Pamela Stadnyk
asked
Susan Mallery:
Hi Susan What is your approach to developing your characters? Thank you for offering your availability to answer questions. Pamela
Susan Mallery
Hi, Pamela.
Thanks for your question. :) This is fun for me! I'm honored that readers have such interesting questions for me.
My goal is to create characters who feel 100% authentic. Sometimes the characters come to me almost fully formed. I can't really explain it, but they speak to me in my head, and I can hear their voices as I write. Other times, I need to work at it a little more. I might do character charts, or take a personality quiz from the character's point of view. I've tried lots of different methods, and I continue to experiment. I've found that different things work for different characters, because the characters have varied belief systems. For example, doing a horoscope-based character chart might work really well for a character who believes in astrology, but wouldn't work as well for one who scoffs at such things. It's almost like I'm inside the character AS I'm finding out who she is.
I spend a lot of time simply thinking about each character, really focusing on that one person. We're all products of the events in our lives, but the same event can affect different people in different ways. For example, the three Watson sisters in DAUGHTERS OF THE BRIDE all experienced the loss of their father when they were children, but his death had a different impact on each of them. While in the beginning stages of brainstorming this book (pre-plotting), I spent a lot of time thinking about how each daughter was affected by Dad dying, and by Mom's reaction to his death. (Mom Maggie is the bride in this story, remarrying after 24 years as a widow.) When her husband died and left her practically penniless, with three young daughters to raise, Maggie did the best she could, but some of her decisions really did a number on her girls. She put a burden on Rachel's shoulders to care for her younger sisters, when Rachel was just a child, herself. Middle child Sienna resented her older sister trying to mother her, and no one realized how much poor little Courtney was struggling in school.
Now the girls are adults (28, 30, and 32), and the forced togetherness of Mom's impending marriage is going to bring all of those old hurts to the surface. In a humorous way, of course, because that's what I do. :) And they all have love stories, too.
After the thinking/brainstorming stage, I start writing a scene from each main character's point of view, and I keep writing until I can hear that character's voice in my head. It's usually somewhere around 5-10 pages. Once I reach that stage with each character, I plot the novel. With DAUGHTERS OF THE BRIDE, I had three interweaving story lines to plot. Here's what's fun: each sister has a similar backstory, and each sister is finding romance while helping Mom to plan her wedding--and yet, the three stories are VERY different from each other because the characters are different people. That's what I love about romance. Every love story is unique to the people who are falling in love.
Susan
Thanks for your question. :) This is fun for me! I'm honored that readers have such interesting questions for me.
My goal is to create characters who feel 100% authentic. Sometimes the characters come to me almost fully formed. I can't really explain it, but they speak to me in my head, and I can hear their voices as I write. Other times, I need to work at it a little more. I might do character charts, or take a personality quiz from the character's point of view. I've tried lots of different methods, and I continue to experiment. I've found that different things work for different characters, because the characters have varied belief systems. For example, doing a horoscope-based character chart might work really well for a character who believes in astrology, but wouldn't work as well for one who scoffs at such things. It's almost like I'm inside the character AS I'm finding out who she is.
I spend a lot of time simply thinking about each character, really focusing on that one person. We're all products of the events in our lives, but the same event can affect different people in different ways. For example, the three Watson sisters in DAUGHTERS OF THE BRIDE all experienced the loss of their father when they were children, but his death had a different impact on each of them. While in the beginning stages of brainstorming this book (pre-plotting), I spent a lot of time thinking about how each daughter was affected by Dad dying, and by Mom's reaction to his death. (Mom Maggie is the bride in this story, remarrying after 24 years as a widow.) When her husband died and left her practically penniless, with three young daughters to raise, Maggie did the best she could, but some of her decisions really did a number on her girls. She put a burden on Rachel's shoulders to care for her younger sisters, when Rachel was just a child, herself. Middle child Sienna resented her older sister trying to mother her, and no one realized how much poor little Courtney was struggling in school.
Now the girls are adults (28, 30, and 32), and the forced togetherness of Mom's impending marriage is going to bring all of those old hurts to the surface. In a humorous way, of course, because that's what I do. :) And they all have love stories, too.
After the thinking/brainstorming stage, I start writing a scene from each main character's point of view, and I keep writing until I can hear that character's voice in my head. It's usually somewhere around 5-10 pages. Once I reach that stage with each character, I plot the novel. With DAUGHTERS OF THE BRIDE, I had three interweaving story lines to plot. Here's what's fun: each sister has a similar backstory, and each sister is finding romance while helping Mom to plan her wedding--and yet, the three stories are VERY different from each other because the characters are different people. That's what I love about romance. Every love story is unique to the people who are falling in love.
Susan
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Pamela Stadnyk
author......The Magic Mask
Jul 17, 2016 08:15AM · flag