Today I have the pleasure of welcoming as my guest author Janice Seagraves writing about Snappy Dialogue

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 Snappy Dialogue
By Janice Seagraves

I love writing snappy dialogue but then I learned from the masters. When I was a kid I watched old movies and found the best snappy dialogue that comes from the movies of the 30’s and 40’s.

Think Kathryn Hepburn, and Cary Grant. These are the two actors that I think of as the King and Queen of snappy dialogue.

And of course together they were magic.

Gary Grant and Katharine Hepburn together in Bringing Up BCby example:

Example 1:
Katharine Hepburn (Susan Vance): "Oh, I'm caught on something - David, help me, will you?"
Cary Grant (David Huxley): "Oh, no. That's poison ivy."
Katharine Hepburn (Susan Vance): "I bet you wouldn't treat Miss Swallow this way."
Cary Grant (David Huxley): "I bet Miss Swallow knows poison ivy when she sees it."
Katharine Hepburn (Susan Vance): "Yes, I bet poison ivy runs when it sees her."

Example 2:
Cary Grant (David Huxley): "But Susan, you can't climb in a man's bedroom window!"
Katharine Hepburn (Susan Vance): "I know, it's on the second floor!"

****

Example: His Girl Friday (In this one Cary Grant is opposite Rosalind Russell)
Cary Grant (Bruce): “Even ten minutes is a long time to be away from you.”
Rosalind Russell (Hildy): (She pauses and walks backwards to him.) “What did you say?”
Cary Grant (Bruce): “What?”
Rosalind Russell (Hildy): “Go on.” (He laughs sheepishly) “Well, go ahead.”
Cary Grant (Bruce): “Well, I just said, 'Even ten minutes is a long time to be away from you.'”
Rosalind Russell (Hildy): “I heard you the first time. I like it. That's why I asked you to say it again.”

****

Snappy dialogue isn’t clunky, it flows. There a teasing quality to it and you can’t help a grin when it goes just right.

Katharine Hepburn’s example:
Howard Hughes: [Doesn't hear what Kate says] “Excuse me?”
Katharine Hepburn: “Well, if you're deaf, you must own up to it. Get a hearing aid, or see my father. He's an urologist, but it's all tied up inside the body, don't you find?”
Howard Hughes: “Mmm.”
Katharine Hepburn: “Me, I keep healthy. I take 7 showers a day to keep clean, also because I'm so vulgarly referred to as ‘outdoors-y.’ Well, I'm not ‘outdoors-y,’ I'm athletic. I sweat! There it is, now we both know the sordid truth: I sweat, and you're deaf. Aren't we a fine pair of misfits?” 

****

I think some of my best scenes in my book, Windswept Shores, is where the dialogue just flows are the ones where the hero teases the heroine.

Windswept Shores example:

“If I had me a net, I could catch some of those fishies for dinner.” Seth paddled water while he gazed into the pool.”

 “Don’t you have a net on the boat?”

 “We usually use fishing poles.”

 “No, I mean to net the fish after you reel them in.” She swam over to him.

 “I don’t reckon you know the difference between fresh and salt water fishing, mate.”

 “Okay, what’s the difference?” She splashed water just in front of him.

 His smile twisted to the side. “When you fish in the sea, they're a mite bigger.”

 “Okay, smarty pants, how do you get the fish into the boat?”

 “You use a big stick with a hook to pull them in.”

 “Oh, I think I did see that somewhere.”

 “Probably, you accidentally lit on it when ya flipped through the channels on the box.”

****

The best way to learn snappy dialogue is to listen to it. Watch those wonderful films of the 30’s and 40’s, or anything that has snappy banter.

If you’re lucky enough to know people who pick and tease in the same manner, then listen to their conversations. And it might just make you smile.

It’s all in the ear. And it can be learned.

Windswept Shores’ example (it’s not all one sided, Megan gets her turn):

Walking back to the Dinki-Di, Seth complained with a glance at her bikini, “Why did you put your cossie back on?”

 “I’m not comfortable naked,” she explained. “What if someone showed up while I’m undressed?”

 He gazed around, then back down at her. “Megz, no one is here.”

 “No, but you showed up not once, but twice, didn’t you?”

 “Um, yeah,” Seth muttered with a slight frown.

 “Can’t argue with that, can you?” She grinned. I love winning an argument.

 ****

BLURB

The sole survivor of a plane crash, Megan is alone on a deserted island in the Bahamas until she finds a nearly-drowned man washed up on shore. Another survivor, this time from a boat wreck. With only meager survival skills between them, will they survive and can they find love?

Excerpt

Breathing hard, she flicked a glance at the teal-colored sea. She'd thought a vacation to the Bahamas would be the perfect getaway, would be a solution to the problems she and Jonathan had faced. She'd been wrong—dead wrong. Tears of grief filled her eyes. The never-ending crash of the waves on the beach and the cries of the seagulls seemed to mock her with the reminder she was utterly alone.

 She'd felt like a tiny speck of sand last night when a violent storm had swept across the island. It had made a mess of her meager campsite, which had taken all morning to fix, and had demolished her seaweed SOS sign. She'll have to recreate her SOS. Sighing, Megan trudged toward a pile of kelp. As she got closer, she saw a figure wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt. Her stomach lurched.

 Oh, God, it’s another body washed up from the plane wreck. That would be number twelve. As always, she couldn't help but wonder if the next one would be Jonathan. He hadn’t been wearing jeans on the plane, so she knew she’d been spared seeing his corpse this time. Thank God. She approached the body with dread. Tightening her resolve, she knelt. Suddenly the "dead body" coughed and rolled over. With a scream, Megan jumped back. She clutched her chest and pressed a shaking hand to her mouth.

 He’s alive!

Biting her lip, she stared down at the still-breathing man. His drenched t-shirt molded against his broad shoulders and well developed upper body. Short, golden brown hair stuck out in all directions.

 Megan, get control of yourself. Don’t wet your pants the first time you finally see a living person. She got on her knees, plucked the seaweed from him and wiped the sand from his face. His day-old whiskers scratched her palm. Reddened skin stretched across both cheekbones and over the bridge of his nose. Her thumb caressed his parched full bottom lip.

 She patted the side of his face. “Hey, are you okay?” That’s a dumb question. He isn’t okay.

 “Hmm?” Gray eyes fluttered open. He stared at her a long moment, frowning slightly. “G’day.”

 “Hello there.” She hated the sound of her voice. It sounded rusty, unused.

 Abruptly he rolled away from her to heave onto the sand, making a loud, ugly retching noise.

 He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, then looked at her. “Sorry, mate, I swallowed too much sea.” His gaze went over her shoulder in the direction of the bonfire which crackled and popped not far from them. “Mite big for a barbie.”

 Sitting back on her heels with her hands folded in her lap, Megan followed his gaze, then back to him. “My signal fire.”

 “Signal for what?”

 “Help.”

 His accent intrigued her. Was he English or Australian?

 “G’darn,” he looked around, “where the bloody hell am I?”

 “Don’t know. There’s no one here to ask.” Megan shrugged helplessly, but couldn’t contain her curiosity. “Are you from England?”

 “Naw,” he rubbed his eyes, “I hail from Sydney, but my port of call these days is Fort Lauderdale.” He blinked up at her. “You?”

 Ah, he’s an Aussie. “I’m Megan Lorry, from Anaheim, California,” she said, barely loud enough to be heard above the sounds of the surf and the roar from the fire. “Are you a survivor of Air Bahamas flight 227, too?”
□

BIO -  JANICE SEAGRAVES

 When not writing late into the night, Janice takes care of her hubby of thirty-one years and a just grown daughter. They are owned by an overly affectionate cat and two dogs, one of which is a floppy German Shepard puppy and the other a mixed, short legged, long waisted yard digger.

You can find Janice’s book, Windswept Shores, at Pink Petal Books:http://pinkpetalbooks.com/Windswept-Shores-Janice-Seagraves.html

Windswept Shores’ book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_r2NXKT0Sg
Janice Seagraves’s website: http://janiceseagraves.org/
Her main blog: http://ladyjanice.blogspot.com/
Face book page: http://www.facebook.com/janice.seagraves
And twitter: http://twitter.com/janiceseagraves

Janice would love to hear your comments.  And don't forget the contest. Go back to the top of the page and click on "Comments" to leave yours and enter.

A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT APPROACH TO DEVELOPING CHARACTERS - PART III

Part III of this article touches on the ages groups we might be using more often in novels for our main characters.  Individuals born from 1960 through 1979 would be 31 to 50 years of age in 2010.

As previously mentioned, while people are products of genetics, environment, and experience, we all continue to change during our lives.  External events which occur after the formative years of 5 through 15 will contribute to the reasons why people change as well as providing some of the external inciting incidents.

PEOPLE BORN BETWEEN  1960 AND 1969 WOULD BE FROM 41 TO 50 YEARS OLD IN 2010
Now we’re getting into the age group which might affect your primary characters.  This age group would have been influenced in the formative years by the following events:

 1965 - 1973        Vietnam War (another source says 1961-1975)

 1960 - 1969       Top films of decade include:
                             101 Dalmatians (1961),  Mary Poppins (1964),
                             Goldfinger (1964), Doctor Zhivago (1965),
                             The Sound of Music (1965), The Jungle Book
                             (1967), You Only Live Twice (1967),Thunderball
                             (1965)
                             

1960 – 1969       Most Popular TV shows:

                             Beverly Hillbillies, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Bonanza, The Andy Griffith Show, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In, Twilight Zone, Days of Our Lives, Star Trek, Coronation Street, Hawaii Five-0, General Hospital, Bat Man, Dr. Who.

1960 - 1969        New Foods introduced:  Pop‑Tarts, Buffalo Wings (Anchor Bar, Buffalo NY), Coca cola in cans,
Ruffles potato chips, Lucky Charms, Chiffon Margarine, Seven Seas Salad Dressing, Yoplait Yogurt, Carnation Instant Breakfast, Instant mashed potatoes.

1960 - 1969        Top popular songs: Camelot (1960), Moon River (1961), I Want to Hold Your Hand (1964),
The Shadow of Your Smile (1965), Yesterday (1965), Mrs. Robinson (1967), Hey Jude (1968), My Way (1969)

 What they grew up hearing and reading:

1960 - The halogen lamp invented
1960 - First Laser developed
1960 - Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho released
1960 - Brazil's Capital Moves to brand new city

1960 - First televised Presidential debates
1960 - Lasers invented

1961 - Adolf Eichmann on trial for role in Holocaust
1961 - Bay of Pigs invasion
1961 - JFK becomes President
1961 - Saudi-Arabia & Arab states take over defense of Kuwait
            from British in face of Iraqi threat.
1961 - Berlin wall built/stop East Germans from fleeing
1961 - Yuri Gagarin becomes first human in space
1961 - Valium and nondairy creamer invented
1961 - Berlin Wall built
1961 - Peace Corps founded
1961 - Soviets launch first man in space

1962 - Andy Warhol exhibits his Campbell's Soup Can
1962 - Cuban missile crisis
1962 - The audio cassette invented
1962 - Spacewar, the first computer video game invented
1962 - Dow Corp invents silicone breast implants
1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis
1962 - Marilyn Monroe Found Dead     
1962 - Rachel Carson Publishes Silent Spring

1963 - The first videodisc invented
1963 - JFK assassinated
1963 - Martin Luther King Jr. "I Have a Dream" Speech
1963 - Pope John XXIII dies 

1964 - Beatles become popular in U.S.
1964 - Brezhnev takes over from Khrushchev
1964 - PLO formed
1964 - Civil Rights Act adopted
1964 - Acrylic paint & permanent-press fabric invented
1964 - BASIC (an early computer language) invented
1964 - Muhammad Ali wins World Heavyweight title
1964 - Hasbro launches GI Joe Action Figure
1964 - Nelson Mandela sentenced to life in prison
1964 - Warren Report on JFK's Assassination issued

1965 - Japan's Bullet Train opens
1965 - Astroturf, soft contact lenses, NutraSweet, compact disc
            & Kevlar invented
1965 - Los Angeles riots


1965 - Malcolm X assassinated
1965 - New York City Great Blackout
1965 - U.S. sends troops to Vietnam

1966 - Black Panther Party established
1966 - Electronic fuel injection for cars invented
1966 - Star Trek T.V. series airs

1967- First heart transplant
1967 - The first handheld calculator invented
1967 - Six Day war between Isreal and neighboring Arabs
1967 - First Super Bowl
1967 – Six-Day War in the Middle East 

1968 - Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated
1968 - Student riots in Paris
1968 - The computer mouse invented
1968 - First computer with integrated circuits built
1968 - Robert F. Kennedy assassinated

1969 - ARPANET, the precursor of the Internet, Created.
1969 - The artificial heart, ATM, & barcode scanner
1969 - Richard Nixon becomes President
1969 - US astronauts land on moon/ Neil Armstrong
1969 - Charles Manson and "Family" arrested
1969 – Rock-and-Roll Concert at Woodstock

1969 - Sesame Street first airs
1969 - Yasser Arafat becomes leader of the PLO
1969 - Aswan High Dam completed
1969 - Beatles Break Up
1969 - Computer Floppy Disks Introduced

1969 - Palestinian Group Hijacks Five Planes
1969 - Kent State Shootings

PEOPLE BORN BETWEEN 1970 AND 1979 WOULD BE FROM 31 TO 40 YEARS OLD IN 2010
This age group would have been influenced in the formative years by the following events:

1979 - 1989-       Afghanistan-Soviet Occupation

1970 - 1979        Top films of decade include:
The Exorcist (1973), Jaws (1975), Star Wars (1977), Saturday Night Fever (1977), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977/80), Grease (1978), Superman (1978), Jaws 2 (1978), Moonraker (1979)

 1970 – 1979       The most popular TV shows:

                             Laverne and Shirley,Marcus Welby, MD, All In The Family, Happy Days,  60 Minutes, Saturday Night Live, The Young and The Restless, Days of Our Lives, Little House on the Prairie, Coronation Street, Hawaii Five-O, Monday Night Football.

 1970 - 1979        New Foods introduced: Orville Redenbacher's Popping Corn, Hamburger Helper, Morton's salt substitute, Snapple, Quaker Oates granola, Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies, Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream,  Reese's Pieces.

 1970 - 1979        Top popular songs:

                             Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970), American Pie (1971), The Way We Were (1973), You Are the Sunshine of My Life (1973), Just the Way You Are (1978), Night Fever (1978)

What they grew up hearing and reading about:

1970 - The daisy‑wheel printer invented

1971 - India-Pakistan War
1971 - Starbucks founded
1971 - The dot‑matrix printer invented
1971 - The food processor invented
1971 - The liquid-crystal display (LCD) invented
1971 - The microprocessor, VCR, and compact disc invented

1972 - The word processor invented
1972 - Pong (first video game) invented/ Nolan Bushnell.

1972 - Mark Spitz Wins Seven Gold Medals
1972 - Pocket Calculators Introduced
1972 - Terrorists Attack at the Olympic Games in Munich
1972 - Watergate Scandal Begins

1973 - Gene splicing invented.
1973 - The ethernet (local computer network) invented by Robert
            Metcalfe and Xerox.
1973 - Bic introduces the disposable lighter
1973 - The Egg McMuffin introduced
1973 - Abortion Legalized in U.S.
1973 - Paul Getty kidnapped
1973 - Sears Tower built
1973 - U.S. pulls out of Vietnam
1973 - U.S. Vice President resigns

1974 - The Post-it Notes invented by Arthur Fry
1974 - Giorgio Fischer invents liposuction
1974 - Patty Hearst Kidnapped
1974 - Terracotta Army discovered in China
1974 - U.S. President Nixon resigns

 1975 - Betamax and VHS invented
1975 - Margaret Thatcher made Prime Minister/England
1975 - The laser printer invented
1975 - The push-through tab on a drink can invented
1975 - Arthur Ashe First Black Man to win Wimbledon
1975 - Civil War in Lebanon
1975 - Microsoft founded
1975 - CBGB (Country Bluegrass & Blues) club in New York
             showcases "punk rock."

1976 - Burger King launches "Have it Your Way"
1976 - Perrier Water introduced in U.S.
1976 - Denny's introduces Grand Slam Breakfast
1976 - The ink-jet printer invented
1976 - Nadia Comaneci given seven perfect tens in Olympics
1976 - North & South Vietnam form Socialist Republic of Vietnam
1976 - Tangshan Earthquake kills over 240,000

1977 - Recyclable soda bottles & plastic grocery bags introduced
1977 - Apple personal computer invented
1977 - Magnetic resonance imaging invented
1977 - Elvis dies
1977 - The movie Saturday Night Fever popularizes disco music

1978 - Pope John Paul I dies/ Pope for only 33 days
1978 - The artificial heart Jarvik-7 invented/R. Jarvik
1978 - Hip hop (blend of rock, jazz, and soul) born in South Bronx.
1978 - First test‑tube baby born
1978 - Pope Paul VI dies/ Pope for 15 years
1978 - John Paul II becomes Pope
1978 - Jonestown Massacre

1979 - Cellular phones, Walkman, & roller blades invented.
1979 - Ayatollah Khomeini returns as leader of Iran/
            takes American hostages in Tehran
1979 - Mother Theresa awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
                            

1979 - Mount St. Helens Erupts
1979 - Nuclear Accident at Three Mile Island
1979 - Failed U.S. attempt to save hostages in Tehran
1979 - John Lennon assassinated

Part IV deals with 1980 through the present. As we move into the last thirty plus years, this idea wanes with respect to character development.  These are current events which mold and affect us all, and which are more likely to be used as the settings or external activities within a novel, or to give authors ideas about futuristic scenarios.

Still, it's interesting to see these years and the accelerated pace of development. Visit me and read Part IV on June 4 just for the fun of it.  I'd love to hear your comments.

A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT APPROACH TO DEVELOPING CHARACTERS - Part II
  

In Part I of this blog, I introduced the idea that because people, and therefore our fictional characters, are the products of genetics, environment, and experience, the events which took place and the attitudes and values which prevailed during the first fifteen years of their lives have a big influence on their core values, beliefs, expectations, and self-image.  Writers can use this approach to enrich their characters on the page.

Part I deals with the events that took place between 1910 through 1939.  Individuals born during these decades would be 71 to 100 year-old age group in 2010.

Part II, covering 1940 through 1960, would apply to your characters in the 50 to 70 age group.  Think about how the following events might have contributed to their attitudes and values.

PEOPLE BORN BETWEEN 1940 AND 1950 WOULD BE FROM 60 TO 70 YEARS OLD IN 2010
This age group would have been influenced in the formative years by the following events

1940 - 1949      Top films of decade include:

                           Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940), Bambi (1942), This is the Army (1943), The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), Duel in the Sun (1946), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Song of the South (1946), Mom and Dad (1947), Samson and Delilah (1949)

 1940 - 1949     New foods introduced: M&M’s, Cherrios, Post Raisin Bran, Dannon yogurt, Chiquita bananas, Redi-Whip, Fritos Corn Chips, Almond Joy candy bar, V8 Vegetable Juice, Kraft American cheese slices.

 1940-1950       Most popular TV shows:  The Milton Berle Show and Kraft Television Theatre

 1940 - 1949      Top popular songs: Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (1940), When You Wish Upon a Star (1940), Chattanooga Choo‑Choo (1941), White Christmas (1942),  Ac‑cent‑tchuate the Positive (1945), There's No Business Like Show Business (1946), Riders in the Sky (1949)

 1941 - 1945      Holocaust

 What they grew up hearing about:

1940 - P.Goldmark invents modern color TV system

1941 - The first computer controlled by software
1941 - Aerosol spray cans and neutronic reactor invented
1941 - Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor
1941 - Jeep invented
1941 - Manhattan Project begins
1941 - Mount Rushmore completed

1942 - First nuclear Reactor built

1942 - Anne Frank goes into hiding
1942 - First electronic digital computer built by John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry
1942 - Japanese‑Americans held in camps
1942 - T‑shirt introduced
1942 - Max Mueller designs a turboprop engine.

1943 - Italy Joins the Allies
1943 - Synthetic rubber, the slinky, silly putty invented
1943 - The hallucinogenic properties of LSD discovered
1943 - Aqualung invented/ E.Gagnan & Jacques Cousteau

1944 - The kidney dialysis machine invented/Willem Kolff
1944 - Ballpoint Pens go on sale
1944 - D‑Day
1944 - First German V1 and V2 Rockets Fired

1944 - Hitler escapes assassination attempt

1945 - FDR Dies
1945 - United Nations is formed
1945 - The atomic bomb invented and dropped

      
1945 - First computer built
1945 - Germans surrender
1945 - United Nations founded
1945 - Bikinis introduced
1945 - Juan Perón becomes President of Argentina
1945 - Nuremberg Trials

 1946 - The microwave oven invented by Percy Spencer.

 1947 - Dennis Gabor developed the theory of holography.
1947 - Mobile phones first invented.
1947 - Earl Silas Tupper patented the Tupperware seal

           
1947 - Polaroid cameras invented
1947 - Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier
1947 - Dead Sea Scrolls discovered
1947 - First holography
1947 - The Marshall Plan

1948 - Columbia Records introduces "long playing" vinyl record.
1948 - Berlin Airlift
1948 - The Frisbee and Velcro invented
1948 - Arab-Israeli conflicts
1948 - "Big Bang" Theory Formulated
1948 - "Dewey Defeats Truman" in the newspapers

1948 - Gandhi assassinated
1948 - State of Israel founded
1948 - Ghandi assassinated

1949 - Mao Tse Tung / China Becomes Communist
1949 - The first cake mix introduced
1949 - First Non-Stop Flight Around the World
1949 - George Orwell Publishes Nineteen Eighty Four
1949 - NATO Established

PEOPLE BORN BETWEEN 1950 AND 1960 WOULD BE FROM 50 TO 60 YEARS OLD IN 2010
This age group would have been influenced in the formative years by the following events:

1950 - 1953     Korean War

1950 - 1959     Top films include:

                          Cinderella (1950), This is Cinerama (1952), Peter Pan (1953),
                          The Robe (1953), Lady and the Tramp (1955), The Ten
                          Commandements (1956), Around the World in 80 Days (1956),
                          South Pacific (1958), Ben-Hur (1959), Sleeping Beauty (1959).

1950 - 1959     Most popular TV shows:

                          I Love Lucy, Texaco Star Theater, Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts,
                          The $64,000 Question, Gunsmoke, Twilight Zone, Bonanza,
                          As the World Turns, What's My Line, Perry Mason, Ed Sullivan.

1950 - 1959     New Foods Introduced: Kellogg's Sugar Pops, Minute Rice,
                          Lawry's Seasoned Salt, Swanson TV Dinners, Lipton's
                          Onion Soup Mix, Clarence Birdseye introduced forzen peas,
                          Cheeze Whiz (Kraft), Star-Kist canned tuna, Eggo frozen waffles.
 
What people in this age group grew up hearing and reading about:

1950 - The first credit car (Diner's Club) introduced
1950 - First organ transplant
1950 - First Peanuts cartoon strip
1950 - Korean War begins
1950 - President Truman orders construction of first hydrogen bomb

1951 - Color TV introduced
1951 - Truman signs Peace Treaty with Japan, ending WWII

1952 - Car seatbelts introduced
1952 - Jacques Cousteau discovers ancient Greek ship
1952 - Polio vaccine created
1952 - Princess Elizabeth becomes Queen at age 25

1953 - Queen Elizabeth II coronated

1953 - DNA discovered
1953 - Hillary and Norgay climb Mt. Everest
1953 - Joseph Stalin dies

1954 - First atomic submarine launched
1954 - Report says cigarettes cause cancer
1954 - Roger Bannister breaks the four-minute mile

1955 - First fiber optics invented
1955 - Disneyland opens
1955 - James Dean dies in car accident
1955 - McDonald's corporation founded
1955 - Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a bus
1955 - Warsaw Pact signed

1956 - Elvis Pressley makes his appearance on Ed Sullivan show

1956 - Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier III of Monaco
1956 - Suez crisis
1956 - TV remote control invented
1956 - Velcro introduced
1956 - Hungarian Revolution

1957 - Dr. Seuss publishes The Cat In The Hat
1957 - Russians launch Sputnick
1957 - Small dog Laika becomes first living creature in space

1958 - Pope Pius XII dies
1958 - Charles De Caulle becomes President of France
1958 - The modem, the laser, and the Hula Hoop invented
1958 - Lego Toy Bricks introduced
1958 - The integrated circuit invented by J.Kilby & R. Noyce
1958 - NASA founded

1959 - Castro becomes dictator of Cuba

   
1959 - Nixon-Khrushchev Kitchen Debates
1959 - Sound of Music opens on Broadway
1959 - The internal pacemaker invented by Wilson Greatbatch
1959 - First Barbie Doll (She's over 50 now)
1959 - The microchip invented

Are you beginning to detect a difference in what values and expectations people in this age group might hav?.  Do you think about that when you read or write a novel?

Make comment by clicking the word "Comments" at the very top.  I want to hear from you.

A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT APPROACH TO DEVELOPING CHARACTERS - PART I

Nearly all craft classes for writers teach, in one way or another, that people (and therefore our characters) are the products of genetics, environment, and experience.  These three factors are keys to identifying character goals, motivations, and conflicts.  While human beings are influenced by external events and the resulting attitudes and technology throughout their lives, the formative years between the ages of five and fifteen are significant in establishing individual values, beliefs, expectations, and self-image.  Naturally, people continue to change, but these formative years set the stage.

Years ago, in a former life, I ran onto this approach to character development in a class to given to government employees who dealt with the public.  The purpose was to help them better understand the needs and attitudes of the people they were trying to serve, with the intent of providing better service.  It was a great class and, believe it or not, made a difference.  Years later, after I began to write fiction, it occurred to me that looking at the events that occurred during a character’s formative years could give insight to their core values and expectations.  This has to be used in conjunction with the more traditional approaches, but it can provide writers with another tool for developing vivid and realistic characters.

How you use this information depends on what genre you are writing.  Regardless, it provides some insight into character, and it’s just plain interesting.

PEOPLE BORN BETWEEN 1910 & 1919 WOULD BE FROM  91 TO 100 YEARS OLD IN 2010
This age group may not be important to authors who don’t write historicals, but you might end up with a character this old.  People in this age group would have been influenced in the formative years by the following events.

1910 - 1920   The Mexican Revolution

1910 – 1919  Top popular songs: Alexander's Ragtime Band (1911), My Melancholy Baby (1912),On Moonlight Bay (1912, St. Louis Blues (1914), Over There (1917), Rock‑a‑Bye Your Baby(1918), Swanee (1919)

1914 - 1918   World War I
1915               Release of one of first movies-The Birth of a Nation

1916               President Woodrow Wilson makes "The Star‑Spangled Banner" the national anthem.

1917 - 1921   The Russian Revolution

1918               Armistice in Europe

PEOPLE BORN BETWEEN 1920 AND 1929 WOULD BE FROM  81 TO 90 YEARS OLD IN 2010
This age group would have been influenced in the formative years by the following events:

1920 ‑ 1929   Top popular songs: Whispering (1920), Ain't We Got Fun? (1921),  April Showers (1921), Someone to Watch Over Me (1926), My Blue Heaven (1927), Ol' Man River (1927), I Can't Give You Anything But Love (1928), Star Dust (1929), Ain't Misbehavin’ (1929)

What they grew up hearing and reading about:
1920 - Bubonic Plague in India
1920 - First Commercial Radio Broadcast Aired
1920 - League of Nations Established
1920 - Prohibition Begins in the U.S.
1920 - Women Granted the Right to Vote in U.S.
1920 - Ida Rosenthal invented bra cup sizes

1921 - Treaty of Versailles

1922 - Jazz musician Duke Ellington organized his band
1922 - Soviet States form USSR
1922 - Tomb of King Tut Discovered
1922 - The Reader's Digest Published
1922 – Mussolini’s march on Rome

1923 - Hearing Aid invented
1923 - Charleston Dance Becomes Popular

1923 - Teapot Dome Scandal
1923 - Time Magazine Founded

1924 - First Olympic Winter Games
1924 - J. Edgar Hoover Appointed FBI Director
1924 - V.I. Lenin Dies
1924 - Hitler writes Mien Kampf
1924 - Liquid rocket fuel invented

1925 - Flapper Dresses in Style

1926 - ATalkie movies invented
1926 - A.A. Milne Publishes Winnie‑the‑Pooh
1926 - Houdini Dies After Being Punched
1926 - A woman swims the English Channel
1926 – R.H.Goddard invents liquid‑fueled rockets.

1927 - PEZ candy and bubble gum introduced
1927 - The quartz crystal watch, Technicolor, a complete electronic
            TV system, and the iron lung invented
1927 - Babe Ruth sets the Home‑Run Record
1927 - The First Talking Movie, The Jazz Singer
1927 - Lindbergh Flies Solo Across the Atlantic
1927 - Erik Rotheim patents an aerosol can

1928 - First differential analyzing computer invented
1928 - Jacob Schick patented the electric shaver.
1928 - Penicillin discovered
1928 - First Mickey Mouse Cartoon

1928 - First Oxford English Dictionary Published
1928 - Sliced Bread Invented

1929 - The car radio and the yo-you invented
1929 - Byrd and Bennett Fly Over South Pole
1929 - First Academy Awards
1929 - New York Stock Market Crashes
1929 - St. Valentine's Day Massacre
1929 - Gandhi's Salt March
1929 - Pluto Discovered
1929 - Great Stock market crash/ Great Depression

PEOPLE BORN BETWEEN 1930 AND 1939 WOULD BE FROM  71 TO 80 YEARS OLD IN 2010
This age group would have been influenced in the formative years by the following events:

1930 - 1939     Talkie films first produced.  Top films of decade
       include:
       Hell's Angels (1930), Frankenstein (1931),
       King Kong (1933), Snow White and the Seven
       Dwarfs (1937), Gone With The Wind (1939), The
       Wizard of Oz (1939), The Woman in Red (1935),
       San Francisco (1936), Lost Horizon (1937), Mr.
       Smith Goes to Washington (1939).

1930 - 1939     New foods introduced: Birds Eye Frosted Foods,
       Wonder Bread, Hostess Twinkies, Bisquick, Ritz
       Crackers, Kit Kat Bar, Life Savers, Kix Cereal,
       Lawry’s Seasoned Salt, Lay’s Potato Chips.

1930 - 1939     Top popular songs: I Got Rhythm (1930), Mood Indigo (1931),
       Brother Can You Spare A Dime? (1932), Stormy Weather (1933),
       Begin the Beguine (1935), I've Got You Under My Skin (1935),
       Summertime (1935), They Can't Take That Away From Me
       (1937), God Bless America (1938), Over the Rainbow (1939)

What they grew up hearing about:

1930 - Scotch tape patented by 3M engineer
1930 - Frozen food process patented by C.Birdseye.
1930 - The analog computer invented
1930 - Jet engine invented by F. Whittle and Hans von Ohain

1931 - Al Capone Imprisoned for Income Tax Evasion
1931 - Auguste Piccard Reaches Stratosphere
1931 - Empire State Building Completed
1931 - U.S. Officially Gets National Anthem
1931 - Harold Edgerton invented stop action photography.
1931 - Germans co-invent the electron microscope

1932 - Radio City Music Hall opens featuring Rockettes
1932 - Polaroid photography invented/ E.H. Land
1932 - Air Conditioning Invented
1932 - First woman flies solo across Atlantic/Amelia Earhardt

1932 - Lindbergh's Baby Kidnapped
1932 - Scientists Split the Atom
1932 - Zippo Lighters Introduced
1932 - Loch Ness Monster First Spotted
1932 - Prohibition Ends in the U.S.
1932 - Wiley Post Flies Around World in 8 ½ Days

1933 - Adolf Hitler Becomes Chancellor of Germany
1933 - FDR Launches New Deal
1932 - The zoom lens, light meter, and parking meter invented.
1932 - Karl Jansky invents the radio telescope
1933 - FM radio and stereo records invented
1933 - R.M. Hollingshead builds a prototype drive-in movie theater in his driveway

1934 - Chas.Darrow claims creation of  Monopoly game.
1934 - Bonnie and Clyde Killed by Police
1934 - The cheeseburger introduced
1934 - The Dust Bowl
1934 - First tape recorder for broadcasting and first magnetic recording.

1935 - Wallace Carothers and DuPont Labs invent nylon
1935 - Alcoholics Anonymous founded
1935 - The first canned beer made.
1935 - Robert Watson‑Watt patented radar

1936 - Electric guitar debuts

1936 - Spanish Civil War
1936 - Hoover Dam completed
1936 - King Edward VIII abdicates
1936 - Nazi Olympics in Berlin
1936 - Samuel Colt patents the Colt revolver

1937 - Chester F. Carlson invents the photocopier
1937 - Amelia Earhart Vanishes
1937 - Golden Gate Bridge opened
1937 - The Hindenberg disaster

 1937 - First jet engine built
1937 - Picasso paints “Guernica”

1938 - The ballpoint pen, Strobe light, and Teflon invented
1938 - The first working turboprop engine
1938 - Panic over War of the Worlds broadcast

1939 - First Commercial Flight over the Atlantic
1939 - Igor Sikorsky invents the first successful helicopter
1939 - The electron microscope invented
1939 - Germans occupy Czechoslovakia
1939 - World War II begins
1939 - Helicopter Invented

1939 - Leon Trotsky Assassinated
1939 - Nylon hose on the Market
1939 - Stone Age Cave Paintings Found in France
1939 - Pope Pius XI dies after being Pope for 17 years

Think about what kinds of values and attitudes would be likely for people who grew up without TV, frozen food (even refrigerators in some cases), computers, cell phones, and singing ‘Ole Man River.  Next Monday, we’ll take a look at the decades between 1940 and 1960.

I’d love to hear what you have to say about this idea and if you find the approach helpful.

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