One way and a very good way of writing is to always keep SOR in your thoughts and have it show up on the page.
It could be simple things. I’m currently in my third draft of
The Chess Master. Here I copy a scene
into Natural Reader (the free version is good enough) I listen and read along
as it speaks and take notes. You not only catch missing periods, etc. but catch
stilted sentences, missing reactions,
or ways to enrich the story.
Not everything written need be reacted to by the other
person on the receiving end of the remark or question. Sometimes it’s better to
leave the obvious to the imagination of the reader. Especially at the end of a
scene.
Stimulus: Something physical and/or mental is happening to
your character.
Organism: The body and/or the mind reacts, which must be
true to human nature and your character(s). If your character is not human, I
always say, wow. That is hard, rewarding, and fun.
Response: Use body language to describe the response unless
it is the POV character. The POV character can observe the body language,
speculate on its meaning (or not), and also have some body language sprinkled
in depending on how in depth you want the action of the moment to go. The none-POV
character however can carry it further with extended reactions. Perhaps a fight
ensues.
So I listen to my story and I note that the littlest girl in
the family does not say anything while an older sister teases her. Okay that’s
simple, but I forgot. So the mere sticking out of her tongue enriched the
story.
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