Writing Craft: Five Ways to Breathe Life into Your Characters
I am definitely no writing guru. I've only been published for a little under five years, but that's not going to stop me from imparting writing advice every now and then. Acting as if we know something about writing is a compulsion no writer can resist :)
Yesterday I blogged about Twilight and how I think one reason women respond so strongly to the series is because Meyer writes a character we can easily identify with. In romance, the key character is the heroine, the one you want your reader to cleave onto right away. If the reader doesn't connect with her and sort of "become" her, the reader won't care about anything that happens to her in the book. Your story won't be emotionally compelling. And why would anyone read a book they don't care anything about? They might as well read the back of a cereal box and save their $5.99.
Here are five ways to make your characters real and relatable:
Realistic Actions and Reactions
I judge several writing contests for RWA chapters and for RWA national during the year. One thing that marks a newbie like a bright red X is having characters who are actually caricatures. They do and say things that no sane person would with little or no provocation. They're bitchy just to be bitchy or go off the deep end yelling or screaming or crying at the slightest thing. For example, I once read a contest entry scene in which the heroine goes into her office and tells her assistant not to let anyone disturb her for a while. As I recall, she's not doing anything really private in there, she just wanted some alone time. Well, who should show up but the hero, demanding to see the heroine. The assistant tells the hero he can't go in and when he tries to push past her to see the heroine anyway, the assistant gets down on the floor and wraps herself around his legs, trying to physically stop him from entering her boss's office. Um...who would actually do that in real life? No one. And even though it was a secondary character behaving like a lunatic and not the heroine, the story immediately lost me because of this unrealistic reaction to a realistic circumstance. One caveat---if it's well-motivated, you may be able to get away with something like that. That wasn't the case here.
Invent A Backstory
To make your characters real for readers, your characters have to be real people to you. Some writers plot extensively and develop their characters before writing a single sentence using charts and graphs and questionnaires. Others just start writing and see how the character develops as they go. Whichever method you use, your character didn't just pop into existence the moment they hit page 1. Unless your character is an embryo when the story begins, your character has had experiences that shape who they are and how they act. They had parents, or not. They went to school, or not. They fell in love, got a job, had an injury, experienced a loss...or not. You don't have to map out every moment or your character's life up the the point you open your story, but you should know or discover some things that made them who they are. Realistic things like having lost a parent, having a job she hates or having lost the one man she ever loved make the heroine real and relatable and motivate her actions in present time. If you have your heroine just wrapping up an ugly divorce, something many readers can relate to, that's going to inform her actions when she meets Mr. Wonderful on page 32. She may resist the pull she feels because she doesn't want to get hurt again. Or she may jump right into the sack with him for some awesome toe-curling rebound sex. Whatever her reaction, your reader is more likely to follow you down that path because you've started with something real in the character's back story that the reader can relate to.
Give Them a Flaw or Personality Tick
Remember than girl from high school? The one who was model gorgeous, Valedictorian, super nice, volunteered at the homeless shelter on weekends, was captain of the volleyball team, had the perfect parents who she always respected and got along with and always had a great big angelic smile on her zit-free face? You hated her, right? So will your readers if you create a character who has no flaws. No one is that perfect and none of us can imagine being so. Everyone has some sort of personality flaw or quirk. That's what makes them interesting. Give your character something realistic that she has to deal with--like maybe she's a sucker for a bad boy or she is a compulsive shoe-shopper. Again, having flaws that many of us share makes her real and relatable and we can jump right into her skin when your story starts.
Use Astrology
I cribbed this one from a workshop Cherry Adair did at RWA. If you're having trouble breathing life into your character (if you write more plot-driven books, for example) try this: randomly choose a birth date for your character then go to a good astrology book, like one of Linda Goodman's, and look up their sign. Use the character traits and tendencies described in the book as a starting point for the character. This should jump start your imagination. It might also help your plot by adding a healthy dose of conflict. For example, if you're writing a character who is Special Ops and the astrological sign you chose at random paints a picture of a peace-loving individual, you have your work cut out for you. What motivated a pacifist to change into a person who would join the military and train to become an elite warrior? This is probably a psychologically complicated individual. Tortured, even. That's the good stuff. And starting with real character traits, shared by a whole group of people (if you buy into astrology) will help you create a realistic character right out of the box.
Try the Scene in First-Person POV
This is a technique I use quite a bit at the beginning of a book when I'm still getting to know my character, when I'm writing a particularly emotional scene, if I get stuck, or if a scene/character just seems flat. Most novels are written in third person point-of-view (he, she, they). But try this: close your eyes, think about the backstory of your character and the circumstances in which they find themselves currently. Become that character. Write the scene in first person (I, we, us) as if you were her. Step into her skin. What does she feel? What does she see? How does she react? You're writing it as is you yourself were experiencing the plot or emotions and giving honest reactions and observations to those stimuli. For example, if you were home alone and the power went out and then you heard breaking glass and someone walking around upstairs, what would you do? Probably grab your cell phone and dial 9-1-1 or run to a neighbor's house, or get in your car and drive to the police station. You would not light a candle and creep up the stairs ready to defend your home from an invader armed with a frying pan. That's not realistic, so don't have your heroine doing it. You'll lose your reader as soon as she disconnects from your heroine's too-stupid-to-live actions. Have her do what you would do in that situation and add complications from there, because unless you're a too-stupid-to-live heroine, many people will have a similar reaction to a circumstance as you and will be able to relate.
As a reader, realistic characters are the key to enjoying a book. I know if I'm thinking about the characters during the day when I'm going around doing my mundane things, the author has done a good job. I can't wait to get back into that world, that character's skin to see where we're going next. That's the kind of experience you want to create for your readers as an author because they'll be looking for your next book and the one after that. You've given them someone they can relate to and sort of "be" for a few hours. Children try on different personas all the time and I think we never really outgrow that desire. Books can take us there. We can be movie stars or maids, burger flippers or dragon slayers...as long as the author keeps it real.
Yesterday I blogged about Twilight and how I think one reason women respond so strongly to the series is because Meyer writes a character we can easily identify with. In romance, the key character is the heroine, the one you want your reader to cleave onto right away. If the reader doesn't connect with her and sort of "become" her, the reader won't care about anything that happens to her in the book. Your story won't be emotionally compelling. And why would anyone read a book they don't care anything about? They might as well read the back of a cereal box and save their $5.99.
Here are five ways to make your characters real and relatable:
Realistic Actions and Reactions
I judge several writing contests for RWA chapters and for RWA national during the year. One thing that marks a newbie like a bright red X is having characters who are actually caricatures. They do and say things that no sane person would with little or no provocation. They're bitchy just to be bitchy or go off the deep end yelling or screaming or crying at the slightest thing. For example, I once read a contest entry scene in which the heroine goes into her office and tells her assistant not to let anyone disturb her for a while. As I recall, she's not doing anything really private in there, she just wanted some alone time. Well, who should show up but the hero, demanding to see the heroine. The assistant tells the hero he can't go in and when he tries to push past her to see the heroine anyway, the assistant gets down on the floor and wraps herself around his legs, trying to physically stop him from entering her boss's office. Um...who would actually do that in real life? No one. And even though it was a secondary character behaving like a lunatic and not the heroine, the story immediately lost me because of this unrealistic reaction to a realistic circumstance. One caveat---if it's well-motivated, you may be able to get away with something like that. That wasn't the case here.
Invent A Backstory
To make your characters real for readers, your characters have to be real people to you. Some writers plot extensively and develop their characters before writing a single sentence using charts and graphs and questionnaires. Others just start writing and see how the character develops as they go. Whichever method you use, your character didn't just pop into existence the moment they hit page 1. Unless your character is an embryo when the story begins, your character has had experiences that shape who they are and how they act. They had parents, or not. They went to school, or not. They fell in love, got a job, had an injury, experienced a loss...or not. You don't have to map out every moment or your character's life up the the point you open your story, but you should know or discover some things that made them who they are. Realistic things like having lost a parent, having a job she hates or having lost the one man she ever loved make the heroine real and relatable and motivate her actions in present time. If you have your heroine just wrapping up an ugly divorce, something many readers can relate to, that's going to inform her actions when she meets Mr. Wonderful on page 32. She may resist the pull she feels because she doesn't want to get hurt again. Or she may jump right into the sack with him for some awesome toe-curling rebound sex. Whatever her reaction, your reader is more likely to follow you down that path because you've started with something real in the character's back story that the reader can relate to.
Give Them a Flaw or Personality Tick
Remember than girl from high school? The one who was model gorgeous, Valedictorian, super nice, volunteered at the homeless shelter on weekends, was captain of the volleyball team, had the perfect parents who she always respected and got along with and always had a great big angelic smile on her zit-free face? You hated her, right? So will your readers if you create a character who has no flaws. No one is that perfect and none of us can imagine being so. Everyone has some sort of personality flaw or quirk. That's what makes them interesting. Give your character something realistic that she has to deal with--like maybe she's a sucker for a bad boy or she is a compulsive shoe-shopper. Again, having flaws that many of us share makes her real and relatable and we can jump right into her skin when your story starts.
Use Astrology
I cribbed this one from a workshop Cherry Adair did at RWA. If you're having trouble breathing life into your character (if you write more plot-driven books, for example) try this: randomly choose a birth date for your character then go to a good astrology book, like one of Linda Goodman's, and look up their sign. Use the character traits and tendencies described in the book as a starting point for the character. This should jump start your imagination. It might also help your plot by adding a healthy dose of conflict. For example, if you're writing a character who is Special Ops and the astrological sign you chose at random paints a picture of a peace-loving individual, you have your work cut out for you. What motivated a pacifist to change into a person who would join the military and train to become an elite warrior? This is probably a psychologically complicated individual. Tortured, even. That's the good stuff. And starting with real character traits, shared by a whole group of people (if you buy into astrology) will help you create a realistic character right out of the box.
Try the Scene in First-Person POV
This is a technique I use quite a bit at the beginning of a book when I'm still getting to know my character, when I'm writing a particularly emotional scene, if I get stuck, or if a scene/character just seems flat. Most novels are written in third person point-of-view (he, she, they). But try this: close your eyes, think about the backstory of your character and the circumstances in which they find themselves currently. Become that character. Write the scene in first person (I, we, us) as if you were her. Step into her skin. What does she feel? What does she see? How does she react? You're writing it as is you yourself were experiencing the plot or emotions and giving honest reactions and observations to those stimuli. For example, if you were home alone and the power went out and then you heard breaking glass and someone walking around upstairs, what would you do? Probably grab your cell phone and dial 9-1-1 or run to a neighbor's house, or get in your car and drive to the police station. You would not light a candle and creep up the stairs ready to defend your home from an invader armed with a frying pan. That's not realistic, so don't have your heroine doing it. You'll lose your reader as soon as she disconnects from your heroine's too-stupid-to-live actions. Have her do what you would do in that situation and add complications from there, because unless you're a too-stupid-to-live heroine, many people will have a similar reaction to a circumstance as you and will be able to relate.
As a reader, realistic characters are the key to enjoying a book. I know if I'm thinking about the characters during the day when I'm going around doing my mundane things, the author has done a good job. I can't wait to get back into that world, that character's skin to see where we're going next. That's the kind of experience you want to create for your readers as an author because they'll be looking for your next book and the one after that. You've given them someone they can relate to and sort of "be" for a few hours. Children try on different personas all the time and I think we never really outgrow that desire. Books can take us there. We can be movie stars or maids, burger flippers or dragon slayers...as long as the author keeps it real.
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