Depth: Part 1 – Characters

I got thinking about what makes a good book this weekend and while I'm sure there are lots of ways a book can be made good, I believe an essential part of a great novel is depth. Whether that is depth of character, depth of setting, depth of plot, or all three, depends on the author. But to create any kind of depth, you have to understand what it is. So first I'll start with what it isn't.

Depth isn't complication. Ever read those books where Romeo loves Juliet? Simple right? But what if a friend of Romeo's, Eve, is pregnant with another man's baby but that man is actually married and with three kids and won't leave his wife so Eve gets Romeo drunk and lies to him, telling him they had sex and the baby is his. In the midst of all this, Juliet is devastated that her soul mate has betrayed her so she runs off and has sex with another man and ends up pregnant as well only to find out that Romeo really was true to her.  Get the picture? This isn't a deep read, it's talk show material in a book.

I'll start with Depth of character. To me, depth of character is in the details and the deep point of view.  For instance, how do you choose your characters' names? Are they done at random or do you put real thought into the name and match it to the person's personality. Would you name a Samurai warrior Bobby Ray? Probably not. Or maybe you would but if so, I'm sure there'd be some kind of great reasoning behind it. Otherwise, your readers wouldn't easily buy into that character. The truth of the matter is that a writer can do anything they want but they have to convince the reader that it works and that requires depth. So now for a bit of an experiment, here is my take on Bobby Ray as a Samurai warrior:

"You ready to go trick-or-treating or not?" Chuck's eyes widened all saucer-like, as if he'd just saw some kind of space UFO or something. I hated when he acted all idiot on me. "What the hell kind of costume are you wearing, Bobby Ray?"

"What does it look like." I held my plastic shield up higher. "I'm a Samurai warrior you numbskull."

"A sama—what?"

"You heard me. A Samurai warrior."

His face crinkled like he'd eaten one of them sour patch kids. "I ain't never met no Samurai warrior named Bobby Ray."

                "Sure you have, "I said, smiling so wide I swore my mouth would crack. "What you think you're doing right now?"

So how about it? Does Bobby Ray work as a Samurai warrior in the excerpt above? I never said he had to be a real warrior but that's the trick with writing that you can pretty much do what you want. Notice Bobby Ray's distinct descriptions of a crinkled face or saucer-like eyes. Those point of view add-ins are what let us know his personality. What about you all? What helps you create depth in your characters?

Filed under: Characters, Toni Kelly, Writing Topics