In Case of Inspiration Emergency: Make a List of Reasons to Spend Time With Your Character

Whether you’re a planner or not, there’s one thing every writer will need as they prepare for NaNoWriMo: inspiration. We’ve challenged some of our favorite authors, and the NaNo staff to inspire you by sharing what’s inspired them… and challenging you to prepare a specific jumpstart for that inevitable idea drought:

The Inspirer: Lisa Doyle, author of Milked

The Inspiration Sources:
Bridget Jones’ Diary, by Helen Fielding

The Jumpstart: Make a short list of reasons you want to spend time with your protagonist!

Why This Will Inspire You: Like most (if not all) of you, I grew up reading everything I could get my hands on. From Archie comics to R.L. Stine books to The Baby-Sitters Club, I always had a book in hand and one in the hopper. As I got older, I graduated to the classics, and then went through a period in the ‘90s addicted to blockbuster authors like John Grisham. Then, a bestseller came out that would change my life forever: Bridget Jones’ Diary.

This was the first book I’d read that made me think, Yes! You get women! You get me!

Helen Fielding’s debut introduced a wry, self-deprecating and hilarious female perspective that hasn’t been matched to this day. The character of Bridget was so relatable, so real, and so funny—but more importantly, she was all of these things without ever trying to be. She wasn’t Mother Teresa and she wasn’t Gloria Steinem—she was only unapologetically (or sometimes awkward-apologetically) herself.

I’m of the mindset that reading a novel should make me happy, plain and simple. Everyone has different criteria for that, but Bridget Jones’ Diary helped me realize that if I ever worked up the nerve to write a full-length novel, I’d want for my readers to feel about my protagonist the way I felt about Bridget: like she was the friend I could invite over without having to vacuum beforehand. She’s the kind of friend I could have over even when I was in my pajama pants, with no make-up on, and we could just gossip and laugh for hours on end. You know the line—someone who likes you very much, just as you are.

Your readers have to want to spend time with your characters… but so do you! You’ll be spending at least a month with them, so make a list now to remind yourself why you love them. While writing Milked, I loved my protagonist Amanda because she:

Found herself thrust into a crazy world of the celebrity elite.
Still remained the girl next door
And kept a hold of her sense of humor 

Why do you want to spend time with your main characters?

Lisa Doyle is a communications manager and freelance writer based in the Chicago area. A graduate of Miami University, she currently works in advocacy for homeless families at Bridge Communities. Her fiction debut, Milked, will be published by Simon & Fig in November 2014. Keep up with Lisa on Twitter and on Facebook!