BADGE OF PAIN

by Doris McCraw (c)

You may wonder about the title of this post. I chose Badge of Pain or What Drives Our Character as the focus for this month. 

As some of you know, I come from the performing arts. I have spent years honing characters that playwrights created. I even spent six plus years teaching others the craft. The one thing an actor does is find out what makes their character 'bleed'. Not just the simple, 'mom didn't like me so...', but the deep down root of everything. It ain't always easy, but once you find it, the character you're playing comes alive. One acting coach whose concepts I've used to some degree when I am writing and performing is Ivana Chubbuck . For those who would like to hear her, here it a link to a video on her process. https://youtu.be/XOVPMV5wgv4  Or you can read her book, "The Power of the Actor".

I've also been working through Donald Maass's book "The Emotional Craft of Fiction". He also asked you to go deeper. Not just the obvious,  but take it down to the lowest level. If you start with anger, go deeper. What would be next? Frustration, embarrassment, fear, hurt. 

Characters have that one thing that keeps them from achieving their goal. Not just the outer world of conflict, but the inner world of pain. In my first novella, my main characters had pain that kept them from loving each other. It was the 'badge' they carried like a shield to keep them from taking the step to happiness. 

Each character, if you look deep enough, carries that load, and it weighs heavy on them. At the same time, to let go means they become vulnerable, they can get hurt. They would be trading a known pain for the possibility of another pain. We all do it ourselves to some degree.

So as we take our character's journey when writing, here are some tips.

1. Slow down and let yourself and readers get to know your character. Sometimes you need to take the time to really put the important scene out there, to take the time to highlight important details and actions. Not every scene, but the important ones that the reader can relate to.

2. Use body language, not just facial expressions, to convey what is going on with your character. If they are getting ready to tell someone the truth of their pain, what would they do? Would they pace, look out the window, avoid eye contact, turn their back?

3. Create tension, tease your reader, use words that draw the reader into caring. Are they going to fess up to their pain, move past it and find happiness? What happens if the don't? Dig deep, find the source of the pain and open that wound.

4. What is the moral compass of you character? How does it fit in with the pain they carry. Don't be afraid to delve into that. It adds to the depth the reader invests in the outcome. You want them to cheer for the good guy. Even the villains have a moral compass, at least most do. If you've ever read Dean Koontz's "The Watchers" you will know what I mean. Even the 'monster' brought a tear to my eye.

I leave you with a quote from Franz Kafka "A book must be the ax for the frozen sea within us". Just like the actor who allows the watcher to feel emotions while remaining safe, so too can the author allow the reader to experience the pain without living through it themselves. 

Doris Gardner-McCraw -also writing as Angela Raines

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

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