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Getting Inside a Character’s Head

Getting inside a character’s head is one of the easiest or most difficult things to accomplish when you’re writing a story.   It takes imagination and constant observation of the human race around you.   In the book “The Diamond Thieves” of the Extra Innings trilogy there are multiple characters of various ages, backgrounds, morals and maturities. I am going to write about 3 principle characters in this story: The McGee twins, their friend T.J. and their mother Ellen.
The story is centered around thirteen-year-old identical twins Jimmy and Billy McGee.  Creating the personalities of the McGee twins required a great deal of research .  
I interviewed multiple identical twin males before and during the writing process.  I needed to get into their heads to understand how they viewed one another and themselves in relationship to the world around them.  These interviews helped me to solidify much of the competition theme came from Book 2 and where Jimmy’s emotional journey and struggles came from in Book 3.  Of course, one set of twins could answer my questions completely different from another set of twins.  I discovered this was based on how close of a relationship existed within each set of twins I interviewed.  Did they consider their twin their best friend throughout life or did they find themselves growing apart in their teenage years?  Note: I plan to write future blogs about these specific interviews as I found them fascinating.

Another critical character in the story was T.J.  This is a young black boy growing up in the South in the late 1940’s-early 50’s. Most of T.J.’s development came from movies I had watched in my life of the societal difficulties blacks faced during this period in history.  Also, my best friend growing up was black and he and I had conversations about how different and how very much alike we both were – despite our racial difference.  
Creating an interesting character in T.J. was a huge goal of mine.  I not only wanted T.J. to be strong, I needed him to be.  Yet, I had to be realistic and ask myself how strong would a young black male have been at this period in time? Most 13-year-olds face a mountain of fears and curiosities and are simply not the least bit mature.  But again, there are some whom have had to endure adult-like circumstances and therefore had no choice but to develop a strength just to survive.  This is who I believe T.J. is and I like the way he interacted with the boys in the story as well as showing a vulnerable side by always making a quick exit anytime “the mob” appeared.

Also, I want to talk about the twins’ mother Ellen.  Writing Ellen was a fun challenge. I had no current observations to base any of her moves, reactions or behaviors on.  I found myself having to ask older women, who would have been little girls at this time in history, to look back on their mothers for nearly ever move Ellen made throughout all three of the books.  I also had to locate women who were raised in the South as most of the women I know are not Southerners (whom hold a very different mentality and demeanor than “Yankee” women. I like that I was able to give her a heroic role in Book 1.   My mission as a writer is to  connect and inspire and, for me, Ellen was the character that stood out in Book 1 as an inspiration.  I hope that readers will feel inspired by her and how she stood up against an entire community for what was right.

I’m sure I will have more to write about this as character development is critical to storytelling but for now these were the top three examples I wanted to start with.

June 16, 2014 by
Publishing

Extra Innings Press Release

I thought for this blog I would share my press release.  This will be sent to three different northeast Ohio newspapers:  The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, The Akron Beacon Journal and the Canton Repository.  The goal is for them to print an article in a Sunday edition to help advertise the release of my first novel Extra Innings: The Diamond Thieves.  Shown below is what I wrote for the press release.  Anyone who has field experience in writing these I would love to hear some feedback.

Local Author Releases His Debut Novel

Every teenager will face a life-altering crossroads when they struggle to do what’s right in the face of steep pressure to do wrong.  For Author Brian Gibson of Akron, Ohio, this becomes a personal message in his debut novel Extra Innings, The Diamond Thieves.

Diamond Thieves is the first of three fictional books in his Extra Innings trilogy that chronicles the teenage lives of identical twin brothers Jimmy and Billy McGee. The twins who, along with an entertaining cast of friends, are being challenged by their arch enemies for exclusive domain over their neighborhood baseball diamond.

Set in the late 1940’s Deep South, the boys must deal with a very adult ethical dilemma that intensifies the conflict: in the face of opposition from the town and their rivals, should they allow their best friend and team spark plug, who is black, to play in the deciding game?

‘My goal with this story was to connect with all individuals and inspire them in a way that improves their life and way of thinking’, said Gibson who goes by the pen name B.W. Gibson. ‘I feel like I have accomplished that.’

The Diamond Thieves conveys a strong unfiltered message about life during a period in history when racism was still a way of life in small-town southern communities.

Gibson displays a writing style that will transport you back to the sights, sounds and even smells of this Cold War period in U.S. history.

Please find enclosed a review copy for your consideration. For more information visit Brian Gibson’s website www.bwgibson.net.

 

 

 

June 13, 2014 by
Publishing

My Mission

Recently, I attended a marketing conference in Akron, Ohio.  The primary topic of this conference was how to create a valuable mission statement.  A mission statement defines what an organization or business is and why it exists.  Mission Statements are only effective if they are communicated throughout the organization and reinforced by its leader(s).  This inspired me to think about why I exist as an author and singer/songwriter.  Why do I write?  What am I trying to accomplish with my writings?  Pinpointing this objective was really quite simple.  MY MISSION IS TO CONNECT AND INSPIRE.   I wish to connect with individuals and inspire them in a way that improves their life and way of thinking.

The origin of this objective comes from one of the first songs I ever wrote.  The song is called “Runaway.”  It’s a mostly-acoustic rock ballad that was inspired from a television special my UMASS roommates and I were watching in our apartment in Puffton Village in Amherst, Massachusetts.  The program was on teenage runaway girls.  These inner-city girls had ran away from home for various reasons and were living in poverty on the streets.  With no work experience and little education these girls were resorting to prostitution in order to survive.  As soon as the program was over, I went into my bedroom, picked up my 6-string Ibanez guitar and wrote “Runaway” in about 15 minutes.  The story focuses on one girl and how helpless and trapped she feels needing to “work the streets” to make money.  The song also talks about the girl’s family who is searching for her to bring her back home where she is loved.  One night after performing the song on campus, I told a friend that I hoped that one day “Runaway” would hit the radio.  I imagined that someone would be playing the song on their car radio and a girl who was thinking about running away from home would overhear it and change her mind.  If I could positively inspire just one teenager, I would feel the song was a huge success.

The same is true for my song “Mornie Rivers” which is a edgy rock tune about a friend of mine who overcame his heroin addiction.

As for the Extra Innings trilogy, although my goal was to tell a story that had never been told, I began to discover that Jimmy and Billy McGee’s lives were progressing into a path of constructive value.  I envision many readers extracting a positive life lesson or two from the experiences of these fictional identical twins – I know I have.  Of course, these lessons are not learned overnight and in this case cover the course of 3 books.  I suppose this is true of most people that life lessons are learned over a period of time fashioned by a string of ups and downs.  I look forward to hearing about any inspirations my readers gain from reading the Extra Innings trilogy.  And I hope I have done a good job of painting a realistic picture of the story’s setting and its characters so its readers feel connected throughout every page.

 

June 7, 2014 by
Publishing

What Inspires Your Imagination?

Imagination is the forming of ideas, images or concepts of objects external to our tangible senses.   A good  writer can use words to bring an image to life.  For example, if the reader is being told about a bouquets of flowers displayed at a wedding, a good writer can stimulate the reader’s senses to the point where the reader’s imagination allows them to actually smell those flowers describe in the story.

Real life true stores are what inspire me.  My job is to stitch them among into events experienced by a fictional character.  I have been fortunate enough to have heard a handful of very entertaining tales about my family.  These tales were expressed throughout the Extra Innings trilogy and helped to bring the personalities of its major players to life.

For example, in Chapter 1 of The Diamond Thieves, I spent some time explaining how the story’s main characters: identical twins Jimmy and Billy McGee, had very different personalities.  To express examples of Billy’s wild-side (compared to his more rationally behaved twin) I used two stories from my dad’s childhood.  The first was a story of my dad thinking he could fly like Superman and tying a tablecloth around his neck and leaping into mid-air from the garage roof.  Yikes!  The second was when my dad, Wes Gibson, set fire to his older sister Rose’s bedroom curtains and the neighbor Mrs. McCrosky saw the flames from across the way.  I always loved these stories growing up and felt privileged to incorporate them into the life one of two of the book’s main characters.

My Aunt Rose is famous for using the term: “in all honesty” as is Jimmy and Billy’s older sister Rose throughout the trilogy.  Their older friend Skip Jones is a character who the boys all look up to as my dad and his brother Denny looked up to their older brother Skip Gibson.

My grandma Mary Gibson was famous for her chocolate meringue pies – as is Jimmy and Billy’s Grama Purdy.   I know when I was proofreading this detail of the book my mouth was watering from the imagery.

In book 2 (Race of the Gemini), I incorporated a story my Uncle Jim had told me about collecting RC Cola cans for cash when  he was a kid.   Also, the story of Billy spinning the car tires in a mud puddle that splashed up into his dad’s face actually happened to my Aunt Patty when my Grandpa Charles Gibson was trying to teach her how to drive and became so frustrated that he had to stick his head out the window to curse – another great story!  The book’s hot dog eating explosion came from my Uncle Denny and the story about Skip pulling Stuart through a car window came from my dad and his late teen years.

One of my favorite chapters is when all the boys sneak out to drink at Ol’ Man Hendersman’s barn.  As the boys are sitting around they reminisce a few hilarious tales that my dad had told me from his childhood (read book 2 for these stories).

Billy’s girlfriend Amy Lee Chansey has a brown collie shepherd family dog named Tanker – just like my Aunt Rose & Uncle Jim’s dog while I was growing up.

The description of the twins’ High School prom was an exact description of my mom, Marilyn Gibson’s gymnasium was decorated for her prom.

There are a few small details depicted in the book that really bring a particular room in a house or section of town to life.  My favorite is the mention of a paper mache ghost candy dish that is the centerpiece of the McGee family dining room table in the Halloween chapter.   My entire life growing up I remember that same ghost candy dish on our dining room table throughout October.  My mom had made it with her friend Joan.  I now have this candy dish and I place it out every October.  I believe these small details are critical to effective storytelling.

In book 3 (A Hero Among Thieves), I was privileged to be able to interview the head baseball coach and dean from Ol’ Miss who shared with me some important facts about the campus and its students during the early 1950’s.  This information really helped to enhance the authenticity of this portion of Jimmy’s.  I think anyone who’s attending college and lived on campus will be transported back to their experience in the dorms and campus life.  One particular college dorm room scene in this book was taken directly from my experience at UMASS Amherst.

Lastly, some of Billy’s journal entries were told to me while I was interviewing veterans from the Korean War.  These stores really helped to bring Billy’s experience in Korea to life and I will be giving mention to these brave and fascinating individuals in the credits of Book 3.

When Jimmy meets Maria Regalo, the  supper she feeds him that night at her house is a plate of homemade salami, pepperoni and cheeses that she cut from her supply hanging in her basement – just like my Grama Gibson.

There are many more examples but these are the ones that come to the forefront of my mind.  I hope all who read this trilogy will at some point feel themselves traveling back to a moment of their teen years or childhood and recall the sights, sounds and smells of some good memories and MOST OF ALL … THANK YOU for all those who inspired my imagination with their real life true stories.

June 5, 2014 by
Publishing

Opening Day of Extra Innings

What a relief to finally have this book Extra Innings:  The Diamond Thieves finally available.  Not only for myself but all those who have been inquiring about it.  It’s been quite a journey.  The fictional story of identical twin brothers Jimmy and Billy McGee has been some recent revisions – primarily in Chapter 1.

When I first received an actual printed copy and turned to the first page of Chapter 1 – I was not happy with what I read.  The first line use to read:  Jimmy and Billy stood in each other’s way of the bathroom mirror, upstairs in their parent’s Mississippi home, each desperate to find his own evidence of puberty.  

I felt “stood in each other’s way” was too negative of an opening.  This was not the image I was going for in this book.  Nor did I want the reader to think that puberty was the primary theme.   The tricky part of removing this line was that I really liked how it read.  So after some careful thought, I found a more impactful and appropriate place for it in Book 2:  Race of the Gemini.  It actually fits better here considering the overall theme of this particular book compared to the theme in Book 1: The Diamond Thieves.

From there the chapter went on with negative comments about how the boys were too hot, their attic bedroom was too hot, they were bored and just one negative comment after another.    I’m not sure why I never had this general impression before.  I guess looking at a computer screen or an 8.5 x 11 printed page doesn’t deliver the same impact as when your actually holding your complete book in your hand … who knows?

So I did a major overhaul to the first 3 pages.  I also did some work to a baseball card trading dialogue between Fist and Boston in Chapter 2 simply because some of the facts were inaccurate.

Probably one of the biggest changes was one of the twins’ friends Ryan Blair.  By some random course of events, I learned through Google that “Ryan” was NEVER a first name of a boy prior to the late 1950’s.  This book takes place in 1947 and the character Ryan Blair was 13 – so he would have been born in 1934.  At this time, Ryan was only a last name.  How me or my editor never caught this before is beyond me.  So I used Google to search for popular Southern boys names, 1930’s and found http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/decades/names1930s.html

The name Charles popped out as one that I liked the most.  Charles was the 6th most popular boy’s name at that time.  PLUS, Charles is my grandfather’s name (on my dad’s side).  Charles Gibson.  So I thought this would be perfect.  Being that this is the South, Charles became Charlie and therefore Ryan become Charlie Blair.

There were a few other minor character’s who’s names needed changed to more accurately reflect the time period.

Additionally, my mom pointed out that the street the McGee twins lived on (which was also the name of the street my mom grew up on in Ohio) was inaccurate.  I had the street name as Greenvalley Drive.  My mom corrected me and said that Greenvalley should be two words, so to better pay homage to my mom’s childhood I changed it to Green Valley Drive.

Lastly, I beefed up one of the character’s roles during the baseball game.  As stated in the book’s summary T.J. was the team’s spark plug, so I enhanced some of his actions throughout the book to more dramatically reflect this claim.

Overall, I am MUCH HAPPIER with this revised product.  I hope that all my readers enjoy it and most importantly, I hope that the last chapter (Chapter 12) leaves them craving the release of Book 2 (of 3): Race of the Gemini.

May 31, 2014 by