I’ve been working on my plot this week – which means I’ve been working on character.

I’ve been struck again by how interwoven these two are. We artificially separate them out to talk about them, but in practice, you can’t work on plot without considering character.

• Conflict. For example, when I tried to decide on what conflict would enhance this plot, I realized I needed to know my villain better. This surprised me. I thought it would be enough to know the main character of this subplot better; but she’s in direct opposition to her villain and without knowing his motivations, skills, weaknesses, likes, dislikes, I couldn’t develop the conflict.


Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaxxon/22907128/

• Life events. Also, my main character has just had a traumatic event in her life and many issues remain unresolved. I sorta knew her basic character, but I did some reading about child psychology and how kids typically deal with similar events. Apathy and daydreaming were mentioned. I realized that while my character might be generally cheerful, these events in her life might make her forgetful, she might lapse into daydreaming at the wrong moments. Ah, conflict.
• From the beginning. The worst of it is that I had to go back to the beginning of the story again and start to weave in character traits and make slight modifications to conflict. Sigh. But in the end, the story will be more consistent and much stronger. It’s been a good revision this week.

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by Darcy Pattison

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Shh! Don’t tell anyone else, but my character just told me a secret.

Great Way to Find Unusual Secrets

One common complaint about a first draft is that the characterization needs to be deeper. In Sol Stein’s book, Stein on Writing, Chapter 16 talks about the secret snapshot technique. Stein recommends that you think about what secret snapshot is hidden in your character’s wallet. Secrets in general deepen characterization because they provide motivation and emotional depth. Stein says, “I remind you that the best fiction reveals the hidden things we usually don’t talk about.”

PostSecret

So, I was fascinated to find the Post Secret blog. Readers are encouraged to send a postcard that explains their secret. Updated on Sundays, the blog is an interesting look into the hidden life of a wide variety of people. Be forewarned: some are PG-13 or X-rated, but most are general topics. I’m finding it interesting to read them with the idea of possibly adding them to a character’s background. Find any of interest for your work?

There are now three PostSecret books featuring past postings:

• A Lifetime of Secrets: A PostSecret Book
• PostSecret Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives
• The Secret Lives of Men and Women: A PostSecret Book

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

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When you write something as long as a novel, how do you make sure the character stays in character? When you revise, there are several ways to check.

Creating Consistent Characters

• Create a Bible for your character. It doesn’t have to be complicated, but have one file, or a couple note cards that list characteristics. Left handed, blue eyes, lopsided smile to the right, hates licorice, loves flannel sheets, wears a cross necklace, right ear is pierced, etc. It’s surprising how such little details can escape your notice. In one of my picture books, a character suddenly changed from left-handed to right-handed and the illustrator had to redo that bit of art.
• Create separate dialogue files for each character. More than anything else, a character’s dialogue needs to sound consistent (unless, of course, you’re using it to indicate character changes). By creating separate files, I can read straight through just what a character says and edit, then put it back into the novel.
• If there are long spaces between writing and editing sessions, then be sure to re-read the previous sections. It sounds obvious, but it’s easy to neglect.
• Immerse yourself with a character for a day. For an entire day, walk around and think about what your character would say, do, feel about the world around you. Immerse yourself in your character’s outlook on life. Then, go back and re-read and tweak. (It makes for great conversation: Why are you so weird today? You don’t usually like gingerbread. Today, I’m being Gretel/Hansel!
• Write an obituary of your character. It’s another way to focus on the main character traits, dreams, hopes, goals. What DID your character accomplish during their lifetime? Then go back and make sure your character more or less consistently works toward that goal

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by Darcy Pattison

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First person point of view stories are introspective, selfish, all about me, me, me. Before you write or revise a novel using this POV, you should ask youself a couple questions.

It’s All About Me, Me, Me.

1. Main Character or Observer. Is the POV character the main character or an observer? Often it’s assumed that a first person account has to in the voice of the main character, but that’s not so. It could easily be a sidekick, a sibling, or an enemy telling what happened to a main character. Before you automatically decide that the main character must be the POV character, look around your cast and see if anyone else wants to tell this story from his/her POV.
2. Present in Every Scene. Will the POV character be in every crucial scene? For this POV to work, the POV character must be there. It’s not fair to your readers to report crucial scenes secondhand, UNLESS, the scene itself isn’t as important as the impact of the events on a character. If your POV character is knocked out, asleep, doped up, in another state, visiting relatives, or just plain missing-in-action, s/he can’t narrate the scene effectively. Make sure your plot works with this POV.
3. Compelling, Sustainable Voice.
   Can you create a compelling voice that sounds like an individual character? Can you sustain that voice over an entire novel? While I loved the beginning of Meg Rosoff’s, How I Live Now her POV was wearing because of long sentences and variable punctuation. It was a compelling voice–at first. But, for me, it didn’t sustain its interest over the length of the novel. (Of course, it won the 2005 Printz award, so others disagree. ) (This novel is also available in a Kindle version, if you’re interested!)

   For your novel, make sure it’s both a compelling voice, and that it sustains that over the course of the novel.

4. Reliable Narrator. Is the POV character a reliable narrator? Ah, this is one of the interesting variations of a first person POV. We have a narrator who lies, who shades the truth, who exaggerates, who uses this opportunity to re-write history. If you’re thinking in those directions, this is the perfect POV.
5. Compelling Reasons? Are there compelling reasons for this POV instead of the default third person POV?
   Really. You should be writing in third person POV. Why are you trying first? But if your only reason is that you just thought you’d try it, or the voice is vaguely easier, or it just happened–you might want to rethink. Some answers that make sense: the reader will feel the actions more immediately; the reader will understand the motivations and emotions of the story in a deeper way; unreliable narrator.

   What are your compelling reasons for using a first person POV?

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

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When you write a novel, or revise a novel, the default point-of-view and the most common used is third person. (Though, first person point of view is giving it a run for its money these days. )

The Versatile Point of View

Think about point of view as a camera. In the 3rd person POV, the camera is above a person’s head and you see and hear and experience only what that character can see, hear, experience. That’s pretty easy. The tricky part is the emotional distance of the text. That is, are you so closely aligned with the character that you can say their thoughts and the reader understands that it is the character’s thoughts.

It’s like zooms and pans. With 3rd person, there are times when the POV backs up and gives an overview of the action, a panorama, and almost verges on crossing into an omniscient voice. At other times, the POV goes so tight and deep, a zoom, that you’re close to the 1st person POV.

Which is why I like 3rd person POV. It can very close to omniscient, yet, the next page, very close to 1st and still work. In fact, you can actually cross over into omniscient and it works smoothly and seamlessly. You can’t quite cross over into 1st, but you can create a close imitation. It’s the most versatile POV.

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

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Once again, National Public Radio has changed my ideas of how to use a character quality. I used to think that beliefs had to fall into formal philosophical categories. Wrong.

The History of This I Believe

From their website: “At the dawn of the Cold War and the height of McCarthyism, Americans from all walks of life bravely spoke their beliefs on the original This I Believe radio program hosted by Edward R. Murrow. It included essays by Harry Truman, Margaret Mead, William O. Douglas, Eleanor Roosevelt, Albert Einstein and other prominent figures of the day.”

Current Essays

Current essays cover a wide variety of topics:
I believe in safety pins.
I believe in the youth of America.

From the point of view of your character, write a This I Believe essay . For examples, read the website or book of essays (available in Spanish, too), This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women .

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

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What is your character’s deepest, darkest secret? What is it that s/he doesn’t want anyone to know?
When you write a novel or revise a novel, YOU must know these things.

5 Ways to Use Secrets to Develop Characters

1. Using the Secret as a Plot Twist
   When we find out that Luke Skywalker’s father is Darth Vader–the revelation twists the plot in a different direction. Make sure that the secret is truly hidden in the story as it develps, even as you prepare your readers for the revelation.
2. Source of Conflict–Making Sure the Secret Stays Secret
   A secret must stay secret! Which creates a great source of conflict that can be mined in your plot.
3. Tangible Secrets
   Make the secret tangible by giving it a physical presence. It is a diary, a stack of letters, a photograph, a magazine clipping, a favorite toy, a particular piece of clothing–something that you can describe with the senses.
4. The Secret Revealed: Big Scene or Climax Scene
   A powerful use of secrets is to reveal them as part of the climax scene, often giving an extra twist of meaning to the ultimate clash between the protagonist and antagonist.
5. What is YOUR secret?
   Often the most moving secrets are ones that come from a writer’s life. What are your secrets? Can you give one of them to your character?

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

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Character’s strengths and weaknesses influence plot, character relationships and how well we like a character. Before you decide on these, think about how these characteristics will ripple through the story.

Character Strengths and Weaknesses

1. Inherited or Acquired?Are your character’s strengths and weaknesses inherited or acquired? If inherited, they may be accepted easily by the character, or may be sources of great aggravation: the Prince is often irritated to BE the Prince and wants to see what a normal life would be like.

   If acquired, strengths may come at great sacrifice and struggle. Weaknesses may result from great tragedies. Either way, understanding the source of the strength/weakness can help you motivate your character and put him/her into motion.

2. Distinguish from other characters
   This is one of the options for making your character memorable. Do you remember the brother in From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler? Jamie cheat at card games. That’s why I remember him.
3. Weakness–source of conflict, or way to solve conflict
   When you present your character with events that require him/her to do something at which s/he is weak, then it’s a source of conflict. On the contrary, weaknesses can sometimes be a way to solve conflict–at least temporarily. Many parents react to a child’s temper tantrum by giving in to the child’s demands. In the short run, the conflict is solved, even while it’s made worse in the long run.
4. Strength–relieves conflict, or way to solve conflict
   When you present your character with events that require him/her to do something at which s/he is strong, then–well, where’s the conflict? On the other hand, sometimes, an unexpected or previously untapped strength can arise to solve a conflict. Just be sure you’re set it up.
5. Use a weakness to solve the final plot problem
   Resolving conflict because you’re strong will evoke the weakest emotion. The strongest emotion is evoked when a character faces opposition and must rise above his/her weakness to do something anyway.

Think carefully about a character’s weaknesses and strengths, because it has great impact on plotting.

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

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Characters Who Move

According to Mehrabian, 55% of communication depends on body language, 38% on tone-of-voice, and 7% on the words used. That’s bad news for novelists because we don’t have direct access to the body language as we work with our fictional characters – they are just words on a page. Adding body language to a character description puts the character into action and enriches the overall profile.

When you write a novel, you can describe body language and with the right descriptions, the communication embedded is apparent and you don’t have to interpret it for the reader.

Examples:

• Fingertip kiss–praise
• Nose tap–keep it secret
• Head toss–negatives
• Chin Flick–disinterest
• Eyelid pull–I am alert

Think also about giving your character(s) their own typical body language to mean certain things. For example, a girlfirend holds up her hand palm out and makes a shoving motion toward her boyfriend in a gesture that means STOP.

The Definitive Book of Body Language is focused on business communication, but it has interesting information.

Beware of overusing common forms of body language. For example, “he turned” is often used when a character shifts focus from one thing to another. Look for other actions to fill in here by putting something in the character’s hands or using something from the setting.

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

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Character Profiles include Interior Traits

Inside, I’m different than the person you see. Isn’t that true for all of us? We look in a mirror and are amazed at that person staring back.

What is your character like on the inside? Interior character qualities may never make it into a description of a character, but from everything the character does, thinks, says, it will be obvious. Characterization involves giving the reader a glimpse of the emotions and thoughts of a character.

This is one of the main differences between movies and novels: movies can only hint at the character’s interior reactions, while novels give it to the reader directly.

When an event happens, the main character should have an opinion about the action which is shown through the characters thoughts: event, character’s interior reaction to the event (thoughts and emotions), exterior reaction to the event, usually an action. In your book, story or novel, all important events should be passed through this filter of the character’s thoughts and emotions. This type character development lays bare a main character for the reader to enjoy.

5 Interior Character Traits to Explore

As you profile your fictional characters, consider these traits:

• Intelligence. Intelligence is shown through the character’s vocabulary and the brilliance of his/her scheming to get his/her own way.
• Intuition. Does your character understand things without having it explained? Intuition is a grasp of events, people, situations or puzzles without detailed explanation or exploration.
• Curiosity. A main character which constantly questions the world and setting of the story is curious. After an event, this character will be seeking more information.
• Honesty. Got a dishonest character? The contrast between inside thoughts and outside actions will reveal how much the character values honesty.
• Spirituality. When a character reacts by appealing to God, or by invoking destiny, s/he reveals her spirituality. This character trait can dominate a fictional character, or it could be used as gentle asides. Either way, spirituality has potential for characterization.

For more character traits to explore, read Creating Characters: A Writer’s Reference to the Personality Traits That Bring Fictional People to Life by Howard Lauther.

Read more in 15 Days to a Stronger Character

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win