I've discovered that the part of writing I struggle with the most (setting aside creating characters and the actual world in which I write) is layering conflict in a story. As I write I tend to forget that I need more than one single issue to hold the book together. I get caught up in the main plot and write to move that forward but I forget that in, say, a teen mystery the characters have other things going on. They have school. They have budding romances and unrequited love. They have rivalries and cliques and get pissed off at friends and relatives on a fairly regular basis.
I have a bad habit of letting all those other things fall away and without them, the work falls flat.
On any given day, I have a lot going on in my life. I have problems with work. I have problems with family and friends. I find myself, to paraphrase one of my senior managers, unable to get out of my own way. I get stressed out; I feel an overwhelming urge to curl up in a chair with a book and a hard drink.
And that's all without anyone trying to kill me, which is what my characters have to deal with on a daily basis.
But somehow, when I sit down in front of my computer and begin to type, I develop a one-track mind. Which, for me, is odd. Granted, I get hung up on various topics and I've been accused more than once of talking about work too much. But the way my brain works in general is that it jumps around. I can't just sit down and watch a TV show or movie. I have to read a book or surf the net or something like that. I can go to the movie theater and absolutely love the movie I'm watching but by the halfway point I'm checking my watch and trying to gauge how much longer it's going to last.
I get bored with things. Even when I go on a kick with a new TV show (MacGyver, at the moment), I can't just focus on that. I'll surf the net, read fic, and write all while watching the show. It keeps me engaged.
But when I write, I latch onto the one main plot and let everything else fall away. Yes, that main conflict is the driver of the story but if I want people to identify with my characters and be drawn into the book, it needs to have more.
So, while I can certainly fix this in revision (and I suspect that will be the case), my new writing goal is to consciously focus on all aspects of the story as I write, rather than leaving it to revision to repair. And I'm getting better at it. In my current book, my main character has an ex-husband who still wants to be in her life--and protect her from herself. She also has a boss who she'd like to push out her office window. She has two kids who are still reeling from her divorce. And she has the mystery.
And once a chapter or so I recall some (or, on a really good day) all of these. And I might even have a flash of insight as to how to work in one or more of them.
Have to start somewhere, I suppose.
x-posted to my LJ
Showing posts with label characters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label characters. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Beloved characters
I've commented on part of this before. The fanfic debate aggravates me because I know firsthand that the reason we fanficcers write these stories is because the characters have reached us on some level. I'm currently slightly obsessed with Remus Lupin (okay, slightly may be a tad of an understatement), which I'm sure y'all have noticed. His character draws me in. He's complex and wounded and honest and inspiring and he just interests me so much, which is why I keep blathering about him.
I have a lot of wishes and dreams relating to writing. I want to get an agent. I want to get published. I want to see my book--my own book--on a shelf in Barnes & Noble. I want to make a bestseller list. I want to make enough writing that I can quit my day job and write for a living.
But more than anything else I want to create characters that will instill in my readers the type of attachment I've felt to Remus Lupin, Dennis Booker (21 Jump Street), Templeton Peck (The A-Team), Wedge Antilles and Tycho Celchu (Star Wars). It would mean, to me, that I've done my job as an author and made my audience care about my characters.
Hell, I'd even be happy to have my fans up in arms about something I'd done to my characters because it would mean that my audience had developed a relationship with these characters to the point that they felt they knew them, believed in them, understood how they functioned and why--and had developed their own opinions on these characters.
Cross-posted to my LJ
I have a lot of wishes and dreams relating to writing. I want to get an agent. I want to get published. I want to see my book--my own book--on a shelf in Barnes & Noble. I want to make a bestseller list. I want to make enough writing that I can quit my day job and write for a living.
But more than anything else I want to create characters that will instill in my readers the type of attachment I've felt to Remus Lupin, Dennis Booker (21 Jump Street), Templeton Peck (The A-Team), Wedge Antilles and Tycho Celchu (Star Wars). It would mean, to me, that I've done my job as an author and made my audience care about my characters.
Hell, I'd even be happy to have my fans up in arms about something I'd done to my characters because it would mean that my audience had developed a relationship with these characters to the point that they felt they knew them, believed in them, understood how they functioned and why--and had developed their own opinions on these characters.
Cross-posted to my LJ
Monday, May 14, 2007
Crafting a character, part 2
So, going back to Friday's (I know I said I'd post this on Saturday... whoops) post for a second, the way I described those characters is what I meant by the narrative approach. It's the only way I can get anywhere with my characters, get an understanding of who they are and what's up with them, before I start writing the story. Those were lists in and of themselves, of course, but they were lists of the characters' experiences, the biggest events of their lives that made them who they came to be.
It's all well and good to say someone is quiet and reserved, or angry at the world, or very shy and jumps at his own shadow. To me, that's what that second method I mentioned, the sort of outline thing that I talked about, does. It lists attributes but it doesn't get into why they're like that. You certainly can take that approach with the list but it doesn't lend itself to it. You know?
Until we know why a character is quiet or angry or shy or easily frightened, we don't really know much about that character, do we? Maybe the quiet character was one of ten kids and just craved quiet as a child. Maybe she was yelled at every time she opened her mouth. Maybe the angry one lost both parents as a teenager. Maybe he poured everything he had into a business that just collapsed. Maybe the shy one was an acne-prone dork as a high-schooler. Maybe she... I dunno, but you get the picture. Writing a character description in terms of the character's life experiences is a great jump start, in my opinion, to get you thinking about the person your character has come to be.
I think character flaws are more likely to come out that way, too. We can see the places they haven't necessarily dealt with the events of their lives, the problems they've faced. We can see how they might have chosen to deal with those events in less than productive ways. What if Wedge, from my example the other day, had chosen to join his parents and put himself out of his misery? What if he'd chosen to drink away his problems? He'd be a very different character and the events that occurred surrounding him in Star Wars would have been very different as well. If they happened at all.
I really struggle with creating flaws for my characters but I've managed to come up with some very quickly for the book I'm plotting out right now (different than the one I've been writing for a few weeks) using this approach. Creating backgrounds for my characters amuses me and is, for me at least, a great tool. It doesn't mean I know everything there is to know about my characters before I type "-1-" at the top of my first chapter. But it gets me going, gets me thinking and gives me a direction to go.
What approach do the rest of you take? Has anyone else used the way I use?
It's all well and good to say someone is quiet and reserved, or angry at the world, or very shy and jumps at his own shadow. To me, that's what that second method I mentioned, the sort of outline thing that I talked about, does. It lists attributes but it doesn't get into why they're like that. You certainly can take that approach with the list but it doesn't lend itself to it. You know?
Until we know why a character is quiet or angry or shy or easily frightened, we don't really know much about that character, do we? Maybe the quiet character was one of ten kids and just craved quiet as a child. Maybe she was yelled at every time she opened her mouth. Maybe the angry one lost both parents as a teenager. Maybe he poured everything he had into a business that just collapsed. Maybe the shy one was an acne-prone dork as a high-schooler. Maybe she... I dunno, but you get the picture. Writing a character description in terms of the character's life experiences is a great jump start, in my opinion, to get you thinking about the person your character has come to be.
I think character flaws are more likely to come out that way, too. We can see the places they haven't necessarily dealt with the events of their lives, the problems they've faced. We can see how they might have chosen to deal with those events in less than productive ways. What if Wedge, from my example the other day, had chosen to join his parents and put himself out of his misery? What if he'd chosen to drink away his problems? He'd be a very different character and the events that occurred surrounding him in Star Wars would have been very different as well. If they happened at all.
I really struggle with creating flaws for my characters but I've managed to come up with some very quickly for the book I'm plotting out right now (different than the one I've been writing for a few weeks) using this approach. Creating backgrounds for my characters amuses me and is, for me at least, a great tool. It doesn't mean I know everything there is to know about my characters before I type "-1-" at the top of my first chapter. But it gets me going, gets me thinking and gives me a direction to go.
What approach do the rest of you take? Has anyone else used the way I use?
Friday, May 11, 2007
Crafting a character, part 1
Okay, I've broken this up into two pieces because it was getting quite long.
There are a lot of different approaches to creating characters. There's the figure it out as you go along method, by which you more or less just write and the character unfolds and flourishes along with the story. There are the character sheets I've seen (in several different incarnations) with which you go through and give your character eye color, hair color, complexion, favorite book, most prized possession, education, profession, etc. Then there's a narrative approach, whereby you write as if doing a short bio of your character and see what you come up with. I'm sure there are more that I haven't heard of, other ways people use or combinations of the above. But for argument's sake ...
I've tried all three. I, personally, hate the first one because I like to have an understanding of my character before I jump in and this doesn't give me one. I feel lost, like I'm not developing my characters enough. Granted, by the time revision rolls around, I'm much more familiar and able to work in characterization better on the second time through. But still... it makes me feel lost.
The second one bores me. It's a good idea, in a way, because it gets you picturing your character, trying to come up with things about them to help you answer those questions. But usually when I'm doing that I don't have a clue what Mary's favorite book might be or what Chris's hobby is. And so I get bored and it's a sort of "green eyes--check. high cheekbones--check. skip that, skip that, I dunno, skip that too" list and then I give up and resume the seat-of-my-pants approach, so I'm back to step one.
I like the narrative bit. If you point to my favorite characters in a TV show or movie or book series, chances are that it won't take me long to tell you why I like them and chances are that it has to do with the fact that they are incredibly damaged. For instance:
Trent Malloy from Sons of Thunder and Walker, Texas Ranger. He's an ex-Army Special Forces hand-to-hand instructor. Dropped out of seminary to join the Army, fought with his father, never made up with his dad before his dad died, and then has to apply for a hardship discharge to help his mother pay the bills. Not only that, but when he was a kid, he was holding the gun that accidentally killed his younger brother/buddy (not quite clear). As a result, he refuses to touch a gun again, despite the fact that there's not a whole lot other than law enforcement that he's qualified to do. Becomes a PI but still will not arm himself and almost dies because of it.
Very interesting, very damaged, very lovable boy. And cute, too! Fangirlish moments aside... you can see throughout the series the ways in which is problems with his father impact him. And the unwillingness to carry a gun and all that goes along with that -- stubbornness, an almost death-wish mentality at times -- is ever-present and is just a huge part of the character.
Here's another.
Wedge Antilles from Star Wars. He was a family kid, really, helped his parents in their family-owned business. That was all he ever dreamed of. And then they were killed by space pirates. And this kid, this 15-year-old (I think he was 15; age escapes me at the moment), went off after the pirates and killed them. Cold-blooded revenge. And I wouldn't blame him a bit. He went on to become a galaxy-renowned hero but still a relatively simple man who wanted nothing more than to fly his fighter. He didn't want glory and recognition and public appearances. He wanted to make things right in the universe and if he stepped on a few toes on the way, so what. All owing to his roots.
Same thing. Wedge's case is particularly interesting to me because we have two very explicit characteristics almost juxtaposed against each other. Here is a man who will go out of his way, sacrifice everything he has to do the right thing. And yet he's a cold-blooded murderer. And you can see that his willingness to sacrifice everything comes from what he's experienced. He has a need for justice that drives him to the ends of the galaxy. It dictates everything he does and it paints his actions, for the reader (this is all explored more in the Star Wars books than in the movie) in a very different light. And it makes him a very, very 3-dimensional character.
Tomorrow's post will tell y'all where I was going with this...
There are a lot of different approaches to creating characters. There's the figure it out as you go along method, by which you more or less just write and the character unfolds and flourishes along with the story. There are the character sheets I've seen (in several different incarnations) with which you go through and give your character eye color, hair color, complexion, favorite book, most prized possession, education, profession, etc. Then there's a narrative approach, whereby you write as if doing a short bio of your character and see what you come up with. I'm sure there are more that I haven't heard of, other ways people use or combinations of the above. But for argument's sake ...
I've tried all three. I, personally, hate the first one because I like to have an understanding of my character before I jump in and this doesn't give me one. I feel lost, like I'm not developing my characters enough. Granted, by the time revision rolls around, I'm much more familiar and able to work in characterization better on the second time through. But still... it makes me feel lost.
The second one bores me. It's a good idea, in a way, because it gets you picturing your character, trying to come up with things about them to help you answer those questions. But usually when I'm doing that I don't have a clue what Mary's favorite book might be or what Chris's hobby is. And so I get bored and it's a sort of "green eyes--check. high cheekbones--check. skip that, skip that, I dunno, skip that too" list and then I give up and resume the seat-of-my-pants approach, so I'm back to step one.
I like the narrative bit. If you point to my favorite characters in a TV show or movie or book series, chances are that it won't take me long to tell you why I like them and chances are that it has to do with the fact that they are incredibly damaged. For instance:
Trent Malloy from Sons of Thunder and Walker, Texas Ranger. He's an ex-Army Special Forces hand-to-hand instructor. Dropped out of seminary to join the Army, fought with his father, never made up with his dad before his dad died, and then has to apply for a hardship discharge to help his mother pay the bills. Not only that, but when he was a kid, he was holding the gun that accidentally killed his younger brother/buddy (not quite clear). As a result, he refuses to touch a gun again, despite the fact that there's not a whole lot other than law enforcement that he's qualified to do. Becomes a PI but still will not arm himself and almost dies because of it.
Very interesting, very damaged, very lovable boy. And cute, too! Fangirlish moments aside... you can see throughout the series the ways in which is problems with his father impact him. And the unwillingness to carry a gun and all that goes along with that -- stubbornness, an almost death-wish mentality at times -- is ever-present and is just a huge part of the character.
Here's another.
Wedge Antilles from Star Wars. He was a family kid, really, helped his parents in their family-owned business. That was all he ever dreamed of. And then they were killed by space pirates. And this kid, this 15-year-old (I think he was 15; age escapes me at the moment), went off after the pirates and killed them. Cold-blooded revenge. And I wouldn't blame him a bit. He went on to become a galaxy-renowned hero but still a relatively simple man who wanted nothing more than to fly his fighter. He didn't want glory and recognition and public appearances. He wanted to make things right in the universe and if he stepped on a few toes on the way, so what. All owing to his roots.
Same thing. Wedge's case is particularly interesting to me because we have two very explicit characteristics almost juxtaposed against each other. Here is a man who will go out of his way, sacrifice everything he has to do the right thing. And yet he's a cold-blooded murderer. And you can see that his willingness to sacrifice everything comes from what he's experienced. He has a need for justice that drives him to the ends of the galaxy. It dictates everything he does and it paints his actions, for the reader (this is all explored more in the Star Wars books than in the movie) in a very different light. And it makes him a very, very 3-dimensional character.
Tomorrow's post will tell y'all where I was going with this...
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Notes and tongue rings
Also known as characters who decide that they're going to do their own thing and you'd better just be happy with it.
Laura Bradford at Good Girls Kill for Money made a rather timely post on the subject of characters that just pop out of the woodwork and wave and say "hey, here I am, whether you like it or not." I say timely because I had that exact thing happen to me this weekend with my young adult. This girl just decided to grace me with her presence. She decided she knows what's going on and that she's going to have a little fun with me and the rest of my cast, by way of a totally cryptic note that wrote all on her own.
And now one of my MCs, who had been behaving herself quite nicely up to now (well, as nicely as can be expected of a college freshman), decides she's going to have a tongue ring. I wonder what it looks like... I'm thinking a little silver ball but Krista doesn't seem quite that traditional... probably something neon colored to match her outfits.
Laura Bradford at Good Girls Kill for Money made a rather timely post on the subject of characters that just pop out of the woodwork and wave and say "hey, here I am, whether you like it or not." I say timely because I had that exact thing happen to me this weekend with my young adult. This girl just decided to grace me with her presence. She decided she knows what's going on and that she's going to have a little fun with me and the rest of my cast, by way of a totally cryptic note that wrote all on her own.
And now one of my MCs, who had been behaving herself quite nicely up to now (well, as nicely as can be expected of a college freshman), decides she's going to have a tongue ring. I wonder what it looks like... I'm thinking a little silver ball but Krista doesn't seem quite that traditional... probably something neon colored to match her outfits.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Warning: character coming through
So, just by virtue of considering changing the POV in which my novel, it's taken off in a completely new direction. One particular character just took over the whole damn thing. The perspective has changed, the main character has changed, characterization of at least a couple people has changed, and parts of the plot have changed.
Huh.
Who woulda thought?
Huh.
Who woulda thought?
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Characters
I've realized that the part of my original writing I struggle with the most is the characterization. My originals seem stiff because I don't really know the characters.
The fanfic I've written in the past has been great for stuff like building a storyline, developing a plot, and expanding characterization. But by the time I'd decide to write fan fiction about a book/movie/tv show, I knew the characters I was playing with -- who they liked and disliked, what they did for a living and why, what their relationships were like.
Not so with originals.
I can't get myself engaged with my characters, because I don't know enough about them. I'm trying to write histories of the major ones but I stall out.
Why can't characters cooperate?
The fanfic I've written in the past has been great for stuff like building a storyline, developing a plot, and expanding characterization. But by the time I'd decide to write fan fiction about a book/movie/tv show, I knew the characters I was playing with -- who they liked and disliked, what they did for a living and why, what their relationships were like.
Not so with originals.
I can't get myself engaged with my characters, because I don't know enough about them. I'm trying to write histories of the major ones but I stall out.
Why can't characters cooperate?
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