Is Your Character Stiff and Boring? Try This Acting Trick

29 03 2023

photo of fox sitting on ground
This fox is actually actor Daniel Day-Lewis. He lived on shrews for three months to get into character.
Photo by Alex Andrews on Pexels.com

This trick seems basic, but it’s helped me with character mannerisms and tone.

Usually I like to “cast” people I know as characters in my work, but lacking that, I try this trick.

Which animal best represents that character?

It’s one thing to describe a man as “bearish”. But it’s more effective to have that character jostle their way past furniture, or complain about the cold, rouse slowly to anger, enjoy naps, thump the table for emphasis, and have other bear-like behavior. Do they like picnics and the outdoors? Say, I need a reason to get outdoors for that one scene…

The more detail you can get for the scene or character, the more the motivations of the story will click into place.

Like I mentioned, this is an old trick actors use to find character. Anthony Hopkins famously used it in “Silence of the Lambs” when he considered Lector to be like a snake, and let that consideration guide Lector’s behavior. Check out a scene or two of “SotL” and that consideration becomes palm-to-forehead obvious. Hopkins’ choice of snake also led to iconic moments like Lector standing watchful as Starling first visits.

I wish I had examples from prose, because I dislike writing advice that uses examples from film. But the only other example I can think of is Ben Kingsley’s performance In “Sexy Beast” as goon Don Logan, which Kingsley had said was based on an abused dog. Please see that movie, because Logan is the Anti-Ghandi, the angriest human put on screen.

Does this technique ring any bells for you? Is there a prose character you know based on an animal?





My Unpopular Writing Advice

28 03 2023

The closer the word “I” is to the beginning, the worse the story or essay will be.

There is such thing as a bad idea, an idea which no amount of craft can save.

Genre fiction must center the genre to the conflict. Just because a story contains a werewolf, it is not a horror story or fairy tale.

A lived life is worth more than an MFA, or Clarion, or Odyssey. Spend the tuition money on experiences.

If the value of art lies with its audience, then the artist must be separate from their art.

Have we all gotten over “write what you know”?

The experimentation of MFA writers drove the popular audience from fiction to genre, then chased the audience from genre to Young Adult. Self-publication and small press reclaimed genre.

I am so glad that we are ignoring “If it doesn’t help the plot, it must go.”

What you write, writes you. Is what you’re writing making you a better person? Happier?

Always find some good in whatever you read. This keeps your perceptions and compassion alive. Always find where your favorite media could be better. This will keep you from worshipping idols.

If you write a character you identify with, grind them. Their emotions will surprise you, make the story resonant, and help you grow personally.

If you cannot weep about your life in front of your writers’ group, get a new writers’ group.

My writers group is a mix on genres, and I recommend yours be too. It keeps focus on the essentials of plot and character.

Bonus Comedy Opinion: It is possible to do improvisation with only questions and the word “no”.





Look At Stories Which Take Emotional Risk with A.C. Wise

23 03 2023

Favorite Stories of 2022 from A.C. Wise.

Turns out I am socially acquainted with A.C. Wise through a mutual friend. She and her husband are very cool people, which pains me to say because I am a little jealous of her. Ms. Wise’s writing accesses universal, yet still intimate themes. I’ve read some of these recommended stories, and while I have qualms with some, they all undeniably bear real emotional weight. I’ll be reading more of them.





How To Prepare For Book Launches Pt.1

21 03 2023

First, we write bios…

100 word horror bio:

Tim W. Burke grew up near two US Federal penitentiaries. After attending George S. Patton Junior High, he attended high school in the town that inspired the movie “Halloween”. Tim began writing horror in 1989 while reading submissions to Weird Tales. He produced video, performed comedy, stocked shelves, and co-owned a comic book store. His horror fiction has appeared in Space and Time, Weird Tales, LORE, Psudopod.org, several anthologies, and the preliminary ballot of the Stoker Awards. Now Tim braces himself for what’s next in the state of Delaware, USA. 

150 word horror bio:

Tim W. Burke’s novel “The Flesh Sutra” earned a place on the preliminary ballot of the Stoker Awards. He was born in East Saint Louis before the riots. Growing up throughout the US, he lived within sight of two Federal penitentiaries. He attended General George S. Patton Junior High School, then high school in the town that inspired the movie “Halloween”. Tim began writing horror in 1989 while reading submissions to Weird Tales under editor George Scithers. Tim produced commercial and government video, performed comedy, stocked shelves, and co-owned a comic book store.  He lives with chronic anxiety and depression, using it as fuel for dark humor and weird horror. His fiction has appeared in Space and Time, Weird Tales, LORE, Psudopod.org, and several anthologies. An enthusiast in all things supernatural and cryptid, he saw the ghost of his mother’s cat. Now Tim awaits the next weirdness by living in the state of Delaware, USA. 

100 word humor bio:

Tim W. Burke was raised by a nomadic family of social workers. He attended General George Patton Junior High and the high school that inspired the movie “Halloween”. He graduated Temple University with a BA in Media. With DQD Comedy Theatre in Philadelphia, he appeared on ABC’s Funniest Home Videos. He produced and performed in the stage show and movie “The Kibbles and Bits of ‘Hellorama’”, earning raves from local critics and FilmThreat Magazine. His humor has appeared in Space and Time magazine and several Philadelphia newspapers. He has rejected nomadism for slash-and-burn agriculture in the state of Delaware USA. Look for him at timwburke.com. 

170 word humor bio:

Tim W. Burke was born in the wagon of a traveling show; his mama used to dance for the money they’d throw. Unlike the rest of Cher’s “Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves”, Tim attended Temple University and got a BA in Media. Before that, though, he attended General George Patton Junior High, then high school in the town that inspired the movie “Halloween”. As a Boy Scout, he only earned a Reading merit badge, but did go on to play a lot of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. With DQD Comedy Theatre in Philadelphia, he appeared on ABC’s Funniest Home Videos in “I Feel Like ‘Iguana Tonight.’” He produced and performed in the stage show and movie “The Kibbles and Bits of ‘Hellorama’”, earning excellent reviews from local critics and FilmThreat Magazine. His humor has appeared in Space and Time magazine and several Philadelphia newspapers. Tim has produced commercial and government video, stocked shelves, and co-owned a comic book store. Now he has settled in Delaware, trying to make new quips from the 1965 hit “I Got You Babe”. 





Update! Cover Artists! Mine Is Really Good!

18 03 2023

This artist calls themselves “HumbleNations” and their business is “Go On Write”, which URLs as “goonwrite” or as I see it “goon write”, which I like more. It’s worth clicking on a book and seeing his examples, if just for a look at the mock-up titles…

Their blog is also Brithumorlicious.

What of my covers? There will be a release soon….








%d bloggers like this: