Monday, April 09, 2012

The Relationships of Writing - Part 1

Photo: Simon Howden
The term relationship has a broad meaning.  It isn't just about friendships, or romantic involvements.  Relationships are the interactions between us and the world and people around us.  They can be as close or as distant as we want, or let them, be.

Typically, I've stayed away from blogging about the craft of writing.  As I've only been writing for a short period of time, I haven't felt qualified to speak about the topic. There are so many great craft blogs out there (such as two of my favorites, Writer Unboxed and Story Fix) with experienced professionals giving fabulous advice, I've felt it best to leave the topic of the craft of writing alone.

Relationships, on the other hand, are my area of expertise.  As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, I deal with other people's relationships day in, and my own relationships day out.  We've all experienced the intersection of writing with our personal lives, and I have found such an intersection in the areas of writing and relationships.

The further I delve into writing fiction, the importance of relationships surfaces again and again. I have noticed three relationships that are obvious in writing fiction; those of our characters to the setting, to each other, and the use of cause and effect.

Character and Setting


Setting can be a character unto itself.  The way I view the relationship between character and setting is very similar to our own lives and the environment in which we live.  As individuals, we are shaped and formed as we grow up by our family of origin, our economic class, our religion, the friends we keep, the culture in which we live, the list goes on and on.  We can be comfortable within our environment, or it can chafe against us.

So it is with our characters.  Setting is not just location, although that's an important part of a story.  The setting of a story interacts with our characters, and can be a catalyst for change or a source of conflict.

Characters and Other Characters


This seems like a given.  Of course our characters are going to have relationships with other characters.  But this is where that broad term becomes important.  Each character (even the minor ones) have their own view of the world around them - their own setting.  Each character has it's own needs, wants, and fears.  Each character has it's own ideas about what they need to survive, and how to go about getting those needs met.

Each interaction is greater than "friendship" or "romantic involvement."  Conflict arises out of Character A needing something from Character B that maybe Character B can't (or won't) give, because of their own wants or needs.  Or maybe Character A has a belief that doesn't align with Character B's belief system, and how are they going to work together when that is the case, because they have to work together to save the world.

Cause and Effect


When I started reading how-to books, one of the best that helped me to understand story structure was Scene & Structure by Jack M. Bickham.  In the book, Mr. Bickham says that cause and effect is key to understanding story structure.  He says that, by understanding the relationship between cause and effect, we create a logical chain of events that helps a reader suspend disbelief.  They trust the story because there is a reason why what happens in the story happens.

The part I like best, though, is that by creating order that the real world often doesn't have (truth being stranger than fiction) we, as writers, offer hope to the reader that everything will turn out all right.   To quote Mr. Bickham, "Because this kind of presentation shows a world in which things do make sense...the resulting story also has the effect of offering a little hope to the reader...that bad things don't always happen to good people for no reason...a hint that maybe the reader can seize some control of his own life after all, and that good effort may sometimes actually pay off-and our existence may indeed even have some kind of meaning."

Come to think of it, maybe that's why writing is such good therapy.  We are able to take those events in our lives that confuse the heck out of us, and turn them around and give them some order. We're able to gain some control over the chaos that is everyday life.

Have you noticed relationships in other areas of writing?

30 comments:

  1. Oh what a good post...another one I would throw in is the relationship between the characters and the main, driving plot point. The main character will have a different relationship to the core purpose of the book than the other characters and I think those differing relationships can enhance and generate excitement for the entire book!

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    1. Thanks, Nicole! I would agree. It seems to me that what makes the premise of a story would be the relationship of the main character to the need driving the story line (plot). When I read Hooked by Les Edgerton, that's kind of the way I understood the "story worthy problem". What might be a story worthy problem to one character, might not be to another, which is why choosing who to tell the story is so important.

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  2. Some very good advice there Lara.

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  3. Excellent post. Delving into why relationships work or don't is such great fodder for stories. That psychological mish mash is good stuff for writers to understand and give meaning to. :))

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    1. Thank you! You'd think I'd have figured that out before now, but for some reason, it was slow coming. Hopefully I've got it!

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  4. I just ordered that Jack Bickham book. You and another person recommended it and since I couldn't find any good plotting books at the library, I thought I'd try try S&S. Just waiting for it now.

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    1. I love that book. I actually first borrowed it from the library, and then bought it to have a reference. I also really liked Hooked by Les Edgerton. It helped me understand the "big picture" of writing, where Scene and Structure helped me how to show the big picture.

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  5. I like delving into relationships that don't work. Creating those conflicts are fun. I like to put villainous people that I pull from Wal-Mart into my stories and make bad things happen to them. It makes me feel better when I can sock it to that lady who cut in front of me at the movie theater because she couldn't get to the junior mints and popcorn fast enough. Guess what lady, you just gained 50 lbs., you have ten kids and your husband beats you on a daily basis. Take that!

    Great post, it got me thinking about cause and effect. This helps with my plotting steps.

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    1. I love the stories you write on your blog. You use relationship very well, in my opinion!

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  6. Great post! I need to remember to play on all of those relationships in my writing :) My characters are emotionally driving (I guess that means I am) so enhancing these will only make my WiP stronger. Thanks!

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    1. I have pretty character driven stories. It's all about the people! I'm glad something I was thinking about can be helpful to someone!

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  7. Holy cow! This post is one for my bookmarks! It's fabulous! You've totally got me thinking. Relationships are all around us. They can affect us in ways we don't even realize. I love all the points you've shared and have nothing to add. You rocked it!

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    1. Thanks Leigh! I always get nervous when I blog on topics like this one, that's more my ruminations than anything else. It means a lot that you think I done good!

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  8. Even if we are not published authors, we learn things. Passing it alone could help someone who's looking for it. I haven't a clue about the contract side or business side of writing, but I'll post it when I get there. Excellent post, Lara. nice to know we share a similar work experience. :)

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  9. Thanks so much David. You make a good point, that sharing our thoughts and ideas may help other people, even if we aren't experts. I noticed you are in the mental health field, before. I've been running into many mental health type day-job people who write in the rest of the time left in the day!

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  10. I like your examples. I think cause and effect is in a way conflict. And I am a huge fan of romance, so relationships between characters is fascinating. I like the give and take of a good relationship.

    Great post! I steer away from writing expert posts, too. You've done well though. Keep them coming!

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  11. Thanks, Emily! Relationships and cause and effect have always intrigued me, which is probably why I went into the mental health field. I am always curious as to why someone made the choices they did, and then how that affects everything that goes on in their lives, including their next decisions. That is probably why I liked the Jack Bickham book so much - I could understand what he was saying!

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  12. @ Lara: Merci, and I'm glad to be sharing my love of the French language... au revoir :)

    PS...

    Wow, must remember to bring an apple to the next post.... nice teaching there, Ms. S

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    1. That's awfully sweet of you to say, Mark! At times I still only have a tenuous grasp of it all, so every time I try to explain my perceptions, it only helps to solidify it in my brain!

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  13. PS.. I agree kid are sooo much more resilient than us... it's amazing ;)

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    1. Yep - the things I've seen and heard about children going through, and still be able to not only function, but thrive, is amazing.

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  14. I agree about settings being like other characters. When I began reading "how to" books, I was overwhelmed over how much I needed to keep track of--characters, show don't tell, setting, plot, and so on.

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    1. Totally understand! I'm finding the same thing about revisions. I'm scared to death I'm going to miss something. I think the problem is that they are all so interconnected, that it ends up being overwhelming. Sometimes I have to make myself just write, and hope my subconscious will take over!

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  15. I echo the many compliments on this post, Lara! I hadn't consciously (perhaps) subconsciously, though) thought about settings in terms of relationships before. In some ways, I think the relationship that boths helps me most and sometimes gets me stuck in my writing is that between me and my characters - and now that you've made me think about it between me and my settings, too. For example, I tend to use small beach towns as a setting a lot. I have such a positive, relaxed, inspired reaction to such a setting in my own mind that when it comes time to write a sad or sinister scene I struggle a bit to get out of the "happy place" I've created for myself. With characters, it is more how they'll take on a life of their own, and start incorporating traits of people I know without me even realizing it. Then suddenly, I'm subconsciously reacting to their actions and making them do things that person (or hodgepodge) of people would do, rather than what I'd intended. Often the end result is better than what I was aiming for, but sometimes, it works against me.

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    1. It is really interesting how much our own selves end up in our stories. I thought I was writing only a few things of my life into my first novel, and when I got done with the first draft, was so surprised. It's aspects of my life in a differing order. It isn't like I wrote a memoir, but little things that influenced me over the years ended up in the story. I noticed when I read through, that when I felt the most emotion writing, the writing was better. I'm not sure where I'm going with this response... I guess I'm just reacting. :) I'm glad the post gave people something to think about!

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