Characters Welcome!
When the USA television network first began using this phrase, I didn’t quite get it. Now that I write books, and more importantly, create characters, I get it…in fact I live it!
I waited years to start writing, but I’ve been a huge reader all along. Although I could never pinpoint a preferred genre – I try to widely vary the kinds of books I read – I’ve always greatly admired authors who create vivid, memorable characters. I was a Stephen King freak back in the day when you had to wait for a book to arrive at the book store and stand in line the day of the release; yes, I am that old. I was not a horror story junkie, although I’ve read my share, but I knew good characters when I saw them. Regardless of how far out, spooky, or downright bizarre King’s story lines are, his characters are priceless. In fact, he was the first author who taught me the importance of depicting characters the reader can relate to. When I read his books, I either felt like I knew those people or could literally picture real life folks they reminded me of. Most importantly, whether I liked the characters or not, I could relate to them. As a reader of books and a student of people, that had an enormous impact on me.
So here I am, a real live novelist now (sometimes I just say that to impress myself), and I put serious stock into my characters. I have been extremely happy that much of the positive feedback for The Unlikely Savior has been how “real” the characters are. I nearly needed resuscitation when one reader actually used the words, “I feel like I know these people!” Soon after, others noted that the characters seem so alive, or they felt like they were inside the character’s lives while reading. Of course I’d love to sell trillions of books, but even more, I want to introduce good characters…“create” people that start in my mind, but become real in someone else’s mind and heart.
I’ll be the first to admit that all stuff just sounded a little syrupy and sappy…although it was honest. But the less poetic part is to tell you how I come up with these people. I’ve been asked quite a lot (as I’m sure most writers are asked), “where do you come up with your characters?” As much as I’d love to spout that it’s a “writer thing,” that we have a secret-squirrel code allowing us, and only us, to concoct imaginary people from the collective universe of amazing souls…but that would be a big fat lie, not to mention a little more than cheesy.
My characters come from every person I’ve ever known in my life. And they come from a LOT of people I’ve never known…but observed. Sometimes movie or literary characters make part of my brain go crazy, brewing hybrid sole mates, not yet created. But more often than not, as creepy as it may sound, I watch real people with such keen interest, I need to be careful not to be stalkerish. And…the worst of all social evils, I am a shameless eavesdropper. I listen in the buffet line, in the bathroom at Walmart…I listen to the conversations of very noisy patrons who obviously want to be heard in every venue known to man. I don’t listen because I am judging them or even because I’m particularly nosy; I listen because there could be a character in there…or a tone, or an innuendo…or a one little seed which, if planted in my imagination, can grow not only a fictional character, but possibly a whole story! And sometimes they are just born in my head with no help at all.
In fact, the entire story line (and opening scene) of my next novel, Billet Doux from a Dead Prisoner, was born during a real life and very unpleasant experience I had while attempting to rent a car for the simple purpose of driving to visit a friend in Ogden, Utah for a few days. After the ordeal, as I drove out of Boise, completely exasperated by the experience, I was distracted by an unfamiliar (and nonexistent) person…a new character? Simultaneously, I realized that the experience I’d just endured would be a great way to introduce that very character in a story which was yet unknown. I never turned on the radio or plugged in a CD for that four and a half hour drive, but by the time I pulled into my friend’s driveway, amid sloppy notes on scattered napkins, I had a cast of characters and the idea for my second novel. I suspect it won’t always be that easy for me, and I’m sure thousands of other authors could offer their anecdotes and experiences, expanding the horizons of character creation for all.
But for me…real life is, by far, the most fascinating source for character searches, although if you are discussing something quite personal and I am nearby, you may want to lower your voice or put the conversation on hold! Characters welcome? You bet.
