the Tune-Up Manual Writer's Sweatshoppe Publications Rockford, IL by Craig A. Hart

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the
Tune-Up Manual
Writer's
Sweatshoppe Publications
Rockford, IL
by Craig A. Hart
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SWEATSHOPPE PUBLICATIONS LLC
Rockford, Illinois, USA
Copyright © 2013 by Craig A. Hart
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in
any printed or electronic form, except for brief quotations in literary reviews, without
permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials
in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
ISBN: 978-0615842011
LCCN: 2013943901
Published in the United States of America
Interior Design by Craig A. Hart
Cover Design by Craig A. Hart
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To A.M.
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Welcome  to The  Writer’s  Tune-Up  Manual.  If  you’re  like
most writers, the one thing you want most of all is to improve
your craft. Everybody, from already established writers to the
greenest newbie out there, can stand a little tweaking of the brake
lines, an oil change, or new air filter. The goal of this little book
is to scrape the rust off various aspects of writing by providing
targeted exercises. This book is designed to help you hone your
craft by doing the very thing you want to improve: writing!
We’ve arranged the book into five sections: Character, Plot,
Point of View, Dialogue, and Description and Setting. We have
also provided space for you to write in the book, but you will
likely find it helpful to use a piece of scrap paper or a laptop while
you arrange your thoughts and actually do the included exercises.
Are you ready to scrape the rust off your writing? Good! Let’s
get started.
How To Use This Book
We’ve  arranged  this  book  in  the  form  of  an  “importance
sandwich.” Before you get hungry, let me explain.
The first section, which includes ten amazing exercises, is
designed to tackle character creation and development, the most
important aspect of writing. Characters are the lifeblood of any
good book.
Following that are three smaller sections that cover point of
view, dialogue, and description and setting. While these are all
important, they play second piccolo to character.
The fifth and final section is the second big one, plot. There
are ten exercises for plot development. By mastering character
INTRODUCTION
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and  plot,  you  give  your  book  a  fighting  chance  and  without
character and plot, no book can survive.
Feel free to skip around and tackle whatever area you wish
to  shine  up  first,  but  I  do  recommend  visiting  the  two  larger
sections at some point.
Now let’s get writing!
- Craig A. Hart
Editor-in-Chief, The Rusty Nail
Publisher, Sweatshoppe Publications
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Character
1. Gullible Character        11
2. “No, Not Them Again!”      15
3. Dynamic Character       19
4. Eye of the Beholder       23
5. Out of Character        27
6. Fear Factor, The        31
7. Foil, The          35
8. Mr. and Ms. Perfect       39
9. “We’ll Call You”        43
10. Worst Day Ever, The       47
Point of View
1. Who’s Lookin’ At What?      55
2. What Did Your Food Ever Do To You?  59
3. Commitment Phobia       63
4. Internal Struggle, The       67
5. Happy Trio, The        71
Dialogue
1. Tag, You’re It!         79
2. Tag Spotlight         83
3. Tattletale          87
4. Say Whaaat?         91
5. Adverbally Speaking       95
CONTENTS
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Description and Setting
1. “Just the Facts, Ma’am”      103
2. Avoid Clichés Like the Plague     107
3. Through Different Eyes      111
4. No Longer In Kansas       115
5. Adjective Collector        119
Plot
1. Outline           127
2. Tension          131
3. Echo, Echo, Echo…       135
4. Element Soup         139
5. Cliffhanger          143
6. Thou Spelunker        147
7. Keeper of the Secrets       151
8. Force Their Hand        155
9. Deus Ex Whatnow?       159
10. The Plot Detector        163
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CHARACTER
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“I have no taste for either
poverty or honest labor,
so writing is the only
recourse left for me.”
- Hunter S. Thompson
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Write  up  to  500  words  beginning  and  ending  with  this
character statement sentence: “She believed everything she was
ever told.”
Try to create a character arc throughout the piece so that the
ending sentence, although identical, means something entirely
different from the opening line. How does this character change?
How do things look differently to her after more life experience?
Try to get inside her head and see things from her perspective.
I’m not gonna lie, this is a tough one, but should illustrate
the importance of the character development arc.
GULLIBLE CHARACTER
NOTES
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“A writer is someone for whom
writing is more difficult
than it is for other people.”
- Thomas Mann
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So  we  all  know  the  cliché  characters:  the  Irish  cop,  the
prostitute  with  a  heart  of  gold,  the  writer  with  a  drinking
problem, and so forth. Clichés often exist for a reason, of course,
and sometimes it’s okay to use a tried and true character. But
not always. Populate your stories with only stock characters and
there won’t be any reason to read your tales over anyone else’s.
For this writing exercise, create and describe three different
characters,  each  of  whom  possesses  at  least  one  stereotyped
character trait. For the rest of the description, however, abandon
the norm and make each character as different from what the
reader might expect as possible. It doesn’t necessarily need to
hold together; this is just practice. The point is to begin breaking
down  the  tendency  most  of  us  have  to  devise  old,  worn-out
characters.
EXAMPLE
Sean, a beefy, red-faced Irishman, is a twenty-year police
veteran who always complains about his aching feet. He loves
attending Broadway musicals and has a secret Hello
Kitty collection in his basement.
Spend  at  least  100  words  describing  each  of  your  three
characters. Who knows, you might even end up using them!
“NO, NOT THEM AGAIN!”
NOTES
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“There is nothing to writing.
All you do is sit down
at a typewriter and bleed.”
- Ernest Hemingway
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Write 500 words beginning with this sentence: “He hadn’t
always  been  this  way,  but  he  recognized  and  appreciated  the
change.” Be creative and try to think outside the box. What is
this  change?  Does  “he”  appreciate  it  for  the  right  or  wrong
reasons?
DYNAMIC CHARACTER
NOTES
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“There are three rules for
writing a novel.
Unfortunately, no one knows
what they are.”
- W. Somerset Maugham
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This is a three-part exercise, totaling 300 words. Use the first
100 words to describe a character’s physical appearance. Use the
second  100  words  to  describe  a  character’s  personality  traits.
Now  use  the  final  100  words  to  describe  how  others  see  this
character. You may find it helpful to shift POV (point of view)
between the first two sections and the third. It’s okay. You can
do it this time.
EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
NOTES
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“When I write,
I feel like an armless,
legless man
with a crayon in his mouth.”
- Kurt Vonnegut
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In real life people do occasionally act out of character or do
things we wouldn’t normally expect them to do. In fiction, there
should be a good reason for a character to do something outside
of the ordinary. If there is a story featuring a cowardly character,
they can’t do something incredibly brave at the end unless there
has been a progressive character arc throughout the text. There
needs to be a motivation for the change.
Write a short scene featuring a character with a well-defined
personality  (cowardice,  anger,  greed,  kindness,  etc.)  Include
examples  that  demonstrate  the  personality.  At  the  end  of  the
scene, have your character behave in a way completely opposed
to  how  they  would  be  expected  to  act.  Notice  how  this  seems
jarring and false.
Now  think  about  what  elements  you  could  incorporate  to
show why the character might act in a manner opposed to his
personality. Did something change in their life? Did someone
with great influence lead them to alter their thinking?
Write  a  short  addition  to  the  scene  to  suggest  why  the
character behaved as they did.
OUT OF CHARACTER
NOTES
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“Write what disturbs you,
what you fear,
what you have not been
willing to speak about.
Be willing to be split open.”
- Natalie Goldberg
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Often  a  book  will  focus  on  a  character’s  struggle  with
themself. This falls into the category of a Man v. Self plot theme,
but can also refer to the development of character. A story that
traces a character’s progress from one place to another (usually
non-physical) can be just as much a piece of character arc than
anything else, although it is often used as the main plot, particularly in more literary novels. In Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera, the title character wears a mask to hide his
disfiguration, a metaphor for deeper psychological wounds, and
struggles  to  extend  and  receive  the  emotion  he’s  never  felt:
compassion. The Phantom is afraid of showing himself vulnerable, as this has resulted in past pain and suffering.
Use an existing character (or create a new one and take the
time to develop it) and put them in a situation in which they must
face their worst fear. How do they naturally react? Likely, they
recoil from whatever the situation is. Now create a list of events
that may result in the character reacting differently. Rewrite the
scene  with  these  events  in  mind.  Do  they  provide  enough
motivation  for  change?  How  did  they  change  the  character’s
perception?
THE FEAR FACTOR
NOTES
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“Your intuition knows
what to write,
so get out of the way.”
- Ray Bradbury
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In literature, a foil is most often used to illustrate or heighten
awareness of a certain aspect of the main character. Sometimes
it is difficult to notice or pinpoint a specific trait or quality until
it is set against an opposing backdrop. Light only exists because
of  darkness  and  vice-versa.  Without  one,  we  would  have  no
concept  of  the  other.  This  technique  is  particularly  useful  in
character  development,  although  it  has  appeared  in  various
manifestations and employed to varying degrees of effectiveness.
For this exercise, create a character that is the opposite of
your main character or, at least, less than or different from your
main character in the way(s) most vital to the story. If a main
selling  point  of  your  main  character  is  physical  strength,  you
likely won’t want a sidekick who is just as strong or stronger. Or
perhaps this new character possesses bad traits that are opposed
to those lofty ones which your main character champions the
most. As examples, think of Dr. Watson/Sherlock Holmes and
Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter.
Once you’ve devised the characters, write two short scenes.
In the first have your main character give a monologue about
their  most  important  qualities  or  goals.  Boring,  isn’t  it?  Now
write  another  scene  in  which  the  main  character  and  the  foil
argue about the earlier monologue. Notice how this gently forces
the reader to become active in the story and choose sides, thereby
becoming more invested in your story.
THE FOIL
NOTES
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“Writing is not necessarily
something to be ashamed of,
but do it in private and
wash your hands afterwards.”
- Robert A. Heinlein
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Perfection should generally be avoided in a character. Real
people, such as your readers, aren’t flawless and chances are they
are not going to be able to fully identify with a character who is.
They  might  even  get  annoyed  and  put  your  work  down
altogether. Reading about a character with no faults or vices is
like reading a sermon…there’s a reason why sermon anthologies
don’t typically appear on The New York TimesBestsellers List.
Within 300 words, create a new character by detailing their
failings. You’ll likely be tempted to temper the description with
redeeming qualities, but resist the urge. Give at least five faults.
They can be socially perceived vices, like smoking or gambling,
or  perhaps  personality  traits,  like  a  raging  temper  or  deep
selfishness.
Once you’re done listing the faults, read over them and see
how you feel about this character. Do you hate them? Feel sorry
for them?
Now write a similar, but separate, character sketch, only this
time list exclusively good qualities. Examine your feelings about
this character. Do you envy their piety? Or perhaps want them
to fall down a deep well? Does it feel like they are wagging their
finger at you?
Put the two exercises together, combining character traits
(you don’t have to use all of them) and come up with one master
sketch. Notice how much deeper the character feels once there
are both good and bad aspects to their personality. This is the
bedrock for creating interesting, fully-rounded characters.
MR. OR MS. PERFECT
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NOTES
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“A non-writing writer is
a monster courting insanity.”
- Franz Kafka
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An important aspect to creating believable characters and
then  using  them  to  populate  your  story  is  to  know  your
characters. Admittedly, part of a story arc, especially one that is
character-driven,  is  the  change  that  happens  to  a  character’s
belief  system,  motivation,  worldview,  or  goals,  but  it  can  be
helpful to know something about your characters before even
beginning the story.
In this exercise, select two of the main characters from your
planned project and have them interview each other for a job. It
can be any job, but one that requires a lot of information might
be more useful (and more fun). Perhaps they are applying for a
position in national security, such as the CIA, FBI, or some other
equally paranoid organization. To up the pressure, maybe even
have them being grilled by their mafia mentor, where one wrong
answer will mean a broken kneecap or worse.
Choose one character to be the interviewer, the other to be
the interviewee. Then switch places. Try to ask at least twenty
questions per interview, because that has a nice ring to it. Where
have I heard that before?
“WE’LL CALL YOU”
NOTES
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“That’s what fiction is for.
It’s for getting at the truth
when the truth isn’t
sufficient for the truth.”
- Tim O’Brien