Posts Tagged ‘characters’

It’s not all about the main character

Wednesday, June 27th, 2012

I’ve had a revelation. When I tell you what it is, I know many of you will roll your eyes and say, “Well, duh.” But I finally understand a concept that should have been completely obvious: Though the main character is at the center of your story, the story’s not all about the main character.

What does that mean? It means there are other characters in the story: the antagonist, the love interest, the best friend, the parents – all the people that surround and populate the main character’s life. Each one of these characters has a story of  their own which intersects with the narrative arc of the main character. And each character is privy to at least one piece of the main character’s story and therefore has his or her own version of that story.

A simple idea, but it’s rocking my writing world. I hadn’t realized it, but I was being egocentric about my writing, seeing the story as revolving around the main character, with the other characters simply there to prop her up and make events happen. (Well, maybe not that bad, but close.) This egocentricity may have been exacerbated by the fact that I love to write in first person – or maybe I choose to write in first person because I’m an egocentric writer. Either way, I now see how this way of looking at my novels has led to incomplete development of my secondary characters.

After having this epiphany, I sat down and wrote out the entire plot of my story from the perspective of my main character’s best friend. Being clear on his journey will help me understand where he’s coming from in his scenes with her. I also now have a clearer picture of some of the events that take place “offstage,” when he’s not on the scene – all of which, I hope, will make my story richer and more real for my readers.

If you’ve been reading this post and thinking, “I’ve known that forever,” I salute you. But if the idea of seeing your story from the perspective of other characters sparks any aha’s for you, I hope you’ll tell me about them. I’d hate to feel I’m the only writer for whom this is a revelation.

 

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Character Interview

Friday, April 27th, 2012

As I mentioned in my last post, I was inspired by Rachel Vail‘s keynote at the SCBWI WWA conference to get to know my characters better. So yesterday, I sat down with the main character of my WIP for an interview. I find that character interviews are one of the best ways to learn more about the people that inhabit my stories. There’s something about the question-and-answer format that allows stuff I haven’t thought about consciously to come through.

To do a character interview, I open a Word doc and, in bold, type a question I want my character to answer, for example, “What are you most scared of?” Then, in regular font, I write my character’s answer. I try not to think as I do this, just let the words flow. Because of that, some really surprising information comes out of these interviews.

For example, yesterday I asked Joan, my MC, what she was most afraid of. She told me she was really scared of being attacked and raped, and because of that, she avoids walking alone at night and always carries the pepper spray her mom gave her. I had no idea! And, of course, I may use that information at some point to enrich my plot. Or maybe I won’t, and it will just help me understand where Joan’s coming from a little better.

Here are some standard questions I ask in a character interview:

How would you describe yourself?

How do you think other people would describe you?

What makes you happiest?

When are you most unhappy?

What frightens you the most?

Where do you think that fear came from?

How does this fear affect your life?

Can you tell me something about yourself that you’ve never told anyone else?

Is there anything I can do better in telling your story?

Often the answers to these generic questions will lead to other questions that are specific to my novel.

So if you want to get to know your characters better, try a character interview. Feel free to use my questions. You can also find a list of 100 interview questions here.

Have you ever done a character interview? If so, what’s your favorite question to ask your characters?

 

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I See Naked Characters

Friday, April 6th, 2012

Well, I did it: Last Friday, just in time for my birthday, I finished the first draft of the novel I’ve been working on since September. To celebrate both, I decided to take the day off this Wednesday and go to the wonderful Olympus Korean Spa.

 

I love Olympus. It’s women-only, it’s calm and quiet, and it’s full of amazing places to relax. Hot pools. Heated rooms. Saunas. A veritable heaven for those of us who crave warmth – and you can hang out all day for just 35 bucks. But I’m a writer, and writers never really take a day off. So as I’m soaking in the hot pool, listening to the sound of the indoor waterfall, I’m also on the lookout for characters.

One of the loveliest things about the spa is that in the pool area, no one wears clothes. I’ve always been a people-watcher, and I often invent stories about the random people I see in stores, at movies, and on the street. I try to extrapolate from a person’s outward appearance what kind of individual they are. I guess at their hopes and fears and speculate on what makes them tick.

But at the spa, I can’t use what someone’s wearing to give me clues. Instead, I get to peek underneath the persona each woman has created for herself via clothes and makeup and find the character that’s imbedded in her very skin. Don’t get me wrong; I never stare. But as women pad by on their way from the shower to the pools, I can’t help noticing the little flaws and quirks that make each body unique. Where did she get that scar? What’s the story behind the tattoo? These are the kinds of questions I ask myself, knowing that the answers I dream up, though probably far from the truth, may lead me down a path toward a new story idea.

Now, I’m not saying that you need to join a nudist camp in order to be a writer. But I am suggesting that, as you’re creating a character, you look underneath her clothing, makeup, and hairstyle and find the flaws or secret scars that she hides from the world. Sometimes, you need to see your character naked.

 

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