Creating characters can be an exciting time for writers, but it can also cause headaches if we don’t understand what motivates them or how they should react to certain situations and people. Aside from doing questionnaires and asking the right questions, there are other ways we can dig deep into our character’s psyche so we can bring two very different characters together or, if we prefer, keep them apart with lots of wonderful conflict. 

Gary Chapman, who has written the excellent book, The Five Love Languages, believes each of us have one or two distinct love languages that speak to our hearts, that make us feel loved and valued. These love languages are not just for romantic relationships, but also our relationships with siblings, parents, children, friends and even our co-workers and bosses. But first, what are the love languages? 

Love languages can be broken into five categories: 

Words of Affirmation

Affection is expressed through spoken word, praise or appreciation. Quotes, love notes, song lyrics and text messages can really make someone’s day if they speak this love language. 

Quality Time

Someone who speaks this love language wants you to put down the phone, turn off the television, make eye contact and actively listen. They want your undivided attention and to feel that you are present in the moment with them and you want to be there.

Receiving Gifts

Gifts are a symbol of love for someone who speaks this language. The gift itself is not important and it doesn’t have to be expensive, it’s the thought and effort that counts. For example, if your sister has a book series and one of them is missing from the out-of-print collection and you track down that missing copy, it will mean the world to her if receiving gifts is her love language. 

Acts of Service

People who speak this language feel loved when others do things for them. It can be as simple as putting the dishes away or washing the car without them asking you to. These kind gestures warm their heart and people who value acts of service are always doing things for others.

Physical Touch

This is not just about sex. People whose love language is physical touch show they care through hugs, holding hands, a small pat on someone’s arm, offering to give a massage at the end of your long day. Being in someone’s vicinity, not necessary touching, makes those who value physical touch very happy. 

I’d like you to try this 5 Love Languages Quiz (it only takes a few minutes) and see what your love languages are. Once you’re done, think about a relationship you have with someone you love dearly—a family member or friend. Perhaps ask them to take the quiz to find out their exact love language. Now compare theirs to yours. What similarities do you possess, and can you see areas where there could be conflict?

For example, one of you might be an Acts of Service person while the other values Quality Time. What happens when the Acts of Service person spends a lot of time showing they care by doing thoughtful things such as doing the washing, doing the gardening or renovating the house for the Quality Time person, who would much prefer Acts of Service to sit down and be in the moment with them? Good intentions aside, this could cause an array of conflict and misunderstanding between two people.

This is where you can have a lot of fun devising various sources of conflict between characters. To discover your character’s love languages, take the quiz on their behalf and compare the answers to other characters in your story. This may help you find ways to make them allies, or you might find new ways to create barriers between them.

Love languages can vary depending on who your character is with. For instance, the protagonist’s main love language at work might be Words of Affirmation while their love language with their sister is Acts of Service. With their spouse it might be Physical Touch. The character may deeply love each of these people, but the message can get lost if they’re not speaking in a language that the other understands.

Love languages can also change based on the character’s stage of life. For someone who’s dating in their twenties, Physical Touch could be their love language. But in their forties, with a young family and a hectic work life, it might shift to Acts of Service.

(Download the Love Languages Checklist.)

Misunderstandings can easily occur when people are speaking two different verbal languages. You get the same result when people express and receive love differently. So taking some time to figure out the love languages for the important members of your cast can give you great ideas for how to bring them together or pull them apart.

What love language do you or your characters speak? Did the answers surprise you? 

Happy writing!

ALLI SINCLAIR

Alli is an Australian multi-award winning and bestselling author whose fact-based fiction explores little-known historical events. Alli’s books have been voted into the Top 100 Australian novels of all time and when she’s not writing novels, Alli is working on international film and TV projects as a screenwriter and producer.

Alli hosts the Writers at Sea cruise retreat for writers, presents writing workshops internationally, and volunteers as a role model for Books in Homes. Alli is an experienced manuscript assessor and loves to work with writers to help their manuscripts shine.
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The post What’s Your Character’s Love Language? (And Why Does it Matter?) appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

Authors are a talented bunch. We’re adept at creating worlds and characters that engage our readers and keep them turning the pages. All these skills we learn—grammar, punctuation, pacing, layering, syntax—are valuable tools we can utilize in other forms of written communication to develop other income streams. 

No matter where you are in your author journey, there’s the opportunity to use your fiction skills in different areas.

Content and Copy Writing

If you have a career in another field—IT, for example—you can find work as a content writer for organizations, magazines, and websites with a readership in your field of expertise. Alternatively, if you’re an excellent researcher and can understand industries you haven’t worked in, you can utilize these skills and write content. If your skill is writing content that is designed to sell a product or service, you may want to pursue copy writing.

Professional Writing Services

Manuscript assessment, copy editing, proofreading, and transcription are all excellent ways to earn money. However, not every writer will make a great manuscript assessor or copy editor, so it’s only worth pursuing if you are serious about this. It’s advisable to enroll in a writing and editing course, as it will strengthen your abilities and ensure you are offering a service clients are happy with. 

If you have a talent for writing blurbs or polishing synopses, this a service you can offer. If gaming is something you’re passionate about, consider using your storytelling skills to create content for gaming companies. 

Screenwriting and plays are another area authors can cross into, but, like publishing, it takes perseverance and time to build your skillset since writing these are different than writing a book. There are some great online and in-person courses to get you started, then it’s a matter of practice and networking. It’s certainly possible to write for the screen or theater if this is another area where your passion lies. 

Some writers are able to use their skills and motivate writers by teaching workshops or running retreats. Many libraries and state writing organizations will hire experienced authors to teach workshops. If you have a background in education, have completed a training course, or work as a trainer in your day job, this will certainly help when approaching organizations about these opportunities.

Ghostwriting

One area of writing that is often overlooked as a way to earn money is ghostwriting. There is a huge market of celebrities, executives, film and book packaging companies, academics, medical personnel, and an array of other businesses in constant need of reliable writers. There is usually a confidentiality clause that keeps the writer anonymous, giving the client credit for the work—although sometimes the writer’s name will be credited as a collaborator on the project. As the writer (mostly) remains anonymous, ghostwriters often earn very good money.

To work in this area, you should be a good researcher, fast, flexible, and excellent at managing people’s expectations. You’d also need to have a strong business sense in terms of making sure your contract is clear with no room for misunderstandings, especially if you are working on a long project such as a memoir. Other helpful skills include empathy, so you can connect with the stories you are writing on behalf of someone else, as well as the ability to capture your client’s writing “voice” so it sounds like they’re the one who’s written the piece. Many ghostwriting assignments happen through word of mouth, so if this is something you’re interested in, make sure your network of authors, publishers, and agents knows you’re available for hire. You never know where it may lead!

Professional Appearances

Writers festivals, schools, and libraries love to have authors come and do a talk or workshop. Depending on the budget, the organization may offer payment. It can be quite lucrative and enjoyable,  however, be sure to weigh how much time it will take to get to/from the destination, how long you’ll be away, and if meals and other expenses are paid for (if you are staying overnight). Most countries have writer’s guilds who can supply its members with a scale of rates for this kind of work; it’s advisable you use this when negotiating an appearance fee. 

How about you? Have you earned money writing outside of fiction? If so, how did you do it?

ALLI SINCLAIR

Alli is an Australian multi-award winning and bestselling author whose fact-based fiction explores little-known historical events. Alli’s books have been voted into the Top 100 Australian novels of all time and when she’s not writing novels, Alli is working on international film and TV projects as a screenwriter and producer.

Alli hosts the Writers at Sea cruise retreat for writers, presents writing workshops internationally, and volunteers as a role model for Books in Homes. Alli is an experienced manuscript assessor and loves to work with writers to help their manuscripts shine.
Website | Newsletter | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

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Have you ever read a book or watched a movie where the dialogue has been so beautifully written that you are in that moment, experiencing the character’s emotions and hanging on to their every word? Or you know exactly what the character is feeling or thinking because of their lack of dialogue? Great dialogue can make stories and characters shine and, in novels, it’s a valuable tool to break away from writing too much internal monologue and a wonderful way to show readers the relationships between your characters and reveal important information. 

Popular culture is full of memorable movie lines that are quoted the world over. See if you can figure out which movies the following lines are from (extra points if you can name the character!):

A/ Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn. 

B/ Here’s looking at you, kid …

C/ Show me the money!

How did you do? A was Gone with the Wind, B Casablanca and C Jerry McGuire. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t know them (as we can’t see every movie ever made!) but chances are you’ve heard at least one. 

Screenwriters are masters of dialogue. They rarely have the opportunity to include a character’s innermost thoughts on the screen so they rely heavily on dialogue to drive the story forward, develop characters and convey a range of emotions. By studying the art of dialogue through reading screenplays and watching movies or TV shows, it will help you develop your own characters and stories.

There’s an array of movie and TV scripts available on the internet for you to read and I recommend you start with the screenplay of one of your favorite movies. I will add that screenplays available on the internet are not pirated, as screenwriters and film production companies often make them available for the public to read after a movie or TV show has been produced. 

When studying dialogue, here are some points for you to consider:

What Isn’t Said

Humans rarely say everything we’re thinking and feeling and neither should your characters. If we’re talking about something that scares us or we’re in danger of being found out or simply too embarrassed to talk about a subject, we change topics or do something that helps us avoid talking about something we don’t want. 

The Coen Brothers are brilliant at holding back dialogue that creates tension so that when a character does speak, we’re mesmerized by their words and really want to know what they have to say. The movie No Country for Old Men is a great example. 

No Two Characters Should Sound the Same

They way in which a character speaks is a culmination of their experience, upbringing and beliefs and no two people should ever sound the same. Listen to the way your friends and family talk. People have favorite words and expressions, some interrupt conversations while others sit quietly and wait until they’re asked a question or think a long time before saying how they feel. Others avoid talking about their emotions all together. Imagine a conversation between a teenager and someone in their mid-forties. They’re likely to use different idioms and expressions the other may not understand.

Look at each of your characters and figure out what kind of person they are. Are they a leader, follower, questioner, peacemaker or a troublemaker? How would this be reflected in the way they speak? Their traits will greatly influence their conversations with others. 

Read the Dialogue Out Loud

The best way to discover if dialogue is working is to read it out loud. You can do it yourself or enlist a friend or family member to be the other character or you can use one of the many available reading programs that will read what’s on the page to you. Does the dialogue sound natural or stilted? Are they using the other character’s name too much in the dialogue (a mistake nearly every writer does!)? Are they too wordy? Remember, most conversations between people are short and simple. Most of us don’t use big words and opt for the simpler version to get our message across. We also don’t speak for great lengths of time without being interrupted and neither should your character. 

Don’t Tell Us Something We Already Know

If an event has happened the reader has been privy to, we don’t need our characters to relate the same event to another character. It could be briefly referenced in a way such as “Like what happened last Thursday” and we’ll instantly know what the character is talking about. If you have information to give the reader or another character, do so in an organic way, just like you would inform a friend in real life. 

Be a Screenwriter for a Day

Try writing an entire scene only with dialogue. Then read through and see how the conversation unfolds. Does it sound realistic? Does it flow like a conversation between real people would? You may find this makes it easier to pinpoint the areas of dialogue that need addressing. Of course, once you’re happy with the dialogue you can add in the inner thoughts and descriptions like you would in the rest of your manuscript. 

Get Creative!

There’s a classic scene in Before Sunrise where the two main characters manage to convey how they feel in dialogue but in a unique way. I won’t elaborate here, as you can watch it unfold in the video below. Are there any ways you can creatively use dialogue in your scenes? 

One of the best screenwriters of our time is Aaron Sorkin. He’s written The West Wing, Steve Jobs, The Social Network and A Few Good Men among other TV shows and movies. He’s a master at dialogue and I highly recommend you read at least one of his screenplays. The website Script Slug gives you access to scripts he has written. You can find it here: https://www.scriptslug.com/scripts/writer/aaron-sorkin

Learning how to write effective dialogue can be one of the most interesting and fun aspects of the craft. What’s your favorite movie or TV show that has great dialogue? 

ALLI SINCLAIR

Alli is an Australian multi-award winning and bestselling author whose fact-based fiction explores little-known historical events. Alli’s books have been voted into the Top 100 Australian novels of all time and when she’s not writing novels, Alli is working on international film and TV projects as a screenwriter and producer.

Alli hosts the Writers at Sea cruise retreat for writers, presents writing workshops internationally, and volunteers as a role model for Books in Homes. Alli is an experienced manuscript assessor and loves to work with writers to help their manuscripts shine.
Website | Newsletter | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

The post Writing Better Dialogue appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

Thank you so much to the team at Writers Helping Writers for asking me to be part of the Resident Writing Coaches program. I’m honoured and delighted to be working with such a wonderful community of writers and look forward to helping you with your craft.

Developing characters is one of the joys of writing and it’s a dream when we understand them and what they’re about. Inevitably, though, there comes a time when our characters do and say things that don’t make sense to us, we feel they’re one-dimensional, or we just don’t know how they should react to situations. This can stall our story.

Character interviews are a fabulous way to address these problems. Not only does interviewing your character help you learn more about them, you’ll be able to note the hesitations or uncertainties so you can drill deeper into those areas. It can also give you a better feel for their voice, which can sometimes be hard to nail down.

But there are so may interviews and questionnaires available on the internet, and we can lose a lot of time answering questions that may not be relevant to understanding our character. So how do we know which questions are the right questions? Which ones will help us dig deeper into our characters and, ultimately, strengthen our story?

Breaking questions into categories can be extremely useful; that way you can focus on what you need to know. For example, take a character who uses humor in intense family situations. Is it just a nervous reaction or is something deeper going in, perhaps a protective measure because of a traumatic family event in the past? In this case, asking pertinent, probing questions about relationships with each family member is a way to delve deeper into your character and understand them better.

Whether you cherry-pick from existing questionnaires or create your own, the questions need to be in-depth. And don’t let your character shy away from answering. If you uncover a huge secret they’re hiding from the world or a lie they’ve been telling themselves for years, even better!

To get you started, I’ve suggested some categories with questions that might be relevant for your character. Feel free to add to it to create your own database of questions.

Relationships

• Who is the most important person to you in the family? Why?
• If there are rifts in your family, who are they with and why? 
• Who is your best friend? What is your relationship like? 
• Have you ever had a falling out with your best friend? What happened? How did it change the relationship?
• Are you friends with any of your exes? Why or why not?
• Do you date a certain “type”? Do you see in your relationships?
• If your exes were asked for their views on you, what would they say?
• How do you deal with confrontation? Have you always been like this?
• If someone met you for the first time, how would they describe you? Do you agree? If not, why not?

Inner-Self

• Do care what people think of you? Why or why not?
• If you had one wish, what would it be?
• When you meet someone, what is the first thing you notice about them? Second?
• When you meet someone, are first impressions everything or are you open to changing your mind? Why or why not?
• What are the secrets about yourself that nobody knows?
• What do you do at home by yourself?}
• What makes you emotional? 
• Do you hide your emotions or allow the world to see them? Why? 
• What is your biggest regret in life? 
• What are you most afraid of?
• If you found $50 in a supermarket carpark and no one saw you, what would you do?

Lifestyle

• Are you obsessed with anything? What is it and why? 
• What’s your definition of a perfect vacation?
• Is your house messy or clean? Do you care?
• If you could have your dream job and/or life what would it be and why?
• If you aren’t doing your dream job or leading the life you want, why not?
• Where do you see yourself in one year? Five years? Twenty years? 
• What kind of learner are you? 

History

• If you could change something in your past, what is it and why? 
• Do you believe examining past experiences is a great way to grow as an individual? Why or why not?
• How do you feel looking back on your first romantic relationship? What about your last one?
• Do you look forward or back? Why or why not?
• What habits or traits have you always possessed? Do you want to change it? Why or why not?

By asking the right questions, you’ll be able to dig deep into your character’s mind and heart you’ll have an array of wonderful, memorable characters your readers will love (or love to hate, depending on what genre you’re writing!). 

What questions do you ask your characters when you need to delve deep?

ALLI SINCLAIR

Alli is an Australian multi-award winning and bestselling author whose fact-based fiction explores little-known historical events. Alli’s books have been voted into the Top 100 Australian novels of all time and when she’s not writing novels, Alli is working on international film and TV projects as a screenwriter and producer.

Alli hosts the Writers at Sea cruise retreat for writers, presents writing workshops internationally, and volunteers as a role model for Books in Homes. Alli is an experienced manuscript assessor and loves to work with writers to help their manuscripts shine.
Website | Newsletter | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

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