Blogger: Etta Wilson
Location: Books & Such office, Nashville
Weather: Low 60s and spring buds high and low
Some recent reading has caused me to think a lot about the role of character in our writing. The time-honored rule in fiction is that the presentation of character is the key element, and all else springs from that unless it’s a mystery or suspense, in which case action becomes the more dominant piece. I’ve just heard an author complain about having to write novels in which the “good guy” always comes out fine in the end, and we do have a market that calls for that. So did Charles Dickens, as a matter of fact.
In the children’s book realm, so many stories are identified by the name of the character–Curious George, Fancy Nancy, Amelia Bedelia, Frog and Toad, Sarah Plain and Tall, Babar, The Tale of Despereaux, etc., and each of those names calls up a particular kind of character who passes into the general knowledge of our culture–if we’re lucky enough to have read the book!
The thing I’m curious about is how do writers create and identify with their fictional characters. This is a different question from the effect of researching and writing a biography or autobiography, in which we are trying to immerse ourselves in the reality of another life.
The question I’m really wrestling with is: What creative exercises or inspiration work best in generating characters who live on the page and in our hearts after the book is closed? I suspect different writers have different answers–and I have a few of my own, but I’d like to hear how your main characters appear on the page.
More tomorrow…
Etta
Cecelia Dowdy
March 23, 2009 at 10:32 amWhat creative exercises or inspiration work best in generating characters who live on the page and in our hearts after the book is closed?
>>>I’ve found that it helps if the charater is wrestling with issues that may be important to the author. For example, if you (or friends or family members) have struggled with alcoholism or drug addiction, it may be an issue your character suffers from, and you may be able to portray it realistically?
Cheryl Hodde
March 23, 2009 at 11:24 amEtta, I’m always fascinated first by my characters, and have found that, despite the fact that I write mystery/suspense, I cannot plot a book unless I do my character research first. I draw my characters from my own wishes, such as wishing a new life for a nephew who was killed in an automobile accident, or a cousin who died from complications with morbid obesity. I can make things turn out better for the characters I base on them.
Character sheets are important for every primary and secondary character, and it helps me to take the story deeper by telling the story to myself in first person in each main character viewpoint. By the time I’ve done that, the main plot is already complete.
As for antagonists, I find it’s easy to give mine redeeming qualities when I’ve written that character’s story in first person. Then I can reveal the heartaches that have led to the action that causes so much pain to others–and makes the story people more human. Who can’t identify with someone who has been hurt over and over, and has finally given up on doing things the right way? Who hasn’t been hurt? We can then identify.
I’m always looking for ways to deepen my characters. Thanks for asking this question.
Hannah
Latayne C Scott
March 24, 2009 at 8:26 amGreat topic, Etta!
When I was creating my no-nonsense agnostic character Selonnah in my new novel Latter-day Cipher, I thumbed through a magazine and was arrested by the gaze of a woman there. I cut her picture out and kept it handy whenever I was writing her scenes. That direct, into-the-camera look kept me on track. She wasn’t going to give an inch.
Latayne C Scot
http://www.latayne.com
novelmatters.blogspot.com
Latayne C Scott
March 24, 2009 at 8:32 amGreat post, Etta!
When I was developing the character of the no-nonsense agnostic reporter Selonnah in my new novel Latter-day Cipher, I ran across a photograph in a New Mexico magazine. The direct gaze of this woman arrested me. I kept that photograph near me for her scenes.
Latayne C Scott
http://www.latayne.com
novelmatters.blogspot.com
Latayne C Scott
March 24, 2009 at 3:56 pmSorry about the two posts. Didn’t think the first one “took”!
Nikki Hahn
April 29, 2009 at 11:12 amSome of my short stories do not make the heroine beautiful and the hero perfect. Though I love romance books, sometimes I wish to see some imperfection in their appearances, their personality, and some independence, too, in the heroines. I want my readers to be able to relate to the character even if she is a size 14 with looks that are plain. The other book, which is temporarily shelved until I have completed my series, has a character like this. I think it is more attractive to the reader to relate to and see the beauty within that attracts the hero.
I’ve tried to outline a character, but I found when I outline the plot and start to write, the character seem to find their own personality traits and looks based upon a family history I created before the book was begun.
Nikki Hahn
April 29, 2009 at 11:14 amOn a more humerous note, have you ever read a romance novel on how beautiful the heroine appears when she is crying? I don’t recall any woman looking beautiful when she cries. Mascara runs, her face gets all red and blotchy, and her nose runs. The movies make it beautiful, but real life is messy. lol.
Etta Wilson
April 30, 2009 at 8:43 pmLatayne, your posts remind me of how inspirational photos can be in the process of creating stories, even for adults. Keep looking!
Etta