Primordial Soup: Places & Vices

**This post is part of the Primordial Soup series**

The goal of this series is to help writers tap into the near limitless wealth of their own memories.  Analyzing and organizing this information for better creation of characters, plots, and emotional textures.

The first post went over ways to organize this information and a first ingredient to start the soup.  We’ll go over a couple of other ingredients we can toss in and some examples of the writing they can spawn.

In order to make the soup as rich as possible you need to analyze your memories not just on the surface, but from all possible angles.  The moments leading up to a memory and its immediate aftermath can help frame the experience.  Emotions felt during that time are especially important—if not the most important—to your writing.  Those textures cannot be faked or forced yet are essential to the kind of writing that pulls the reader in.  You might even want to ask other people who share the memory for their side (thanks for the tip Terrie) because often times you’ll be surprised by what they’ve remembered.

Places

How many stories about places are really thinly veiled lessons in life or rites of passage?  The summer vacation at the family beach house (countless loves stories have started EXACTLY that way); the year spent abroad in Europe after graduating college (a staple of "finding your true self" tales); or even returning home after many years gone (yet another "finding yourself" staple).  Sometimes these places fall under popular clichés and sometimes you can transpose the emotions and experiences. 

For example, my time in Costa Rica has always been inextricably linked to the last of my childhood.  When I wrote the post Early Days: Costa Rica I tapped not only into the jungles of the country, but the sadness that came from realizing the end of something was near.

As strange as being thrust into a foreign country with a new school and new home was, it’s the only time I can ever remember being a kid.  My entire childhood was peppered with adult level bullshit in one form or another (especially when we left Costa Rica for good), but while in that sweltering jungle republic I felt the freedom of being a child.  Carefree for the first time, I did all the stereotypical kid things I had only read about (seriously).  Riding my bike with friends, climbing trees, and getting into trouble.  This may sound like Norman Rockwell Americana shit, but I honestly had no concept of what it was to be this way until then.

~ Cuban Nomad | Early Days: Costa Rica

Hidden within the places in your life are layers of existence often overlooked.  Start with this breakdown and see where it takes you.

• Where were you born?
  • Is it part of your identity?
    • If not, why?
• Where did you grow up?
  • What emotion can you most vividly remember throughout?
  • Were you dying to get out or happy to be there?
  • Do you ever go back?
    • If not, why?
• Where are you living now?
  • Is it the same as where you grew up or different?
    • If different, how does that make you feel?
      • Did you seek it out?
        • What drew you there?
    • If the same, are you happy or resigned?

Vices

Characters are only as good as their traits.  Evil ones have to show how wretched they are, from kicking puppies to the lengths they’ll go to make your protagonist’s life unbearable.  Heroes should be flawed (unless you’re working with straight archetypes), making them more relatable to your audience.  Maybe they’re battling the bottle while battling bad guys, like to chain smoke when they’re in a crisis or simply can’t help from double dipping into the cookie jar. 

Whatever it may be, these pieces are essential to creating people you can root for or enjoy seeing thwarted.  Stick figure characters won’t illicit emotional reactions from your audience because they can’t grasp the thinly conceived players.  If the audience doesn’t connect with your characters then you’ve lost before you even started.  Vices are a great way to make that connection.  For those that share them, they’ll see a bit of themselves in the protagonist.  Those who don’t can live vicariously through your character’s actions or revile them for it.

First start with a catalogue of your own.  Think about the taste of a cigarette, the burn of good whiskey or the rush from an impulse buy.  If you find yourself lacking in this department think about the vices your friends have.  Do you nag them about it, occasionally share in the mischief or remain puzzled by it? 

Dissect the vice itself:

• What’s good about it?
  • What initially drew you to it?
• What’s bad about it?
  • What would happen if you had to stop?
• Have you been or seen others destroyed by vice?

Also think about what others told you about vice.  How did it shape your viewpoint?  Did it infect you with fear or entice you to join in?

Let Me Know

Are these exercises and tips helping you achieve more richness in your writing?  If they are, give us a link to the writing in the comments so we can enjoy it.  If you think we should add more detail or have other suggestions, please feel free leave a comment as well.

Table of Contents: Primordial Soup

1. Make a Batch of Primordial Soup
2. Primordial Soup: Places & Vices ◄ You Are Here

Related posts: (Auto Generated)

1. Make a Batch of Primordial Soup **This post is part of the Primordial Soup series** The...