Added: 11/22/2007 |
To Writers Of Fiction: Have Your Characters Play ScattergoriesDuring a game of Scattergories, each player has two ways to score a point. A player can be awarded one point for including in his or her list some item that the others failed to mention. A player can also acquire an extra point by including, in any mentioned item, alliteration. The reader might want to find a way to gain a point for the imagined characters in the following suggestion.
If the writer can have the characters play the game “Scattergories,” then the reader can more easily appreciate the uniqueness of at lest one character. Each participant in a game of “Scattergories” tries to suggest a word that no one else has suggested. In that way, the player manages to gain an added point.
During a game of Scattergories, the players are asked to give all the words associated with a selected category. A roll of the dice determines the first letter for each word on each player’s list. Each created list has the ability to say something special about the particular list maker.
Suppose, for instance that the chosen category happened to be “holidays” and the rolled die showed a “C.” There would probably be many players who put “Christmas” on their list. There might well be few players who put “Chinese New Year” on their list.
Now if a writer were to have the characters in a story play Scattergories, the reader could more easily discover the unique trait in one or more characters. The following paragraphs offer examples of unique answers, all of which are provided by one writer’s imagined characters.
The writer has imagined an elderly man, a veteran of World War II. He grew up in central Pennsylvania in the years between 1918 and 1938. He has no distinct character feature, but he has a rather unusual food preference. That preference can be displayed by having the same character play Scattergories.
During this fictional game, the players select the category “ice cream flavors.” A roll of the dice produces the letter “B.” All the players, but one, quickly write down the words “butter pecan.” The veteran from Pennsylvania writes two very different words: “black raspberry.”
That Pennsylvania man had grown up on a farm. He had thus developed a love for fresh fruit. He had found that his favorite fruit was the black raspberry. Now compare his answer to that of a younger player, a young man from California.
That young man has a father, who emigrated to the U.S. from Iran. The young man has tried to act like a typical American. Then during a game of Scattergories, he needs to list fruits that begin with the letter “P.” What does he put on his list?
The other players write down “pear, plum, pineapple and prune.” The young man with a father from Iran manages to win the point. He lists the fruits mentioned above, plus one more. He gains an added point by putting in his list a fruit that the others did not—pomegranate. His choice reflects the unique variety of fruits that were present in the home where he grew up.
By having the characters play Scattergories, the writer can better share with the reader a quirky decision by one or more character. In that way, the writer can better follow the rule, “Show, don’t tell.”
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