September Newsletter

By Jessica Page Morrell

Deep Characters, Part 2 The best characters are memorable, they linger in our imaginations, in fact, haunt us long after the story ends. I grew up in a small town, and it often the power of place that pulls me into the past, stirs my memory. But, in truth, when recalling my childhood, I talk about not only a river-wrapped landscape, but about the people who starred in the roles of bully, neighbor, teacher, first crush and best friend. Like me, your memories will center on relationships because all writing is about people. Luckily, there are dozens of ways to bring people and characters to life on the page. We have the power to make them breathe and squirm and worry, and most of all, to worry us, the readers. First, introduce them with flair. Donât doom your characters by having them tiptoe onto the stage, clearing their throats timidly. Thrust them into the action fully blown, with verve and a name that somehow reflects who they are, and with a personality in place. Make them fascinating, odd, flawed, complicated and sometimes maddening, but never incomprehensible. When your characters are introduced, reveal their dominant personality traits÷the qualities they stand for, their disposition, attitudes and core beliefs that will never waver throughout the story. These dominant traits are their stance in the world, their foundation. All their actions in the story will be consistent with these dominant traits. Thus, a character who is essentially brave and decent will remain so when the chips are down, while a weaker type will likely crumble under pressure. Once your reader is clear about what your character stands for, you can add mannerisms, temperament, quirks, tics and even seemingly contradictory traits. Build characters from the inside out. Know what they stand for first and then weâll believe and even forgive the other aspects. I fall into the camp of editors who believe that readers want to know what characters look like. But describing a character need not turn into a list or catalogue, instead search for a few perfect and telling details that make us remember him or her. Janet Evanovich has created a cast of outlandish and memorable characters in her Stephanie Plum series. But itâs in Ranger that she can teach us how a few gestures, reactions from other cast members, and a bit of understated dialogue can create a character who is larger than life. Ranger is impossibly sexy and always mysterious. He is Plumâs bad boy fantasy and she confesses that sheâs attracted to him in a moth-to-the-flame sort of way. But, heâs also dangerous and we cannot help but enjoy the sizzle of their chemistry. Readers follow Ranger with a fixed intensity. Every word, every gesture and description of his sleek, all-black garb stretched taut over muscles heâd acquired in the Special Forces. Each scene with Ranger in it makes us hungry for more. He is mystery personified. Somerset Maugham advises that, ãYou can never know enough about your characters.ä Show us where people live, how they live and why they live. Show us the cobwebs in their lives, the sticky connections, the unfinished business and regrets from their past, the fragilities and vulnerabilities that make us care. Show us how they react when lonely, drunk, afraid, pushed to the limit. When characters talk, make certain that their dialogue reflects their age, class, and education. So choose dialect carefully and reflect their personality in their speech patterns. Is your character witty? Dry? Silly? Inhibited? Over educated? Dialogue is the easiest means to breathe life into a character. And donât forget to be suggestive, to characterize with what is left unspoken, topics that are avoided, or lied about. Pepper your stories with offbeat types and eccentrics. In fact, the best characters ARE eccentric or, at the least, never ordinary. While real life is inhabited with dullards and duds, fiction should never be. Create verisimilitude with the range of people who populate your story. Donât miss an opportunity to spark the plot with fully fleshed minor characters and majors who linger in our minds with the magic of stardust. *********************************************************************** Inspiration ãDear Ed, ·I want to work in revelations, not just spin silly tales for money. I want to fish as deep as possible into my own subconscious in the belief that once that far down, everyone will understand because they are the same that far down. The things of the night that never reach the light of moon·and of print. Why else should I write? Money is not my aim, only a means to that aim. With my inexhaustible supplies of Elitch I daily dive again into these dim regions, and crawl to the surface with the stub of a pencil, sweating, to record what I have observed. I feel like a scientist. All becomes true when one wakes from a nightmare and considers it, half-asleep; similarly with Elitch. And similarly with those feverish talents that beset one in the middle of hot work.ä (Letter to Ed White from Jack Kerouac) ****************************************************************************** ãPerhaps the most important thing to remember when searching for emotional honesty is that emotion is not one-dimensional. Emotions are complex and often mixed together.ä Ann Hood **************************************************************************** ãItâs the flaws in a character, not the strengths, that make us care most. The more vulnerable the character, the more we identify with her and therefore like her.ä Ray Obsteld ************************************************************************** ãArchetypes are an invaluable and often overlooked by writers. By their very nature they force you to delve deeper into your characters, to see them as not just ãCharacter 1ä or ãLibrarianä but as a type of person who responds in very specific ways to conflict within your story·. Beware of books that present stereotypes as archetypes which is exactly the opposite of what a writer should use to create exciting new characters. Stereotypes are oversimplified generalizations about people usually stemming from one personâs prejudice. Archetypes arenât formed from one individualâs view of people but from the entire human raceâs experience of people.ä Victoria Lynn Schmidt ************************************************************************ Character Bio, Part 2 Weaknesses, addictions, moral lapses________________________________________________ Closest friends__________________________________________________________________ Prized possessions_______________________________________________________________ Chief goal in the story____________________________________________________________ Chief motivation________________________________________________________________ Who or what does your character remind you of?_______________________________________ What does he or she fear most?_____________________________________________________ How does your character move, stand?_______________________________________________ What is your characterâs greatest regret?______________________________________________ A secret to be revealed in the story?_________________________________________________ (a biography worksheet is available at my web site www.writing-life.com) © No portion of this newsletter may be reproduced without permission.