Writers in the Storm

by Ellen Buikema

Magical Realism portrays the real world with a hint of fantasy. By not recognizing the magical aspects as supernatural, these elements become normal. For the characters, there’s nothing surprising about it.

The Beginnings of Magical Realism

Some say that the genre began in 1920s Germany in painting such as Beach of Dangast with Flying Boat by artist Franz Radziwill. Others suggest that Magical Realism began far earlier.

Author Gabriel García Márquez explained that Magical Realism arose from tales told to children by the Grandmothers as if the events really happened, because the Grandmothers believed they did.

Márquez was raised by his maternal grandparents in Colombia. His grandmother’s belief in magic, superstition, and spirits carries on in his stories.

“The narrator doesn’t get upset when out-of-this-world things happen, nor does he dismiss them or try to explain them. That would be considered disrespectful to the Grandmothers. Instead, he allows the reader to inhabit the expansive possibilities but doesn’t directly state his beliefs about it. It can feel like those dreams where you think: “I knew I could fly,” and the mornings after in which you might be inclined to try. And perhaps, like the supposed rapturous, levitating nuns, you can.” GG Márquez

Writing a successful Magical Realism story requires an understanding of the difference between Magical Realism and fantasy.

Fantasy VS Magical Realism

• Fantasy stories are set in fictional worlds, whereas Magical Realism stories are set in our world.
• Magical Realism stories focus on more everyday issues and concerns. Fantasy often involve a hero’s journey to save the world or special someone from a great evil.
• Fantasy stories often rely on supernatural elements. Magical Realism use some of these elements, woven together so well that they're considered normal by the characters.

Include Subtle Magical Elements

Subtle supernatural happenings add to many parts of the story. This includes the development of the characters, narrative, and creation of conflict.

Deciding how these supernatural elements weave into your story is important. You’ll need to figure out why they occur in your story.

Magical elements should be purposeful. Figuring out how and why they belong helps with their role in the plot.

Magical Realism in fiction

When you think of Magical Realism, consider Latin American writers like Isabel Allende. American authors Aimee Bender, Paul Yoon, and Alice Hoffman, or Japanese magical realist Haruki Murakami may come to mind.

Gabriel García Márquez is credited with reinvigorating Latin American writing. In his novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, he stated that “he was just writing the world as he saw it, that he wasn’t trying to embellish.” In this story, ghosts are seamlessly worked into the everyday world as well as odd details like a rain that lasts almost five years.

As a foodie, I very much enjoy the magical realism that reflect the emotions of the characters in Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate . The protagonist cooks meals that cause those who eat them to feel what she feels. When she is sad, they are sad. When she is feeling amorous while cooking, it’s a love fest for all.

In Aimee Bender’s The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, she stated, “the main character develops a ‘power’ to taste the emotional life of the cook in the food she’s eating.”

You can steep your story with these types of reflective events.

Other examples of the genre in fiction are:

• Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges
• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
• Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
• The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

Elements Common in Magical Realism

These include:

• Focus on the everyday: Magical realism often focuses on day-to-day life and issues. This grounds the story in reality and makes the magical elements surprising to the reader when introduced.
• Use a realistic setting: The setting is often based on an actual location, or modeled on one, with buildings and people you might see anywhere.
• Sense of the unsettling: Magical Realism frequently uses elements that are strange. This can be done through descriptions of otherworldly creatures or abilities.
• Blended use: A creature may have both human and animal characteristics. An object can have mundane as well as magical uses.
• Use a non-linear structure: The story may not carry on in a linear fashion, and may be experienced on repeat, or twisted like a Mobius strip. Think an Escher staircase, but as a timeline. There can be great shifts.
  • A moment can be made to feel like 100 years, or vice versa.
  • The story can progress without the use of flashbacks or flash forwards.

With these elements in mind, you can write a Magical Realism story that will hook and enthrall your readers.

What stories do you enjoy that use Magical Realism? If you were to write in this genre, which magical elements would you chose and why?

* * * * *

About Ellen

Author, speaker, and former teacher, Ellen L. Buikema has written non-fiction for parents and a series of chapter books for children with stories encouraging the development of empathy—sprinkling humor wherever possible. Her Works In Progress are The Hobo Code, YA historical fiction and Crystal Memories, YA paranormal fantasy.

Find her at https://ellenbuikema.com or on Amazon.

Image by ThePixelman from Pixabay

A frequent piece of advice writers get is to put ground under the feet of their characters. Yet, advice on how to do that is limited or confusing. Often taking the advice literally, writers attempt to make certain the reader knows where the character is physically. However, the phrase means more than what city or building they are in. It also means where this character is in relation to the objects in the room and other characters in the scene. It reveals who this person is.

Characters fit into a story, into a scene, like puzzle pieces. The right pieces make a complete picture. The wrong pieces can be confusing. Creating a character that involves your reader in the story takes many unique pieces or layers. This article offers some examples of the different things you can do to put ground beneath your characters’ feet. 

Focus

Making characters’ voices, or dialogue, as unique as the instruments in a symphony, helps the reader to identify with your characters. But the reader needs more. Every word in your story (or scene) comes from a specific point of view. Strengthen your story and put ground under your characters’ feet by choosing words that reflect what your character sees, senses, his values, judgments, and opinions.

Example

George, a 36-year-old prematurely gray business manager, walked down the street.

That helps the reader see him, but it doesn’t put ground under George’s feet. 

Be careful

Keep it natural sounding. You don’t think: I, a 36-year-old, struggling writer with her deep brown hair tied in a messy bun, walked down the mud-streaked asphalt street, do you? Of course not.

I’m not saying don’t refer to your character by name. There are certain things you have to do, so your reader isn’t confused, especially at the beginning of a story. However, the larger percentage of your descriptions should be as your viewpoint character thinks of it. So instead of the staying outside of George, try to focus on the inner George:

Example

George, a 36-year-old prematurely gray business manager, walked past his favorite coffee shop on his morning walk.

That’s an improvement, but you can do better.

Use the Five Senses

Your senses inform you about your surroundings. They ground you every day. You don’t have to think about what you smell, or hear, or see, or taste, or feel. You just do. Make certain your characters do the same. 

Example

George sniffed the fragrant aroma of coffee wafting out of his favorite coffee and pastry shop. But he followed his doctor’s orders and walked on.

            Better, but sight and smell are easy to include in your writing. For a deeper dive into your character, try to include all five senses on each page.

Example

George sniffed the fragrant aroma of coffee wafting out of his favorite coffee and pastry shop. He paused at the green and white logo painted window and stared at the coffee drinkers within. A silvery bell rang when a woman bearing a steaming paper cup hustled out of the shop. His mouth watered. He longed for a mouthful of the bitter-sweet smoky taste of his usual cuppa. He rubbed his rough lips, chapped by the cold.

Now the reader sees where George is. We can smell and taste the coffee and hear the bell and feel the chill in the air. You still can do better. 

Go Deeper

When you go about your daily life, your mind sifts through all of your puzzle pieces of your memories and experiences. Remember to include those in your characters’ lives. 

Example

The aroma of fresh coffee wafted out of George’s favorite coffee and pastry shop. He paused at the green and white logo painted window and stared at the coffee drinkers within. A silvery bell startled him. A woman bearing a steaming paper cup hustled out of the shop.

His mouth watered. He longed for a mouthful of the bitter-sweet smoky taste of his usual cuppa. He rubbed his rough lips, chapped by the cold. But his doctor’s orders hovered in the back of his mind like the Ghost of Christmas Past, or was it the Ghost of Christmas Future that he feared? He turned away from the store and continued his walk.

Now we’re getting somewhere. But…

Go Even Deeper 

It’s not only our past that colors everything we sense and do. Our education and our experiences form our attitudes, our opinions, and our voice. 

Example

The aroma of fresh coffee wafted out of George’s favorite coffee and pastry shop. He paused at the green and white logo painted window and stared at the coffee drinkers within. Today’s just-got-outta-bed casual dress code made it hard to tell which ones were good business contacts.

The jangle of a bell startled him. A woman bearing a steaming paper cup hustled out of the shop and down the street. His mouth watered. He licked his dry lips, chapped by the cold. How he longed for a mouthful of the bitter-sweet smoky taste of his usual cuppa. But his doctor’s orders hovered in the back of his mind like the Ghost of Christmas Past, or was it the Ghost of Christmas Future?

He turned away from the store and continued his walk. Only nine thousand, one hundred and ninety-nine steps to go. He snorted. Thirty-six and I’m already old, broken body, gray hair, and all. 

Choose Their Words (and Actions)

The region where we were born, the region where we live, affects our behaviors, our habits, and our word choices. Even the season and the weather affect what we say and do.

If George were less inclined to believe medical science, he might go inside the shop, anyway. A character struggling to make ends meet might look inside the shop and scoff at the posh people who overpay for burnt beans. Those attitudes will shape everything he sees and does and says. If he were born in an eastern country, he might have gone to a tea shop.

The most important piece to remember is that one’s spoken language isn’t the only way a character communicates. Often their behavior, their micro expressions, and what they don’t say reflects more truth than the words they say.

Balance Your Story

Don’t go deep for every single paragraph. If you do, you will slow your story’s pace to glacial. You might choose to use a lot of pieces revealing details about your character in the beginning. Or you might choose to sprinkle those pieces throughout your book. Use your judgment to decide which details need to be included. How do you learn to do that? Read your genre. Read and analyze how the authors you love do it. 

Look at a scene you admired. What details did the author use? Why do you think the author chose those details for that scene in that book? Does it advance the plot or set up a situation in the future? What does the reader learn by the use of those details? How much of the scene is description, action, and transition? 

Most of all, consider the story you are telling. Choose the pieces of your character that help convey your story’s pace, tone, and theme. 

Put it all Together

Don’t let your characters hang suspended in the air. Choose the pieces you need to put ground under your characters’ feet. Create a character whose observations, behavior, and speech make them unique from other characters in your story. A character that your readers will come to know and love or… hate. 

Inquiring minds want to know: what have I missed?

Please share your favorite techniques for putting ground under your characters’ feet.

About Lynette

Lynette M. Burrows is an author, a blogger, a creativity advocate, and a Yorkie Wrangler. She writes thrilling science fiction about women who choose to become heroes.

Her Fellowship Dystopia series, Fellowship, My Soul to Keep and, If I Should Die, takes place in an alternate 1961. The first Prophet saved America from the Great Depression and the war overseas. But the characters in these stories learn the rules aren’t optional. Their must choose to obey or fight back. Readers say the stories are unputdownable. Find your copy at Amazon or your favorite online book seller.

Lynette lives in the land of Oz. When she’s not procrastinating by avoiding housework and playing with her dogs, she’s blogging or writing or researching her next book. You can find Lynette online on her website, Facebook, or on Twitter @LynetteMBurrows. 

Image Credits

Top image by Barbara from Pixabay

Middle image  by Hans from Pixabay 

Bottom image by Tumisu from Pixabay 

by Lisa Norman

The first two parts of this series helped us set up a basic understanding of the changes in the world of art and writing.

If you missed them, here they are: Part 1 and Part 2.

In this final article of the series, I want to share suggestions and encouragement as we move forward into a changing world.

The Future is Bright for Writers

Story is core to the human experience and is a fundamental part of how we communicate.

People who are unhappy in their day-to-day existence like to escape into a world of story, and that trend has not gone away.

While sales trends show a decline in print, the digital reading trends show readers want to be even more immersed in a story than ever before. Readers love it when their favorite authors allow the story to grow and bring them into it.

How we Interact with Story is Changing

Have you noticed "dark mode" on your devices? I read a fascinating article about holographic technology. In some ways, dark mode is a gateway to preparing our technology for holographic displays.

Important Geek note: Wordpress and other websites are using "blocks" in their design so they can control the way different types of words — think headings, paragraphs, pull quotes — display, preparing for this transition. You want to be using the latest technology in your website designs and in your writing. You want your writing to be stored in such a way that readers can use it in this future technology.

If you want a vision of where this is going, watch The Expanse. Their use of holographic technology is brilliant. And for fun, pause and zoom in on some displays. They put fun Easter eggs in there!

Holograms and dark mode use less energy than the displays we use now. If you're thinking about a greener future, this will be a part of it.

This future may seem unrealistic or distant until you think about how much money Google has put into developing holographic technology.

What About Virtual Reality?

If you haven't played with a VR headset yet, you may want to. ("Beat Saber" is a delightful way to get some exercise.)

You can add virtual monitors to your computer by using a VR headset at your desk.

Facebook/Meta has invested its reputation and a ton of money into making virtual reality a viable reality. The bones of the technology are in place. We're just waiting for it to become common.

But these are images! We work with words!

And words are NOT going away. Books and stories aren't going away.

Fans want to interact with your words and your worlds in new and creative ways.

The fastest-growing genre right now is graphic novels.

We work with words. Those words can now generate images. There is a learning curve to using this technology, and there's a big difference between generating a blog post cover image and creating a graphic novel. But it can be done, and done well. As the tools develop, new artists are coming into the writing space eager to partner with us, making the visual aspect of story even more accessible.

How people read is changing.

I know this point is contentious. But here at WITS, a high-performance blog, we all know the value of skimmable content. This doesn't mean dumbing down our content, but presenting it in a way that modern readers can come, get what they need, and leave quickly.

Images, headings, sentence and paragraph lengths: these work together to help modern readers get what they need from a post, and sometimes even from a story.

I remember when Pixabay was created. What a gift that is to authors who want to create beautiful blog posts! If you're going to share your blogs on social media, you need to have a good cover image. People scan social media feeds looking for interesting images. Midjourney and other AI artists are now available to help us create these unique images. (Check the usage rights!)

Again: Novels aren't going away. But digital readers want bonus content they can engage with, sometimes even before they buy the book.

Popular forms of content

For those who are wondering what sorts of content they can provide to their readers to take advantage of the digital reading trends, take a moment and look at your story worlds. Fans want:

• short stories that take place in the same world
• what happened next
• stories related to minor characters
• research tidbits
• insights into your process
• choose-your-own-adventure stories
• serial stories they can read in quick segments (like Vellum)
• stories they can influence (pick a character, surveys, etc.)

Think of ways to use your email list, your blog, and your social media to deliver this type of bonus content. If you look back at the marketing basics I've covered before, you will see that you can use social media to find new readers (discovery), then bring them back to your blog (consideration and conversion), then get them on your email list (relationship and retention).

Don't fear the future

The future is bright for authors.

We need to up our game. Just like we've switched from putting two spaces after a period to using only one, we need to make sure we're writing and storing our words in modern formats. (Example: a heading is a unique style or type of block, NOT just a bunch of larger text.) Like retraining our fingers to not add that extra space, or learning to repair our text later, this is a change in process, but it isn't impossible, and in the end, it is less work than doing a bunch of intricate formatting!

Now is the time to practice and play with these new technologies. This is your chance to ride the wave of this technology shift into the bright future of story. Let AI tools save you time so that you can focus on the more creative aspects of storytelling.

Addendum: message from an AI

Since completing this series, I've started playing with chat.openai.com (ChatGPT). You can experiment with it for free. This is a huge improvement on the previous ones I've tested, and I recommend that you go and play with it if you are curious how it can help writers to be more productive.

On a whim, I asked it to introduce itself to you.

As a large language model trained by OpenAI, I am capable of generating human-like text on a wide range of topics. This can be a useful tool for writers, as it allows them to quickly generate ideas and test out different scenarios in their writing. By using me, writers can experiment with different approaches and styles, helping them to find their voice and develop their craft. Additionally, because I am a machine learning model, I can help writers to overcome writer's block and generate new ideas that they may not have thought of on their own. Overall, using me as a writing tool can help writers to be more creative and productive in their work.

-ChatGPT

Welcome to the future!

Has this series given you ideas of how you can interact with your readers and bring them into the story with you?

About Lisa

Lisa Norman's passion has been writing since she could hold a pencil. While that is a cliché, she is unique in that she wrote her first novel on gum wrappers. As a young woman, she learned to program and discovered she has a talent for helping people and computers learn to work together and play nice. When she's not playing with her daughter, writing, or designing for the web, you can find her wandering the local beaches.

Lisa writes as Deleyna Marr and is the owner of Deleyna's Dynamic Designs, a web development company focused on helping writers, and Heart Ally Books, LLC, an indie publishing firm. She teaches for Lawson Writer's Academy.

Interested in learning more from Lisa? Sign up for her newsletter to see upcoming classes!

Top Image by Deleyna via Midjourney