Comments on: 7/24 WIP Tip: Run Away With Me… http://www.writer-in-progress.com/2009/07/724-wip-tip-run-away-with-me.html ...because everyone thinks the life of an author is all Godiva and glamour... Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:55:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Jason Black http://www.writer-in-progress.com/2009/07/724-wip-tip-run-away-with-me.html/comment-page-1#comment-257 Jason Black Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:29:16 +0000 http://www.writer-in-progress.com/?p=939#comment-257 This is very similar to a recent blog post of mine, on creating great opening hooks for novels by intentionally showing character through conflict: http://www.plottopunctuation.com/blog/show/10 Nothing tells you what someone is made of quite like watching them think/act/react/speak in the middle of a crisis. It's a great technique for opening a novel, and what you're suggesting here is both very similar and also very wise: find other times in the plot to put the character in distress, in order to watch what they're made of. I hadn't considered the notion of giving characters a specific "comfort space" (in the same way that people have comfort foods they turn to when stressed out), but it's a lovely idea. I'll have to remember that one. This is very similar to a recent blog post of mine, on creating great opening hooks for novels by intentionally showing character through conflict:

http://www.plottopunctuation.com/blog/show/10

Nothing tells you what someone is made of quite like watching them think/act/react/speak in the middle of a crisis. It’s a great technique for opening a novel, and what you’re suggesting here is both very similar and also very wise: find other times in the plot to put the character in distress, in order to watch what they’re made of.

I hadn’t considered the notion of giving characters a specific “comfort space” (in the same way that people have comfort foods they turn to when stressed out), but it’s a lovely idea. I’ll have to remember that one.

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