“You find time the same place you find spare change: in the nooks and crannies. You find it in the cracks between the big stuff—your commute, your lunch break, the few hours after your kids go to bed. You might have to miss an episode of your favorite TV show, you might have to miss an hour of sleep, but you can find the time if you look for it.” (Austin Kleon, Show Your Work!)
Writing Exercise: Mining the Margins of Time for Character Depth
Objective:
This exercise uses Austin Kleon’s quotation to explore how characters’ small, seemingly insignificant moments reveal their larger desires, constraints, and internal conflicts. Students will practice:
1. Creating tension in mundane moments: Using micro-events or everyday routines to reveal character complexity.
2. Establishing character priorities through actions: Showing what matters most to a character by how they spend their “spare change” of time.
3. Balancing inner and outer life: Interweaving a character’s internal thoughts with external, physical details.
Writing Prompt:
Scenario: Choose a character at a turning point in their life. Write a scene (500 words) set entirely during a small, “in-between” moment: on a lunch break, during a commute, or while lying in bed at night. In this moment, reveal something critical about their larger emotional or life struggle. Use their actions, thoughts, and environment to show (not tell) their priorities, conflicts, or motivations.
Example contexts to spark ideas:
• A single mother sorting bills during her child’s nap time.
• A burned-out doctor during a 15-minute coffee break at the hospital.
• An artist debating whether to keep working or quit while commuting home on the subway.
Guidelines:
• Show tension by contrasting the mundane activity with the character’s deeper preoccupations.
• Use physical details (environment, objects, movement) to enhance the emotional undercurrent.
• Aim for subtlety: focus on what’s implied rather than explicitly stated.
Evaluation Criteria:
1. Tension in the Ordinary
• Strong: The scene transforms an ordinary activity into a poignant or meaningful moment. E.g., a mother sorting through unpaid bills notices a crayon drawing tucked between envelopes, prompting a decision about her child’s future.
• Weak: The scene remains flat, with no connection between the activity and the character’s internal struggle.
2. Character Priorities Through Action
• Strong: The character’s choices (or lack thereof) during the moment subtly indicate what they value most.
• Weak: The character’s actions feel disconnected from their deeper motivations or fail to reveal anything meaningful.
3. Integration of Inner and Outer Life
• Strong: The character’s thoughts and environment complement each other, enriching the emotional resonance of the scene.
• Weak: Over-reliance on internal monologue or physical description without synthesis.
Follow-Up Workshop Questions:
1. What small details in the scene were most effective at revealing the character’s deeper conflicts or motivations?
2. How did the mundane activity enhance (or detract from) the scene’s emotional impact?
3. Are there opportunities to heighten the tension between the character’s inner and outer worlds?
Recommended Reading:
• Short Story: “The Third and Final Continent” by Jhumpa Lahiri (Interpreter of Maladies). This story uses small domestic moments—such as arranging a meager apartment or interacting with a landlady—to reveal the protagonist’s inner growth and broader cultural shifts.
• Novel Excerpt: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (e.g., the scene in “Pharmacy” where Olive’s quiet observations reveal her dissatisfaction and yearning).
Time Management for 2-Hour Session:
1. 15 minutes: Discussion of Kleon’s quotation and key techniques.
2. 60 minutes: Writing the scene.
3. 30 minutes: Small group workshops to answer follow-up questions.
4. 15 minutes: reflect on insights and techniques.
This exercise aims to build a writer’s ability to extract emotional depth from the “cracks” of their characters’ lives, making the ordinary feel extraordinary.
Regards,
RAR
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