by Stoker, Bram
Here in the United States, we sometimes used to think we were all the same because everyone watched The Johnny Carson Show … and then Johnny retired, and satellites, cables, and Netflix took over the world, and we became aware (again) that there just might be some differences between a New Englander and a Midwesterner, or even between someone who grew up in New York City and someone who grew up in rural upstate New York. So be sure to jot down a few reasons why this geographic starting point shapes your character.
WHAT TYPE OF NEIGHBORHOOD?
From this point on, you may no longer use the word nice to describe anything. There! You’ve just become a greatly improved, far more specific writer. Two characters may grow up in Los Angeles, but they may have vastly different childhoods or lifestyles depending on the neighborhood. Now, what does the character see when he steps out the door? What does he smell? Hear? Where is the closest place to eat lunch?
FATHER’S NAME AND OCCUPATION? MOTHER’S NAME AND OCCUPATION?
What does it matter? Let’s ask that kid over there, the one being photographed with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Swineherd. Upbringing and lineage matters.
HOW MANY BROTHERS AND SISTERS DOES HE OR SHE HAVE?
I forget from whom I’m stealing this, but the quotation is, “You have brothers and sisters. You’ll never run out of ideas to write about.” And how many books are there on the importance of “birth order”? Plenty.
DID HE OR SHE DO WELL IN SCHOOL? WHAT ARE THE BEST/WORST CLASSES FOR THIS CHARACTER?
I graduated eighth grade in 1959, and I still have dreams of having to return to school to take a test I’d somehow neglected in my youth. School … maybe you never graduate.
WHAT JOBS HAS HE OR SHE HELD? WAS HE OR SHE SUCCESSFUL IN THESE JOBS?
Even though we are coming out of a brutal recession, there are still enough unemployed, some of them for a long period, that answering, “He is not now employed,” could lead to far greater exploration of the man’s personality.
IS HE OR SHE MARRIED—IF SO, HAPPILY?
How would you describe the Harkers’ marriage?
IF NOT MARRIED, IS HE OR SHE IN LOVE—AND WITH WHOM?
Think about Dr. Seward’s unrequited love. Think about Dracula’s!
WHAT MAKE OF CAR DOES HE OR SHE DRIVE—CAN HE OR SHE AFFORD IT AND IS IT PAID FOR? DOES HE OR SHE LIKE THIS CAR?
The reason I bought my newest car, a Hyundai Veloster: I feel like I’m a kid of fifty-five in that car!
WHAT ARE HIS OR HER HOBBIES?
Renowned former football player Roosevelt “Rosey” Grier was a member of the original “Fearsome Foursome” of the Los Angeles Rams. His hobby: He does needlepoint. True story.
WHAT IS HIS OR HER TASTE IN MUSIC, ART, BOOKS, AND TELEVISION?
I used to ask, “What are the three CDs he most recently purchased? What are the newest three books on his shelf?” Now it has to be, “What three songs has he recently downloaded? What are the newest three books he’s downloaded?”
HOW DOES HE OR SHE DRESS?
Guess you might include this in the physical description, but … He’s going out to celebrate his third year as an apprentice spool roller. Will he put on a tie? Does it glow in the dark and read, “Kiss me, Toots, I glow in the dark?” Or wouldn’t you wear a tie to Denny’s (where you can get an entire meal in one skillet!)
DOES HE OR SHE GO TO CHURCH? WHAT KIND OF CHURCH? WHAT ARE HIS OR HER RELIGIOUS BELIEFS?
And what about his or her religious beliefs at age seven? Nineteen? Forty-seven? On his or her deathbed?
DOES HE OR SHE GET ALONG WITH MEN? WITH WOMEN?
Would it be equally well with both?
UP UNTIL NOW, WHAT IS THE BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO HIM OR HER? THE WORST?
Really dig into these two. I insist my students come up with at least 500 words per each of these questions. I once had a student respond to “the best” with, “It was the day he bought a new garden hose.” By the time he finished writing that up, about 5,000 words or so, he had an award-winning short story.
WHAT ARE HIS OR HER AMBITIONS?
That’s right, everyone has ambitions, even that kid of yours who seems to have taken root on the sofa. What happens if those ambitions are unrealistic? What happens if they are thwarted?
WHAT IS HIS OR HER MOST POSITIVE CHARACTER TRAIT? MOST NEGATIVE CHARACTER TRAIT?
Present your assessment first. Now, if we were to ask him what he thinks is his most positive/negative character trait, what would he say? And what would he say about your opinion on the subject?
DOES HE OR SHE HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR?
Remember, the guy who thinks a witty pun is drop-dead funny might not see the subtle humor of a whoopee cushion at the nursing home.
WHAT KIND OF PERSON DOES HE OR SHE THINK HE OR SHE IS? WHAT KIND OF PERSON DO OTHER PEOPLE THINK HE OR SHE IS?
There are ever so many stories inherent in these two questions. Hitler: I think I am pretty swell, all in all. The Populace: He suffers from low self-esteem.
Now let’s put your characters through the paces. Give yourself at least 500 words for each of the following hypotheticals.
Guess what? This character is going to be your houseguest for a week. Are you looking forward to his visit? What will you do during your time together? When the week ends, will you be glad to see her go—or will you tell her that her suitcase is already on the curb?
There is a moment in this person’s life of which he is most ashamed. Until now, that moment has never been shared with anyone. But you have the truth serum. Using the first-person point of view (that is, writing as though you are/were the character), present that shameful moment.
There is a moment in this character’s life of which he is the most proud. Let’s hear about it, the way we heard about his most shameful moment.
Ten years have passed in this character’s life since you described him. Write about the changes he has gone through.
THE OUTLINE
In Chapter 2, we discussed how Stoker used an outline for his novel, and I presented the principles of outlining that my mentor Jerry Williamson taught me and that I teach my students.
To review the Williamson method: Each chapter has no more than one page in the outline. Even if your novel is told in the past tense, you write in the present tense so that you can maintain the helpful illusion of immediacy: This is happening now. You write in the third person so that you can more easily keep track of your characters and maintain enough distance from them to “see the Big Picture” of a novel. In each chapter in the outline, your focus is on the action. You can, however, directly address yourself or your (potential) editor.
Thus Chapter 1 of Dracula might be outlined:
Jonathan Harker, a young British solicitor, arrives in Transylvania. We get local color, food and drink, geography, and some hints of what Harker thinks “folk superstitions.”
Harker is given some subtle and not-so-subtle intimation that he is heading into danger. His landlady tells him that “when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have full sway.”
But Harker cannot be dissuaded. (Note: He is eager to make good on an important real estate transaction. He’s out to prove himself.)
A grim coachman with a powerful grip comes to convey Harker to his destination. (Harker will meet, in Chapter 2, another individual with a strong handshake: Count Dracula!) The coach carries Harker on a surreal/nightmarish and confusing journey to “the courtyard of a vast ruined castle, from whose tall black windows came no ray of light.”
It is, we learn in the next chapter, the Castle of Count Dracula.
By using this outline format when you write your own novel, you will never hit a “How in the hell do I know what happens next?” moment of writer’s block. You’ll know because you’ve thought it out. There are dots all over the place—and many ways to connect them. And if you are not working on a novel, outline a novel you could write, want to write, darned well will write. Use the character you c
reated and one of the prompts, and outline the first five chapters. See where it takes you.
But as I’ve been writing, I’ve thought of something better!
So go with it! Stoker did. His notes and outline reveal that Count Dracula was originally named Count Wimpy! But then … Dracula! By Jove, I like the sound of it!
Consider the purposes of the outline:
Most editors and agents want to see opening sample chapters and an outline for the rest of your novel when you query them about your finished novel. The outline is the convincer: Uh-huh, here’s a writer who’s thought it through, beginning, middle, end. Here’s a writer who thinks and knows story. Chapter by chapter, you answer the storyteller’s prime question: What happens next? But other publishers may just want sample chapters and a synopsis, a brief (often just a page or so) overview of the entire story. It’s a good idea to develop a synopsis after you’ve written your outline. Why? Because when writing a synopsis, it’s far too easy to avoid making decisions about what really happens. Make sure you know your story from A to Z before trying to sum it up, or you might skip over key points you hadn’t yet thought of that could ignite an editor or agent’s interest.
In addition to convincing an editor or an agent that there’s a real novel here, the outline convinces one other person: you. So it’s 4:20 a.m., and you’ve got coffee shakes, and it feels like someone’s using a red hot drill on the nape of your neck, and you know how destroyed you’ll be when you have to rise (if not shine) at 7:00 a.m. to go to the day job, but you’ve got the scene finished, and it feels good. Now you’ve got 78 complete rough-draft pages! That leaves only about 400 more blank pages to go … which can feel daunting. That is when the outline reassures you: You’ve thought this out. You can do it. The outline helps you remain undaunted.
These are just some of the valuable lessons we can learn from Dracula. Use them to jumpstart your own writing. And if you are at all hesitant about getting underway, here’s a master motivational speaker …
“Then write now, my … friend … I desire it much, nay I will take no refusal.” — Count Dracula
About The Author
In a writing career of almost fifty years, Mort Castle has been deemed a “horror doyen” by Publishers Weekly, “El Maestro del Terror” by South America’s Galaxia Cthulhu, and “the master of contemporary horror” by Poland’s Nowa Fantastyka magazine. Castle has published novels, short stories, articles, poetry, and comic books, and edited All American Horror of the 21st Century (Wicker Park Press) and the essential reference work On Writing Horror (Writer’s Digest Books). With work translated into a dozen languages, Castle’s a two-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award, twice recipient of the Black Quill Award, and was selected as one of “21 Chicago Southland Leaders in the Arts for the 21st Century” by the Chicago Sun-Times. He teaches in the creative writing program at Columbia College Chicago and at writing conferences and seminars throughout the country. Castle and Jane, his wife of forty-three years, live in Crete, Illinois.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For quotes here (and also there) as cited, Robert Weinberg and Ron Hansen. For annotation inspiration, that Park Forester Les Klinger. For artistic energies, the Ukulele Sisters Kara and Abby Vombrack, with the Amazing Accordion of Arlene Castle Vombrack. For education, friendship, memories, Jerry Williamson, IM. For F+W Content Editors Rachel Randall and James Duncan. For Jane, the affirmation I married.
Introducing
THE WRITER’S DIGEST ANNOTATED CLASSICS SERIES
Jane Eyre, first published in 1847, has persisted as a classic, beloved romance and remains extremely popular among modern readers. While other annotated versions of this novel do already exist, no annotated version to date explores the techniques and craft used by the author. Best-selling writing instructor and author K.M. Weiland addresses issues of plot, character, setting, voice, style, dialogue and other craft-related topics. This annotated classic also includes a study guide filled with prompts that aspiring writers can use to apply their newfound knowledge. Join K.M. Weiland to dive in and explore Jane Eyre, a novel that transcends time!
DRACULA. Copyright © 2014 by Bram Stoker and Mort Castle. Manufactured in the United States of America. All rights reserved. No other part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by Writer’s Digest Books, an imprint of F+W Media, Inc., 10151 Carver Road, Blue Ash, Ohio 45242. (800) 289-0963. First edition.
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ISBN-13: 978-1-59963-141-7
Edited by James Duncan
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Cover illustration by Chris Koehler
