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Showing posts with label ThrilWriting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ThrilWriting. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Rational and Irrational Behavior in Your Characters: Info for Writers with Dr. Vivian Lawry



Dr. Vivian Lawry
A big welcome to Dr. Vivian Lawry. Vivian holds a BA, MS, and PhD in psychology and was a professor of psychology prior to her retirement.


Today, Vivian,  we are going to wrestle with a complex part of the human psyche. In our plots, we try to make the story conform to what a rational person would do, but the truth is that given the right circumstances, motivation, and perception, anyone is capable of anything. Would you help us to understand this concept?

Vivian - 

Circumstances refers to options and constraints.
Motivation refers to what drives the person.
Perception is what the person thinks is going on. 

All of these offer writers lots of room for making anything happen—believably.

Fiona - 
Can you describe the famous Zimbardo prison experiment to give context?

Vivian - 
The Zimbardo prison experiment is classic! Here's a quick and dirty overview that hits the highpoints:


The basic question was whether ordinary people would/could be as cruel as Nazi concentration camp guards, or whether the Nazis were truly aberrant. 

So they advertised in newspapers around Palo Alto, CA, for people to participate in a paid psychological study. Volunteers were screened with all the psychological tests they could think of to make sure they were healthy, stable personalities. Then they were RANDOMLY assigned to be either prisoners or guards. The guards were issued uniforms and reflecting sunglasses. 

The prisoners--all men-- were picked up from their homes by real police cars, sirens blasting, handcuffed, and taken to the "jail", which had been created in the basement of a campus building. They were stripped of their street clothes and issued night-shirt type garments, flip-flops for shoes, and stockings on their heads to simulate a shaved head. The prisoners were given no directions (as far as I recall). 

The guards--also all men--were told to maintain order. 

In a matter of days the prisoners were depressed, plotting a break-out, weeping, and compliant with the guards. The guards, for no apparent reason, had become controlling and abusive. They told the prisoners to stand in line and count-off repeatedly, or do push-ups till they collapsed. One guard made them do push-ups while pressing his foot on their backs. The experimenters terminated the experiment early. And I should mention that everyone involved got counseling and so forth after. But the strength of this work is demonstrating the incredible power of circumstances in shaping behavior. These two groups of people differed only in which circumstance they were randomly assigned to.

Fiona - 
I know the researches were astonished by the outcomes. Do you have information about how the students felt following the experiment and if there were lasting effects?


Vivian - 
As I recall, not all of the participants were students—not that that's important. All were distressed and were given group and individual counseling. I haven't heard of long-term negative effects. But it definitely shook the foundations of certainty about what ordinary people would do when thrown into extraordinary circumstances. 

You don't know how you will behave till you are there. Within each group there were variations: some guards were noticeably nicer than others, though they didn't stop the abuse. Some prisoners had sleep disorders and some became aggressive themselves. And the whole thing caused a huge upheaval and contributed to the dialogue that led to the creation of ethical standards for research in psychology. 

Fiona - 

Reasonable man theory refers to a test whereby a hypothetical person is used as a legal standard, especially to determine if someone acted with negligence. This hypothetical person referred to as the reasonable/prudent man exercises average care, skill, and judgment in conduct that society requires of its members for the protection of their own and of others' interests. This serves as a comparative standard for determining liability. For example, the decision whether an accused is guilty of a given offense might involve the application of an objective test in which the conduct of the accused is compared to that of a reasonable person under similar circumstances.http://definitions.uslegal.com/r/reasonable-man-theory/
The above "reasonable man" definition is often used as a court standard. Now imagine if you will an unreasonable circumstance - an out of the ordinary event - a man standing in your room, and you have to chose to shoot or not. According to science, unreasonable circumstances lead to unreasonable outcomes. Can you talk about the ability to think/process/and react reasonably under high stress circumstances? When is "reasonable" unreasonable to ask of our characters?

Vivian - 
High stress increases the likelihood of the dominant action. If a behavior is well-learned, as in the case of a professional athlete or musician, the stress of a command performance at Madison Square Garden or Carnegie Hall would actually improve performance. For the less skilled athlete or musician, it would increase the likelihood of mistakes. In the sort of situation you are describing, people when frightened tend toward either fight or flight. Whichever is the dominant pattern for your character should predict the outcome.

Fiona -
That is a very interesting point. What are some other ways that we could predict the outcome even if it were out of character. I will give you an example I recently read...

The mother, in a John Gilstrap book, was kidnapped with her son. The son wanted to be proactive. The mom wanted to conform to whatever the kidnappers wanted them to do - she thought safety came from docility. She was docile by character.

What might spur someone to act "other than"?

and by that I mean other than their nature would predict

Vivian - 
This goes to the point of what is the best perceived alternative. If the son can make the case that active is better, Mom would go along. Or if she does something as told and then she or her son is punished anyway, she might see the light. She might see or hear something that says the kidnappers/guards/whoever can't be trusted to reward docility, that could do it, too.

Fiona - 
In this vein, can you talk about Stockholm Syndrome?

Vivian - 

I'm not an expert on Stockholm Syndrome, but here goes: there is a lot of evidence from a lot of sources that victims tend to identify with their abusers. For example, children who are abused are more likely to grow up to be abusive themselves. 


In a somewhat related vein, there is evidence that when a powerful or popular figure espouses a point of view/attitude/action, others do the same. (The whole basis of political endorsements or celebrities in commercials.) With Stockholm Syndrome, you have a person who is under complete control of some other person or group, everything from food, being allowed to sleep, physical abuse or the threat of it. It doesn't get much more powerful than that. Under such circumstances, people start to doubt themselves and their view of reality. The younger the person is--the less formed his/her sense of self—or the more unstable the personality, the more likely that person is to accept the reality as given by the authority figure. 

Often victims of abuse have low self-esteem and come to believe that they deserve whatever happens to them. 

Fiona - 

Here at ThrillWriting, it is traditional to ask you for a story. Can you tell us how you got your favorite scar?

Vivian - 
I was a young child, 5-6 years old. My younger sister and I were staying a couple of days with our young aunt and uncle, who had no children. They spoiled us a bit. She took us to the big department store in town and bought matching red Jensen bathing suits for my sister and me. We were going to the pool as soon as the dishes were done. 


I was handing a bowl to my aunt to put in the cupboard. I thought she had it, and I let go. It broke on the edge of the sink and a chunk cut the artery in my right wrist. My aunt nearly panicked, pushed her thumb into the geyser, and ran out to the driveway, yelling until the neighbor came out and took us to the emergency room. I remember everything being very bright and white, except for my sister's red bathing suit as she clung to my aunt's skirt—and, of course, the blood. 

I cried so at not being able to go swimming that we went anyway, my aunt carrying me around the pool while I held my white bandaged wrist aloft like the Statue of Liberty. I now have a scar on my right wrist about half an inch long, with three small scars crossing it perpendicularly. In college, I was sometimes asked whether I'd tried to commit suicide—which might have been a much more interesting story!

Fiona - 
Last question - How can we apply what we learned today to our character development (for good or bad) and our plotlines?

Vivian - 
I think the most basic tip is to take the reader inside the character's head/heart, to see the world as s/he sees it. 


Behavior is believable when it flows from the character's perceptions. In my recently published collection of short stories, DIFFERENT DRUMMER, one story involves a man who feeds parts of his body to his cat. I invite you to decide whether his behavior was believable, in context. 




Thank you so much for your insights, Vivian. ThrillWriters, if you want to stay in touch with Vivian you an reach her on her 
website, and you can follow her on Facebook.


Thank you so much for stopping by. And thank you for your support. Cheers,When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.


Sunday, April 13, 2014

Diplomacy: Information for Writers with William Shepard



Fiona
Good morning, Mr. Shepard. 
Thank you so much for visiting with ThrillWriting today. 


     Readers, Mr. Shepard has
     served our country
     overseas for decades in
     the diplomatic corp. Sir, what
     would
     you like the readers to know
     about you?

Mr. Shepard - My career was in
     diplomacy. I am a lawyer by
     training, and a writer by preference. I am herded
     about by two enchanting rescued cats, and we live on the
     Eastern Shore of Maryland.

Fiona - I very much enjoyed reading your memoirs - you are
     Harvard educated and decided to use your expertise in
     language and diplomacy to further the American cause in
     many countries. Can you give a brief taste of the countries
     in which you served and what your roles included?

Mr. Shepard - First, Singapore, fascinating and ultra-modern. When
     we were there, the island was being kicked out of Malaysia. As
     an Embassy officer and lecturer at the University of Singapore, 
     I had a ringside seat. We returned a year ago, and enjoyed
     seeing how magnificently the nation has progressed.
     A model for progress and keeping an expert eye on the
     environment. I was Consul at the Embassy in
     Singapore, then was transferred directly to Saigon during the
     war, and my family stayed in Singapore. In Saigon, I was Aide to
     Ambassadors Henry Cabot Lodge, then Ellsworth Bunker. It
Amazon Link 2.99
     was a ringside seat in the war.



Fiona - Before you tell me about
      your next stint, may I ask
      how that was for you and
      your family? You were both
      in foreign countries with very
      different cultures to our own
      and on your own without the
      daily support. How did you
      cope?

Mr. Shepard - Some would say,
      after New England, everyplace
      is a foreign country! I am from New Hampshire and Lois is
      from Connecticut. So, of course, we met while students at the
      University of Vienna. Living in foreign parts comes fairly
      naturally. Lois is very good at adapting to foreign cultures - and
      representing our own. I must say, a high point of sorts was
      reached when she heard that I was coming home to Singapore
      from Saigon for Thanksgiving, and there was no turkey
      available. So she talked a visiting US Admiral out of a turkey
      for our Thanksgiving dinner.

Fiona - I love that! Your wife, Lois Shepard, is very versatile.
      Would you share the story about when her quick actions saved
      a little boy's life and protected your family as a result?
Amazon Link 2.99


Mr. Shepard -  We lived near a
     kampong, or native area, in
     Singapore. One day the amah
     (house servant) came running
     in, to say that a baby had
     fallen into a water cistern and 
     drowned. Lois went flying out
     of the house, took the child
     from the arms of a relative, 
     and started artificial
     respiration. She was relieved
     when, after what seemed an eternity, the child
     threw up all over her and started breathing! After that, oddly
     enough, we were the only Embassy family that never had a
     problem with thievery. By the way, that rescue hit UPI quickly,
     and Lois' parents read about it in Hartford the same time it
     appeared in the Singapore press.

Fiona - What a fabulous story. I interrupted you, sir. Where did you
      go after Singapore?
Amazon Link 2.99

Mr. Shepard - Saigon. Actually I had
      two tours there, once for a
      year directly from Singapore, and
      then a few years later, I
      returned from Budapest to help
      monitor the Paris Peace Agreement.
      The Hungarians were part of the
      peacekeeping team, and I was there
      to monitor their performance -
      which was lousy. 

Fiona - That was during
      the communist reign. What did you
      find most difficult from a western
      perspective in dealing with this very different governmental
      philosophy? What personal challenges did you have to work
      through?
Amazon Link

    Mr. Shepard -   Communism in
      Hungary was a hated imposition.  
      The Russians were viewed
      as backward in every way, and their
      system a dreaded imposition. The
      heroic Hungarian Revolution of 1956
      proved that. I was trained in the
      Hungarian language and was the first
      Political Officer at our Embassy in
      Budapest, and then held
      the Hungarian Desk
      at the Department of State. We
      knew His Eminence Cardinal
      Mindszenty, who was in refuge at the
      Embassy then. And Lois was the only eyewitness to his
      departure. My novel, Murder On The Danube, is set in
      modern Budapest, with flashbacks to the 1956 Revolution.
Amazon Link

Fiona - Did you feel great
      relief when you were sent
      to France?

      How fun that you wrote a
      book about French wines.
      Was it all red wine and
      cassoulet? Or did your stay
      in France offer up its
      own challenges?


Mr. Shepard - My responsibility as Consul General in Bordeaux
      covered one-quarter of the entire nation. I had the usual
      gamut of American citizen issues (including getting people
      out of jail, or locating people who were lost), understanding
      the local culture and politics (I called nearly every election
      right), and making friends for the USA. The fact that my father
      had been an American soldier in France during the First World
      War helped ensure my welcome. The wines of course were
      world class, but that was on my own time. One of my chief
      responsibilities was keeping watch on Basque terrorism. 
      That formed the basis for
      my first diplomatic mystery novel, Vintage Murder.
Amazon Link .99

Fiona - Can you quickly go over
      some of the roles that
      diplomats play in foreign
      service and the ranks?

Mr. Shepard - Diplomats
      represent their own nation in
      another one. An Embassy is
      the official mission in the
      receiving state's capitol city.
      With us, it is a career 
      service,  and various 
      specialties (political, economic/commercial, consular,
      administrative, cultural/press) to follow as a career track.
      You start by taking a tough written and oral exam, and then get
      promoted, ever so slowly. The variations of assignment along
      the way are fascinating. The problem for a writer is that they
      change over time, and what you remember quite distinctly may
      no longer be there!

Fiona - What types of personalities work best for foreign service?
      And which kind of personalities might feel the most challenged
      - this will help writers set up their characters for success or
      failure when plotting.

Mr. Shepard - I think that the folks who do well on the Foreign
      Service exam are readers, and compulsively curious. My oral
      exam, for example, had a panel member asking me to trace the
      attempts in the US Senate to forestall the Civil War. I had
      always been interested in that period, so apparently did well.
      Another question was to name, in my view, the five best
      American symphonies and their conductors. What seems
      needed is curiosity, a desire to see beyond the obvious, and a
      self-starter mentality.

Fiona - You referred to the changing conditions included in the life
      of a diplomat not only imposed by place but time and
      circumstance, what do you feel are important aspects of the job
      for a writer to understand in order to write authentically. Are
      there resources for writers that you are aware of where research
      could be conducted on diplomatic realities of a given time or
      place?

Mr. Shepard - Well, now there are an increasing number of
      memoirs, such as my own, Sunsets In Singapore. There are
      probably too many thrillers about, and the Foreign Service isn't
      really like that. A lot of it is slow going, and building some
      confidence with your opposite numbers in a Foreign Ministry.
      For example, I helped negotiate a consular convention with
      communist Hungary, our first treaty with that nation in some
      thirty years. What made it work was that the other side, when I
      disagreed with them, understood that I was giving an honest
      point of view. Had there not been that understanding, there
      would have been no treaty.

Fiona - Now that you have retired, you have become a prolific
      writer - and many of your books are under the sub-genre 
      diplomatic mysteries. Obviously, your work is a great resource
      to you - can you speak to this genre and what readers might
      hope to experience through your writing.



Mr. Shepard - First, I hope the reading is enjoyable. Tell a story,
     that's the first thing. I had an uncle who was a farmer in New
     Hampshire and a born storyteller. He and my aunt had no
     children, but they took in foster children from the state. Uncle
     Irvin told me that if the children were bad, the worst thing would
     be to tell them, "No story tonight!" Something like that is
     needed. Then comes the context, and the believablity of detail.
     But remember, it is a story that is being told.

Fiona - Mr. Shepard, it has been an honor to interview you, thank
     you so much for sharing your time and expertise with us. One
     final question that I ask of everyone who visits ThrillWriting:
     Could you please tell us the story behind your favorite scar? And
     if you are without scars, could you please tell us a harrowing
     story?

Mr. Shepard - No scars, I'm afraid. In my last days in Saigon during
      my second tour, I went out for a trip towards the Cambodian
      border. The helicopter pilot told us that there would be no
      intelligence briefing - the last briefer had left for the USA the
      day before! So off we went. We flew near the Parrot's Beak of
      Cambodia, and before we landed, the small arms fire began.
      (We were a peacekeeping mission.) The children who were to
      have met us left their sad traces on the ground. It still gives me
      nightmares. 

      On the more pleasant side, we had a huge
      Christmas tree in Budapest, and invited some Hungarian friends
      (who weren't afraid to be seen with us) to the house to see it.
      One said that they had always had small trees - the reason being
      that Christmas trees were illegal to have, so people would chop
      down small trees and hide them behind their overcoats. "But we
      really like the big trees," he said. I'm sure that is what they have
      now.

Fiona - Thank you, Mr. Shepard. 


Thank you so much for stopping by. And thank you for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.


Monday, March 17, 2014

Shotguns and Rifles 101 for Writers


_________________

Home again after a fabulous time in Nottoway, Virginia where I spent time training at the Nottoway Wildlife Association. LINK Here, I met some of the most experienced, dedicated, kind, and encouraging teachers anyone could ask for.



Ed Rogerville, Range Master
NRA instructor









On my drive there, an ambulance raced up behind me. As it overtook me, another ambulance vaulted off of the ramp - lights flashing, sirens screaming. I was almost to my turn, and I started praying that they would not turn in front of me. My husband and son were already at the club, and I was suddenly afraid that an accident happened at the shooting range. But they barreled ahead, and I turned peacefully left. It was our first time at Nottoway Wildlife Association, and I need not have feared. They've been operating since the 1950's without a single incident. 




If your novel has a scene with your heroine at the range, you're going to need to know some basics about their rules. 
* No one, not even the instructors, walked around with a gun in
   their hand, unless it was their turn to shoot. 
* The guns were stored in a shed, or leaned on a rack. 
* Once it was the shooters turn, they were directed by the instructor
   to a specific place to stand. These were cement squares so there
   was no mistake.
* When the shooters were about to begin, there was a loud
    announcement  that the range was "hot" or "live"
* When someone needed to walk out into the range, all guns were
   put down and everyone stepped away from their firearm.
* Don't make the mistake of writing your experienced shooter
   taking short cuts with the rules. The most experienced shooters
   were the most meticulous about how they handled their firearms.
* The shooters and everyone in the immediate area wore eye and
   ear protection. Most of the people wore plastic ear protection that
   was inserted into the ear canal. I personally prefer to use
   headband style protection like the woman below (do not look at
   her hands and write that as your heroine's grip, it's wrong)



Indoor Shooting Range at Sarasota, Florida, US...
 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)



. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Safety First

* Assume that every weapon is loaded.
* Always point the weapon in a safe direction
   (up or down) to minimize property damage
   and protect everyone from injury.
* A finger is never put on the trigger or even
   inside of the trigger guard unless the target
   has been sighted and a decision has been
   made to shoot.


Shooting Stance

* The shooter is comfortable, and balanced
* The choice of which hand pulls the trigger is based on
   eye-dominance not handedness
* The legs are hip distance apart one foot slightly ahead of the the
   other.
* The body is aligned with the target
* The shooter rotates at the waist not with the legs
* Knees should be slightly bent
* Lean forward
* The butt of the stock goes against the shoulder
* The cheeks lays against the stock.
* One hand supports the barrel. Elbow points downward and the
   upper arm braces against the chest. 
* The trigger finger rests along side the trigger guard.

Video Quick Study (3:19) covers standing and prone as well as movement. Great info if you are writing a combat scene or your heroine is military trained.


Shotguns v. Rifles

*Authors please note * Ed Rogerville explained that the proper term is firearm. "We never refer to firearms as weapons. I realize this is a widely used term but we, as instructors, don't use it. We always use the term firearm. We're not teaching or coaching, especially kids, to use force. We're teaching them how to hit a target. I know it's kind of politically correct, but that's the term we prefer to use." 


Photograph of 12 gauge shotgun shell
12 gauge shotgun shell (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Shotgun
* Has a smooth barrel
* Uses shells - shells hold lead pellets the
   number reflecting the gauge tells the size of the
   pellets inside.
* Once the shotgun has been fired the pellets
   expand in a circumference, making hitting the
   target more likely than with a bullet.
* Devastating at close range for personal
   protection because of the number of holes it will put in
   someone.
* Used for trap and skeet sport shooting.


 This is Ed loading up for trap shooting. The picture to the right is what the clays look like. Believe me, they look muuuuuch smaller when they're flying through the air.






* The shooter does not look down the barrel and sight the target.
   The shooters eyes are both open and focused on the target. 
   The gun follows the focus. Even after the trigger has been pulled
    the shooter should follow through by remaining focused on the
    target and moving the gun along the trajectory.
* Beginner issues include: hesitation, aiming, and stopping the
   movement after the trigger was pulled.
* Note that weather conditions like the strong winds we were
   experiencing will effect the shot.
* Don't assume that because your character is a hunter that they are
   a good shot. According to Darrell Garber, "As a general rule,
   hunters can't hit an elephant staked in the yard."

Darrell Garber and Fiona Quinn

   * The shotguns we were using had various weights. I asked
       Darrell why this would matter. He explained to me that it is
       simple physics. For every action there is an equal but opposite
       reaction.  If there is thirty pounds of energy coming back up,
       the shooter will feel more of the recoil with a four pound gun
       where a ten pound gun would absorb much of that energy.


Shooting range near Pittsburgh, PA.
 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Rifle
* Has a rifled barrel which means that it has
   spirals inside that rotates the bullet like a 
   football to make it fly straight.
* Uses bullets
* The higher the caliber the more recoil the
   shooter will experience. 
* I was shooting .22s and I found it much
   easier than my 9mm handgun because the
   sound and light were at a distance, much
   quieter, and there was almost nothing in the
   way of recoil.
*There are different kinds of rifles such as:
   `Single action
   `Bolt action
   `Semi-automatic
* Deadly to 500 yards

   
Darrell was kind enough to let me shoot his AR15. Yes, I should be leaning forward. This was my first time shooting an AR and frankly, I was afraid of the kick. But there was less than my 9mm. It was very smooth, and a whole lot of fun.



As a side note, If you are near Nottoway, Virginia, the Nottoway Shooting Sport at Nottoway Wildlife Association offers classes to non-members. They have a beginners class as well as personal protection in the home (That one my husband and I are signing up for) at very reasonable prices. So check them out. LINK

See this article in action in my novella: MINE


Thank you so much for stopping by. And thank you for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.