{"id":1495,"date":"2011-01-08T08:05:21","date_gmt":"2011-01-08T13:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/?p=1495"},"modified":"2011-01-07T18:08:39","modified_gmt":"2011-01-07T23:08:39","slug":"the-experiment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/08\/the-experiment\/","title":{"rendered":"The Experiment"},"content":{"rendered":"

So – I know you've all been chomping at the bit to know how my little character grid experiment<\/a> went (all 2 of you).<\/p>\n

At first, I wasn’t sure I was getting anywhere. I was only basically writing “Narrator's story told through the eyes of Protagonist” and replacing the generic titles with the characters in question.<\/p>\n

Ex.<\/strong> Jane’s story told through the eyes of her jealous boyfriend<\/p>\n

Jane’s story told through the eyes of her over-ambitious rival at work<\/em><\/p>\n

Yeah, nothing interesting or expanded upon there. But as I worked my way through the grid, I found a few of the characters were making their way to the forefront. The more I brainstormed and asked “what if?” about their lives, their relationships and what obstacles they could possibly face, the more I could see them jockeying for position.<\/p>\n

Not only that, but I found a few common threads forming that will add some dimension to their individual motivations and uncover a some obvious frontrunner.<\/p>\n

Right now, I've got 3 potential candidates to take the lead in this story. By the end of the weekend, I hope one will battle his or her way to the top of the heap so I can get some words down and start to explore the strange things that will be unleashed upon them. <\/p>\n

For anyone else who wants to try this method out, you don't need any special tips or tricks. Just create a grid like this one<\/a> and add in a little (or a lot) of detail about how they will carry the story if chosen as the star. You may be surprised at what you imagine for them.<\/p>\n

Psst! You can get a bit of a sneak peek inside the book here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So – I know you've all been chomping at the bit to know how my little character grid experiment went (all 2 of you). At first, I wasn’t sure I was getting anywhere. I was only basically writing “Narrator's story told through the eyes of Protagonist” and replacing the generic titles with the characters in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[242,89,90],"class_list":["post-1495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-on-writing","tag-narrator","tag-pov","tag-protagonist"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Experiment - MaryRajotte.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/08\/the-experiment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Experiment - MaryRajotte.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So – I know you've all been chomping at the bit to know how my little character grid experiment went (all 2 of you). At first, I wasn’t sure I was getting anywhere. I was only basically writing “Narrator's story told through the eyes of Protagonist” and replacing the generic titles with the characters in...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/08\/the-experiment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MaryRajotte.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/maryrajotte\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-01-08T13:05:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/08\/the-experiment\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/08\/the-experiment\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mary\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/38e89cfcbaef29fc7e8e84a7098e0ab5\"},\"headline\":\"The Experiment\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-01-08T13:05:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/08\/the-experiment\/\"},\"wordCount\":304,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0fe1f68e8267a518ed108f51f97942e5\"},\"keywords\":[\"narrator\",\"POV\",\"protagonist\"],\"articleSection\":[\"On Writing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/08\/the-experiment\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/08\/the-experiment\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/08\/the-experiment\/\",\"name\":\"The Experiment - MaryRajotte.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-01-08T13:05:21+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/08\/the-experiment\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/08\/the-experiment\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/08\/the-experiment\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Experiment\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"MaryRajotte.com\",\"description\":\"Nightmarish Tales\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0fe1f68e8267a518ed108f51f97942e5\"},\"alternateName\":\"Mary Rajotte\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0fe1f68e8267a518ed108f51f97942e5\",\"name\":\"Mary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/postphotos\/cropped-MaryRajotte.com_logo_2025-scaled-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/postphotos\/cropped-MaryRajotte.com_logo_2025-scaled-1.png\",\"width\":2558,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"Mary\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.maryrajotte.com\/blog\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/maryrajotte\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/maryrajotte\",\"https:\/\/ca.pinterest.com\/maryrajotte\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/38e89cfcbaef29fc7e8e84a7098e0ab5\",\"name\":\"Mary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23184fb41b197599de050e66278654868cb7a5f7a6ea0a5db61f38b8407b769c?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23184fb41b197599de050e66278654868cb7a5f7a6ea0a5db61f38b8407b769c?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mary\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.maryrajotte.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Experiment - MaryRajotte.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/08\/the-experiment\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Experiment - MaryRajotte.com","og_description":"So – I know you've all been chomping at the bit to know how my little character grid experiment went (all 2 of you). At first, I wasn’t sure I was getting anywhere. I was only basically writing “Narrator's story told through the eyes of Protagonist” and replacing the generic titles with the characters in...","og_url":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/08\/the-experiment\/","og_site_name":"MaryRajotte.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/maryrajotte","article_published_time":"2011-01-08T13:05:21+00:00","author":"Mary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mary","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/08\/the-experiment\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/08\/the-experiment\/"},"author":{"name":"Mary","@id":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/38e89cfcbaef29fc7e8e84a7098e0ab5"},"headline":"The Experiment","datePublished":"2011-01-08T13:05:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/08\/the-experiment\/"},"wordCount":304,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0fe1f68e8267a518ed108f51f97942e5"},"keywords":["narrator","POV","protagonist"],"articleSection":["On Writing"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/08\/the-experiment\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/08\/the-experiment\/","url":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/08\/the-experiment\/","name":"The Experiment - MaryRajotte.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-01-08T13:05:21+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/08\/the-experiment\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/08\/the-experiment\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/08\/the-experiment\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Experiment"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/","name":"MaryRajotte.com","description":"Nightmarish Tales","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0fe1f68e8267a518ed108f51f97942e5"},"alternateName":"Mary Rajotte","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0fe1f68e8267a518ed108f51f97942e5","name":"Mary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/postphotos\/cropped-MaryRajotte.com_logo_2025-scaled-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/postphotos\/cropped-MaryRajotte.com_logo_2025-scaled-1.png","width":2558,"height":696,"caption":"Mary"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.maryrajotte.com\/blog","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/maryrajotte","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/maryrajotte","https:\/\/ca.pinterest.com\/maryrajotte\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/38e89cfcbaef29fc7e8e84a7098e0ab5","name":"Mary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23184fb41b197599de050e66278654868cb7a5f7a6ea0a5db61f38b8407b769c?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23184fb41b197599de050e66278654868cb7a5f7a6ea0a5db61f38b8407b769c?s=96&r=g","caption":"Mary"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maryrajotte.com"],"url":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1486,"url":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/07\/turning-a-new-page\/","url_meta":{"origin":1495,"position":0},"title":"Turning A New Page","author":"Mary","date":"January 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Adding some new tools to my writer's arsenal","rel":"","context":"In "On Writing"","block_context":{"text":"On Writing","link":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/category\/on-writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5225,"url":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2020\/06\/23\/casting-call\/","url_meta":{"origin":1495,"position":1},"title":"Casting Call","author":"Mary","date":"June 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Now that I've finished my Reaper book, it's time to share some behind-the-scenes info! Wondering how I cast the starring role in my book? Coming up with the right character type for my protagonist was one of the most important steps in writing this book Head over to my Patreon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "On Writing"","block_context":{"text":"On Writing","link":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/category\/on-writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/postphotos\/divider3.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/postphotos\/divider3.gif?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/postphotos\/divider3.gif?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/postphotos\/divider3.gif?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2150,"url":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/21\/puzzle-pieces\/","url_meta":{"origin":1495,"position":2},"title":"Puzzle Pieces","author":"Mary","date":"September 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"You never know how the story is going to turn out once you drop your characters into the world you created and they start interacting. It could (and should) all turn to hell","rel":"","context":"In "On Writing"","block_context":{"text":"On Writing","link":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/category\/on-writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/postphotos\/puzzlepieces2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":87,"url":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2007\/09\/26\/the-pictures-are-all-i-can-feel\/","url_meta":{"origin":1495,"position":3},"title":"The Pictures Are All I Can Feel","author":"Mary","date":"September 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Various tones of streaky grey and white are brushstrokes across the sky today.\u00a0 The trees, now in shades of crimson, rust and gold, look even more vibrant set against this monochromatic backdrop. The power is out today, so my only soundtrack comes from the traffic outside and the stack of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "On Writing"","block_context":{"text":"On Writing","link":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/category\/on-writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Painted Sky","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/postphotos\/brushstrokes.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1644,"url":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2011\/04\/20\/wip-wednesday-is-acrobatic\/","url_meta":{"origin":1495,"position":4},"title":"WIP Wednesday is Acrobatic","author":"Mary","date":"April 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Word sprints have become my new ticking time bomb.","rel":"","context":"In "On Writing"","block_context":{"text":"On Writing","link":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/category\/on-writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/postphotos\/wipwednesday.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":295,"url":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/2009\/01\/22\/im-all-out-of-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":1495,"position":5},"title":"I’m All Out Of Love","author":"Mary","date":"January 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"There's no easy way, it gets harder each day.","rel":"","context":"In "On Writing"","block_context":{"text":"On Writing","link":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/category\/on-writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pauXzR-o7","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1495"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1501,"href":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1495\/revisions\/1501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maryrajotte.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}