CHARACTERS – A PRIMER
Part One
Commercial fiction, which is what I write, whether it be Gothics under Ayn Hunt or Romances under Ayn Amorelli, is usually considered to be plot-driven. But to me, characters are more important, in that they show the story of what’s happening to them.
Most writers are voracious readers. We have to be. Not only does it show what’s out there, it sharpens our minds and helps us escape from this sometimes scary world. And from a reader’s standpoint, I buy books that feature characters I love, that I can relate to and want to be around.
Don’t get me wrong. Plots are important too. I love intriguing plots. I love to write them, with all the twists and turns my little brain can think of as I create obstacle after obstacle for my characters have to overcome, even if they are half-dead afterward by their exertion.
But unless I really like the featured character, I don’t care what tribulations they have to face, and I’ll be right there, rooting for him or her to lose big-time. I know that’s not nice. But I don’t care. I’m very picky about my choice of reading material, be it Romances, Mysteries, Gothics, Scientific stories, or the Classics.
What do I look for in characters in both reading and writing? Someone who’s 3-dimensional. Someone who has faults as well as good points. Someone who is scared half-to-death of something, yet goes ahead and tries to overcome whatever obstacle they’re blocked by.
I want a character to be passionate. Who cares deeply. Not only about love or survival, but one who feels obligated to accomplish a particular thing because it’s important to another person. Someone who’s empathetic. Who understands why something is important to another, even though that particular something isn’t all that important to him.
I like characters who SHOW me their story and aren’t content to merely tell me about it. The Cardinal Rule of Writing is “Show, Don’t Tell.” That’s one of the few rules of writing I adhere to. I’m not about to say, “He had a flashback.” I’ll say something like,
“He got a far-away look in his green eyes and his voice sounded like he was once again that little boy.
‘Dad? Why’s Mommy sitting there, not doing anything? What’s she looking at? Why doesn’t she move? Why doesn’t she say something? Is she asleep? Is that it? Daddy! Answer me! You aren’t asleep too, are you?’”
See what I mean? Show, Don’t Tell. Get inside that character’s head, seeing what he sees, smelling what he smells, feeling what he feels. Focus on the details that are important to him at that moment. No one notices every little thing around them. We’d go crazy if we tried. But we do hone into specific things which are important.
As writers, we have to get into our character’s minds. We have to go into Deep Point-of-View in order to do this. And we have to stay inside our characters until we’re interrupted by one of real-life’s many annoyances.
Character charts are, of course, important. Write down as many things as you can about the character you’ve chosen and pictured in your mind. Study him. What’s his hair color, eye color, approximately height, weight and build? What’s his educational level? His occupation? His feelings about his job or profession? What kind of a car does he own? How does he dress? What kind of clothes will you find him in at home? On the job? How does he feel about the opposite sex? Does he date as often as he’d like? He is an extrovert? Or an introvert? What are his strengths? His weaknesses? His goals? His feelings about his life at the moment? When he looks at a glass with something in it, does it see it as half-full or half-empty? What are his habits? Does he have any fears? Any phobias? Do you? Use your own as his, that way you'll write about his experiences with real emotion.
You get the idea. Write as much as you can about him. If you’re stuck, ask him. Characters usually love to talk about themselves. But if he’s one of the rare characters who’s shy, do something mindless like housework, while keeping him pictured in your mind.
Name your character something that really fits. This, quite honestly, is my weakest point. I usually end up changing my characters’ names several times in every story, which gets me in all sorts of trouble. What I need to do is start researching names, to make sure the name was in use during a particular year. There are sites on line, timelines, which can tell you what names were popular when. I know just enough to not use the name “Percy” for a masculine male man. Or “Lola” for a librarian (although that might not be so bad. It might be kind of interesting, actually.) I do need to work on this though.
To be continued
