The Write Spot Blog by Marlene Cullen

Tag: parkour

  • Character idiosyncrasies . . . Prompt #554

    How do writers develop characters? How do writers get to know their characters beyond their looks, their desires, and where they went to school?

    For this prompt, you can write about your main character, a supporting character, or you can write about someone you know.

    If you are writing about something that really happened, you can use that incident and those involved as your characters. When you write about real people, they become “characters” in your story.

    Here’s how it works:

    Interview your fictional character as a journalist would, but not at the age they are in your story. If they are older, interview a younger version of your character.

    If your character is young, imagine what he or she might be like as an older person.

    For your real-life person, have an actual interview, if you can.  If not, imagine what they were like as a child, a pre-teen, a teenager.

    Activities

    Here’s a trick to really get to know your fictional characters: Write about how they spend their time. Did they undergo training or schooling for their job? Do they go out with friends? How did they meet these friends? What does their family do when they get together?

    Write about how your characters spend their time. Do they collect odd items? Did they join clubs in school? What does your character do when she or he is alone?

    Give your character an unusual job or hobby. Either something you know about, or something you can research. An internet search reveals thousands of job and hobby possibilities for your characters.

    Ideas for jobs and hobbies at Happy DIY Home.

    An example of an unusual activity: Parkour.

    “Parkour can be defined as an activity involving movement through an area, typically urban in nature, in an efficient and creative way. Those who practice it are known as traceurs (French for ‘trace’) and will jump, climb and vault over obstacles in their path in order to get from A to B as quickly as possible.” — Parkour: The Ultimate Guide For Beginners, Sport Fitness Advisor

    Describing an activity is a way to add the sensory detail of kinesthetics to your writing—motion in writing.

    Prompt: Interview your fictional characters to discover their idiosyncrasies.

    For more about character development and adding sensory detail to writing:

    Flesh out your characters. Prompt #131

    Character development – discovering characters. Prompt #132

    Sensory Details – Kinesthetic, motion in writing.

  • Sensory Details – Kinesthetic, motion in writing

    How do we convey the sense of touch, or feel, or kinesthetic (motion) in writing?

    “The key to good imagery is engaging all five senses.” Five Types of Imagery:

    “The five senses: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory (smell), and gustatory (taste).”

    Previous posts about using sensory detail in writing:  visual, auditory and olfactory.

    Now, let’s explore using the sense of touch to embellish and enhance writing.

    Sometimes, the best way to learn is by example, learning from what others have written.

    “At school, the guilt and sadness were like wearing clothes still damp from the wash,” and “Whenever I moved, I felt as though I were touching something icy.” —Family Life by Akhil Sharma

    I know what that feels like, so when I read this, I can feel those damp clothes and know what the author wants to convey.

    Here’s an example of using movement in writing:

    “By the thirteenth loop, my hands were cement-scuffed and my head was spinning from being at knee height for so long, but the parade of hoping, bear-crawling, push-upping women showed no sign of slowing.” — Natural Born Heroes by Christopher McDougall, describing parkour (a training discipline using movement developed from military obstacle course training.)

    McDougall could have written “I was worn-out” or “I was tired.”  Instead he uses specific details: “cement-scuffed” and “my head was spinning.” He employed strong verbs: “bear-crawling” and “push-upping.”

    With this type of strong writing, readers can feel the chafed hands and most of us probably can relate to “head-spinning.” I can see “bear-crawling” and “push-upping.”

    A note about parkour: “Practitioners aim to get from one point to another in a complex environment, without assistive equipment and in the fastest and most efficient way possible. Parkour includes running, climbing, swinging, vaulting, jumping, rolling, quadrupedal movement, and other movements as deemed most suitable for the situation.” — Parkour, Wikipedia

    Looking at websites about physical activities (martial arts, gymnastics,dance, etc) could help you find action verbs.

    In Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch, Let Verbs Power Your Writing, Constance Hale regales readers with her unique style about usage of the English language, especially strong verbs.  Constance has been dubbed “Marion the Librarian on a Harley, or E. B. White on acid.” Kathy Myers wrote an excellent review of Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch.

    Practice using strong verbs and specific descriptive words to make your writing strong and create images the reader can see and sense.  You can go to Parkour Images, choose a photo and describe it, using sensory detail. Just write!

    Parkour

    Basic Parkour Movements