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Interviewing Your Characters
by: Sarah Playle

One of my favorite techniques for getting into the head of my characters is, interviewing them. This relies heavily on rapid writing, so be sure you fully understand that concept first. If you don't, you can read my article "Rapid Writing" on my den. Interviewing characters is exactly how it sounds. You sit down with your characters and interview them, just like you would if you were a reporter.

To start, take out a blank piece of paper or start and new word file. Decide where you are going to meet them; in their house, coffee shop, or somewhere else. Now rapid write about it. Go in and meet them. Say hi. Record what he looks like, how he acts etc. Now the fun part. Ask questions. Ask your characters about themselves, and about the story you're trying to tell. Get them to tell you their story, in their own words. Let them tell you what happened and how it affected them. You may gain new insights into your story. The important part is to not think or judge what you're writing - just rapid write. Don't worry, you're mind will fill in the blanks. Write until you think you know enough about your characters or stories. If you run out of questions, write about there being a lull of silence in the interview. If you get past the 'wall' something else will come. Just don't stop writing until you feel you have enough new insights to go back to writing.

This technique also works If you get stuck in the middle of writing or plotting your story. You can go back and talk to your character about the section you're stuck on. Let him/her tell you what happened.

To help with this exercise, I have included some sample question that you can ask. You can use these, but also allow space for your mind to come up with questions on it's own.

1. Tell me about the story I'm writing. In your words, what happened?

2. How did the events affect you?

3. Are there any details or events in the story that I've forgotten?

4. Describe yourself. What are your hobbies, dreams, hopes etc?

5. What was the most important thing that happened to you during the events I'm writing about? How did that change you?

About The Author

Sarah Playle is the author of "The Distance Between Us," the gripping, emotional tale of family, friendship, and the coming of age in a dangerous world. To order, or to view more of her work visit www.authorsden.com/sarahaplayle.

This article was posted on December 15, 2005

 


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 Writing Help for College Students
 by: Tamara Owen

Your literature professor has asked you to write a 7-page essay comparing Medieval and Renaissance poetry; your economics professor wants 15 pages on how globalization is affecting the economy in three different countries; and your mathematics professor has forgotten this is a mathematics class, and wants 5 pages on the quadratic formula. And you have been staring at the computer screen for over an hour wondering how on earth you are going to do all of this in the next four days.

This is an all-too-familiar scene to many students. Many students learn of these large assignments at the beginning of the semester when they receive their class syllabi, and immediately forget about them because November seems like years away. Other students are busy with extracurricular sports, trying to adjust to being away from home for the first time, and other events and issues. Still other students are quite frankly terrified of the writing process, believing the blank page to be worse than their worst nightmare, and so these assignments get shoved aside to remain untouched until the last minute.

It is an interesting fact of college life that all students, regardless of major or discipline, are asked to write about their subject matter -- often quite extensively. While it is certainly important that all individuals be literate, and know how to read and write in a variety of capacities, styles, and genres, it is also the case that not everyone has to be a professional academic writer (www.korepetycje.com/join_us.html). Engineers need to know how to design bridges or better towel racks; pilots need to be able to take off and land safely and smoothly; and physicians need to be able to diagnose illnesses and injuries and to prescribe the correct medical interventions. None of these people needs to know how to write a term paper.

What, then, are the options for the poor student struggling in the first paragraph? What will happen to the student who is a prodigy on the piano but is facing failure because she cannot write 10 pages on Beethoven? What will happen to the next Frank Lloyd Wright who is stuck in his psychology seminar, unable to write a series of vignettes portraying various mental illnesses?

There are a few options. Most college campuses have writing labs, where many students are helped with researching and writing their papers. Many students form study groups, where they help each other through the tough assignments. Some students write their custom essays and term papers (see: http://www.korepetycje.com/indexam.html) and then pay an editor to polish them. Still others turn to professional writing services for assistance with their assignments. This is where services such as CustomPapers.com come in. We have a large staff of professional writers who specialize in writing papers about a wide variety of disciplines ranging from economics to ecology, marketing to Mozart, Hemingway to heart murmurs. We can also assist students with related projects, such as PowerPoint Presentations. In the many years of our existence, we have found tremendous success helping students with assignments of all sizes, all levels of difficulty, and all subjects.

Regardless of what type of help you choose, the important thing is that you get through college as quickly and effectively as possible. College is a step leading up to the rest of your life -- don't let a term paper be the skateboard in your path.


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