Learning From The Marriage Ref

The other night my husband discovered a TV show called The Marriage Ref. Naturally, we were sucked in for an episode–and it wasn’t just because Jerry Seinfeld was one of the referees. Nope, it was because of the characters.

The show’s premise is basically that married couples often have a ‘fight’ that go on for some time. And thus, in order to help resolve this ‘fight,’ once and for all, you need three celebrities to step in and weigh in on either the wife’s side or the husband’s side. In theory, this should end the ‘fight’ once and for all.

The episode we watched had a husband who is obsessed with growing giant pumpkins. Yep, seriously. This man knows about a billion types of pumpkins, grows world record breaking sized fruit, and even sneaks off to grow them in the neighbour’s yard. But the best was the husband who partakes in crazy bets with his friends. For instance, mowing his lawn dressed as Elvis, (how perfect is that?) jogging around the neighbourhood in his wife’s exercise gear (yes, that includes her sports bra–and, yes, he stretched it out.) Naturally, his wife was suitably appalled by her mate’s behaviour. Personally, I was somewhat delighted by the ingenuity and creativity of some of the bets. (As well, some of these quasi-humiliating bets might be something I’d be prone to do in the right setting.)

So, what can writers learn from a show life this?

Well, think about it. Why are these folks on TV? Because these are good, one-of-a-kind, interesting characters that entertain the bejesus out of the audience. Moral of the story, when building characters, build them deep, quirky, and real. And if you get stuck, watch The Marriage Ref.

Good luck and have fun!

Personal Frame of Reference

The other day I was looking at WIRED recent magazine’s cover. Smart Jobs. That was the big feature. Sure, that’s simple enough to understand, right?

But at the same time… using one’s personal frame of reference….

It can mean so many different things. If you’re British or just read a romping British novel you might think of “smart” as brilliant, sharp, or generally snappin’. If you are a young grad or someone who’s recently lost their job, you might think of a “smart” job as something that will pay well and has job security or an opportunity for advancement. If you are involved in technology, you might think of “smart” as something along the lines of smart phones and the technology that goes with it.

This guy’s frame of reference and take on the race is going to be different than the guy selling drinks in the stands or the guy who just bet ten grand on the jockey’s horse.

So, which “smart” is it? To be truthful, I haven’t come across the article yet. (I’ve read some interesting other things though.) But it reminds us that when we are creating characters, we should keep our character’s personal frame of reference in mind because depending upon who they are and their history, they’re going to react to a situation in a very unique and personal way.

Is Your Protagonist on the Last Page?

Last night at book club, a member said, “I always read the first chapter, then the last page.” We all gasped, of course, and leaned a little further away from her. She explained, “I want to make sure the protagonist is still around at the end of the story. I’ve been burned a few times. I don’t have the time to invest in a book where the protagonist isn’t still around in the end.”

It makes sense, actually. One of the biggest complaints about Michael Ondaatje’s Divisadero in my other book club was the fact that we were introduced to a group of characters and their conflicts early on in the story and then ‘blam,’ we’re off on other adventures and some of those conflicts were left unresolved. Those characters were not on the last page, so to speak.

So the question is, what do you think? Do you have your protagonist on the last page? If not, what are your reasons?

In case you are curious, my protagonist is always on the last page of all my stories. Right there, tied up with a nice little bow and her happy Disney-ending rainbow. (Only, not quite that cheesy, as I don’t want to make my readers barf all over the book.)

All the more reason not to make your reader barf.

The First Five Pages: Characterization

This was an interesting chapter that reinforced some of the reasons why I have been doing some things with my characters. Now I have a sound reason to bolster myself into keeping it up. I’m on the right track! Some things, I am finding, I do because through experimentation, I have figured it out it works. Some things, I am finding, I do because I don’t know how to do them better. How to make them right. But now, I am learning. I’m getting learned. And it is a bit of a relief, really.

I love the way some of Lukeman’s examples that he has pulled from literature describes characters. They are beautiful and subtle and at the same time tell us so much about the viewpoint character, sometimes the climate even. It’s great! I feel like I will never read books the same way again. Okay, you got me, not totally true. I will get sucked in and forget and just read for the pleasure of reading, but hopefully, somewhere in the back of my mind there will be a little wheel streaming things into my memory and skill banks to make me a better writer.

I totally understand why I was having trouble with one of my opening scenes. It’s the friggin’ characterization. Others have mentioned this, but not specifically enough that it really triggered more than an ‘oh, how do I fix that anyway?’ sort of a thought. Now, I think I have the tools. I have to develop the character more as I thrust her into all this action. And the way I am describing the other character, yack. That has got to go!

So, off I go to work on that. Unless this caramel rice cake loaded with peanut butter and honey gets in my way…. It’s January in Canada and we’re in a cold snap, I need the insulation. Hell, it’s so cold my car won’t even start. (-28C / -18F with a wind chill, bringing it to somewhere around -40C (which is coincidentally where the metric and imperial thermometers meet in ‘wow, that’s frickin’ brrr’. And yes, this is warmer than yesterday. And yes, this is the warmest part of the day. But thankfully, yes, this is the coldest part of the year.)