Fictional Characters
The story dictates the cast of characters a writer needs. You need a hero or heroine, a villain, maybe a romantic interest. You’ve got a part that needs to be played. The question is, by whom? Characters come to me. They arise out of a variety of inspirations. A name or a picture may pop into my head. Occasionally a character derives from the answer to a question like, ‘If I were casting the movie, who would I want to play this part?’ The bounty hunter Briscoe Cane in my Great Western Detective League series came to me in answer to that question. Once you have a concept for a character, you have to develop a believable characterization. Who is he or she? What do they look like? What is their story? How does that story play into their part in the story we’re telling?
When you develop characters you get to know them. They help you tell a story because you know what they will think or do or say in any situation. That becomes important in writing good dialog. In conversation you get in and out of character as fast as the give and take between those in the scene. When it comes to changing personalities that quickly, you have to know the characters. I sometimes joke it takes multiple-personality disorder to pull it off.
Believable characters take on lives of their own. If you talk to fiction writers, most have experienced the phenomenon where the characters take over a story and go off in some new or unexpected direction that makes the story better. Crazy you say? It happens.
If you spend enough time with characters you become attached to them. I got attached to the characters in my J. R. Chance U.S. Marshal series. That series is where I got my start. I wrote three books. Case File: Union Pacific, Case File: Black Friday, Case File: Desperado Trail. When I finished the third book and bid those characters good bye, it was a nostalgic moment. Truth is I didn’t let them all go. One supporting character from that series became a principal in my Bounty series. A slip of a girl who made a cameo in the third book got a prominent part in the Bounty series too. Two minor characters from book three also appear in Bounty.
Next Week: Favorite Women
Ride easy,
Paul
When you develop characters you get to know them. They help you tell a story because you know what they will think or do or say in any situation. That becomes important in writing good dialog. In conversation you get in and out of character as fast as the give and take between those in the scene. When it comes to changing personalities that quickly, you have to know the characters. I sometimes joke it takes multiple-personality disorder to pull it off.
Believable characters take on lives of their own. If you talk to fiction writers, most have experienced the phenomenon where the characters take over a story and go off in some new or unexpected direction that makes the story better. Crazy you say? It happens.
If you spend enough time with characters you become attached to them. I got attached to the characters in my J. R. Chance U.S. Marshal series. That series is where I got my start. I wrote three books. Case File: Union Pacific, Case File: Black Friday, Case File: Desperado Trail. When I finished the third book and bid those characters good bye, it was a nostalgic moment. Truth is I didn’t let them all go. One supporting character from that series became a principal in my Bounty series. A slip of a girl who made a cameo in the third book got a prominent part in the Bounty series too. Two minor characters from book three also appear in Bounty.
Next Week: Favorite Women
Ride easy,
Paul
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