Tag: character development

Categories
Romancing Your Story

Developing the Leading Man and his Lady

The man and woman who will fall in love in your romance story are your most important characters. Therefore, it is imperative that you know them inside and out and develop them throughout the story in a way that shows why they are drawn to each other, what makes them move from being drawn to one another to falling in love, and how do they know this will last.

How do you get to know your characters well enough to build a good love story between them?

First, you need to develop their back stories. What is his view on love and on the world. What is her view on love and on the world. How and why are each of them going to make the decisions they will make throughout your novel. These things are a part of their back stories—what happened to them, in the past, that makes them think, react, and make the decisions they do?

Romance relies on strong main characters and your reader engagement will depend on the chemistry between your leading man and his lady. Therefore, you need to make your protagonists convincing.

Building a character

Start by asking yourself the following questions:

Who is he or she?

What is his or her flaw(s)?

What is his or her lie or burden? This is the thing they carry around with them that influences and determines their view of the world.

These things have all come from their back story—things that happened to them in the past: hurt, rejection, abandonment, etc.

Every character needs a GOAL, MOTIVATION, and CONFLICT. Their GOAL is what he or she wants. Their MOTIVATION is why he or she wants that thing, whether it is tangible or intangible. Their CONFLICT is why they can’t get it—what is keeping them from getting what they want?

When it comes to conflict, there needs to be outside forces that add to the conflict, not just internal conflict. Otherwise, you may fall into the trap where they have a very simple misunderstanding. This will not last long enough or be strong enough to sustain the conflict necessary for a novel. External conflict can produce and intensify the internal conflict within the character and between the man and woman.

Character growth

You also need to develop your characters throughout the story—they have to have some kind of change from the beginning of the novel til the end. Use the interactions between the male and female to show their character development. Have them challenge each other and bring about change in each other through the conflict and bonding.

Changes from the beginning to the ending of your story will include growth in their relationship as they move from mutual interest and physical attraction to a deeper love. Physical attraction is not enough to sustain a relationship for the long haul. Use some of each character’s attributes or quirks to deepen their love; things like intelligence, wit, charm, humor, social status, etc.

Character development is necessary for a successful romance.

Kelly F. Barr lives in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She is married and has three sons. She writes historical romance. She has also been a blogger for ten years, and every Friday, you can find her Flash Fiction stories posted for your reading pleasure. She loves her family, including the family dog, books, walks, and chai lattes.

You can find her online at:

Categories
Guest Posts

Ways to Create Emotionally Intelligent Characters

Guest posts

As much fun building characters in a fiction story is, the process is equally challenging. Trying to create memorable characters who incite a heartfelt connection with readers requires quite a bit of work. But you can start by developing them with emotional intelligence, also known as EQ.

You want your characters to have an authentic balance of emotional intelligence so their impact on your readers is lasting. Additionally, if your readers can resonate with your characters’ internal struggle and growth, they’ll be more inclined to finish the entire story.

So, let’s briefly define what emotional intelligence is and then explore three ways to incorporate it into your character development to create emotionally sound characters.

What is Emotional Intelligence?

Emotional intelligence is defined as “the ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict.”

In terms of character development, this means you want to show your character’s understanding of their own emotions. Show how they use them in different circumstances and manage them in stressful times when they need to communicate effectively, overcome obstacles, and form relationships with others.

With this definition of emotional intelligence in mind, here are three ways to create emotionally intelligent characters in your fiction stories.

pen writing

Three Ways to Create Emotionally Intelligent Characters

Defining emotional intelligence is just the beginning of creating emotionally intelligent characters. You want to ensure you’re striking the right balance of emotional intelligence in your characters to paint an authentic picture of who they are. Here are a few ways to help you do just that.

Work on your EQ

Creating emotionally intelligent characters who provoke genuine emotion and connection from your readers is a bit easier when you understand your EQ. An emotionally intelligent writer has gone through some of the things their character is going to go through. And that can be used to write better characters.

So, work on your EQ. Your characters can mirror the general flow of your emotional journey to make them that much more realistic.

Draw on real-life experiences

As you work on your emotional intelligence, you’ll likely learn how to be better from your involvement in other people’s journeys to a high level of emotional intelligence. And these encounters should be leveraged to create solid characters. One of the best ways to develop emotionally intelligent characters is to draw on real-life experiences.

For example, let’s say you have or are currently dating someone with depression or anxiety. Think about the nights of researching their disorder, the difficult discussions you had to have with them, how you overcame their attempts to push you away and self-isolate, or how you improved your communication to support their healing. If you’re creating a character living with either of these disorders themselves or in relation with someone who is, draw from your own emotional experiences.

Ultimately, considering how you navigated similar circumstances that your characters are going through will help you develop them with a realistic balance of emotional intelligence. Also, the genre you’re writing can help shape the emotional intelligence of your characters.

Consider what EQ looks like in different genres of fiction

To determine the right EQ for your characters, you’ll want to consider the genre of fiction you’re writing in. Your characters’ emotional intelligence journey should make sense not only for the character but for your chosen genre as well.

For example, let’s say you’re developing a character for a comic book. You decide the stories will involve fighting crime, and therefore, the comic will be placed in the action/adventure genre. The question becomes, what does the emotional intelligence of a comic book character in the action/adventure genre look like? If their goal is to fight crime effectively, what is their motive for doing so? Were they bullied as a kid? Was a family member the victim of a high-profile crime?

Ultimately, your character’s level of emotional intelligence and how it develops in the story, and the pace at which it does, should be informed by the genre they’re in.

Conclusion

Creating emotionally intelligent characters will make your story stand out among the many fiction pieces out there. Develop these characters by working on your personal EQ, using real-life experiences to inform your character creation, and considering what EQ looks like in your chosen genre.

Amanda Wistead

Amanda Winstead is a writer from the Portland area with a background in communications and a passion for dynamic content. Along with writing she enjoys traveling, reading, working out, and going to concerts. If you want to follow her writing journey, or even just say hi you can find her on Twitter.

Categories
Romancing Your Story

Walk on By: Secondary Characters

Secondary characters are the seasoning in your story soup.

Who can be secondary characters, or sidekicks? Often, they’re the protagonist’s best friend, but they can also be a family member, co-worker, neighbor, or even a frenemy. Sidekicks give the hero and heroine someone to talk to, someone to confess their feelings to, someone to be honest with. Sidekicks can say things your heroine or hero need to hear. Secondary characters can act as the hero’s conscience. Secondary characters often provide comic relief with quirky characteristics, either physical or in their personality.

If you’re writing a series, a sidekick can be the main character in the next story. Susan May Warren is a master at this. Her series, Global Search and Rescue, starts with friends Jenny, Aria, and Sasha on Mount Denali. They meet Orion, Jake, and Hamilton. Book Two is Aria and Jake caught in a hurricane in Florida, with Jake’s friend and boss Ham Jones, the hero of book Three. Warren’s Christiansen Family and Montana Marshalls series all focus on different family members in each book.

Or the secondary character could be a common character in each story in the series. The coffee shop barista with hair that’s a different color each week. The waitress at the diner who never writes down an order but never mixes them up. Or constantly mixes them up. Gayle Roper’s Seaside Seasons series has a guy with a metal detector on the beach in each book. He often has a word of wisdom to pass on with the buried treasure he finds. J.D. Robb’s In Death series has the candy thief who steals Eve Dallas’s candy no matter where she hides it in her office. Nora Roberts (writing as J.D. Robb) has promised to reveal the candy thief when she ends the series, which I’m happy to say looks like won’t be happening any time soon.

The secondary character can provide what James Scott Bell calls the “man in the mirror” moment. This is when your protagonist looks at their life and who they are, then decides if they’re happy with that or are going to change. The sidekick can give your hero or heroine advice or feedback, facilitating that man in the mirror moment and assisting the change.

In the movie Sleepless in Seattle, Rosie O’Donnell played Becky, Meg Ryan’s character Annie’s best friend and editor. Becky provided a sounding board for Annie to talk to about how crazy her obsession was with Sam, the “Sleepless in Seattle” caller to the Dr. Marcia radio show. When Annie pitched Becky an article about the Dr. Marcia show, Becky (and the viewer) clearly knew Annie was really asking if she should try to find and/or meet Sam.

Sometimes a secondary character will walk into your story and try to steal the scene. Be careful to keep the spotlight where it belongs: on your main characters. If your secondary character turns into a scene stealer, give them a stern talking to, then consider offering them their own future story. That will usually convince them to play nicely for the rest of your current project.

Carrie Padgett lives in Central California, close to Yosemite, but far from Hollywood, the beach, and the Golden Gate Bridge. She believes in faith, families, fun, and happily ever afters. She writes contemporary fiction with romance. She recently signed a contract with Sunrise Publishing to co-write a romance novel with New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hauck that will be published in 2022. Carrie and her husband live in the country with their high-maintenance cat and laid-back dog, within driving distance of their six grandchildren.

You can find her online at:

Categories
Writing for YA

Writing a First Novel: Creating Characters

In past blog posts, I’ve written about choosing a genre, story premise, and GMC.

A key element of any story is character development. Character development is the process of creating fictional characters, but can also refer to a character’s arc. In this article, I’ll talk about the process of creating characters and leave the arc for another day.

Key Characters

Every story has a hero, or main character, also called the protagonist.

Some have a villain, the antagonist. In some stories, the main character (MC) fills both roles of antagonist and protagonist.

Most have secondary characters. These assist the MC, oppose the MC, or otherwise help the reader understand the MC’s journey.

Fully developing the protagonist and antagonist is essential to a good story.

In order to be three dimensional, characters should have occupations, hobbies, friends, favorite foods, talents, etc. but they also require fleshing out in other ways. Some writers spend a lot of time describing the physical attributes of their story people. While this is important, the emotional make up—dreams, ambitions, struggles, and so on—of your character is what resonates with readers.

Flat and Round

Have you been told your characters are flat, or that they need more rounding? What does this mean?

Flat characters are one-dimensional. Some minor characters can be flat and serve the story just fine. However, main characters need to have depth and personality.

Ever met someone who appeared to be perfect? Did it feel like you were waiting for the authentic person to reveal themselves?

Don’t make your characters too good to be true.

But it’s fiction!

Even so, your reader wants to feel as if the story is real. To capture the reader, a main character should have both attributes and flaws. 

But I want my hero to be good!

No one is all good or all bad. Perfect characters are hard, if not impossible, to relate to. They can come off as unrealistic, preachy, or just plain boring. If readers don’t feel an affinity with the protagonist, they won’t be invested enough to keep turning pages.

A superhero who is afraid of spiders. The psychiatrist who has a dysfunctional family. The miracle worker who cannot heal his own child. These are more interesting than a flat hero.

What about the “bad guy” in a story?

While reading a novel, do you ever find it hard to believe a “bad” character is all bad? A villain becomes a cartoon image, and the book gets tossed aside. Both heroes and villains need to have core values. I’ve heard it said that all villains believe they are the good guy.

Often, a character’s greatest strength will have negative aspects, just like in real life. A character who is responsible may take responsibility too seriously, or take on responsibility that isn’t theirs. This could cause all sorts of story problems!

A character who is consistent, a good trait, can be inflexible, which is bad in certain situations.

The character who values family above all else, can cross lines and cause tension because they put such high regard on family relationships.

Round characters come with built in opportunities for conflict.

A good tool to figure out the natural balance of your characters’ dominant traits is by determining their personality type using something like 16Personalities.com.

Creating Compelling Characters

To further develop rounded and interesting characters, go beyond a list of the basics. Try character interviews, asking deeper questions. A google search should turn up plenty of fiction writing character interviews, or you can make up one.

Or try this. Put your character in different situations, awkward, stressful, relaxed, and write their interior dialogue. Do this exercise in first person, even if your novel is in third.

Does a writer have to do all of this before they start writing? Not necessarily. Often, my characters flesh themselves out during the process of writing. But not knowing enough to have a solid GMC is usually a guarantee my story will stall.

Having a well-developed character in mind will help the story unfold easier. As long as the writer doesn’t get bogged down in endless character questionnaires and interviews, such exercises are a useful addition to the writer’s toolbox.

Recommended Reading

Write Great Fiction Series: Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint by Nancy Kress

Related Blog Posts

WRITING A FIRST NOVEL: CHOOSING A GENRE

WRITING A FIRST (OR SECOND) NOVEL: STORY PREMISE & GMC

Donna Jo Stone writes YA contemporary novels about tough issues but always ends the stories with a note of hope. She blogs at donnajostone.com.

Categories
Becoming an Author

5 Acting Books Every Writer Should Read

If you are a writer who is serious about pursuing publication, perhaps you have a couple of writing craft books on your desktop. Any aspiring author who hopes to grow as a writer should continue to immerse him or herself in techniques that can take their manuscript to the next level. There are plenty of books written by professionals who can help you structure your plot, create captivating protagonists, and learn how to show instead of tell. But have you ever tried to apply methods and techniques geared toward other artistic professions?

As an actress, I am always trying to find new ways to grow in my craft—such as, you guessed it, reading books on the craft. I have learned techniques and methods that have not only taken my acting craft to the next level but my writing as well.

So if you have exhausted your pile of writing craft books, then you, too, may find one (or all) of the following books useful for learning skills that can add depth your characterization, emotion and action, character relationships, dialogue, and scene structure.

1. The Warner Loughlin Technique – Warner Loughlin’s method to developing authentic characters is one that has been applied to both actors and writers alike, including Disney animators. If you only choose one book in this list to use for your writing, this is the one I would recommend. She teaches how we can apply human psychology to develop realistic, intuitive, three-dimensional characters whose worldviews and emotions have been shaped by their past experiences.

2. The Meisner Approach Workbook – Meisner was a well-known acting coach whose method of acting continues to be applied by professional actors and acting teachers today. The Meisner technique is fully introduced in the original book, On Acting. This workbook, however, covers the fundamentals taught by Meisner that can help both actors and writers alike practically craft realistic character relationships and authentic behavior in dialogue.

3. Respect for Acting – Uta Hagen taught actors how they can remain organic in their actions, behavior, and emotion while portraying various characters. If you find yourself struggling with knowing what your characters should “do” within a scene—and how to connect behavior with emotion—you may want to consider applying her techniques.

4. The Power of the Actor – The practical technique presented in this book allows actors to deepen their characters through a process of script analysis. Writers, too, can benefit from these exercises, as they will allow you to deepen both your characters as well as your approach to scene construction.

5. The Actor’s Art and Craft – This book uses an approach to the Meisner technique that is clear and concrete, giving actors a solid framework for rounding out their character’s inner lives. These exercises can provide writers with a method on how they, too, can construct dynamic characters, dialogue, and emotion.

Have you studied the craft of acting, and if so, what techniques have proven to be helpful in your writing? Let me know in the comments!

Tessa Emily Hall is an award-winning author who wrote her debut novel when she was sixteen. She is now a multi-published author of both fiction and non-fiction inspirational yet authentic books for teens, including her upcoming release, LOVE YOUR SELFIE (October 2020, Ellie Claire). Her passion for shedding light on clean entertainment and media for teens led her to a career as a Literary Agent at Cyle Young Literary Elite, YA Acquisitions Editor for Illuminate YA (LPC Imprint), and Founder/Editor of PursueMagazine.net. Tessa is guilty of making way too many lattes and never finishing her to-read list. When her fingers aren’t flying 128 WPM across the keyboard, she can be found speaking to teens, teaching at writing conferences, coaching young writers, and acting in Christian films. Her favorite way to procrastinate is to connect with readers is on her mailing list, social media (@tessaemilyhall), and website: www.tessaemilyhall.com.

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

Navigating the Social Media minefield as a Speculative Fiction author

It’s a complicated time to be an author trying to build your platform on social media. It’s a weird time to be a human, much less one that spends large chunks of their days creating imaginary realms for their readers to enjoy.  The various online spaces feel like they’re filled with people weighing your every word to determine if you fit into their box, or some other. Those who they find agreeable are loved, accepted, and promoted. Those they deem to exist in the other box are ignored, ridiculed, and discouraged. We need to build a platform to connect with readers, but the these days it feels like trying to clear a minefield in a TIE fighter.

The disagreements don’t even have to be about deep political viewpoints. Something as simple as a sports team allegiance can lose you followers. Some of the worst online battles happen between different parts of the same fandom particularly in the speculative fiction space. Whether its SciFi versus Fantasy, or Original Trilogy versus Sequel Trilogy, the intensity of the rhetoric would make even the politicians blush.

I’m an ambitious writer. I want my stories to have a wide appeal. I don’t want to post anything that might alienate someone from giving my books a chance. So how do we navigate these treacherous minefiled?

I’ve found the key is discernment and empathy. Empathy is your superpower as a writer. Designing a great antagonist is the hidden key to unlocking this superpower.

“Fiction gives us empathy: it puts us in the mind of other people, gives us the gifts of seeing the world through their eyes. Fiction is a lie that tells us true things, over and over.” Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker award-winning author Neil Gaiman.

Develop empathy with people by making them great antagonists

Antagonists are critical to your story. They need to be every bit as fleshed out, multi-dimension and real as your protagonist. They need to have complex personalities, and deep motives. Sometimes what drives your antagonist is a good good quality taken too far. It morphs into something darker. Someone with a strong work ethic becomes a workaholic. Love turns to jealousy. High self esteem becomes conceitedness.

Ask the same sort of questions about the people you struggle to have empathy for that you ask of your antagonist. Who are they? What life experiences have shaped them into the person they are today? What are they listening to, or reading that is forming their core belief system.

You don’t have to agree with their positions or their actions. They may be wrong, completely wrong, but you can still have empathy and show them kindness.

Is this a hill to die on?

One of the defining phrases of my twenty-five-year marriage has been ‘a hill to die on’. This is a military phrase which refers to capturing or holding the high ground, usually a hill. As Obi-wan showed us, holding the high ground gives you a military advantage. But not all hills have equal strategic value. Some hills are the key to victory and must be held no matter the price. Others aren’t worth the cost in men, or ammunition. It’s not a ‘hill to die on’.

Here’s a lifehack for you. If you don’t argue with people, they assume you agree with them. This isn’t to say you must agree with anyone. We all have deeply held beliefs and convictions. But what’s required is for you to do a cost-benefit analysis.

A biting quip or a brilliant reply to an argument may feel good in the moment, but you probably haven’t changed anyone’s mind, and you might have lost a future reader. No matter how clever or persuasive our arguments, we are unlikely to change anyone’s mind in a quick, online interaction. Real change only happens in the context of deep relationships. You may have instead earned yourself a long time enemy.

As hard as it is to do, simply not replying is often the best answer. I recently had a tweet get far more engagement than I thought it would. Many responses were supportive, but some of them were not kind. There was an emotional sting that will now form into a callous to develop that thick skin so critical to success as a modern writer. Rather than get into an argument, I simply ignored them.

Best social media advice still holds true

The core advice, communicated to me by writing coach Janeen Ippolito still stands. Have one social media platform that you are consistently posting to and interacting with people. I’m better at Twitter than IG so that’s where I do most of my interactions. Be at least findable on every other major social media platform, if only to funnel traffic back to the ones you find most comfortable with using.

I hope as we move into the new year, there’s less of trying to make every issue a binary choice, and forcing people into one of two boxes, mostly so we can dismiss or denigrate those people not in our box.

Ted Atchley is a freelance writer and professional computer programmer. Whether it’s words or code, he’s always writing. Ted’s love for speculative fiction started early on with Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, and the Star Wars movies. This led to reading Marvel comics and eventually losing himself in Asimov’s Apprentice Adept and the world of Krynn (Dragonlance Chronicles). 

After blogging on his own for several years, Blizzard Watch (blizzardwatch.com) hired Ted to be a regular columnist in 2016. When the site dropped many of its columns two years later, they retained Ted as a staff writer. 

He lives in beautiful Charleston, SC with his wife and children. When not writing, you’ll find him spending time with his family, and cheering on his beloved Carolina Panthers. He’s currently revising his work-in-progress portal fantasy novel before preparing to query. 

  • Twitter: @tedatchley3
  • Twitter: @honorshammer (gaming / Blizzard Watch)
Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

How Genre Impacts Your Character Development

Sometimes it’s easy to think character development looks similar across genres. And for the reader, it usually does. Even in the best-selling books, character development is often very relatable. As it should be. Readers need to relate to the characters, after all. But when we use genre as an outside force influencing our characters, we take character development to a whole new level.

Let’s take Harry Potter. Harry lived in the cupboard under the stairs until he went to Hogwarts and discovered who he really is. This is a typical young adult character arc. But if we look deeper and notice the influence of genre, we see Harry’s development from a whole new perspective.

What makes Harry such a standout character is his very normal personality thrust into extraordinary circumstances. The normalcy of Harry contrasted with the unexpected and surprising details of Hogwarts and its professors acts as a dichotomy, highlighting just how much Harry needs to overcome. Yes, Rowling could have put Harry into a normal school with no magic and fleshed out his character, but not as deeply.

As you create your world, take note of your protagonist’s weaknesses. Harry repeatedly says “I’m just Harry!” which goes to show 1) how little he knows about himself, 2) how he’s in way over his head, and 3) just how much he will grow.

What is your protagonist’s view of himself or ideology of the world? Create a villain who undermines that in every way. Harry doesn’t think he’s important. But the villain sees his seeming unimportance, his innocence, as something that destroyed his agenda.

How do the rules of your world push against your protagonist’s views of right and wrong? Harry wants to free Dobby the house elf, but the rules of the Harry Potter world are strict about how a house elf can be freed. Harry has to play by the rules to help Dobby.

How do the rules of your world’s culture impact your protagonist’s interpersonal relationships? Harry wants to be friends with Hermione, but Hermione is looked down on for not having a magical family. Harry wouldn’t have had this interpersonal struggle if his character hadn’t been created in a magical world. The genre Harry was thrust into massively impacted his character arc, even at the interpersonal level.

As you create characters and decide what type of world to plunge them into, ask yourself some of the above questions. Based on their personality, fears, dreams, views of right and wrong, etc., would science-fiction or fantasy best reveal their character arc?

Put Harry in a public school somewhere in England and he probably would’ve stayed relatively insignificant. But put him in a wizarding world and he grows so much he defeats the dark lord and becomes not “just Harry” but Harry Potter, the boy who lived. As the author, it’s your job to make your characters shine, and much of that comes down to choosing the stage to put them on.

Sarah Rexford is a Marketing Content Creator and writer. She helps authors build their platform through branding and copywriting. With a BA in Strategic Communications, Sarah equips writers to learn how to communicate their message through personal branding. She writes fiction and nonfiction and offers writers behind-the-scenes tips on the publishing industry through her blog itssarahrexford.com. She is represented by the C.Y.L.E Young Agency.

Instagram: @sarahjrexford
Twitter: @sarahjrexford
Web: itssarahrexford.com

Categories
Mystery/Thriller/Suspense

Identity Crisis

mystery suspense thriller

Let’s talk villains. One of my favorite topics!

The creeper. The serial killer. The diabolical mastermind. The psychotic killer. And villains with a skewed sense of justice.

Does your bad guy (or girl) really know who he or she is?

Thanks to a friend’s advice, I have a list of ways that my antagonist can attempt to kill my hero or heroine. I simply go down the list and pick my favorites for that story. Yes, I am that devious. LOL! However, I’ve learned that I can’t pick at random. I must make thoughtful choices.

Whether you love them or hate them, villains must be true to who you’ve created them to be. Do you know who they are and what they want?

Not long ago, I received feedback from an editor. She liked the overall plot of the story and my writing, but my villain had issues. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I had more to fix then just my bad guy. However, the villain, he’s the one who had an identity crisis. I soon discovered what I had done. I’d chosen a villain, even mapped out what he wanted, but I hadn’t put myself in his head.

When writing your antagonist, think like the character you’ve created. If he’s a serial killer that strangles his victims, is he suddenly going to shoot someone? If he is trying to kill a witness, is he going to ransack the victim’s home when he or she isn’t there?

Stay true to the personality and motivation of your antagonist.

Crawl into your villain’s head. Yes, it can be a creepy place. But ask yourself, how would I eliminate my prey? Put yourself in his shoes.

I’m an arsonist. I’m going to burn down buildings, not run someone off the road and shoot at them.

I’m a serial killer who’s a sniper. I’m going to shoot my victims from a distance, not sneak into their home and attempt to strangle them.

I poison people. I might track my victim’s movements so I can sneak poison into their water bottle at the gym, or coffee at work, etc. But I’m not going to hit my hero or heroine over the head with a lead pipe.

Don’t let your antagonist have an identity crisis. Always make the crime match your villain.

What type of villain is your favorite? And how do you keep him or her from having an identity crisis?

Sami Abrams grew up hating to read. It wasn’t until her 30’s that she found authors that captured her attention. Now, most evenings you can find her engrossed in a Romantic Suspense. In her opinion, a crime and a little romance is the recipe for a great story.

Sami has finaled 15 times in writing contests, including receiving first place in American Christian Fiction Writer’s Genesis Contest in 2019 and Faith Hope and Love’s Touched By Love Awards in 2018. She lives in Northern California, but she will always be a Kansas girl at heart. She has a love of sports, family, and travel. However, a cabin at Lake Tahoe writing her next story is definitely at the top of her list.

Visit Sami at:

Website:  Samiaabrams.com

Facebook Author page:  samiaabrams

Twitter: @samiaabrams

Instagram: samiaabrams 

Categories
History in the Making

The History of Your Characters

History in the making

When we think of “historical”, we think the story is set in a historical time period, and many of us have a favorite time period – the Victorian Age, the Renaissance, the Old West, or any one of so many more. We imagine poring over history books, encyclopedias, or websites that provide information about the time period so that we can be sure the historical parts of our fiction stories are accurate.

What about the history of your characters? This is otherwise known as “backstory”. The history or backstory of our characters can be just as important, maybe even more important, than the history of our time period.

Just like people in real life, your characters need a history. You can’t write accurately portray a character without knowing their back story. Just like real people, the histories of your characters are important to who your character is. Their history has an effect on the character and personality of your character. It may even be important to their motivation and goals.

Therefore, whether you are a pantser, plantser, or plotter, you need to create a backstory for your characters before you write your story. The better you know and understand your characters’ histories, the more realistic and believable you can make them.

Do you have to create a backstory for every character? No, I wouldn’t say that. I would say it is most important to have well-developed backstories for your main characters, and at least a good idea of the backstories of the minor characters make regular appearances in your story.

Even though you need a thorough backstory for your characters, you won’t include all of their backstory in your novel. You will only include what you need for your readers to understand your characters.

For example, your twenty-eight year old female character is terrified of being outside in a thunderstorm. Why? Maybe in her backstory, when she was a little girl, she witnessed a tragedy that took place during a thunderstorm – maybe a tree struck by lightning fell on a relative and they were badly injured or killed, maybe she was raised by an abusive parent who locked her outside during a thunderstorm, or maybe lightning struck a tree stump near her and it burst into flames. I’m sure you can come up with more possibilities that would cause her to still be afraid of thunderstorms as an adult woman.

Why might this be important to the story? Well, maybe a thunderstorm begins quickly, with little to no warning, and her little boy is outside and she has to go out to bring him into the house or maybe she’s on her way home and there is no where to go to get out of the storm along the road she’s traveling and her only option is to get home.

I hope, by these examples, you can see how important your character’s backstory can be and how it can add tension to your story.

Kelly F. Barr lives in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She is married and has three sons. She writes historical romance. She has also been a blogger for ten years, and every Friday, you can find her Flash Fiction stories posted for your reading pleasure. She loves her family, including the family dog, books, walks, and chai lattes.

You can find her online at:

Website: https://kellyfbarr.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kellyb_26

Facebook: Kelly F. Barr, Writer

Categories
Courting the Muse

How Personality Quizzes Can Help You With Character Development

Have you ever taken the MBTI? Short for Myers Briggs Type Indicator, this classic personality test promises to divine your essential nature from a series of thought-provoking questions. A favorite of career counselors and online quiz junkies alike, it’s basically a Muggle’s multiple-choice Sorting Hat. But instead of Hogwarts’s four houses, the MBTI divides up all test-takers into sixteen personality types, from The Commander (assertive, far-sighted, prone to stubbornness) to The Artist (practical, detail-oriented, gun-shy in the face of conflict).

When I first took the MBTI over a decade ago, its chain of probing questions led me to an identification with The Thinker, a somewhat kooky theoretician prone to spells of self-doubt. I saw quite a bit of myself in the description of my type, from my dreaminess to my insecurity. And so my MBTI has hovered around the edges of my self-concept ever since.

A little while ago, I finished reading journalist and critic Merve Emre’s The Personality Brokers, which offers a deep dive into the twisty history of the indicator — turns out, its creators were adamant about not calling it a test, since there are no wrong answers. Merve’s research reveals a certain amount of fuzziness in MBTI’s inner workings: the scoring was constantly being tinkered with, and it was never proven to be scientifically valid at all.

At the same time, however, The Personality Brokers shines a light on MBTI’s usefulness as a storytelling tool. It may be far removed from the objective precision of a blood test. But when it comes to providing writing inspiration, no test — sorry, indicator — can do better.

The history of MBTI is also the story of two extraordinary women, Isabel Briggs Meyers and her mother Katharine Briggs, the “M” and the “B” of the initialism. Both of them, of course, were keen-eyed observers of personality. But perhaps more intriguingly, they were also writers.

Isabel even won a high-profile mystery writing contest with her debut novel, Murder Yet to Come. This thriller featured a team of idiosyncratic, finely drawn detectives whose “working relationships were always invigorated by their personality differences.” (Though the novel topped both the American and British bestseller lists, Isabel invested her earnings in the stock market and tragically lost everything in the 1929 crash.)

Katharine, meanwhile, bore a near-religious fascination with the work of pioneering psychologist Carl Jung. As she worked her way through his research as an autodidact, she processed what she learned by writing slow-moving, character-driven fiction about her idol. Though her Jung novel, The Man from Zurich, was never published, it bore witness to how closely psychology and storytelling were intertwined in her mind.

The MBTI might not have the scientific grounding to tell you who you are or what you should do with your life. But as Myers’s and Briggs’s own creative work suggests, it can certainly help you develop your characters. Read through a description of any MBTI type — say, Isabel’s own type, The Mediator — and you’ll find a comprehensive overview of how they relate to others, look at the world, and how they make decisions.

In other words, you’ll find the makings of a fantastically thorough character profile, detailing how a certain type of protagonist (or antagonist, or bit player) might react to anything your plot can throw at them.

If you ever find yourself stuck on a point of characterization, try using MBTI to write your way out. You can even take the test (or rather, indicator) “in character” and see if the result resonates with the fictional figure you had in mind. Who knows? You just might learn something new about one of your characters.

Lucia Tang is a writer for Reedsy, a marketplace that connects self-publishing authors with the book industry’s best editors, designers, and marketers. To work on the site’s free historical character name generators, she draws on her knowledge of Chinese, Latin, and Old Irish —  learned as a PhD candidate in history at UC Berkeley. You can read more of her work on the Reedsy Discovery blog, or follow her on Twitter at @lqtang.

Categories
Becoming an Author

Acting Techniques to Deepen Your Writing – Part 1: Characterization

Over the years, I’ve studied the craft of both writing and acting, and I’ve been amazed at how the two art forms can feed off of each other.

This year—thanks to extra time provided by quarantine—I’ve taken my study of acting a step further by enrolling in virtual classes. And you know what’s crazy? I’ve noticed an increased depth in my writing as well. These acting techniques have helped me to, 1) Bring readers deeper into my character’s POV, 2) “Humanize” my characters, and 3) Portray authentic emotion.

And now I would like to share these tips with you!

For this series, I’ve compiled a list of tips so that you, too, can deepen your writing.

These tips are succinct; however, if you’re serious about deepening your characterization then I would advise doing your own research. Trust me: These techniques will add a layer of authenticity to your writing! (See the end of this post for recommended reads.)

Acting Tips On Characterization…

1. Develop the inner life of your main character: backstory, worldview, ambitions, needs, fears, etc. This will shape who they are today. Thus, their behavior, mannerisms, speech—external life—will be influenced by this inner life.

2. Understand how your main character’s relationships with various people exposes different sides of them.

3. Find the small connection you have with your POV character and portray that with all your might. You might not be a competitive person by nature, but perhaps you can recall a time when you were competitive. Then, if your POV character is a competitive person, bring that connection out as much as possible. Uta Hagen suggests that actors “Play within the territory of you.”

4. A character’s dialogue, emotion, and behavior are triggered by a specific stimulus. Find this stimulus, and then create the authentic reaction for your character at that time. This will keep readers from claiming that they didn’t understand why the character behaved in certain manners, because it will make sense within the context of the scene.

5. Layer your character by assigning mannerisms and styles of speech that reflect who they are. How do they dress? Stand? Walk? Enter a room? How does this reflect who they are?

6. How does your character’s bedroom, “prop pieces,” and wardrobe say about them? Do they have memories attached to specific objects? How is this reflected in the way they interact with the environment/props?

7. Our character’s decisions should be justified. Even if the choices seem ridiculous on the surface, readers should understand why the character reacted/behaved in that manner. The choice should make sense for the character at the time.

8. Bring humanity into stereotypical roles. Yes, stereotypes exist in real life so it’s okay for them to exist in our writing as well. But stereotypes are only a label. As writers, let’s go deeper by rounding out the character, giving them desires, fears, needs, etc.

9. Physical choices can highlight various aspects of our characters. In Natalie Portman’s Master Class on acting, she uses an example of a scene in The Deer Hunter. As Meryl Streep’s character walked down the street in this scene, she took a moment to stop at a shop and fix her hair in the reflection. Use any opportunity you can to show who your character is rather than to simply tell.

10. Your character existed before the story began, so bring your fully developed character into the circumstances of your scene. The character development you do ahead of time will enable them to come across as human rather than a caricature. You will know your character so well that their responses, emotions, and choices will come more naturally and quickly to you since they have already been formed in your imagination.

In the following posts I will share further acting tips that will help you convey emotion, break down scenes, etc. In the meantime, if you would like to do your own study of acting, here are books I would recommend:

Any other characterization techniques we can learn from actors? Let me know in the comments!

Tessa Emily Hall is an award-winning author who writes inspirational yet authentic books for teens to remind them they’re not alone. She writes both fiction and devotionals for teens, including her upcoming release, LOVE YOUR SELFIE (October 2020, Ellie Claire). Her latest devotional, COFFEE SHOP DEVOS, encourages teens to pursue a personal relationship with Christ. Tessa’s passion for shedding light on clean entertainment and media for teens led her to a career as a Literary Agent at Cyle Young Literary Elite, YA Acquisitions Editor for Illuminate YA (LPC Imprint), and Founder/Editor of PursueMagazine.net. She’s guilty of making way too many lattes and never finishing her to-read list. When her fingers aren’t flying 128 WPM across the keyboard, she can be found speaking to teens, decorating art journals, and acting in Christian films. Her favorite way to procrastinate is through connecting with readers on her blog, mailing list, social media (@tessaemilyhall), and website: tessaemilyhall.com.

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

Tropes: How to Make Them Credible, Not Cliché

You could probably name tropes from your favorite books and movies without hardly thinking about it. There’s the Reluctant Hero, the Chosen One, the Mentor, and the list goes on. As you read that list, characters probably came to mind.

But what goes into creating a trope that’s not cliché? Fantasy and Sci-fi are so popular it’s easy to fall into cliché’s without even realizing it. Today we’ll focus on two tropes and how to use backstory to make them compelling, rather than cliché.

The Reluctant Hero:

Frodo Baggins is a standout example of a reluctant hero. He never intends to take the ring to Mordor. But he ends up doing so and saving Middle Earth. Here are some questions when considering his backstory:

  • Why was Frodo reluctant to start on his heroic journey?
  • What about his character, prior to starting his journey, foreshadowed his heroism?
  • Did his reluctance show strength, or fear?

From the start, we know Frodo dreams of leaving the Shire. He spends hours in the woods, dreaming of other places. But when it comes down to it, he realizes what he has and wants to keep it.

However, he’s willing to sacrifice for his family, which is foreshadowed very well in his interaction with Bilbo. His reluctance makes him empathetic.

The Chosen One:

Harry Potter is a quite literal example of this, as the prophecies in the series talk about a “chosen one.” He was marked by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and from infancy, his life is set on a path to heroism. Here are some questions to ask when considering whether his backstory makes his trope credible:

  • Does Harry live as if he is a chosen one?
  • Do his family connections lay a strong foundation to uphold him as a chosen one?
  • How does he mentally accept or reject his trope?

What’s so endearing about Harry is he doesn’t realize how famous he is. He doesn’t know he’s important, and he doesn’t realize his family backstory. A lot of his character arc is him working through his reality and trying to embrace it. This makes it credible.

When it comes to your trope…

Before deciding on your trope, ask yourself if your plot and characters lay a credible foundation. To do so, feel free to use the following questions:

  • Will your protagonist look like your chosen trope because he or she is created as one by you, the author, or as a result of their life situation?
  • Do their natural mannerisms reveal them as your chosen trope (reluctant hero, chosen one, etc.)?
  • Do secondary characters play into the credibility of your trope?

Best wishes, and happy writing!

Sarah Rexford is a Marketing Content Creator and writer. She helps authors build their platform through branding and copywriting. With a BA in Strategic Communications, Sarah equips writers to learn how to communicate their message through personal branding. She writes fiction and nonfiction and offers writers behind-the-scenes tips on the publishing industry through her blog itssarahrexford.com. She is represented by the C.Y.L.E Young Agency.

Instagram: @sarahjrexford
Twitter: @sarahjrexford
Web: itssarahrexford.com

Categories
Romancing Your Story

How Do You Write Characters of the Opposite Gender Realistically?

This was a question I saw in the Twitter writing community and realized it is a challenge, especially in a romance story. As a woman, how do I effectively write my male protagonist realistically in my historical romance stories?

Until seeing this question on Twitter, I hadn’t really thought about it. However, I spend quite a bit of time planning my characters—getting to know them—before beginning my story. I create their back stories as well, because my stories are character driven so I want to know my main characters inside and out. I think that’s a great start.

Also, in my neighborhood, my sister and I were the only girls for a long time and we had the biggest yard. Therefore we played a lot of kickball and wiffleball with boys. I had lots of boys as friends. I think spending time with boys as I was growing up allowed me to understand them and get a pretty good idea of how they act and react to different things.

It also helps to watch and observe people. I enjoy people watching. It’s an activity you can do just about anywhere.

I am part of a small critique group, and the first summer I was part of the group, there was a gentleman in the group. I submitted chapters of my historical romance story each time we met. Often when we met to offer feedback, this gentleman would remark how impressed and surprised he was at how authentically I portrayed my male protagonist. He remarked on my male protagonist’s dialogue lines as well as his reactions toward the female protagonist.

My husband and I have been married for 26 years, which I believe also gives me a good sense of how a man acts and reacts. It also has given me insight into the differences between men and women as God designed us. As we spend time with those of the opposite gender, talk with them, listen to them, and observe them we get a pretty good idea of how to write the characters of our opposite gender in our stories.

If the characters that you write of the opposite gender seem unrealistic or react to a particular situation in a strange way, take some time to observe the opposite gender, especially as they interact with someone of your gender. Also, talk with someone of the opposite gender, maybe share what you’ve written with them, and allow them to give you some thoughts and ideas.

However, I strongly encourage you to dig deep and develop your characters’ personalities, the family they grew up in, their back stories, their strengths and weaknesses, their needs and desires – everything you can think of to create a deep well-rounded character – as this will help you to write your characters, of both the same gender as you and the opposite gender as you, effectively and realistically. Spend time writing down everything you know about your character; creating your character, before inserting them into your story.

Kelly F. Barr lives in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She is married and has three sons. She writes historical romance. She has also been a blogger for ten years, and every Friday, you can find her Flash Fiction stories posted for your reading pleasure. She loves her family, including the family dog, books, walks, and chai lattes.

You can find her online at:

Website: https://kellyfbarr.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kellyb_26

Facebook: Kelly F. Barr, Writer

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

The Tightrope We Must Walk

Your main character stands on the edge of a cliff, a five hundred foot drop to jagged rocks below. The villain steadily creeps up, but as a reader, I haven’t connected with your MC yet. I might keep reading because I’m curious to find out what happens, but my heart isn’t involved.

Curiosity doesn’t drive story, heart does.

So, what makes a story compelling? How well we balance tension and character development.

If I don’t care about your MC, the tension won’t matter.

If I care about your MC but there’s no tension, I’ll put the book down.

For fantasy and science fiction, it’s especially important to establish an empathetic main character before bringing in too much tension.

Fantasy and science fiction require good amounts of world building. If I’m a reader trying to both 1) connect to a character from another world and, 2) understand the world the character is in, I’m going to need some help.

As the writer, this is where you shine.

Weave in backstory to reveal the heart of your main character.

Say your first scene starts with a battle. Your reader has no idea who your main character is as a person, what his/her desires are, or what brought them into this battle. Your reader might be curious to see if your MC survives without getting injured, but their heart isn’t in your story yet.

Time to drop in backstory! Have them save a child right before the dragon gets to him (commonly called a pet-the-dog moment), and then have a secondary character say something that reveals a growth in character arc: “I couldn’t have done that if I was her, not after_____.” Please don’t be that obvious, but for the sake of example, bear with me!

Reveal a weakness and why it’s a weakness.

I bet if you’re afraid of something today, it’s because you had a negative experience with it previously. Same goes for your main character (or any, for that matter). Let’s say your MC is a pirate from centuries past who’s turned over a new leaf and now helps ships lost at sea, saving the passengers. He’s brave and daring but terrified of the dark.

Your reader’s likely curious why he’s afraid, but we need to grab your reader’s heart. Instead of leaving it at “he’s afraid of the dark,” drop in some dialogue where your MC and a secondary character chat about how your MC and his family were caught in a huge ocean storm, his daughter was swept overboard, and because it was dark he couldn’t find her.

Now your MC is someone your reader can empathize with. Now your reader has some heart in your story.

Maintaining the right balance between tension and character development is a tightrope all writers have to walk, but done well, it draws readers in not just out of curiosity, but because their heart is invested in your story.

That’s a story worth writing!

Sarah Rexford is a Marketing Content Writer, working with brands to grow their audience reach. She studied Strategic Communications at Cornerstone University and focused on writing during her time there, completing two full-length manuscripts while a full-time student. Currently she trains under best-selling author Jerry Jenkins in his Your Novel Blueprint course and is actively seeking publication for two books.

Instagram: @sarahjrexford
Twitter: @sarahjrexford
Web: itssarahrexford.com

Categories
Mystery/Thriller/Suspense

Creating Believeable Villains

mystery suspense thriller

What are the trademarks of a villain?

Do they have dark, piercing eyes, a snarly grin, crooked-yellowed teeth, knobby fingers, an evil laugh? Or is there more to it than that? The antagonist can be the hardest character to write but also the most fun. How can we be successful at it? Here are some tips I’ve learned along the way.

Make them appear human – nobody likes a pure evil villain. They need to be likable or they fall flat. Give them a redeeming quality. Maybe we even want to cheer for them. Think Hannibal Lector or the Blacklist’s Raymond Reddington. Yes, they are evil but still have amiable qualities. We find ourselves applauding them.

Give them a clear motivation for their actions – we need to know why they’re doing their evil deeds. Their motives need to feel fair and just in their minds. Start with the basic reasons for their crime. Passion, greed, jealousy, but give it an added kick. Let’s place ourselves in their shoes. What makes them tick? Why do they think the way the do? In one of my stories the antagonist has a daughter who needs constant medical care for her deadly condition, so he justifies his actions to get the money to provide her with the necessary attention. This gives the reader empathy for the antagonist.

Give them flaws – we can’t make the villain’s life too easy. They need to work hard at being bad. Keep them in constant conflict, making things more difficult for them as the plot unfolds. Maybe they’re OCD and that keeps them from getting their hands dirty at a crime scene. Perhaps they’re disabled and struggle with getting around. Whatever the flaw, make it realistic.

Hide them in plain sight – don’t make the villain a klutzy moron. That robs the reader and makes them angry. We want to keep them guessing and surprised at the end of the story. Also, we can’t make the antagonist a minor character. This is cheating and doesn’t satisfy the plot. Give subtle clues as to who the criminal is, but make them the boy next door or the female everyone likes. This will give our stories plausibility.

Give your villain backstory – I like to do a full character sketch on the antagonist just like I do for my protagonist. Don’t cheat them in the development stage of your story. Get to know them. Sit down with them for coffee and ask some poignant questions. What are their dislikes? Loves? What is their deepest fear? What were they doing at the age of fifteen? We need to know them inside and out in order to make them come alive.

Fit their behavior appropriately – plant seeds along the way so when they commit a crime it doesn’t come out in left field. For example, if your villain is about to strangle someone give him big hands. Perhaps he works out to pump up his muscles. Or if he’s building a bomb, give him a military background or one in science. Remember, it needs to be realistic.

Creating villains can be fun. Study your favorite and then design yours to be believable and one that will keep your reader turning the pages!

 

Darlene L. Turner writes romantic suspense and won the 2017 Genesis award in the Romantic suspense category and was a 2018 finalist. She was a finalist in the 2017 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense contest and won in 2016 (Inspirational Unpublished). She’s represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.

Visit Darlene at:

Website: www.darlenelturner.com where she believes there’s suspense beyond borders

Facebook: Darlene L. Turner

Categories
The Picky Pen

How to Edit Your Character

We’re heading into a New Year. Perhaps you’ve finished a novel during Nanowrimo. Maybe you’re plotting a new story to begin writing in January. New Year, new goals, new story, right? I’d like to touch a little on how to edit your character. This might be something you tuck away and pull out after you’ve finished your discovery draft, or something you’re ready to use if you’ve completed your draft during the November writing frenzy.

I’d like to share a blurb from a well-loved classic to delve into the art of editing your character so that their inner/outer journey, actions, and dialogue is specific to the special person you’ve created. These elements will apply to both fiction and non-fiction.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is a leading example of the depth of story through the power of its characters and how each character is important to the plot. We see all of the main elements in Jane’s character that really endear her to us: background, personality, appearance, and journey.

Background

Jane in Jane Eyre came from a horrible background. She thinks she will be nothing more than a servant because that’s what she’s been told as a young girl. However, she desires to be more, and applies at Thornfield Hall as the new governess. And throughout this new experience, we see Jane struggle with feelings of being good enough for her new position, but how she chooses to react to those past situations in light of her interactions with Mr. Rochester eventually allows her to influence Mr. Rochester’s life.

What about your characters? Whether you’re writing fiction or non-fiction, you have many different characters who all play a part in your story. Your main character drives the story, and the other characters enhance what your main character does. What brought your characters to the beginning of your story?

Personality

When Jane first meets Mr. Rochester, she thinks he’s an angry person, but he does not scare her. What does that tell you of her personality? Her background of being treated unkindly and unfairly is characterized in her personality. She is not afraid of Mr. Rochester because she has learned how to respond to less-than-desirable actions from others. Jane’s gentle, firm, and idealistic personality is consistent throughout the novel, which creates a compelling character in Jane, and one that readers admire and love.

What about your story? What motivates your character to do the things they do, say what they say, or react and respond to different events within the story? In a non-fiction manuscript, your character’s personality will enhance the illustrations for each point you’re trying to

make and the content will really come alive for your readers. Developing these elements will ensure your character has a depth of personality that will affect your readers.

Appearance

Jane thinks she is plain, but in the end Mr. Rochester thinks she is the most beautiful person he’s ever seen, even though he has lost his sight due to the fire. Why is this? Jane’s inner character shines through to her outward appearance in her tone, mannerisms, and attitude.

What about your characters? Your readers will gauge your characters’ general appearance (hair color, eye color, skin tone, height), but it’s the inner appearance we create that will give readers a deeper understanding and appreciation for your characters. For example, a reader may find a character’s smile to be endearing, while the character themselves may think that their smile makes them look awkward because they have a crooked smile. When we describe the characters in our manuscript, we may be compelled to give a list of all of our character’s features. However, this type of character description bogs down the story. The trick is to describe characters in a way that is natural, and that is through your character’s actions in each scene.

Character’s journey

There are two kinds of journeys for your character. The inner journey and the outer journey. Each journey motivates the character throughout the story and engages the reader in your character’s life. What is the inner journey and the outer journey supposed to look like? The outer journey is what the character wants, and the inner journey is the inner struggle of that desire.

Jane wants to be treated not as a servant but as an equal. She wants independence, but she also wants someone to love her. The story shows how she displays that independence by standing up to Mr. Rochester’s indifferent attitude toward her. But with her inner journey, her struggle, she fears that she is not his equal because of their class differences, and she also fears that she might lose her independence, even though she desires to marry Mr. Rochester.

What about your characters? What does your character want? What is your character struggling with? What are they afraid of? What do they have to lose? Your characters will go through a series of emotional arcs. Michael Hague describes a character arc as a journey from living in fear to living courageously. Whether fiction or nonfiction, you decide what your character or reader wants. Then you structure the different events that your character goes through with the inner journey of how they are internalizing the events around them based on their outer journey, what they want.

Wrap-Up

The key here is to create a trail of breadcrumbs that leads your readers from Point A to Point B, keeps them guessing at how the character is going to get what they want, and what might get in their way and prevent them from getting what they want. And these four elements of your character’s background, personality, appearance, and journey set the stage for an engaging reading experience that whisks your readers away to a world of characters—and story—your readers will never forget.

Please take a minute and join in the discussion! I’d love to hear from you!

What’s your favorite character from a novel you’ve read, and what makes that character special to you? How can you enhance your own characters by the characters you read about in other books?

Tisha Martin writes historical fiction and nonfiction but also edits and proofreads for beginning and best-selling writers, professional editing agencies, and publishing houses. She has a BA in Professional Writing, an MS in English Education, and an editing certificate from the PEN Institute, affordable continuing education for editors. Active in American Christian Fiction Writers and The PEN, she appreciates the writing and editing communities. As Assistant Director of PENCON, a conference for editors, she enjoys travel marketing and updating PENCON’s Facebook Page. Connect with Tisha on her website www.tishamartin.com and engage in the conversation.

Categories
Guest Posts

Writing with Family

Writing a book is a process.

It began as a school assignment for my granddaughter when she was in third grade. She is now a seventh grader.

She was supposed to write 100 words and grace her pages with artwork. From her hand-written pages, I typed. Then she drew.

A little girl collected buttons and had a favorite that she had misplaced. She searched and searched, and searched some more–and found it! That was her story.

She put her finished work in a binder decorated with buttons. She earned a very good grade.

And I said, “I think you have something here. Let’s keep going.”

So we worked to understand the girl. Why was the button important? What did the girl look like? What did she like? Who was her family? Who were her friends?

We switched from third person (she) to first person (I). We developed a reason the button was important. We added family, friends, dialogue, description, repeating symbolism, and motives.

I thought we had a picture book, so I shared it with an author/friend. She said, “It’s not a picture book. It’s a chapter book. Keep working.”

So we did.

Writing a book is a process.

 

We shifted from the perspective of the little girl to the viewpoint of one of the previously peripheral characters–a boy–a new kid in town.

We drew in a team of helpers–her brother and some of their cousins. Sometimes, a committee of us met in a very professional manner discussing the story and deciding how to enhance it—even once debating a character’s name.

Around my dining room table, the family at large discussed the hair color of one character—calling a cousin down from the playroom to be our model.

Sometimes, ideas popped up during car rides.

Sometimes, I wrote alone.

One day, I typed as a grandson and I developed a chapter together.

Just last evening, another grandson gave us our revised title.

Now, we have more than 12,000 words. And so begins the process of cutting fat that may weigh it down and slow its journey to print. During that process, we search for places to add flesh and blood where the text is dry bone.

Then we will ask others to invest in it—to help us send it on its way. Will it float and fly? Or will our labors continue? To do otherwise is to let our project die. And our dream is that it will live in the imaginations of many.

Wordcraft is a process in which we grow along with our characters, a process that weaves bonds by telling stories real and imagined.

William Faulkner said writing is “agony and sweat of the human spirit, not for glory and least of all for profit, but to create out of the materials of the human spirit something which did not exist before.”

We are making a piece of work that did not exist before. Something from our human spirits. And in that process, we’ve explored life and characters and human character and tightened the bonds between us.

Writing a book is a wonderful process.

 

Writer and teacher Nancy E. Head is the author of the soon-to-be-published Restoring the Shattered: Illustrating Christ’s Love Through the Church in One Accord. Nancy was a single mother with five children under the age of 14 when she attended Penn State to earn a bachelor’s degree in English and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.  Her career took a journalistic turn from radio news to newspaper reporting, then education before she returned to the classroom to secure a master’s degree in English from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.  Currently an instructor at Penn State Altoona and Great Commission Schools, she also spent two summers teaching English in Asia.  She is a member of the Altoona Writers’ Guild, the Christian Writers’ Roundtable, and Toastmasters.

When not teaching or writing, she restores antique quilts, crafts projects for her grandchildren, and helps her husband lead a small group devoted to ministering to the needy in their community.

Categories
Romancing Your Story

Crafting the Hero – Part VI

Nobody’s perfect, right? True. Neither can your romantic hero – or your heroine, for that matter – be perfect. [bctt tweet=”When crafting the hero, choose a character flaw to craft that will irritate your heroine to the point where in order to love him, she’ll have to overlook it. #amwriting #almostanauthor #donnalhsmith #CraftingTheRomanticHero” username=”@A3writers @donnalhsmith”]

Continue reading “Crafting the Hero – Part VI”
Categories
Talking Character

Building Characters: Start with What You Know

If you’ve ever been involved in building a house or a major remodeling project, you understand how overwhelming it can be to make all the decisions the builder demands. Creating a character from scratch can feel just as daunting. Temperament, hair color, weaknesses, fears, favorite ice cream, childhood pets, past relationships, education…

How do you know which answers are right? Where do you start?

Start with what you know.

However formed or fuzzy the character is, you know something about her. So begin by writing down everything you know.

What do you know about…

  1. The part she plays in the story? Is she the heroine? The sidekick? The bratty kid who always gets to be first? Define the part she will play as much as you can.
  2. The attributes she will need to be good at the part? A sleuth needs to be inquisitive, clever, and willing to risk danger in order to track down clues. A military officer needs courage, stamina, and a sense of duty. What are the key attributes your character needs to be believable in the role?
  3. The skills, knowledge, hobbies or experiences she will need to draw on? Does the plot involve swordplay? Ballet? Horseback riding? A narrow escape through storm drains? Pretending to be a professional chef? List all the bits and pieces of story ideas and consider what the character will need to get through the challenges.
  4. The backstory facts you already know she’ll need? Jot them down and then do some free writing to see what other gems you may uncover as you build a life story around those facts.
  5. What physical attributes and demographic info make sense? Based on what you’ve written down so far, and what your gut tells you, list the details that seem obvious or fit your mental image of the character. If you have no idea what color her eyes are, skip that detail for now and focus on whichever details you do know.
  6. Random trivia. Sometimes a character inspiration comes out of some quirky combination of colorful tidbits. The girl at the coffee shop who always wears purple and owns a pet boa constrictor, for example. Jot down any miscellaneous information you have about the character. Who knows where it might lead.

Lastly, but perhaps most importantly—don’t be afraid to change things.

Writing down what you know is only the beginning of the process. As you become better acquainted with your characters you will reevaluate and refine the details. Give yourself permission to make intentional changes.

Consider this the foundation from which the real character will grow and mature.

Happy character-building.

[bctt tweet=”When building a character, start with what you know. #writer #writetips” username=””]

Lisa E. Betz believes that everyone has a story to tell the world. She loves to encourage fellow writers to be intentional about their craft and courageous in sharing their words with others. Lisa shares her words through dramas, Bible studies, historical mysteries, and her blog about intentional living. You can find her on Facebook  LisaEBetzWriter and Twitter @LisaEBetz

Categories
Talking Character

Your Character’s Backstory—Use It Wisely

Every fictional character has an entire life’s worth of backstory that happened prior to the opening of your novel. A writer’s job is to discover which pieces of the story are important.

Why is backstory important?

Backstory is what brings a character to life. Exploring the events in a character’s past yields nuggets of insight that makes them unique and explains why they act the way they do. The deeper a writer delves into the backstory of her characters, the better she can understand makes them tick.

Backstory also provides information on past events and relationships that are critical to understanding the current plot.

The dangers of backstory

Not every detail of a character’s history is relevant to your novel.

It’s tempting to believe our readers are every bit as fascinated with our characters’ backstories as we are. But don’t be fooled. Readers are only interested in what’s gonna happen next. K. M. Weiland in Outlining Your Novel

Backstories can take on a life of their own and lead unwary writers off-track. The goal of inventing a character’s life history is to discover the key events that influence who they have become. Details that have no bearing on the events of the plot should not be allowed to creep in and divert the story in an unhelpful direction.

How to use backstory effectively

There’s a time and place where backstory belongs—and a time and place where is doesn’t. K. M. Weiland

Like other kinds of research, most of the information about character’s past life will not make it into the finished novel. The trick is in knowing how much information to share with the reader and when it will be most effective to share it.

It’s tempting to explain all the important backstory at the beginning of the novel. Resist the urge. Instead, work the important details into the story on an as-needed basis. In other words, don’t explain backstory details until the moment the reader needs to know them to understand what is happening.

That doesn’t mean playing unfair with readers. By providing hints that a character has certain past events that affect how they act, the writer can withhold the details until the moment of greatest impact.

For example, in Kristen Heitzmann’s novel Secrets, she hints early on that protagonist Rese Barret was traumatized by her father’s death, but only gradually reveals the whole story. If Heitzmann had explained the entire backstory at the start readers might feel sympathy toward Rese for a page or two. In contrast, doling out the father’s story in snippets keeps the reader riveted chapter after chapter.

To summarize, backstory is what turns a cardboard character into a vivid and complex person. A wise writer selects only those details that enhance the plot and explain character’s motives and attitudes.  Or, to quote from Outlining Your Novel one last time:

[bctt tweet=”The best backstories are those that influence a story without obstructing it. K. M. Weiland #writers #writetips” username=””]

Categories
Writing Conference

2018 Character Intensive Writing Conference

Steven James here. As a working novelist over the last decade I’ve heard over and over from editors and agents that the characters that aspiring writers have created don’t ring true, aren’t engaging, or just aren’t interesting enough for them to want to spend time with.

So how do you create intriguing characters in your novel or screenplay—characters that will become so real to your readers or viewers that they almost seem to leap off the page or the screen and seem life-like?

Developing multi-dimensional characters is a process, and it’s one that all writers can learn and apply.

It’s one you can master.

Writers will often talk about “fleshing out” a character, but it isn’t flesh that readers need to see, it’s what lies down closer to the bone.

Too many stories are littered with lifeless character corpses, with heroes who don’t inspire us, with villains who don’t unsettle us.

Here’s one of the secrets that great writers know: audiences will stick with an intriguing character longer than they’ll stick with a likable one.

Readers don’t want to read about nice characters doing nice things. They want to read about conflicted characters doing difficult things. Film audiences want the same—characters that leap off the screen as if they have a life of their own.

But how do we pull that off?

The secrets are out there.

And you can learn them for yourself.

The need for improving writing in this area is so great that I decided to partner with two of the country’s premier instructors in the area of characterization and offer a one-time conference that addresses these issues.

David Corbett’s groundbreaking book THE ART OF CHARACTER is reshaping how authors and screenwriters think about the characters in their work.

Susan Man Warren’s courses and novel therapy programs  have helped dozens of authors tell better stories—many signing with agents and getting their stories published.

Both David and Susan are successful novelists in their own right and teach at events nationwide.

As far as my background, I have a Master’s Degree in Storytelling, have written sixteen novels as well as two award-winning books on the craft of writing, STORY TRUMPS STRUCTURE and TROUBLESHOOTING YOUR NOVEL. I’ll be your host and also one of the instructors.

At this select two-day event you’ll learn and be inspired from eight in-depth sessions:

  • #1 The Fundamental Courtship: Creating Characters that Readers and Audiences Will Want to Spend Time With
  • #2 Backstory is Behavior: Revealing Your Character’s Past in the Present
  • #3 Passion, Pursuit, and Privacy: Tapping into Your Character’s Inner Desires, Secrets, and Conflicts to Explore Motivation
  • #4 Attitude and Dimensionality: Adding Depth and Complexity to Your Character
  • #5 The Morality of Decision: Exploring How Choices Reveal Character
  • #6 Dialogue and Drama: Delving into Your Character’s Relationships
  • #7 Transformations and Epiphanies: Following Your Character’s Arc
  • #8 Heroes and Villains: Bringing Out the Best and the Worst in Characters

If you’re a screenwriter or novelist, don’t miss this one-time event. Registration is limited, so sign up today.

For more details, and to register, click to www.characterconference.com

Categories
Talking Character

Keeping a Character File

Do you have a method for capturing the bits and pieces you use to create memorable, complex characters? If not, consider starting a character file.

What does a character file look like? It’s up to you. You could use a hardbound journal, a file folder filled with clippings and sticky notes, or a program like Evernote. Collect and organize the data any way you like, but if you don’t keep a character file in some form or other, I suggest you start.

Three types of character files a writer might find useful

A people-watching file

Whether you are sitting on a bench watching people go by, or hanging out with friends at a party, a writer should always be on the lookout for character inspiration.  Keep a record of interesting details such as:

  • Quirks
  • Mannerisms
  • Striking physical features
  • Attire, hairstyles, jewelry, and tattoos
  • How people express emotions, especially non-verbally
  • How people behave in a given situation—particularly tense or unexpected ones.
  • How different personalities interact. For example, who is in the middle of things and who has gravitated to the fringes.

A literary file

Books are filled with character descriptions. While it’s not appropriate to plagiarize another writer’s words, it pays to record striking details, descriptions and observations. They might give you insights into technique or become a model for your own creative ideas. You should consider collecting snippets like:

  • Vivid physical descriptions
  • Clever metaphors used to describe characters
  • Insights into a character’s behavior or inner turmoil
  • Descriptions of highly eccentric characters that work
  • Quirks or mannerisms that you find charming, or that help you identify with a character
  • Dialogue or internal monologue that vividly conveys attitude or personality

You might also want to note what doesn’t work, particularly if you can pinpoint why.

  • Characters you find annoying
  • Descriptions that fell flat or felt wrong
  • Characters whose physical descriptions don’t seem to fit their personality

A character-specific file

As you build characters for your stories, you may find it helpful to collect various tidbits that apply to a particular character. Many writers find Pinterest to be a great tool for this, and once the book is published they share the board with their readers. In addition to collecting snippets of character description like those mentioned above, a character-specific file might include:

  • Photos that look like your character, or that vividly express emotions or attitudes your character often exhibits
  • Photos or descriptions of clothing, jewelry and hairstyles.
  • Props your character might use: tools, cookware, swords, chariots, whatever.
  • Details of décor, furniture, gardens, and architecture that might fill the character’s home.

These are only a few suggestions of what can be included in a character file. Trust your creative intuition and include anything that strikes you, no matter how irrelevant it seems at the time. Who knows what brilliant ideas a random detail may spark—if you take the time to capture it.

 

Lisa E. Betz believes that everyone has a story to tell the world. She loves to encourage fellow writers to be intentional about their craft and courageous in sharing their words with others. Lisa shares her words through dramas, Bible studies, historical mysteries, and her blog about intentional living. You can find her on Facebook  LisaEBetzWriter and Twitter @LisaEBetz

Categories
Talking Character

How Characters Evolve in a Series by Lisa E. Betz

Why do we love a good series? Because we love the characters and the kinds of situations they get into book after book.

Once upon a time the characters in a series often remained static from book to book, but most series published today feature characters that evolve gradually over time. Think over your favorite TV shows or book series. Are the main characters unchanged or do they evolve along with their relationships, career, or life goals?

Readers like characters that are three-dimensional enough to grow. However, readers don’t want your characters to change too much. They want each book in the series to feature the same characters they loved in the first book, and they won’t be happy if those characters transform into someone that is drastically different. Therefore, you must plan the character’s arc for a series, just like you plan a character’s arc for a single book.

You main character’s series journey

A series arc deals with incremental steps in a longer journey toward the character’s ultimate goal. What kind of goal? In a single story, the heroine’s goal is connected to the plot, but in a series the goal must rise above the plots of the individual books.

In the case of a female private investigator, for example, the series goal might be finally winning the respect of her male peers—and each successful case takes her a little closer to realizing that goal. Alternately, the series arc might be more concerned with the heroine’s domestic issues as she matures in her relationships, with an ultimate goal of a finding the balance between work and motherhood.

How to define a series arc

Think about your primary characters. What larger goal might drive them from book to book? Is it related to their career? Their relationships? Is there a stubborn character flaw they can slowly work to overcome? A particular person they will eventually impress or conquer? Will their goal change over time, as they achieve one milestone and look onward to another?

Perhaps most importantly, will your readers like the ultimate version of your hero better than the original version? Your series arc should take your main characters on a journey that has your readers cheering them on the whole way.

Evolving secondary characters

What about secondary characters? Do they need a series arc as well? Not necessarily. Some secondary characters need to remain the same to enhance the consistency of your story world. Consider some of your favorite series. Can you name a minor character  you looked forward to meeting in book after book, even though they never changed? Those characters are reliable pieces of each story, part of the fabric that makes the series enjoyable. They don’t need to change much, although a few tweaks now and then will keep them interesting.

However, some secondary characters refuse to remain in the background. They might start out with a brief cameo then slowly gain importance in subsequent books. Those characters need to evolve as their role grows.

Try This: Choose a favorite book or TV series and track how the characters (both primary and secondary) evolve as the series progresses. What do you learn? What techniques can you adapt to your own work?

[bctt tweet=”How will your characters evolve across an entire series? #writetips #writer” username=””]

Lisa E. Betz believes that everyone has a story to tell the world. She loves to encourage fellow writers to be intentional about their craft and courageous in sharing their words with others. Lisa shares her words through dramas, Bible studies, historical fiction and her blog about intentional living.

Connect with her:

Website: www.lisaebetz.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/LisaEBetzWriter/
Twitter: @LisaEBetz

Categories
Talking Character

Writing Historical Characters

Sometimes fiction authors write about real people. Especially those who write historical fiction.

Real historical characters can add a sense of credibility or realism to a story. But they must be handled carefully, because your readers will know when you stray from the truth.

Well-known figures

If you are writing about a well-known figure, such as George Washington or Thomas Edison, you will need to do extensive research to ensure you have your facts straight. The good news is that someone so well known already has a lot written about them, so the facts are readily available. The bad news is that someone so well known already has a lot written about them, so your readers already know the facts and will notice your mistakes.

On the positive side, you already know their family history, their physical description, how they talked, what their voice sounded like, the name of their favorite pet, and a myriad of other details. Your job is to choose the details that are important for your story, without ignoring or twisting the facts you don’t mention.

On the negative side, you are stuck with whatever details are known about a person, even if those facts are inconvenient. Also, you must take care, because without doing sufficient research you can easily misrepresent the truth by making false assumptions, adding details carelessly, or promulgating the commonly-held-but-incorrect legends of the person’s history (such as George Washington and the cherry tree). Also, you risk annoying readers if you choose to invoke artistic license for the sake of your plot.

Other things to consider

The larger the role a well-known figure has in a story, the more research and care the writer must take in presenting them. Bringing George Washington into a scene or two is much easier to pull off than making him one of the main characters.

However you use well-known figures, don’t cheat your readers by making historical characters two-dimensional. Don’t be tempted to fall into lazy writing, assuming the reader already knows about the character so you don’t have to bother describing them. Historical characters deserve as much attention to description and characterization as fictional characters. Use the known details to your advantage. Which details would your POV character notice, and how would she feel about them?

Little-known historical people

Lesser-known historical figures can add the same note of credibility to your writing without the problems that come with using more well-known persons. There are plenty of real historical people who lived interesting lives, but for whom we now have only a handful of facts. That lack of information might frustrate a biographer, but it creates a prime opportunity for a fiction writer. The door is wide open to fill in all those blanks in whatever way suits your story.

Just take care that you stay within the boundaries of the facts that are known. You must honor the few details that are all that is left of the person’s legacy. When there are only a handful of details to keep track of, you have no excuse for getting them wrong.

Fictional characters based on real people

Sometimes a writer uncovers a fascinating historical person that would make a great story—except for a few bothersome details. If you cannot reconcile the facts with the story you want to write, or if the person’s story includes aspects you don’t want to face for one reason or another, there is another option: Create a completely fictional character based on the real one.

This technique allows you to start with the inspiration that a real person gives but then to develop a character that has the flaws, goals, attitudes and beliefs that suits your story, your themes, and your worldview.

Just be sure to play fair. If your fictional character bears more than a passing resemblance to a real person, don’t skew the character so far from the true story that it feels slanderous. Also, if a character is based significantly on a real person, give that person credit in an author’s note.

Bottom line: Don’t be afraid of including real historical characters in your story, but do your homework and don’t forget that real people need to be developed as much as fictional ones.

[bctt tweet=”Can a real historical character add punch to your story? #writing #writetips” username=””]

Lisa E. Betz believes that everyone has a story to tell the world. She loves to encourage fellow writers to be intentional about their craft and courageous in sharing their words with others. Lisa shares her words through dramas, Bible studies, historical fiction and her blog about intentional living.

Connect with her:

Website: www.lisaebetz.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/LisaEBetzWriter/
Twitter: @LisaEBetz

Categories
Talking Character

How to Create Great Character Bios by Lisa Betz

A character bio is a collection of information that delineates and describes a fictional character. It is a tool that helps a writer:

  • Create well-rounded, interesting, unique, characters
  • Understand who the character really is and what makes them tick
  • Ensure consistency in the character as the story progresses

Like any writing tool, character bios should be approached properly in order to achieve best results.

What is critical in a character bio?

  • Physical description. You don’t need to define every freckle, but you do need enough to satisfy readers and differentiate this character from others in the story. Don’t forget to consider how their size and features will affect the plot.
  • What temperament and attitude qualities make the character the perfect choice for the role she plays in the story? Start from her essence and then layer on traits that enhance her character, making her more believable and nuanced.
  • Pertinent backstory. Not a full life history, but the pieces of that history that are pivotal in making the character who he is at the start of the story. This includes the past event that knocked his world out of alignment and created the inner issue he struggles with in the story. It also includes whatever has inspired his motivation to achieve his story goal. In addition to those key elements, backstory may also include information on other significant issues, such as family dynamics or how he acquired the various skills he needs to make it through the plot.
  • Plumbing the depths. A character bio is where a writer should go deep into the character’s psyche. The more you explore her inner fears, secrets, shames, hopes and dreams, the better. Start from her inner issue and story goal, and push deeper, trying to understand all there is about those aspects of her character and how they affect the rest of who she is.
  • Other details, such as education, skills, mannerisms, family background, and preferences should be considered, when they are pertinent. For example, the character’s level of education will affect his speech patterns and vocabulary. His preference in music may be critical or completely irrelevant, depending on the plot.

Pitfalls to avoid when creating character bios

  • Coming up with random answers to random questions that have no bearing on the plot. Does it really matter what kind of ice cream your hero likes best or whether your heroine likes her middle name? It may be fun to think up answers to such questions, but it’s all too easy to pull the answers out of the air without considering how they suit your character or advance your plot. Worse yet, if you throw in a fascinating but irrelevant factoid, you will confuse your readers. For example, if you mention the hero is into falconry, readers will spend the rest of the story wondering how his falconry talents will be useful to the plot.
  • If you’ve spent hours considering your character’s every fear, triumph, and preference, you will naturally want to share those details with your readers. Use caution! If you flood readers with too many details they will quickly lose interest. Most of what you learn in a well-crafted character bio will never show up on the page, but it will inform every decision and action the character makes. Trust the process and use details sparingly.
  • Getting so involved in writing character bios that you never get around to writing the actual story. Enough said.

[bctt tweet=”Spend your time concentrating on the right information, and you will be well on your way to crating vibrant, memorable characters. Happy writing. #writer #writetip” username=””]

Lisa E. Betz is a Bible study leader, drama director, and aspiring novelist. She lives with her husband and a neurotic cat in a scenic corner of Pennsylvania. When not teaching or sorting books at the library, Lisa blogs about intentional living at www.lisaebetz.com.

Connect with her:

Website: www.lisaebetz.com

Facebook: Lisa E Betz Writer

Twitter: @LisaEBetz