Kelley Armstrong's Blog, page 134

Hi! Huge fan! I just love your books and they inspire me so much! I was wondering, is there a process in the forming of your characters? Do you write down a little fact sheet about them, about their past and their favorite things?? Thank you so much for yo

Character building is a HUGE part of my process, and I’ve been doing it so long that it’s really hard to explain how I do it these days—it’s a lot of time spent staring at walls, which really doesn’t help anyone looking for tips :) A few quick tips then:

1) of the sum total of what you know about your characters, 10% should appear in any given novel. That means you need to really develop them, well beyond knowing parts of their personality that are necessary for the given story.

2) knowing height, eye color etc is fine. But unless someone is abnormally tall or short or has very odd eyes, it won’t inform his/her personality. Focus more on background, goals, stakes, motivations, dreams, fears… Build your character from the inside out.

3) when you think you know your characters well, find online personality quizzes and take them as your character. If you can’t answer quickly enough, you need to do more character work. When I discuss this in workshops, I’ll say “What would your character do during a plane crash?” and invariably, someone will say “But there are no plane crashes in my story so why do I need to know that?” See point #1 :)

Hi! Huge fan! I just love your books and they inspire me so much! I was wondering, is there a process in the forming of your characters? Do you write down a little fact sheet about them, about their past and their favorite things?? Thank you so much for yo

Character building is a HUGE part of my process, and I’ve been doing it so long that it’s really hard to explain how I do it these days—it’s a lot of time spent staring at walls, which really doesn’t help anyone looking for tips :) A few quick tips then:

1) of the sum total of what you know about your characters, 10% should appear in any given novel. That means you need to really develop them, well beyond knowing parts of their personality that are necessary for the given story.

2) knowing height, eye color etc is fine. But unless someone is abnormally tall or short or has very odd eyes, it won’t inform his/her personality. Focus more on background, goals, stakes, motivations, dreams, fears… Build your character from the inside out.

3) when you think you know your characters well, find online personality quizzes and take them as your character. If you can’t answer quickly enough, you need to do more character work. When I discuss this in workshops, I’ll say “What would your character do during a plane crash?” and invariably, someone will say “But there are no plane crashes in my story so why do I need to know that?” See point #1 :)

Hi! Huge fan! I just love your books and they inspire me so much! I was wondering, is there a process in the forming of your characters? Do you write down a little fact sheet about them, about their past and their favorite things?? Thank you so much for yo

Character building is a HUGE part of my process, and I’ve been doing it so long that it’s really hard to explain how I do it these days—it’s a lot of time spent staring at walls, which really doesn’t help anyone looking for tips :) A few quick tips then:

1) of the sum total of what you know about your characters, 10% should appear in any given novel. That means you need to really develop them, well beyond knowing parts of their personality that are necessary for the given story.

2) knowing height, eye color etc is fine. But unless someone is abnormally tall or short or has very odd eyes, it won’t inform his/her personality. Focus more on background, goals, stakes, motivations, dreams, fears… Build your character from the inside out.

3) when you think you know your characters well, find online personality quizzes and take them as your character. If you can’t answer quickly enough, you need to do more character work. When I discuss this in workshops, I’ll say “What would your character do during a plane crash?” and invariably, someone will say “But there are no plane crashes in my story so why do I need to know that?” See point #1 :)

I was wondering....Will Derek ever be joining the Pack? Since they are acquainted with Sean and he's friendly with the Pack, will he introduce them? And do you think that Savannah would tutor Tori since they are both quite powerful? Just some questions and

Just answered a similar Derek question below. It’s possible, but not easy, because the YA took place in 2008 and the novella I just wrote for Elena is 2012. So…timing issues. 

For Savannah and Tori, that’s a little easier because of Sean. I’m working on possibilities for that one.

I was wondering....Will Derek ever be joining the Pack? Since they are acquainted with Sean and he's friendly with the Pack, will he introduce them? And do you think that Savannah would tutor Tori since they are both quite powerful? Just some questions and

Just answered a similar Derek question below. It’s possible, but not easy, because the YA took place in 2008 and the novella I just wrote for Elena is 2012. So…timing issues. 

For Savannah and Tori, that’s a little easier because of Sean. I’m working on possibilities for that one.

I was wondering....Will Derek ever be joining the Pack? Since they are acquainted with Sean and he's friendly with the Pack, will he introduce them? And do you think that Savannah would tutor Tori since they are both quite powerful? Just some questions and

Just answered a similar Derek question below. It’s possible, but not easy, because the YA took place in 2008 and the novella I just wrote for Elena is 2012. So…timing issues. 

For Savannah and Tori, that’s a little easier because of Sean. I’m working on possibilities for that one.

I was wondering....Will Derek ever be joining the Pack? Since they are acquainted with Sean and he's friendly with the Pack, will he introduce them? And do you think that Savannah would tutor Tori since they are both quite powerful? Just some questions and

Just answered a similar Derek question below. It’s possible, but not easy, because the YA took place in 2008 and the novella I just wrote for Elena is 2012. So…timing issues. 

For Savannah and Tori, that’s a little easier because of Sean. I’m working on possibilities for that one.

I was wondering....Will Derek ever be joining the Pack? Since they are acquainted with Sean and he's friendly with the Pack, will he introduce them? And do you think that Savannah would tutor Tori since they are both quite powerful? Just some questions and

Just answered a similar Derek question below. It’s possible, but not easy, because the YA took place in 2008 and the novella I just wrote for Elena is 2012. So…timing issues. 

For Savannah and Tori, that’s a little easier because of Sean. I’m working on possibilities for that one.

I was wondering....Will Derek ever be joining the Pack? Since they are acquainted with Sean and he's friendly with the Pack, will he introduce them? And do you think that Savannah would tutor Tori since they are both quite powerful? Just some questions and

Just answered a similar Derek question below. It’s possible, but not easy, because the YA took place in 2008 and the novella I just wrote for Elena is 2012. So…timing issues. 

For Savannah and Tori, that’s a little easier because of Sean. I’m working on possibilities for that one.

I was wondering....Will Derek ever be joining the Pack? Since they are acquainted with Sean and he's friendly with the Pack, will he introduce them? And do you think that Savannah would tutor Tori since they are both quite powerful? Just some questions and

Just answered a similar Derek question below. It’s possible, but not easy, because the YA took place in 2008 and the novella I just wrote for Elena is 2012. So…timing issues. 

For Savannah and Tori, that’s a little easier because of Sean. I’m working on possibilities for that one.