Propelling Your Fiction With Props

In the December issue of The Writer Magazine (which, if you're not subscribed to, you should be!), Adele Glimm wrote about using props to establish character, plot and theme.

The writer asks, "Have you ever toured a historic house and felt the past spring suddenly to life? It was probably not the tour guide's speech that did it, but rather the sight of a hoop skirt, a chamber pot or a musket."

Using Ms. Glimm's examples, imagine, if you will, that Diane, the heroine of your story, works as a computer specialist whose personal life is nowhere near as successful as her professional life. You wish you understood her better (in other words, understood the dread GMC). Take a moment and close your eyes. Look closely at Diane's desk at work. What's there amidst the clutter of paperwork and technical manuals? Perhaps a souvenir from a childhood vacation could give you the chance to bring Diane's background to life and shine a light on what makes her tick. Maybe, even at the advanced age of thirty (and I can say that because I'm on the south side of that number), she still treasures a small Mickey Mouse statue because a trip to Disneyland was the last family vacation before her parents divorced.

Next, consider what layers of meaning might be developed around this object. What if (and that's a favorite story starter... 'What if...?') Diane is leery of having children because she's afraid of bringing them up alone after a breakup, or she just wants to make sure no child of hers has his/her world shattered like hers had been? Now, that's probably not enough conflict for Diane, so here comes the hero, who badly wants a son because of his own background, represented by... a catcher's mitt? A gold pocket watch? Some heirloom that he wants to pass down to a child of his own.

Now, have that little statue disappear from Diane's desk and watch the fur fly. Her co-workers will be surprised at the apparent irrational reaction from their usually calm and cool colleague, but your readers won't because they know what complex emotions are tied into that little mouse.

Showing is always better than telling. By having that statue on the desk and using action to show Diane's attatchment to it, maybe even a conversation with the hero about her background (let's say he's an outside computer tekkie who's come to assist her with a big project), the readers can "see" her motivations and conflict. Much better than a long monologue of 'Diane thought blah, blah, blah,' wiped her tears, more 'blah, blah, blah.'

In my blog on Friday, I included a quote by E.L. Doctorow. Here's another, on descriptive writing: "Not that it's raining, but the feel of being rained upon." Sometimes, when I'm particuarly stuck on a scene, I lean my head back against my chair and close my eyes, and type. I picture the character: what he's doing, seeing, smelling, feeling. And I write from his POV. If he's sitting in the rain, he'll feel it dripping off the end of his nose, getting his shirt collar wet, soaking through to his underwear. If he's mad, this probably will make him angrier. If he's sad, it fits his mood and makes him that much more melancholy.

Try this link, the next time you get stuck on making your prose more descriptive. It's a useful online tutorial in using descriptive detail in fiction writing, hosted by Colorado State.

And keep writing!