Writing Outside the Box

The essence of Show, Don’t Tell, when it comes to characters is to put your hero or heroine in a situation where they must react. They will show the reader who they are.

In WHAT YOU WISH FOR by Katherine Center, the protagonist, Samantha Casey, experiences a life altering accident and must make a choice: remain invisible in drab grays and beiges or embrace color and step to the front of her life. Sam puts on a hat covered in tissue paper flowers and wears it to work. It’s the beginning of her renaissance and shows the reader the choice she made.  

Ann B. Ross’ character, Miss Julia, anchors a fun series. Miss Julia often speaks and acts as you’d expect a Southern lady of a certain age to, but she often surprises the reader also. In MISS JULIA SPEAKS HER MIND, she is shocked to learn her staid, pedantic, opinionated, controlling, and newly dead husband has left behind a love child. Instead of denying the boy’s existence or trying to hide him, Miss Julia allows him—and his mother—into her home. This surprising act is the inciting incident to the whole series and comes to define Miss Julia’s very nature: stronger than she ever imagined.

THE NATURE OF FRAGILE THINGS by Susan Meissner features an Irish immigrant, Sophie, who decides to marry a widower in San Francisco in 1905, based on a newspaper ad. The why is revealed throughout the book, but at the beginning the reader is told Sophie was tired of living in a cold New York tenement and wanted a change. She’s a woman who takes charge of her life, evidenced by the cross-country move to marry a stranger.

To make your characters come even more alive in the reader’s mind, craft them into more than a cliché. Give them an unexpected aspect to their personality.

In RIGHT HERE WAITING by Susan May Warren and Michelle Sass Aleckson, the heroine, Jae, is a petite Korean American former-military helicopter pilot. No clichés there. 

In RUNAWAY TIDE, Julie Carobini has two bad guys stalking the heroine. Instead of making them typical muscle-bound men in dark suits, she described them as “creepy … hanging around in their flip flops and board shorts … They look kinda like surfers but never actually, uh, surf.” Brilliant.

Maggie O’Farrell’s INSTRUCTIONS FOR A HEATWAVE features a character, Aoife (pronounced Ee-fah. Sort of), who’s described as a free-spirited, bohemian kind of gal. But she’s hiding a deep secret and the reader is definitely surprised when it’s revealed. No spoilers from me, so you’ll have to read it yourself to see if O’Farrell pulls it off.

It’s okay to start with a clichéd character or archetype but play with them.

Put them in a situation out of their comfort zone and see what happens. If it surprises you, it will surprise your reader. If it surprises your reader, they will keep turning the pages. All the way to the end.

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:

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