The Forces of Nature in Your Storiesby Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ (mailto:shery@writesparks.com)
Nature plays a big role in stories. Nature can make a character more
authentic because it can influence his/her action or behavior.
If you ever find yourself stuck on to how to describe one of your
characters, add a force of nature in your character description. Describe
how your character behaves or reacts during a bad (or good) weather.
Take for example a few movies where forces of nature were vital.
Imagine how the characters and the plots would change if the following forces
of nature were taken away:
~ the tornado in the Wizard of Oz
~ the lightning in Phenomenon (John Travolta)
~ the volcanic eruption in Dante's Peak (Pierce Brosnan)
~ the icebergs in the Atlantic in Titanic (Leonardo diCaprio)
~ the avalanche in Vertical Limit (Chris O'Donnell)
Try to substitute another force of nature in the examples above and see
how it affects the story and the characters.
Try it yourself on the following:
1. Deanna Ball possesses a strong sense of duty. She's stuck in a
traffic jam. Force of nature: Earthquake
2. Randall Graves is people-oriented and works well with others. He's
in a bar watching afternoon football with friends. Force of nature:
Snowstorm
3. Dessa Woods has an intimidating personality. She's on vacation with
a couple of friends. Force of nature: Avalanche
4. Geoff Earhart is organized and methodical in his approach to
everything. He's been ordered to recover a vital piece of equipment from a
capsized ship. Force of nature: Lightning storm
5. Mac Taylor is the persistent type. He's been trailing a woman who
looked like his best friend's dead wife. Force of nature: Torrential rain
Copyright 2004 Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ
[ And just in case you have a web site or publish an e-zine, feel free
to reprint this article. Just don't forget to include my resource box
below. And please publish my article as is, without any alteration. ]
=> Resource Box <=
Shery created WriteSparks! - a software that generates over 10
*million* Story Sparkers for Writers. Download WriteSparks! Lite
for fr*e -
http://writesparks.com