There are a few things which will make me stop reading a story.
Cookie cutter, cliche' characters is one of them. Or characters who lie flat on the pages like paper dolls.
There is one author I just don't read anymore, because her characters repeat, repeat, repeat. I gave up on any hope of some miracle of orginal characters with her. She's popular and vastly sucessful in the publishing world. Three pen names last I heard, all of them have best sellers. We should all be so lucky. All the same, she lost me for lack of orginality in her characters.
When I approach a story generally the characters come to me first. I write romance, so there are some things my Hero must have. Momma's boys, short, no morals, weak of will or ego driven men need not apply.
Heroin - Pretty much up to the author. I personally refuse to give voice to damsels in distress, clingy, needy types, martyres, and drama queens. Heaven save me from weak women!
For supporting characters the sky's the limit so to speak. I have a lot of fun with my supporting characters.
The 'complications' or skills my characters have dictates the amount of research required to make them real. Some of the complications/skills I have, so it comes pretty easy. Other times they come to me with things I know nothing about.
How do you bake biscuits in a camp fire? What would it be like to have the hopes of many rest on your shoulders? How many miles can two riders and a pack animal travel in the Sierra Nevada?
All of these things add depth and reality to characters. If your heroin loves and grows roses, please don't tell me she has a minature rose growing over an 8ft arbor..that ain't gonna happen, and she should know that.
How do you approach your characters, their quirks, skills and inner being?
Do you get lost in research? Or find not much is required?
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Comments: 398
Of course I don't have anything much to say. I'll be back!
I'll see the rest of you tomorrow I'm sure. Good Night Neverland
Character development is a good question. I'm curious to see what other's do but I definitely do a lot of research and pre-writing about them and their life histories so that I know who I'm dealing with. I think one of the keys is to let them become interesting rather than trying to make them interesting.
Here's what I mean. You're doing a homicide detective. I think the weak writer sits back and thinks about things that might "sound cool" or haven't been "done before." Hmmmmm, how about a detective with a pet iguana who takes him out to the crime scene. HUH??? It's a fake ploy...an unrealistic situation that won't work. It's forced.
Getting to know the character by writing him out tends to result in less fake/forced and more genuinely interesting characters. So what if this detective was an orphan. Yawn. Who cares....but let's take that deeper. What if he was orphaned as a child when his parents' chartered plane was sabotaged and both were killed. They never solved the crime. Maybe yes, maybe no?
What if though this detective not only is determined never to let a crime go when it involves a child? He fights and claws for solving that case so desperately that it clouds his judgement sometimes and annoys his partner who is just a year away from retirement. That's generally the process I take -- an idea and then logical steps along the way to create a person who is in conflict with himself and others.
Remember, conflict is truly the only thing we all write.
Somehow Jack and Kate are back on the island.
Sam Thomas is part owner of Oceanic and is part of a boat exhibition looking for Sonia (his girlfriend and partner) who was on flight 815 when it crashed. She was a flight attendant. Sam received e-mails from the Maxwell group, (Jack's group?) who are on the island but he doesn't know who they are. He thinks the numbers (Hurleys lotto numbers?) are coordinates for the island.
Jack contacts the ship and thinks they are going home but are they? The boat is on it's way to rescue them but then something that appears to be a helicopter turns out to be the enemy and attemps to keep them on the island.
I wonder if Charlie is coming back too. Remember he died last season.
That's all I could get out of it. LOL
When forming my characters, I normally use personalities that I know well, like friends and colleagues. I pay attention to how they react in certain situations and keep their character names similar to their real names, at least temporarily. For example, Jack and Dee Mosley = Jack and Dee Morhle. I can always go back once the book is finished and change names if needed. That's how I have to write since my elevator never fully reaches the top floor. LOL, it works for me.
Thanks for the update on LOST, June. It's been so long, I feel LOST...
Pat - here in the 'burbs of Philadelphia, we also have grocery delivery. Helped out big time when Broken Leg Kid was in the hospital and the family had no food. I ordered online, paid, it was delivered, family ate. Very nice. I use it mostly in the summer, as during school year I tend to do most shopping at Costco, Walmart and Giant for the things I can't get at the other two. Love grocery delivery.
Have a great day, Wombats!
Good Morning June, Jamie, Brenda, Judi, and Julie...trying to get use to everyones names...
You know I've never watched one episode of Lost...am I missing out big time? Should I rent the series to get caught up and then start watching? I like Eureka and will watch a series that makes me laugh once in awhile.
That's all I need...home food delivery from the grocery...then I wouldn't leave the house for months at a time.
As for the question of the thread...let me do another comment....
I do research on a number of different aspects of my story. I will buy a book, such as The Illustrated Dreams Dictionary.. which I bought last year for the novel I'm writing as she is able to interpret dreams...and I didn't want to be using made up interpretations, in case a real dream interpretor was reading my book.
Anyway I'm real new at long story writing as opposed to short story.
As for Wendy's question? That will have to wait until later.
Pat and Sia, thanks for the nice compliments last night. Much appreciated.
Off to exercise ... be back
ahref=http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=index
'Morning, wombats!
I base my characters on real people, usually amalgams. Sometimes my characters are taken whole from other sources, but thats a long story for another time. As the story grows they evolve and turn into new people. Somtimes I use someone I wished existed but doesnt. Abby is an example of an amlagam of three or four models I knew in Milan. But I noticed that she has developed her own personality to some degree. Franco started as one kind of guy which didnt work so I transformed him real fast. (couldnt do that in a "real" novel).
Actually I think the Masquerade was a great and revealing exercise in character creation and development. The fact that it was so hard to link characters with their creators was a testament to the creative powers of the Wombats.
In my WIP, they're creatures who have always just been in my head, although their names changed often. The secondary characters spring into being as I need them. I never thought about them ahead of time. In my excerpt here, you see the housekeeper interrupt. I had no idea she even existed, or what she looked like until she did that. Same with the manservant, who I suspect is going to turn out to be more than I planned. Otherwise, why demand a full description of himself?
All I know is that now and then I'm stunned to find my hero character saying something Simon would say, but only when the hero is in a good mood, which isn't often. The rest of the time he sounds like no one I know. I thought I knew that character, but he's evolving on his own.
And none of my characters resemble anyone in real life.
It's easy to get caught up in research in a historical work. Usually what happens is I'm looking up one fact and stumble across another and decide that needs to go in there somewhere. There's a reason why I've started many historical romances, but have finished none of them. I can't seem to get to the end. I want to include too many things.
A former police chief in French Guinea in South America who had to flee because he was on a list with black dots- marked for death. Sounds like a movie, but real. Real people who have seen things we never think about.
Cuban American fighter pilot (engineering degree) who became a drug dealer under the misconception that he would raise funds to try and overthrow Castro. And equally intriguing- his business partner who was in it for the coke whores and money.
Prominent black women who had been one of several wives to an African ambassador and now a school administrator. Her house with the real zebra rugs and artwork was a wonder as a child to sit and just observe.
The list goes on and on and on. Now skill based research is what I like. How exactly does one climb a major mountain- the equipment, real dangers and scenarios.
As for characters -- I always like to have an idea of who they are before I start writing, but usually I create them as the story progresses. Plot without characters to give it life is merely a recitation of activity, and characters without plot to give them meaning go nowhere. For me, the best way to learn about my characters is to throw them into the plot and see what happens, but I've been having such a hard time getting started on this new book that I've been doing things differently. I've been creating the character on my blog, setting out his a history, conflicts, and needs. This has been a tremendous help because his inner conflicts are beginning to form the story.
One thing I do - if the character has some particular background and it's not something I know well or know from firsthand knowledge, I really do a lot of research and try to immerse myself in the background. People in different professions have their own language and jargon and ways of approaching their work. I think it's important to try and get to that on a deep level and understand their environment as much as possible. My main character has experiences that I have not had, so I researched that aspect of her quite a lot - reams of articles, a half-dozen books, some documentaries. I also gave her training that I'd had at one time, figuring that I could at least approach that piece with a little more familiarity. This ended up being key to the story but I didn't realize that at the time.
I did end up writing scenes that explained her background that I ended up cutting, so perhaps a lot of that writing was a process of figuring out the character.
I've only rarely based characters on people I know (at least consciously).
A lot of characters tend to just appear and then I have to sort of observe them to know who they are, if that makes any sense. It doesn't entirely to me. So much of what I do is intuitive that I spend a lot of time trying to get out of my own way.
I do want to develop more characters on a deeper level. I'm really curious to see what I write next. I currently have no idea!
If anyone does take a look at my excerpt, please keep in mind that Amazon messed up my formatting -- they left off the spacing between scenes, and they left off the final paragraph so it comes to an abrubt end.
Thank you, Cathy and everyone else who took the time to read my entry.
Daughter Am I
In my first works I have a lot of information dumps scattered in the first few chapters which I've had to go through and cut. The current wip the hero is from my first wip so I already know him. His bride is a new character and it's been hard not to do the info dumps with her.
I'm starting to see where character pages might help me get to know them without creating unnecessary editing later. History of each character is important, it dictates how they will react to certain situations.
I'm in Jamie's corner with the quirks, they give characters the human touch, makes them more real. My current female character blushes from the base of her neck up, and nervously rolls her lips over her teeth.
Supporting Characters add depth too. The butler in current wip was introduced in Mystic's Warrior. He and his wife run the household. His lordship has never interfered, now add a wife and watch what happens.
So far only one character I've written is based on someone I know, and that was on purpose. There are some people are so animated they beg to be put to paper.
Cathy are you feeling better? I sure hope the nasty bug is done at your house.
Household things to do today..joy!
Later, Wombats.
What is it with the January crazies? I can't seem to find enough time to pay my bills, much less edit, write, or whatever else is a hobby. Like hanging with the Wombats.
Wendy, great article, and food for thought. Hmmm... characters....
My characters come to me as a problem: nice guy/gal finds him/herself in bizarre situation. Once I work over the situation in my mind, feeling out the possibilities, I flesh out my characters. I do that by going through the exercise of building them: physical description, personality description, life history. I love doing this - it's the purest sort of imaginary exercise. My daughter and I do it together on walks, just for fun.
Cathy
A Rainbow and Back Again
Wendy, I'm hoping you have updates about he Amazon contest- off to check it out.
Hi all! Cathy, glad to hear you're doing better!
OK, off to the next meeting.
Characters: I keep a character book, in which I describe people I'd like to write about. Sometimes when I look at it I see two who just have to meet, and then I have a scene to write. But that's just playing--a story idea for me usually begins with an action or event, not a character. A woman is approached by a blackmailer over something from her husband's past. Who are they, what did he do, and will she pay, will she confront her husband, will she call the police, or will she refuse to pay? And do blackmailers still exist, outside of fiction? Yes--I knew someone who was blackmailed once.
JK I thought of you while in Hawaii, or rather Beeker when I had a Fraggle Rock hair moment. Humidity and curls- heehaw!
Steve's got his Dream War prologue through 3 up.
Not that it's a long journey.
;-)
That DW was supposed to only be for people in my "Dream Warrior" group but I couldn't figure out the settings so I think any of my connections can check it out. This isn't the official up to date version but a pretty far along advanced one.
And of course today I find an error on the first page of the prologue. Joy. I guess I'll blame that if no publisher wants to buy it! LOL
Happy Tuesday that feels like a Monday to everyone. I've gotta go home and wait for the Direct TV service guy at 1, so I'll get some afternoon writing done and tomorrow is already hump day!
:-)
Also as others characters come and go through out the story I don't fully describe them, but they should have a role to move the story along, I love it when they just pop in.
My aim when I write true fiction is to not use anyone I really know, but to let the character just be who or what it will. I like to write from perspectives other then human. I've written from an ants, a bird, a clock, a dog and fairy (at the masquerade, which was fun) and others.
Cathy glad to hear you feel nearly human again. It's amazing how much strength gets tapped by those bugs. Healing thoughts.
Story, plot and characters normally come to me as one package. Detangling it all takes some perculation time. Most often fingering the conflict between my protagonists gives me fits. Once that's worked out off to write I go. grin.
More mundane household tasks to perform. I won't sing though, Vivian's had enough psuedo entertainment. hehe
My memory isn't at it's greatest sometimes and being able to glance at cheat sheets help.
I too become too involved in the research, I have a story just sitting because I can't decide if I should go with fact or fiction in where the story takes place.
I forgot to mention early that quirks are great for characters to have. I think it makes them much more human to the reader.
Cathy, I think it would be great to have someone to work out the characters with. Perhaps I'll ask hubby to play one of my characters for me and help me get back in the writing mode. Glad you are feeling better Cathy, once I get the icky's it likes to hang around for months it seems.
J.K., a character book is a great idea. I'm open to any ideas at this point to help me in my writing. If I already had a character lined out and they pop into my story, then I won't have to take time to figure them out when I'm wanting to write.
Sophia...having a chat with my characters sounds interesting. A new way to get the ball rolling. And yes, readers are becoming sticklers for real facts. I find it a relief to write totally off the wall stuff so I don't have to worry about the facts as I'm making them up along the way.
My main plot and the main characters come as a package. I learn about them as I write and at times, they do surprise me. And I agree that they do have to have their quirks. Those become a way to express their emotions and a way for readers to tell them apart. My first 2 novels have lots of characters. They must be more than their names and physical features, otherwise readers would be confused. I don't write any of the character details on a character sheet until after I've written the story. I've got plans for at least 4 books in the series, so I'll need to remember who does what. But my leads are very strong in my mind. Not so much in looks but in motivations and behaviors. Once I know what moves and motivates them, they are real to me and I can write them consistently. They are less about their physical attributes and much more about motivation.
Great questions, Wendy, to get us thinking and sharing about writing.
The heater has been on more than it's been off today. It's snowy. It's windy. It's below freaking freezing. The only time my nose defrosted today was when my son turned red in the face during a temper tantrum. (Transferred heat.)
I'm going to make a pot of tea and curl up in a blanket. And not leave the house again until May.
I think I just completed the final step to claim the Code Orange prize. Claiming the prize is more difficult that writing the essay was, that's for sure. NOT that I'm complaining.
UPS is supposed to deliver Sean's new video game "Rock Band" today. Still waiting....................
Sauna sounds soooo good about now. Next best thing...long soak in the tub with the bathroom heater on full blast.
You would hope so Jamie...are they asking for all your's and your sons info from birth to now?
I'm out of here for a bit, need to do some running around tho I really don't want to.
Re: characters - depends on the character. Jolie (Beauty and The Best) came to me in a rush. Reel (In Over Her Head) was a piece of cake. I knew the 2 of them within minutes. The others took some writing. I'm still discovering my 2 characters now, and I'm working on the ending - how freaky is that? But that's why I like writing a rough draft with very little editing - the second draft is a bugger. That's the one where I lock myself away for a week and immerse (for In Over Her Head, that was literal!) in the story. When that's done, it's pretty close to being finished and I know the characters. There are always tons of notes throughout the ms. Thank God for the Track Changes feature and Insert Comment feature.
Off to basketball!
Now, I am going to read the thread.
Amy that makes perfect sense. It's also why I've been considering doing character sheets before I start. All that culling and cutting makes me queasy.
For all of you freezing wombats; fill a clean white sock 3/4 full of rice. Tie off the end and place in the microwave with a cup of water and heat. Sling sock across your shoulders, cuddle it around your middle or lay it over your feet. NICE.
It's cold here, too, guys, though I won't mention numbers. Remember, it's all relevant. (And it's nowhere near freezing. Oh, all right, we southies are woosies.) It's cold enough in here, though, that I'm trying to type with my sweatshirt sleeves pulled over my hands...and I've got my feet shoved under the dog. Love that dog. Except that she chases the cats, so they won't come in, and my lap could use a little fuzz-furnace. At least my feet are warm. (((((()))))s to all of you who are FYAO right now.
I would research a character's job if I needed to. I don't write historical fiction or anything like that, though, so the person is usually just a person. I can make them up on my own. If I need input about maleness, I pass things by my husband. (I have a friend who likes to put flowery declarations of love in the mouth of her otherwise hard-bitten detective. I tell her to run that stuff by my hubs. He has this look of disbelief he turns on her that says it all. Fortunately, they're good friends, and mostly it cracks her up.)
Cathy
No tomato Cathy, but I do have Progresso chicken noodle or chicken with wild rice -
I think it's wonderful your hubby will help, mine does sometimes but usually I don't bother him. I wonder if he would enjoy being my manly adviser?
I took a nap with my rice sock today..it was nice, and the rice holds heat for a long time.
Off to have a glass of wine with friends...
I need to go see where I hid my rice....did say how long to nuke it?
Vivian, we can't get Spam in restaurants here, but there's a place close by that's famous for it's fried boloney (yes, it's pronounced that way). Homemade macaroni and cheese with Spam is my all time comfort food. When I had pneumonia a few years ago, hubs propped me up in a chair in the kitchen and made me give him instructions on how to make it. I hadn't eaten anything but popcicles for 3 weeks, and that's all I wanted.
Amy, I'm loving my villain as well. I have far more fun with her than I expected. She's so completely over the top though, that I'm going to have to tone her down in the rewrite. I've known my main characters for years, and had a rough setting/timeframe, but no plot. Actually, the first two chapters were written as a contemporary, but they just wouldn't go for it. The minute I changed it to an historical, it started working much better.
I'lll have to think about giving them quirks, although in going back over my MS last night, and in view of the comments about it, I realized that my heroine bites her lip when nervous. The hero even notes and comments on it. I wrote that part almost two months ago, and had conciously forgotten about it, and yet she does it consistantly, even in the newer stuff. Weird.
Rice sock? Is that something I can make at home?
Still obsessing over at Amazon. Gah. I haven't gotten any writing done since they announced the semi-finals. Must...Break...Free...
Cathy