True That!: Characters and Keepin’ it Real

Okay, so I’ve been talking about characters a lot lately. Or so it feels. (Maybe it’s all just actually swirling in my head and isn’t coming out all over the place like I think it might be.) Anyway, today I was getting blood work done and was chatting with the lab lady while she was prepping and drawing blood. As I was leaving she wished me and the kids a good day and I wished her the same. I added, “I hope nobody passes out in your chair and falls out!” (Thinking of how someone I know happened to do that once.) Because really, when you’ve been talking about how you and the kids are going swimming and going to have a lovely day and she’s saying she’s stuck at work all day… what do you say to wish her a good one?

Funny enough… she was actually kind of appreciative of my comment and said, “Thanks. It’s actually been a really bad month for that. All the lab techs have been noticing that, even in the next town over.” Huh.

I was so surprised I didn’t quite know what to say. And, of course, I was burning with curiosity. (As usual.) Why are people passing out? Is it the weather? Fasting? Rushed lab techs who give too sharp a jab with the ol’ needle? (Mine was amazing actually, hardly felt the needle go in.) Are they looking at the vials fill with blood and getting woozy? (Really, you shouldn’t do that! Watching vital life fluid drain from your body is never a good idea.)

And being a writer, I, of course, turned this juicy tidbit back to my writing. Hmmm. My characters… what would constitute a good day or bad day at work? What would be strange for them? What leads to a good day, a bad day, a busy day, an interesting day, boring day, etc.? And how do I find that out? Research! Imagination! And chatting with people in the profession. Speaking of which, I think I’d better go make one of my characters into a lab tech….
Have a good one and may your keyboard’s keys resist the urge to pop off!

Building a Character

One of the funnest (and hardest) parts of writing a story is building a character. Not just anyone will do when you need someone to sweep into your story and save the day. Or just any old Jane to take the layers of crap (we like to call it conflict) on her, either. So, who do you choose? You can’t just grab your next door neighbour and throw them into a murder scenario. (As much fun as that might be.) So, you have to get creative.

I’m one of those who has a general idea of their main character before they start writing. Usually. Sometimes I have nothing. However, I have found that in the cases where I go in blind, I often end up having a main character who lacks in proper motivations to carry the story forward in a strong and convincing way. That means, editing. A lot of editing. And that takes time. A few years ago I read Linda Seger’s book “Creating Unforgettable Characters” and built a worksheet for myself using her ideas and tips. It’s been great. Even when I don’t use the worksheet, just making it has helped keep those elements in mind when I start a new story or introduce a new character. (If you want to pop through some online character questionnaires, check out this link.)

What does your chararacter want? What stands in their way? (I have to know those two things before I start or I don’t even have a story. Generally speaking… I have broken my own rules a time or two. Oops!) But to get more depth, questions like: How do you handle conflict?; What is your level of education?; and What does your home look like? tend to help me delve deeper and get a greater understanding of who the heck I am working with.

Back in June, Writer’s Digest posted an article called, “9 Questions to Ask Your Main Character.” While I don’t think I have asked any of my characters these specific questions, they are good ones that will help get into the psyche of that wily old character of yours.

Being the curious sort that I am, I asked my writing buddies over at AgentQueryConnect if they ask their characters questions before they start writing. As you may have guessed, the answers to that poll were all over the board. If you have time and are curious what you can ask your main character, read the whole thread–there are lots of great questions that other writers ask their characters.

Writer’s tip: If your story is falling apart, lacks a little something, or your characters don’t feel quite right, try taking a break and having a coffee and chat with your characters. You might be surprised what they tell you.

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Tell The Truth

…and nothing but the truth when it comes to your characters.

I’m working my way through Ray Bradbury’s Zen and the Art of Writing and every few pages I come across something that goes *ping* in my writer’s brain. Last night, he described how a character he never intended to write about came to him and said, “Tell the truth about me.” (Page 113) And because he is a writer who listens, he had to. The result? An honest and acclaimed piece.

Every day when a writer sits down at their paper or keyboard, their characters ask us to do this. In our best work we not only listen, but we comply. We relax our minds and shut the doors to thinking and we bring forth something honest and true. (And sometimes discover something so shocking it jolts us, such as our beloved character is having an extramarital affair.)

When we don’t listen, when we don’t comply, when we push and shove our ideas of story onto our characters, that is when we fall apart, get writers block, and create stilted stories that don’t work, that don’t speak.

I’ve been procrastinating on my work in progress because I am at a point where I have to sit back and think. Or so I thought. Maybe all I need to do is sit back, relax, and channel my characters’ inner truths and those character arcs will place themselves on the page, weaving and tying themselves to the other characters in a way that wouldn’t happen if I pushed it.

How about you? Do your characters force you to tell the truth?

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When Characters Do Bad Things

I was peacefully writing away yesterday afternoon.

La, la, la.

That was me. I began a new chapter with a new character. He carefully slipped out of the house in the morning, being extra careful not to wake his wife who didn’t need to get up for a few more hours. Off he went to work, the ever-so safety conscious employee. All day he works alongside his longtime buddy. Then he shocks me. As he is driving away from the plant, he drives downtown and meets his buddy’s wife for a long-standing affair! They even have a hotel room booked for every Wednesday from 3:30 to 5:30. I was shocked. So shocked I almost stopped writing. Seriously. My fingers paused. My brain leapt scrambled against the brick wall it had been flung against and my jaw dropped.

I stuttered. I blinked. I couldn’t believe it. Sure, in the past my characters have done some pretty zany stuff. But they have never, NEVER done anything that I would disapprove of. And this guy did. I created a cheater and I didn’t know. I’m really quite choked at him. Why would he do this? He’s a good guy with good relationships. Or, at least, so I thought.

I had to stop writing. I left him at the hotel room door. It was hard writing about this as it came so out of left field. The character will stay. The affair will stay. And I will get over it.

What surprised me the most was maybe not his affair, but how shocked I was. I started jumping on what was flowing from my fingers onto the screen. I was getting in the way when I was in the groove and the right, honest words were hitting the page.

I honour the groove, and yet, my brain was stuttering at my fingers, so I had to quit. I was afraid I was going to spoil it. That I was going to get in the way of the story.

Has that ever happened to you? Have your characters shocked you so thoroughly you had to put down the story and compose yourself?

Highlighting Characteristics

So you have a character. You know this person better than anyone, yet you aren’t sure you are getting it across to your readers. What do you do? Give them a nice little list of characteristics that make up this person you have created and sneak it in the first few pages of your story?

You could. But you may bore them, plus the chances are your reader is going to whizz through the list and not absorbing your carefully selected laundry list of characteristics.

What if you highlighted one thing? Just one important detail?

Easy!

Hang on. One thing? Just one thing? One thing that makes this character so unique that if he/she was pushed into a pile of fictional characters a reader could identify and yank your dude out of the pile?

For one of my stories, the fact that the main character, Allie, is always losing thing is a defining characteristic. She is brainy and winning awards, yet very absentminded and thus loses things. A lot. How is this important? Well, outside the story it really isn’t. Everyone can probably think of someone they know or times where they have lost things due to preoccupation. Yet, this characteristic is key within the story. People are stealing Allie’s work from under her nose. It isn’t particularly noted or even noticed seeing as she is always losing things. Therefore it is easy to discount missing documents, purses, keys, etc. This causes problems and conveniently becomes a vital plot point.

Once you have your key feature/characteristic, think of a way to highlight that feature for your readers. Take a lone paragraph and fill it with 2-3 sentences on that key feature. The chances are the reader is going to take note. (But don’t overdo it.)

If I had to describe Allie in a few sentences to highlight her absent-mindedness, I might say something like this:

The expression ‘she’d lose her head if it wasn’t attached’ could have been made with Allie in mind. The woman lost three purses in four months. She was losing documents so often she didn’t just fear losing her job, but her sanity as well.

What sort of things might be key to your character and hence become an important part of your story’s plot?

Chewing gum? The fact that your character walks like they’ve been stuck on a horse for days? A severe dislike for dill pickles? Whatever you choose, make it work for you.

Enjoy!

Twitter: Another Way to Break Your Characters Out of the Book

Twitter, it’s free.

Twitter, make it work for you, honey!

Twitter, if you know what you’re doing, it can be a BLAST.

Seriously though, the other day I had a brainwave. I’d put Allie on Twitter. Who is Allie? What is Twitter?

Let’s start with Twitter. Here’s a brief rundown on Twitter. Twitter is a social network site. That means you make a free account and begin tweeting. That means, you post a short (140 characters) sentence or two updating your status. That’s all. No wall. No pesky invites. All you do is convey information. You can also use it to start an informative, interesting trend like some agents did with a ‘query fail’ game. Basically, post something interesting.

Who is Allie? Allie is the main character of my chick lit/romantic comedy story (The 15 Date Rule) that is currently seeking representation. Allie’s a 32-year-old astrophysicist who has a slight issue with putting her foot in her mouth and is a general, all-round dating disaster. (We’re talking boyfriends hire other guys to break up with her. Ouch.)

Why put Allie on Twitter? Many reasons. One: it’s fun. Two: it’s a great way for a writer to get to know a character better.  Three: it could possibly build an audience for your character which could help with marketing down the line. Four: it’s fun. Five: it is covering the backstory for the novel in an interesting way. Six: it’s a great writing exercise. Seven: it’s free. And Eight: did I mention it’s a blast?

Anyway, check out Allie. You can ‘follow’ her on Twitter, which means her schenanigan updates will show up on your Twitter page so you don’t have to search for her each time. Or you can rss feed her. Or you can also check her out in the handy gadget I made for my website’s mainpage.

Either way, enjoy!

New Year Writing Workout #2: Shadow a Pro

How are your writing biceps feeling today? That was some weight we pulled yesterday with all those adjectives and adverbs, wasn’t it? Today, we’re going to give your fingers a workout, so do some finger stretches to get them limbered up.

This is a strange exercise and I resisted it for some time. Take one of your favourite pieces of work written by someone else. Or take a piece of work that you strive to be like. For me, I write chick lit/romantic comedy so I chose the opening of one of Meg Cabot’s books. You will need five pages of that other person’s work.

Here’s where you need your fingers. Take those five pages and type them (or write them) out. I know this seems like a strange thing to do, but trust me on this one. Type it out and see if by the end of your five pages if you haven’t discovered something about how the great writers approach things.

Let me share a bit of what I discovered when I typed out those five pages of Meg’s. First of all, let me mention that I had the impression that chick lit tended to have stunted, grammatically incorrect sentences here and there to create that chick lit voice. I also figured there were internal wit and barbs all over the place. Not quite true. In fact, my grammar checker didn’t go off ONCE during that five pages, whereas in my own writing I was going off several times in one page. Lesson learned: chick lit writing is actually quite good in terms of grammar. It just gives you the impression of being informal and off the cuff in terms of grammar rules.

There was also more action than I had realized. By action, I mean that things were moving along a lot faster than in my own work. We were right into the action and there was no let up. It was focused and fast. There were also a few well chosen words to set the scene, describe a character, and in short, things were tight.

Probably the coolest thing was how she dealt with backstory. Seeing as the book I copied out of was part of a series, she had to tuck a lot of backstory into the first few pages. To do that, she used a disposable character and used him very well to fit her needs. It was interesting, even for someone who had read the first book several times.

In short, I learned about five times more by typing out those five pages than I did rereading and analyzing those five pages five times. So get over the fact that this seems lame and give it a whirl. It won’t take as long as you think it will and you might discover something interesting.

It’s time well not wasted.

Enjoy!

NaNoWriMo Winner!

I did it! 

I sat down today and launched myself over the 50,000 word mark and I didn’t even have to plague my characters with the rare, tropical disease called ‘blah, blah, blah’.

In case you missed the news:

So, yes, needless to say, I got around that wall and have set my main character on her steady course towards the story’s black moment where everything will go wrong and everyone will wonder with awe, (hooked and unable to breathe until it is over) how on earth she will pull it out of the fire.

I love it when stuff pulls together. It is so exciting and is the best part of being a writer. I always feel so brilliant when I inadvertently do things like this: I just realized that one of my ‘make the character’s life hell’ moments I have planned will work totally in my favour in more ways than one. You know how characters are supposed to change and form over the story’s course? Well, I have the groundwork for that. Sure, it is full of muddle puddles, quagmires and the odd tree planted right in the way of the groundwork, but it is there. Anyway, I just realized that when she loses her apartment and goes to live with this sweetheart of a woman, that she will have her eyes opened in a way that will help her change who she is so she can settle down and relax.

Not so exciting to you as for me? Sorry, how about THIS:

Oh, not that either. Okay, well maybe I’ll sign off then. Even though I’m over the 50k mark, I still have at least another 30k to go. Wish me luck.

Sincerely yours,