writing the stanowski method of peeling onions

young son so
7:33
if we take that tell me about what you're saying through the Prisma of those character so I I used to do this
7:40
uh I and and this also derives from the stanowski method but I used to teach
7:45
characterization as an onion so you you have on the outside of a person I don't
7:52
necessarily mean the outside in the way that they perform themselves in the world because that's always a delicate
7:57
and elaborate dance hiding a lot of things uh displaying a lot of things you
8:03
know uh negotiating a lot of things but in in terms of the the psychic economy
8:09
of that character in the outer shell are the traits H and he he's he's got a green
8:18
shirt on it's got a little Insignia uh nice haircut you know he he holds one
8:24
you know all the things that you can use to make a character Visual and visible
8:29
to the reader yeah but those traits come from somewhere H right they derive from
8:37
things that are farther on the in the interior of the onion and uh the beneath
8:44
that level of surface you know physical traits or or behavioral
8:50
traits you might have mannerisms like he likes
8:56
to uh unnerve people right whenever somebody says something
9:03
instead of saying all right he'll say what do you mean by that and and that
9:08
mannerism of of uh uh challenging or subverting or undercutting somebody man
9:14
there's a sensitivity of awareness that you must really have to have and is that
9:21
something that you're cultivating I think it can be cultivated because I don't think I ever came by any of this
9:27
naturally you know I if if you're talking about you know various uh
9:33
distribution curves of people some of whom have very high emotional intelligence are immediately aligned
9:39
with uh reading other people and then other people you know the cliche is the
9:44
other end of the spectrum are people who do better with machines or or mathematical Concepts or I'm probably on
9:51
that side of that Spectrum but I I I do think we can all we are all conversent
9:59
you know to some degree with finding you know equivalence and and analoges across
10:05
the ways of knowing the world so the next level inside of mannerisms would be
The Role of Inner Values in Drama
10:11
what What I Call Core inner values and what I I get this again from people who
10:17
have done a lot of thinking uh about the creation and inhabiting of characters so
10:24
but by a value has to be something like
10:30
honesty or Fidelity or perseverance right so so so we're now
10:39
seeing Oh the reason he holds his hand like that is he
10:47
he has a manner where he wants to set other people at
10:52
ease um and underneath that manner of wanting to set people at ease is the
10:59
value of complicity or or attentiveness or you know whatever it is but you see how
11:06
multiple values can drive the same mannerism multiple mannerisms can be can lie behind the same trait so you have to
11:12
find you have to find ways of making coherence so that the outward behavior
11:17
of the person is both hiding and revealing things that they need things
11:24
that they want to preserve in the world and and I I would always challenge my stud I would say push him to the wall
11:32
push him to the wall yeah so I'd say you know this guy is a good guy you know he
11:38
he values honesty but you know he also values Fidelity
11:44
now put him in a place where he cannot have both so now you got to make a
11:50
choice yeah what is what is your core in value and what one will fall by the
11:55
wayside when push comes to shove because you got to choose and the the scenarios
12:01
are obvious you know your friend has just done something
12:06
wrong do you go to him and say look man you got to pay for that you have to own
12:13
up to that or do you say I'm a good faithful friend I I you know I'm just going to support this guy I'll be with
12:19
you no matter what yeah that's a story in fact that's 10,000 Stories right so
12:26
what I'm hearing you say is you take these two values and you take them to the extreme you almost make somebody
12:32
fight those two values internally yeah what would it take what situation or
12:37
challenge would it take to force that person to have to jump ship from one and embrace the other
12:45
now that's drama and that's a very specific kind of drama it's interior
12:51
drama um and in the hierarchy of drama that I learned way back in grade school
The Three Levels of Drama
12:57
yeah back in the day very sexist language that woul

8*** 

Here are 17 lessons: 1. When you're sure what you're looking at, look harder. 2. There are ultimately only three kinds of novels:

(1) Person vs. person,

(2) person vs. society, and

(3) person vs. environment.

3. Person vs. Person: This is the psychological novel.

4. Person vs. Society: This is the sociological novel.

5. Person vs. Environment: This type of novel has gone out of style, and Richard is bringing it back.

6. Clear out the clutter in your life so you can focus on your writing. The fewer complications you have, the more rich and textured your creative process can become.

7. The best writing advice he's ever received? “Keep your petri dishes open.” Don't tie down your plans or outlines too tightly.

8. There are two kinds of writers: Top-Down and Bottom Up.

9. Top-Down writers: Start with the theme and the formal shape that'll drive the story.

10. Bottom-Up writers: Start with people, faces, voices, and local events… then gravitate toward the design of the book.

11. How do you create compelling characters? Push them to the wall. Make them choose between their top two core values.

12. English speakers are innately bilingual because they can use Latin-inspired words and Anglo-Saxon ones.

13. Editing is the art of excavating what your subconscious mind already knows. 14. When writing dialogue, read it out loud to yourself. That's how readers will read it, too. They'll subvocalize.

15. For years, Richard wrote and wrote and wouldn't leave the computer until he had 1,000 words on the page.

16. “If you would learn the secrets of nature, you must practice more humanity.”

17. “The best arguments in the world won’t change a single person’s mind. The only thing that can do that is a good story.” And finally, what's his goal as a writer? Here it is: “We have this sense that structure is inimical to emotion or that systems are inimical to individuals, that a book can either be a heart book or a head book. And my desire is to write something that's like us, namely an all-in-one.”

*** 

Richard is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Overstory, one of the most praised novels of the decade. His writing absolutely explodes with life. But perhaps Richard’s most impressive skill is his character development. And we’re not talking about the stodgy character arc you learned in English class. Richard shares 40+ years and 14 novels worth of insight on how to write characters that readers can’t get out of their head.

This episode is a deep dive into the psychoanalytical complexities of character: drama and tension, thinking and feeling, motivation and suspense. Plus, we dive into the three different types of character-driven drama: People against People, People against Themselves, and People against the Environment.

In a nutshell, this episode is a novel-writing masterclass that you don’t want to miss.

WRITE OF PASSAGE:
Want to learn more about the final class for Write of Passage?
https://writeofpassage.com/

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:46 Understanding Character Relationships
00:04:09 Characterization Techniques
00:10:07 The Role of Inner Values in Drama
00:12:52 The Three Levels of Drama
00:15:15 Man vs. Nature in Literature
00:21:00 Empathy for Trees and the Non-Human World
00:27:58 The Emotional Impact of Fiction
00:31:49 The Mechanics of Voice and Syntax
00:43:14 Hidden Characters and Sentence Structure
00:44:45 Writing Descriptively: Techniques and Examples
00:51:18 The Craft of Rewriting and Editing
00:55:07 Crafting Effective Introductions
01:00:12 The Role of Tension in Storytelling
01:06:57 Crafting Realistic Dialogue
01:17:05 The Balance of Solitude and Engagement in Writing
01:21:28 Richard’s Daily Writing Practices

PODCAST LINKS:
Website: https://writeofpassage.com/how-i-write
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2DjMSbo...

ABOUT THE HOST:
I’m David Perell and I’m a writer, teacher, and podcaster. I believe writing online is one of the biggest opportunities in the world today. For the first time in human history, everybody can freely share their ideas with a global audience. I seek to help as many people publish their writing online as possible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUDlpMN-f5w