DIARY OF A FIRST NOVELIST:How to Create Memorable Characters

In publishing, a false dichotomy has developed between "character-driven novels," often called literary, which means likely to be nominated for prestigious prizes and reviewed in The New York Times; and  "plot-driven novels," which may be dismissed as commercial by reviewers. However, they frequently get their revenge as satisfied readers lift them onto the bestsellers' list.

But the truth is that any novel worth the trees that were hewn to print it--whether literary or commercial-- is driven by strong characterization. The most dynamic plot in the world is the frame for an  empty house if real "people"--people the reader cares about--don't live inside it.

The real question is  but how the author turns words on a page into characters so compelling that readers--maybe even millions of them--will willingly suspend several hours of their own life to lose themselves in their story.

In the stunning epic, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini's characters are buffeted by nearly every trial the human spirit can suffer. When we first meet  the main character, Maryam, she is living in poverty and shame as a "harami"--a child born out of wedlock. However, the misfortunes Hosseini will heap upon her  have only begun. As the novel develops, Maryam endures war, marriage to an older, brutal man, hunger, unimaginable loss and violence. She also experiences deep abiding friendship and genuine love. As we see her respond to the circumstances of her life--in other words, through action, the reader comes to know  the truly noble soul that has emerged from Maryam's harsh life.

 The characters in Kate Christenson's new novel, The Great Man, hook the reader in a different way--through the power of their voices.  Abigail, Teddy and Maxine are three  women in their seventies who are connected  through their love of Oscar Feldman, the "great man" of the title. Oscar is known for  both his paintings of nudes and his seduction of models. When two biographers appear wanting to write Oscar's story, his wife, his long time mistress, and the sister who was both an artistic rival and his staunchest defender are forced to consider the ways in which he consumed their lives, and  who they are without him. 

Though the most dramatic action in these characters lives is largely (but not totally) in the past, their voices kept me as engrossed as any action-packed page turner. Through dialogue--both inner and outer, the reader comes to know Oscar's wife Abigail as compassionate and forgiving--and deeply pragmatic. Teddy, the mistress who bore Oscar two children has retained the flair, independence and sensuality of her bohemian lifestyle well into her seventies. 

But it's the whiskey guzzling Maxine, blunt and cranky and wryly observant who I loved most. Her eviscerating descriptions of the pretentious Manhattan art scene and her own aging face in the mirror  are worth the price of the novel. Maxine calls things as she sees them--whether she's pondering her own mortality, the indignity of still harboring secret "crushes" at her advanced age, or the strange ingredients in the kibbles she feeds her dog. Spending time in her company was both edifying and delightful.

 Of course, every good novel uses both action and dialogue to illuminate character--and these two are no exception. The only difference is what the author emplys as a primary tool.

Whether you write, or you're just an avid reader, there's an element of mystery and magic in our relationship  to the imaginary people who live between the covers of book. If they are well-drawn enough, we cry over their fates as I wept for Maryam at the end of A Thousand Splendid Suns or we miss the loss of their company when we read the final chapters as I did when I closed The Great Man. 

Who is a fictional character you particularly affected or inspired you; and how did the author convince you they were real? 

Patry Francis, Books Correspondent:

Patry's column, Reading as a Writer, published  bi-weekly to Gather Essentials: Books, alternating with Diary of a First Novelist.

To learn more about Patry and her debut novel, The Liar's Diary, visit her Website,
 

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