How To Create Strong and Memorable Characters

Did you know your stories could be getting rejected based on your characters? Frightening thought, isn’t it?

If you’ve ever wondered how you can create multi-layered characters that will become so real they live on in the minds of your reader, pop over to From The Write Angle where I’m sharing five surefire, easy tips on how to create strong, memorable characters.

See you over there.

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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Good Links, February Edition

There have been some great blog posts online this month, so I thought I’d share some of the one’s I’ve enjoyed the most(and can actually remember at this moment in time).Today I donated 99 cents ($1.30 Canadian) to help a writer replace his GPS. Seriously. The story sucked me in. Pulled at my heartstrings, made me laugh. All that good stuff. I even navigated around my computer’s security software to make my donation. And then, guess what? I discovered I got something for my $1.30. Huh. I was actually a little disappointed in that my goodwill was going to get me something directly (not karmically). But I got over it quickly because I got a book. Shot of Tequila by JA Konrath. Uh, huh. So there you go. Check out the story and get a PDF of the book. Woo!

In other news, JA Konrath also has a nice checklist for writers. Are you delusional about your abilities as a writer? Maybe confident? Unsure, check it out. It is a good attitude check if nothing else.

Over at Bookends Literary blog, I discovered a fab querythat really helped me with my own. (The post is actually from January, but I only discovered it this week.) The query also wants me to buy the book which is part of the Gray Whale Inn Bed-and-Breakfast mysteries. This is the sentence that made me sit back and go ‘cool’: “But she’s barely fired up the stove when portly developer Bernard Katz rolls into town and starts mowing through her morning glory muffins.” Good stuff! Voice and all that jazz. Plus, her query packs in the protagonist’s stakes in the story. Good job!

If you are working on your synopsis, Kristin Nelson has five helpful things to keep in mind when creating that summary masterpiece over on her Pub Rants blog.

Nathan Bransford (literary agent with Curtis Brown) has a post on characters. He discusses sympathetic and unsympathetic characters and the issue of redeemability. “We’ve all read moments where this happened: a character did something so horrible and shocking and irredeemable that there was no going back. We’re officially done with that person.” That’s pretty much what happened with a book I’m reading right now (but I won’t disclose which one it is). But it has to do with these twisted, evilish little kid twins. And freakishly enough, it isn’t the first instance of twisted, evilish little kid twins that I’ve encountered in a story this year. So, if you think you know which book I’m talking about, think again. It seems to be a popular subject, but sadly for me, not enough conflict to keep me engaged in a story.

And news of my own: I finished the website It’s All Kids’s Play (dot ca) last week and have been listing activities on the blog. Be sure to check them out. There are over 700 activities waiting for your kids to try out!

If you are looking at an easy, fun way to improve your writing, check out RWA’s list of online classes. There are a handful of great, helpful classes being offered each month for reasonable prices. And they are great. I’ve taken two and am signed up for two more. You don’t have to be an RWA member, nor do you have to write romance to get something out of their classes. Very recommended!

And last but not least, some depressing news if you were ‘delusional’ as Konrath would say, and thought you’d make a mint being a writer. Thanks to Nathan Bransford for breaking it down for us aspiring-in-the-dark writers. Now I know I’m really going to have to work hard to sell those books when I get published!

Okay, I can’t really leave you on that depressing note! Let’s think of something fun, like make your own superhero! Yay! Thanks to agent Kate Schafer Testerman and her blog followers for this one.

Enjoy!

Naming Characters

What is in a name?

Good question.

Usually when I name characters, the name is just there for me and I plug along happily. Problem is, I am now getting to the point where I can’t recall all the names I’ve used. You have all these minor characters and old stories that one day could get resurrected and published and you don’t want accidentally reuse names over and over. You don’t want readers to think you only have 40 names in your back pocket and you keep reusing them over and over again because you have no creativity. Then there is the other problem of what if you use the name now and later find that it just HAS to be the name for the new character you’ve created and no other name will be as ‘perfect’ but the name is already used?

Anyway, I think I am going to have to start making a master list of character names so I don’t accidentally and unconsciously always have a ‘Ben’ or something in all my stories. Although that could be kind of funny…especially if he was a barista or something. Then eventually he could have his own story with all these other characters from the other books visiting him. It would be so Maeve Binchy.

But I doubt I’ll do that. Here is what I do when I get ‘stuck’ though. (Funny, I have never been stuck on a character name for longer than about 5 minutes and rarely have I gone back and changed a name.) What I do is go online. There are some great baby name websites and I just discovered that the American Social Security Site has the most popular names from different decades. Super cool if you need an older adult and you want the name to fit the time they were born in. What I’ve heard other writers do is save names from spam they receive. Isn’t that funny? Imagine the creative names they get there!

The Stranger

I am quickly easing my way through The Stranger by Albert Camus. It was recommended by Noah Lukeman in his book as something to read through to study narration. And it is an interesting, bare bones narration that is devoid of the usual emotional involvement. This is astonishing, not because I usually read chick lit which is chalk full of emotion, but because emotional events are happening to this man and he seems more concerned with the heat. For example, his mother dies, his girlfriend asks him to marry him, he witnesses abuse, and he shoots a man. And he is rather removed from it all.

So who is this guy? How can he be so indifferent and polite about what is happening in his life? For example, when asked if he was nervous about being on trial, he says ‘no’ as “the prospect of witnessing a trial rather interested me; I’d never had occasion to attend one before.” In a move of genius, Camus doesn’t let on why the protagonist is so removed until you are hooked into the story.

It is true that I am not yet finished the book and that the protagonist is starting to show some emotion during his trial, but his emotions are in relation to others. For example, he feels emotion when he realises that everyone in the courtroom despises him and when he realises that the pimp is indeed his friend. That’s what makes him emotional. Otherwise, he seems to be a ‘stranger’ to his emotions and to himself.

Intriguing, very intriguing and how he manages to convey it all so simply and with so few words.