Secrets of Character Building
As a new author who has spent most of his career working for big American corporations where political correctness is important, it is sometimes a struggle to feel comfortable writing about real people – particularly real villains. In just about any story that is interesting, some of the characters “just won’t behave” – and that bad behavior normally drives conflict and therefore dramatic interest. Try writing a story about happy people doing everything nicely and let me know if you find any readers. Perhaps reviewers will be kind and say: “Delightfully namby-pamby… In this routine novel of sanitized everyday life, there are no surprises and everyone is just so nice! Warm, fuzzy and cute as a cuddly puppy… highly recommended!”
Sometimes, as an author, you just have to take all your clothes off and dance naked in the rain. What I mean is, you will not be able to write convincingly about characters unless you are able to put yourself in their shoes (or bare feet, as the case may be). You need to feel what they are feeling and think what they are thinking. Once you do, you will know what they will say and do and your prose and dialogue will come alive.
Of course, I am not suggesting you shock your neighbors during the next rainstorm. But to build real characters that are convincing, you need at least three things:
1) Real world experience interacting with as large a variety of people as possible
2) A vivid imagination (i.e., a highly developed mind’s eye)
3) Keen self-awareness of your own wide potentials of behavior
#1 can be a challenge for introverted authors, but perhaps your strong interest in the craft of writing can drive you to interact more with people. People are endlessly fascinating in their variety and complexity, as subtle and unobtrusive as chameleons or as beautiful and deadly as coral snakes. #2, a vivid imagination, comes naturally for some people, but it can be enhanced by reminding yourself that all scenes in your mind’s eye should have sounds and smells and rich textures of context and emotion. I often build scenes as vivid daydreams. When the characters in them start to move on their own and decide what they want to do, I know I have something worth writing down.
#3 deserves its own paragraph. Keen self-awareness of your own wide potentials of behavior is essential to write well. We all have the potential to do very good or very bad things. A lot depends on the circumstances we live through and the decisions we make along the way. As an example, let’s suppose that you are an ardent pacifist and a writer without a lot of actual experience of violence or being violent. The example is a bit of a cliché – it has been overused in modern fiction and movies – but it will illustrate the point well. If someone were to torture and kill your family and friends in front of you one by one, one would imagine that sooner or later you might become violent and seek revenge on the torturer, even if you initially believed strongly that taking revenge under any circumstance was wrong. It helps your imaginative process a lot to realize those potentials for violence within yourself. The pitfall is usually that people with strong moral views are reluctant to fantasize about things they believe are wrong. However, I personally do not see any way around that imaginative step as you build a story. This approach does not require going into a country-western bar given to bar fights and giving everyone the finger and insulting their mothers – interesting though the results might be – but at least in your head and heart you need a “scenario player” for a wide range of behaviors, especially the behaviors you do not personally agree with or feel comfortable with. As a writer, being self-aware enough, and honest enough to admit your brightest and darkest potentials is critical. You will only be able to write effectively within exactly that same range of awareness.
In conclusion, if you want to write convincingly about the bad guys in your novel, you need to dance naked in the rain, brandishing a hunting knife and yelling out curses and threats. It will do your writing good. Just keep the curtains closed so the neighbors don’t call the police.
As examples of this character-building approach see my first two published novels. Avalon: Kings and Queens (Book 2 of the Avalon Series), in particular, would have been impossible for me to write without this approach. As you will see if you read it, the story’s core ideas of unrestricted genetic engineering lead to some very good and heartwarming things, but also to some very disturbing behavior on the part of the villains. It’s the widest range of human behavior I’ve ever written about. Not everyone will like the books – I’ve had people get offended by things the villains think, whether political or otherwise. Perhaps that is a mark in my favor – hitting readers’ nerves here and there may be a mark of real writing that has impact. Please let me know what you think. I am always interested in getting comments and reactions back, on my blog posts or on the books.
Avalon: Companions
Avalon: Kings and Queens
Sometimes, as an author, you just have to take all your clothes off and dance naked in the rain. What I mean is, you will not be able to write convincingly about characters unless you are able to put yourself in their shoes (or bare feet, as the case may be). You need to feel what they are feeling and think what they are thinking. Once you do, you will know what they will say and do and your prose and dialogue will come alive.
Of course, I am not suggesting you shock your neighbors during the next rainstorm. But to build real characters that are convincing, you need at least three things:
1) Real world experience interacting with as large a variety of people as possible
2) A vivid imagination (i.e., a highly developed mind’s eye)
3) Keen self-awareness of your own wide potentials of behavior
#1 can be a challenge for introverted authors, but perhaps your strong interest in the craft of writing can drive you to interact more with people. People are endlessly fascinating in their variety and complexity, as subtle and unobtrusive as chameleons or as beautiful and deadly as coral snakes. #2, a vivid imagination, comes naturally for some people, but it can be enhanced by reminding yourself that all scenes in your mind’s eye should have sounds and smells and rich textures of context and emotion. I often build scenes as vivid daydreams. When the characters in them start to move on their own and decide what they want to do, I know I have something worth writing down.
#3 deserves its own paragraph. Keen self-awareness of your own wide potentials of behavior is essential to write well. We all have the potential to do very good or very bad things. A lot depends on the circumstances we live through and the decisions we make along the way. As an example, let’s suppose that you are an ardent pacifist and a writer without a lot of actual experience of violence or being violent. The example is a bit of a cliché – it has been overused in modern fiction and movies – but it will illustrate the point well. If someone were to torture and kill your family and friends in front of you one by one, one would imagine that sooner or later you might become violent and seek revenge on the torturer, even if you initially believed strongly that taking revenge under any circumstance was wrong. It helps your imaginative process a lot to realize those potentials for violence within yourself. The pitfall is usually that people with strong moral views are reluctant to fantasize about things they believe are wrong. However, I personally do not see any way around that imaginative step as you build a story. This approach does not require going into a country-western bar given to bar fights and giving everyone the finger and insulting their mothers – interesting though the results might be – but at least in your head and heart you need a “scenario player” for a wide range of behaviors, especially the behaviors you do not personally agree with or feel comfortable with. As a writer, being self-aware enough, and honest enough to admit your brightest and darkest potentials is critical. You will only be able to write effectively within exactly that same range of awareness.
In conclusion, if you want to write convincingly about the bad guys in your novel, you need to dance naked in the rain, brandishing a hunting knife and yelling out curses and threats. It will do your writing good. Just keep the curtains closed so the neighbors don’t call the police.
As examples of this character-building approach see my first two published novels. Avalon: Kings and Queens (Book 2 of the Avalon Series), in particular, would have been impossible for me to write without this approach. As you will see if you read it, the story’s core ideas of unrestricted genetic engineering lead to some very good and heartwarming things, but also to some very disturbing behavior on the part of the villains. It’s the widest range of human behavior I’ve ever written about. Not everyone will like the books – I’ve had people get offended by things the villains think, whether political or otherwise. Perhaps that is a mark in my favor – hitting readers’ nerves here and there may be a mark of real writing that has impact. Please let me know what you think. I am always interested in getting comments and reactions back, on my blog posts or on the books.
Avalon: Companions
Avalon: Kings and Queens
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