “It’s not about safety. I just thought it would be nice.”
“For who?” I didn’t care if I sounded like a bitch. This whole scene was pissing me off.
Rewrite with Opposite Reaction
“So Lucy’s going to teach me how to play dominoes after dinner,” Libby said. “Right, Luce?”
“Yeah!” Lucy grinned. “Want to play Kat?”
I looked at my sister, her eyes bright with excitement. I was glad Libby was going to stay, too, but not for the same reasons. Lucy didn’t know what went on at school, didn’t know how Libby had been, or how she was worming her way into our family. But now the tables had turned, to use an old cliche. She was on my turf. She had no groupies to tell her how great she was (well, except maybe Abra. And Lucy. And my dad, but not me. Never me.). She’d have to play by my rules or not at all.
“I’m in,” I said. “Let’s go.”
This was fascinating. At first I started to write it with Kat genuinely happy that Libby was there, but that rang SO false and out of character that I started over. In the new scene, Kat has stooped to petty anger and a bit of vengeful feelings, rather than being annoyed and acting put out as she does in the original scene. If I continued with this, I think I might be able to make it work, but it changes her character in ways that would require a lot of revising of the rest of the book.
Still, it was a fun exercise. How did it work for you?
