I like to play a game sometimes before I sit down to write, I call it ‘What Was Going On’, and I use it as a warm up when I know I’m going to have a heavy writing period as I flesh out characters, making up their backstory. Everyone has a past, it’s up to you to make it relatable and unforgettable. A missed connection, a double take as they pass a store window or building tension through something as simple as footsteps behind a character on a dark stormy night, can all be built upon by remembering something as simple as a video from days gone by.
The music videos of the 80’s and 90’s are often able to trigger some memory that I can use to write some small characteristic, habit or tie in from a character to the reader that they can remember from hearing that same tune. I can recall how I felt seeing ‘Thriller’ for the first time, why was she with Michael in the first place? Who eats popcorn like that? Thank God for VCR’s, we wore those tapes out! Letting your emotions bleed over into your writing can be both exciting and destructive, so finding the balance is as important as knowing the age range of your potential reader.
If you need to ‘quiet your mind’, put together a calming playlist of jazz, classical or even nature sounds. Will the reader react as you wish them to as your story pours forth? If you can get in the groove, you can get in their head. Write so they don’t want to put the book down, no matter how late it gets. No matter what they have to do the next day, you want that pressure to finish your book in one sitting bearing down on them.
Go over to the MTV Classic Channel and watch some of those old videos then go WRITE!
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