What makes a fictional character
believable?
It's how real they are. Does the writing
pull you, the reader, into the story enough for you to experience it? Do you feel like you're part of the story? That this
character is your friend?
New York Times bestselling author Cindy
Woodsmall pens characters so three-dimensional, I asked her to write a teaching
post for Novel Rocket. It's called Finding
the Four Bs of Your Character. I encourage you to read the article. The
questions she asks are:
Before your character had control of his or her own
life, who controlled it?
Behind every human's life are thousands of years of
DNA that have been passed down. Thanks to that DNA, what natural gifts and
struggles do your characters have?
Between conception and the start of your novel, what
else molded your character?
Begin your novel armed with the full knowledge of who
your characters are - the before, the behind, and the between.
After you have all that down,
communicating it to the reader comes from in deep POV. And to get deep, you
have to know the character as well as yourself. Besides those first 3 Bs, what
is your hero/heroine's story motivation? That's not as simple a question as it
sounds. You have to keep asking why, until you get to the heart of it.
Laurie
Schnebly Campbell teaches one of the best writing courses I've taken. It's
called Plotting via Motivation. That
link should bring up the latest schedule for classes at Writer University. In
her class, she had me pulling my hair out by asking, "Why?"
Continuously. But when the light bulb went on, I understood her methodology.
For instance: let's say your heroine wants
to teach elementary school, third grade. What's her motivation? Your first
answer might be that she loves kids. But is that a great story motivation? Or
are you yawning? Yeah, not much conflict. Sure you can have a resistant kid,
but where's the story? Unless you're a school psychologist, you'd probably pass
on that one.
We need to go deeper. Okay, how about she
wants to help kids.
Why?
Uhm, maybe a teacher helped her learn
something hard that changed her life. So? That doesn't excite me. Does it you?
Again we ask why teaching kids is so
important that if she doesn't reach her
goal, she's devastated? That's the question that needs answering.
Could it be she wants unconditional love?
The kind of love a child can develop for their teacher? Is that why she wants
to teach?
Now we have a universal desire.
Unconditional love.
That's something with which the reader can
empathize. And now we have a story, because she's looking for unconditional
love in all the wrong places.
And now we have a motivation that will
carry a story forward and give us lots of conflict.
Description with Purpose
Writing
description for its own sake doesn't add anything to your manuscript other than
telling the reader what you're seeing. They aren't experiencing it with your character,
though, and that distances them from your story.
So how do you
draw them into the story world? How do you create an intimacy between the
character and the reader?
Everything in
your story should have a reason to be there. Even the description of where your
heroine is should have a purpose. Make its purpose more than just showing the
where or what. Let it tell the reader something about the character.
Climb inside your point-of-view (POV) character's head and
describe the scene through her eyes. Filter it through her mood, her
circumstances, and her past. Yes, even her upbringing, because that helped form
her response to circumstance and environment. What does the place—the
scene—tell us about her?
Let's take a look at a simple description. It's good and
includes some good details, but it lacks the character's reaction to what we're
seeing.
The original
paragraph:
Mary dipped one toe into the water, sending a ring of
ripples outward. The early morning sunrays shone like spotlights through the
trees across the inlet. Morning birds sang their happy songs and two glimmering
dragonflies chased each other along the water’s edge. Towards the mouth of the
cove a fish jumped.
Besides the fact that one toe won't send out a ring of
ripples, what was Mary's reaction to the water? Was it cold? Warm? What's
Mary's mood? Is she pensive, happy, sad, or nervous?
Let's try another example of the same paragraph:
Mary dipped one toe into the water. The iciness surprised
her, since it was May. Shivering, she pulled her sweater tight across her
chest. The early morning sun shone through the trees, spotlighting two mocking
birds as they called out warnings to nest-robbers. In the mouth of the cove, a
fish jumped, sending out a ring of ripples. Like the little lie she told sent
out ripples of consequence.
Now we know something about Mary through the description.
Even without the last sentence, you sense she's on edge. The use of mocking
birds and warnings give the general feeling of uneasiness.
Here's another example of the same basic paragraph:
Mary dipped one toe into the water, followed by its mates,
then her whole foot. Then the right one. Closing her eyes, she let the cool
water massage her tired dogs. A trill of birdsong rang out nearby. The sun sparkled
through the trees, spotlighting white-throated sparrows as they sang and
flitted from branch to branch. In the mouth of the cove, a fish jumped, sending
out a ring of ripples. She wished Rose could share this magical cove.
Even without the last sentence, we'd know Mary's delight in
this spot. The description is filled with relaxation, comfort, and hope.
Happiness.
Another good example for deepening characterization came
from a member of the critique group, Penwrights. He told how after a particular
critique, something clicked. Now when his character hears tires on the gravel driveway
and looks out the window, she just doesn't simply see the next-door neighbors
coming home. She takes note of Jasper, their son. She describes him and even renders her
opinion:
He had his father's build, looking like
another welterweight boxer, but Jasper had his mother's looks. Fortunate for
him.
Being privy to the character's thoughts
and opinions, filtered through their past, brings them alive to the reader, making
them feel like the character is their friend (or enemy in the case of an antagonist).
1. Signal which head
to enter
2. Twang an
appropriate sense, emotion or mental faculty
3. Show appropriate
action
4. Repeat if
necessary
***
This is my muse. It used to escape quite often, cavorting with my critique partner Jessica Dotta’s muse. She found them outside one early evening, chasing fireflies. She captured them and put each in a mason jar. Now she sits on my desk, is docile obedience.
If you’d like your muse captured in a jar, ready at your beckon call, contact me, and I’ll put you in touch with Jessica.
Hints and tips I’ve picked up along the way
Follow the rules?
I often hear writers complain about having to “follow the rules” or guidelines of writing. The see seasoned authors breaking these rules. Here’s what I’ve learned: Storytelling is a talent. Talent is a gift from God with some assembly required. And that entails learning the craft.
It’s much like when we first learn to print back in kindergarten. We had paper with large lines...guidelines. We all made our letters the same, straight up and down, first the lower case and then the upper.
After time, we graduated to cursive. Once again, the paper had guidelines. We slanted the letters at an approximate 45 degree angle, and kept the lowercase letters in the bottom half of the guidelines. It wasn’t until we’d mastered those guidelines that we began to apply our artistic creativity to our signatures.
It’s the same with writing. We must first learn what constitutes good writing, things like point of view, characterization, plot, conflict, etc., before we can understand when and how to break the rules. When you have mastered your craft, you can then know how to do it with panache.
Here is a list of writing book I recommend:
Listed in alphabetical order, not preference.
A Dash of Style, Noah Lukeman
A Novel Idea, by numerous multi-published authors in Chi Libris
Beginnings, Middles & Ends by Nancy Kress
Character & Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card
Description by Monica Wood
Finding Your Voice by Les Edgerton
Getting into Character by Brandilyn Collins
GMC: Goal, Motivation & Conflict by Debra Dixon
Keys to Great Writing by Stephen Wilbers
Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell
Punctuation Plain and Simple by Edgar C. Alward & Jean A. Alward
Revision and Self-Editing, by James Scott Bell
Self-Editing For Fiction Writers by Browne & King
Stein on Writing by Sol Stein
Story by Robert McKee
The Art of War by James Scott Bell
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Writing Christian Fiction, by Ron Benrey
The Fire in Fiction, by Donald Maass
The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman
Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass
Writing the Popular Novel, Loren Estleman
My favorite sites for writers:
One Sheet
I’m often asked about my “One Sheet” which is a single pitch sheet for a book or series. My critique partners and I spent a lot of time learning how to do a good one. When I had mine requested by an agent to use as an example of a good one, I knew we’d done it right.
Here’s what mine looks like. This one was for When the Bough Breaks.
And that’s it. No fancy graphics, and plenty of white space. The only change I might make is if I have a photo that goes with the story, as I do in my Chapel Springs where I use the porch on this blog as the photo.
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