Tuning In

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As writers we need to fine-tune our senses to both our inner and our outer worlds. Whether we are observing people, objects, locations or situations, an important part of the process is paying close attention to what is happening within ourselves as we do so. Our inner experience of the world is what we communicate to others in our writing, so it is extremely important to be aware of ourselves and our feelings in relation to any aspect of the environment we wish to explore.

TUNING IN TO YOURSELF

The following exercises will help you to develop this vital skill. To gain the maximum benefit, they should be done in a completely relaxed state, with your eyes closed. As with all the visualisation exercises in this book, the instructions should be read onto a tape or other recording device with sufficient pauses where necessary to allow the experience to unfold. Settle yourself somewhere comfortable where you will not be disturbed, before you play back the recording.

– EXERCISES –

Focusing inwards

Become still. Let your breathing settle. Take your awareness inwards. What is your life like at this moment? As you consider this question, allow an image to emerge. Take your time. Let the image develop and reveal itself.

• What particular aspect of your life do you think this image represents? How do you feel about it?
• When you have finished exploring this image, draw it. Sit with it a while and get to know it even better. Give it a name.
• Would you like to change the image in any way? If so, make those changes.
• How do you feel about the image now?

Tuning in physically

• Allow one hand to explore the other – slowly, carefully, as though it were an unfamiliar object. Notice the temperature, the texture, the different shapes.
• Which hand is doing the exploring? How does it feel in that exploring role?
• Transfer your attention now to the hand that is being explored. How does that feel? Focus on those feelings about being explored.
• Change the roles over. How does each hand feel now?
• If your right hand had a voice, what would it sound like? What would it say?
• Give your left hand a voice. What sort of voice is it? What does it say?
• Let your hands talk to each other for a while.
• Open your eyes. Record your experiences.

Did it feel strange to focus on yourself in that way? Some people find it makes them uneasy at first. They may even find themselves getting angry.

Whatever your reaction to these tuning-in exercises, do persevere. Focusing on the self is an important habit for a writer to develop. Feelings about ourselves often influence our treatment of characters. See what links you notice in this respect after completing the next exercise.

Tuning in to your self-image

Do this quickly, with as little thought as possible.

• Write the numbers 1–10 underneath each other ‘shopping list’ style.
• Beside each number write one word which describes you.
• Put this list aside and forget it by doing something else for ten minutes.

— 10 minute break —

• Now, on a fresh sheet of paper, write the numbers 1–10 again.
• With your other hand write ten words which describe you.
• Compare the two lists.

What did you discover in comparing lists? Were some words positive and some negative? Did you contradict yourself, even in the same list? Did the lists reflect different, perhaps contradictory, aspects of your personality?

Tune in to an internal dialogue

• Writing with each hand in turn, set up a dialogue about yourself.
• Ask questions about any aspects of your life that have been puzzling or annoying you. Let one hand ask and the other one answer.

Discovering the critic within

Writing with the non-dominant hand, as we did in the last two exercises, puts us in the ‘child place’. It can bring up feelings of vulnerability and frustration, making us impatient with ourselves. We may find ourselves thinking that exercises like this are just gimmicks or tricks which cannot produce anything ‘truly creative’. Such reactions are often due to unhelpful messages we received about ourselves in childhood – messages which have stuck and which cause us to criticise ourselves today.

Once we recognise these ‘old recordings’ for what they are, we can learn to turn them off. ‘No thank you.’ ‘What’s your problem?’ or simply ‘Shut up!’ are some of the more polite ways of dealing with these internal voices. Whose voices are they? If you can trace such messages to a specific individual or individuals, going back in your imagination and delivering the ‘shut up’ message personally can be a very liberating experience.

Bypassing the critic

The physical difficulty of writing with the non-dominant hand distracts us from the words themselves. It is therefore a good way to bypass our internal critic. In doing this we free ourselves to rediscover the spontaneous creativity of childhood, and surprise ourselves with the results. Word association activities also enable us to bypass the critic, provided we allow ourselves to let go and write whatever comes into our heads. The two word-association exercises which follow are useful tools at any stage in the writing process. In this case we will be using them as another way of tuning in to ourselves.

– EXERCISES –

Word Web

• In the centre of a clean sheet of A3 or A4 paper, write one word from the lists you made in the exercise on page 28. Circle it.
• Radiating from this circle, draw six short ‘spokes’ (see Figure 2) and at the end of each spoke write a word you associate with the word in the centre.
• From each of these six words, quickly write a succession of associated words, continuing each spoke to the edge of the page.
• Now let your eye roam around the page. Soon words will begin to group themselves into unexpected phrases. For example; the ‘energetic’ person in (Figure 2) might come to life on the page as a manic walker with an exercise mat in their back-pack, a forty year old battery hen or even a balloon in blue rompers. Such phrases are unlikely to result from logical thinking processes.

Fig. 2. Example of a word web.

Word Grid 1

• Divide a sheet of paper into three columns and label them ‘DAY’, ‘MONTH’ ‘YEAR’.
• Divide the paper horizontally into 12 sections and number them 1–12.
• In each of the boxes you have created in the first column, write an adjective, chosen at random. In each of the second column boxes, write a random noun. In each of the third column boxes write a random verb – any tense. For example:

	DAY	MONTH	YEAR
1	bright	corner	cures
2	exuberant	schoolroom	corrupted
3	deep	ramp	charging
4	green	pudding	congeal
5	feckless	tiger	erupted
6	domineering	cupboard	swimming
7	uncaring	theatre	performs
8	reverential	attic	flickers
9	shameless	cauliflower	enfolding
10	solitary	army	slides
11	authoritarian	grandmother	march
12	world-weary	directions	collapses

• Choose a random date – yours or a friend’s birthday, a historical date, your next dentist appointment – anything. Write it in number form e.g. 25/12/2004.
• The two digits of the day in the example given – 25 – add up to 7, so the adjective would be number 7 in the ‘DAY’ column – which is uncaring. The month is number 12, so the noun you have generated is directions. The digits of the year add up to 6, so the verb is erupted. This might generate the sentence ‘His uncaring directions erupted into her consciousness’, which you could tweak to suit your current needs, or put in your writer’s notebook for another time.

Such word association exercises provide us with that wonderful ideatrigger unexpected juxtaposition which can take our writing along some very surprising routes. Try using grids in the same way as webs. Let your eyes move around the groups of words until a phrase ‘jumps out’ at you.

A quick way of generating similarly unexpected three-word sequences is to open any book at random and choose the first adjective, the first noun and the first verb that meet your eye.

A word grid can be used in a different way, to generate a series of words which provide the theme of a story. This time only nouns are used.

Word Grid 2

	DAY	MONTH	YEAR
1	lorry	sea	jackdaw
2	barn	fishmonger	school
3	woman	mountain	steam-roller
4	dinner	aircraft hangar	conductor
5	diamond	typewriter	knife
6	cat	detective	supermarket
7	murder	stress	vodka
8	soldier	biro	branch
9	astronaut	beans	cabinet
10	poison	joy	music
11	toaster	roof	crocodile
12	instructions	hair	medicine

Again, choose a random date – say 14/02/1939. This time the digits of the day add up to 5, so the first word is diamond. The month is 2, so the second word is fishmonger and the digits of the year add up to 22, which adds up to 4 – so the next word is conductor. Your story is therefore going to be about a diamond, a fishmonger and a conductor.

Word webs move outwards from a central idea. Word grids create an idea from a series of stimuli. The next technique takes the process full circle by moving inwards from a number of ideas towards a central focus.

Word Honeycomb

• In the centre of an A3 or A4 sheet, circle a space for a word. Leave it empty.
• Choose sixteen words from the lists you made in the exercise on page 28. Write eight along the top edge and the others along the bottom. (See Figure 3.)
• Starting with the top line, find a word which connects the first two words and write it below with two connecting lines, as shown. Find a word to connect words 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8.
• From the new line formed, find a word to connect words 1 and 2, 3 and 4, positioning them below, as before.
• Find a connecting word for the two words in the new line, and write it above the space you have marked out.
• Repeat this process, working upwards from the bottom of the page.
• Taking the third line from the top and the third line from the bottom, find a word to connect the two words on the left (teacher and amateur in Figure 3) and another to connect the two words on the right (football and fairytale). Write them on either side of the marked space, as shown.
• Find a word or a person which connects all four central words, as shown.

In Figure 3, the words coach and panto suggest ‘Cinderella’. This could lead to Buttons as the assistant hero in that story. The person using the grid could ask, ‘How am I like Buttons? Am I a good friend? Do I sometimes keep a low profile – and am I happy with that? How am I not like Buttons at all?’

The characters we invent in our writing are products of our subconscious and reflect aspects of ourselves – whether we are aware of it or not. The way in which we react to people around us is influenced by the same subconscious processes and may say more about us than about them. If the characters in our stories are two dimensional or unconvincing, it could be because we are out of touch with these processes. The exercises in this book will help you to develop the awareness needed to engage with them. Such awareness is a vital tool for writers who are really serious about their work.

Fig. 3. A word honeycomb.

TUNING INTO ANOTHER PERSON

This exercise can be used in supermarket queues, doctor’s waiting-rooms, airport lounges or any other place where we find ourselves spending any length of time among strangers. You will need to make brief notes.

– EXERCISES –

• Choose a person to focus on and stand or sit near them.
• Note three things you know about them (straight observation).
• Note three things you feel about them (your ‘gut reactions’).
• Note three things you imagine about them.

These notes represent your reactions to the person in question at three different levels, from here and now ‘reality’ to pure fantasy, all of which originate in your subconscious. Even in ‘straight observation’, your choice of things to notice was influenced in this way. You now have nine attributes on which to base a fictional character.

You could add a few more notes at each level, do a short timed writing about your new character with these attributes in mind – or focus on a new person and give your first character someone with whom to interact.

This exercise can also be done in pairs with someone you know just a little. I often use it as one of the opening exercises when beginning work with a new group. This situation offers an opportunity for discussion and feedback, which can be very useful.

Students who spend a little time ‘tuning in’ before doing the third part of the exercise have often reported that some of the things they imagined were pretty close to the truth.

Checklist

• What have you learned about yourself through doing these exercises?
• How will you use this in your writing?
• What have you learned about your internal critic?
• How will you deal with your critic in future?
• How will you use: word association, writing with the non-dominant hand?

USING THE TECHNIQUES YOU HAVE LEARNED

Active engagement with our subconscious processes enables us to know our characters intimately and therefore transfer them convincingly to the page.

TUNING IN TO YOUR CHARACTERS

Using what you know

– EXERCISES –

As suggested above, the first step to knowing your characters is knowing yourself. Ask ‘how am I like/unlike this person? How do I feel about them? Who do they remind me of?’ Write some of the answers with your non-dominant hand.

Next, choose one word to describe this character. Make it the centre of a web. Or use both hands to make two eight-word lists, then build a honeycomb.

Using your imagination

– EXERCISES –

a) To converse with your character

Tune in to this person’s speech. How do they sound? What gestures do they use? What is their accent like?

• Imagine they are sitting opposite you, and talk to them.
• Write a dialogue between this character and a character which represents some aspect of yourself – your left-hand self maybe, or your internal critic. Is the speech of each character quite distinct, or is it sometimes unclear which one of you is speaking? How can you improve on this?

b) To do five-minute writings about your character

If this person were …an animal, flower, fruit, piece of music – what would it be? If they found themselves on a desert island, naked at a concert, having tea with the Queen, they would … This person’s deepest darkest secret is that they … When this person makes a cup of tea/mows the lawn they …(Choose any everyday task, not necessarily appropriate to the character’s period. Heathcliff doing the weekly shop for example, could be quite revealing.)

c) To do 10 x 10

Make a grid, ten spaces down and ten across, big enough to write a few words in each space. Down the side of the grid list ten aspects of a character’s life: clothes, musical tastes, favourite food, pet hates, etc. With the minimum of thought, fill in the grid by brainstorming ten facts about each of those aspects (see Figure 4).

You now have 100 facts about your character. Because you did not consider them carefully first, some of these things may seem quite off-the-wall. Good. These are probably the ones which will make the character live – the unexpected or secret things which makes him or her unique. You will not use all these facts when you write about the character – but you will know them. This will make the character feel more and more alive to you.

Fig. 4. 10 x 10: Red Riding Hood.

Discovering more

– EXERCISES –

Left side/right side

Most people’s faces reveal different personality traits on each side. This often represents the self they show the world and the more hidden self.

Ask a friend or partner to cover each half of their face in turn. Describe what you see each time. Compare the two descriptions. Were you surprised?

Repeat the exercise with any full-face photograph. Now place a mirror down the centre of the face to view the wholly left-sided/right-sided person.

Repeat the exercise with a full-face photograph of somebody who resembles your character. This is another way to make your characters multi-dimensional.

Guided visualisation

Record these instructions and listen to them in a relaxed state with closed eyes. Speak slowly, leaving sufficient pauses for the experience to unfold. Switch the recording off and make notes at intervals to suit yourself.

Bring your character into your awareness. Visualise them in every detail. Notice their size, their shape, the way they stand or sit … About how old are they?

When you have a clear picture in your mind, try to hear the character’s voice…

What sort of mood are they in? What is the first thing they might say to you?

What does this person smell like? Is it the smell of their house or workplace?

What is this person’s house like? Is it clean and tidy, or in a muddle? Do they have any pets? What do the different parts of the house smell like? What can you hear as you move around this house?

Become your character for a while. Take on their mood …

Look down at the clothes you are wearing … How do they feel against your skin? Who chose these clothes? Are you happy in them?

How are you standing? How does it feel to walk around…to sit?

What can you see out of the windows? Are there any neighbours? How do you get on with the people living nearby? Who visits the house? Who do you visit?

What did you have for breakfast today? How did you eat it? What is your attitude to food in general?

How do you spend your time? How do you enjoy yourself – and when? Add any other questions you need to ask.

Do you have a name for your character? If not, tune in again and ask them. Also ask how they feel about that name and who chose it.

How do you feel about the character now?

Using tarot cards

Tarot cards represent powerful archetypal energies – the collective human experience underlying legend, myth and folklore. Many types and style of deck are available from book stores and ’New Age’ shops, and through mail or Internet order. They should always be treated with great respect. Used with awareness, the tarot offers profound insight into our own lives and those of our characters.

– EXERCISES –

Separate from the rest of the pack the cards depicting people. From these, either select one which reminds you of your character, or place the cards face downwards before choosing, thus inviting fate to take a hand.

If you chose the card consciously, note your reasons for doing so. Then write down everything both observed and imagined about the character on the card. Use some of the techniques you have learned in this chapter to help you.

Note any surprises. Look at the card for a while. Let it ‘speak’ to you.

If you chose the card at random, consider it as an aspect of the character of which you were unaware. Work with it as above. Alternatively, choose from the whole pack, with the chance of considering your character as an animal, object or place – as in the timed writing above. Or choose a card to represent a new character entirely.

Many tarot sets come with a manual, and this will provide additional insight.

Using unexpected juxtaposition

Word webs jolt us out of our language rut by placing words in unusual groupings. Placing our characters in unaccustomed social or geographical settings has a similar effect (see Heathcliff getting the weekly shopping above).

How would:

• Scarlett O’Hara control a class of infants?
• Gandalf organise the teas at a church garden fete?
• Jane Eyre realte to Romeo, or Robinson Crusoe to Ophelia?

– EXERCISES –

Write one of your characters into a scene from your favourite novel. What can you learn about them from their reactions? (For parents and teachers of teenagers: revitalise flagging interest in a set book by the introduction of a favourite media character, e.g. Lara Croft visits Pride and Prejudice.)

• Draw a tarot card at random and get your character to interact with the person, place or situation depicted. Pay particular attention to the dialogue.
• Choose a date at random and get your character to interact with each of the objects or qualities generated by applying that date to your (nouns only) word grid.

Checklist

Bring your characters to life by:

• asking how they are like/unlike you, and exploring your feelings about them
• talking with them
• using word webs, honeycombs, timed writing and ‘10 x 10’
• considering both sides of their face/character
• using guided visualisation
• using tarot cards
• putting the character in an unaccustomed setting or having them interact with an unexpected object or quality.

TUNING IN TO AN OBJECT

Focusing on an object usually indicates either its significance to the plot, or its relationship to one of the characters. The condition of an object may provide clues to a person’s lifestyle or may be used as a metaphor for their mood.

Techniques for tuning into ourselves and into a character can also be used for tuning into an object. Also, ask who found it or made it, when and where. Invent a history for its finder/maker and imagine its journey from the point of origin to the point at which it arrived in your story.

Another very useful technique is to speak as the object, in the first person. ‘I am a grubby white telephone – much used, pawed, put down, buttons pressed, never really seen by anyone …’ and so on.

This will tell you things about your character or yourself, and may also start you off on a completely new story.

TUNING IN TO SETTINGS

Again, most of the techniques described so far can be used in relation to a setting. Speaking as the setting in the first person is particularly effective when landscape and weather are seen as reflective of a character’s mood.

Use alternate hands to dialogue with the landscape. When you have a name for the place, use this as the centre of a web.

Tarot cards are also very useful, whether you work directly with a setting or choose another type of card to use as a metaphor.

– EXERCISES –

Timed writing

Think of a setting you have experienced which is similar to the one in your story. Begin ‘I remember …’ and write for ten minutes.

‘I don’t remember …’ also brings up some interesting details.

Guided visualisation

Record, as before. Listen in a relaxed state with closed eyes.

Find yourself in the location of your story. Really feel you are there …

What time of day is it? Are there people around? Animals? What is the weather like? What time of year is it? What historical period?

Start to explore … Look … Touch … Feel the air against your skin … What can you hear?…Smell? Can you taste anything?

What is the atmosphere of this place? Do you feel comfortable here?

What is the pace like – lively? Slow? Is it in tune with your mood?

What is the name of this place? See it written on a sign saying ’Welcome to…’

Take another walk around. Find a door or a road or pathway that you have not noticed before. Where does it lead you?

TUNING IN TO A SITUATION

The Mythic and the Osho Zen tarot decks vividly depict a variety of situations. Work with them as you did with characters and settings. Describe what you see, record your feelings (writing with both hands if appropriate), let the card ‘speak’. Use webs, honeycombs, and timed writing. Consult the manuals for further insight. Many newspaper photographs also capture the essence of the moment and are a very good resource for tuning in, using the techniques described.

Creating tension and mystery

– EXERCISES –

Working outdoors

Use binoculars. Imagine you are watching a film. Survey the territory, then suddenly focus on one feature. Imagine the soundtrack playing a couple of loud chords. The feature immediately assumes huge significance and your imagination turns a somersault.

Working with a picture

Use a magnifying glass and a printed picture with a reasonable amount of detail (e.g. a photograph, postcard, picture from a magazine or holiday brochure).

Let your eye roam over the picture, then suddenly magnify – a car – an open window – a clock on a steeple – a group of people. Each time, imagine an appropriately attention grabbing soundtrack. What could it mean?

Make one of these magnified features the subject of a five-minute timed writing.

Checklist

New techniques:

• speak as an object or setting, in the first person
• use a magnifying glass or binoculars
• work outdoors
• work with a picture.

The techniques described in this chapter can be very powerful and can greatly enhance your writing.