Characters: sometimes we love them, sometimes we hate them but it’s important to say YES to our characters.
When we say yes to our characters we, as writers, are giving a character we care about to our readers. If we care about our characters, love them for who they are. We are better able to tell their story.
Understanding your character
Even if all the information isn’t in the story the author should know:
How does the character look: features, clothing.
Where is the character from: background, location.
What is the character’s motivation: good, evil.
When does the character live: time period, lifestyle.
Why does the character want this: the small stuff
Who does the character: love, like, hate & why
Just like real people, characters need to be consistent; otherwise the reader will know the piece isn’t authentic. When characters exhibit flaws and failing in correct measure and context the story is more believable. With a more believable story your readers will say YES to your characters.
11 comments:
I also heard, "What does the character have in his/her pocket?"
Thanks again for your critique of "Marilyn."
Great question! I'm going to use it.
Kate
Indeed, that's been my problem on fiction - I get bored with my characters and end up not liking them. I recognize the problem, now to solve it. Good Y stuff. YES!
Hi Kate! Thanks for your recent visit to my blog. I like your Y post.
Loverofwords shared a character question I'd never thought of. I hope she doesn't mind if I add it to my list of questions.
Super character checklist. I have to make sure I'm interested in my characters. If I don't want to be FB friends with them, even if its just to check up on their shenanigans, why write them.
On this Challenge, the sheer speed of creating characters was an new experience. Something to develop...
Yes, let them behave in inappropriate ways if need be, but always redeem them in the end. The ones we love or care about anyway.
http://francene-wordstitcher.blogspot.com/
Like what loverofwords said " "What does the character have in his/her pocket?""
Good thoughts, Kate...we need to keep track of our characters so we can be consistent. Maybe a chart would help!
Just stopping by the Challenge...one more day!
MakingTheWriteConnections
I'm kind of obsessed with knowing my characters and I often spend way too much time writing and thinking traits from my characters, defining them, stuff like that. For long series this is actually a definite must but for shorter stories or stand alone novels, not so much, yet I struggle not to let my mind wonder for days on the theme.
Thanks for visiting Diary of a Writer in Progress
These are great questions, and I think knowing your characters makes writing them so much easier. Great post!
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