Thinking about character

Character is definitely one of the hardest things about writing for me. I'm not particularly good at coming up with characters who are unique, witty, funny, etc. etc. I think it's incredibly hard to do, honestly, but I've promised that next time around, as I'm drafting, I'm going to dig deeper from the get-go. I'm going to spend more time on character, because I really, really need to.

My next book, THE GIRL IN THE TOWER (March 2016, Henry Holt), went through a lot of revisions, and what happened during the lengthy process was that the main character, Violet, really came into her own. The girl you will see is quite different from the girl in the manuscript that sold five or so years ago. And thank goodness! She is a girl I admire, one I want to know, one that makes me so proud to be a girl. But it took a lot of work to get there. And I've realized I don't always put in the work that I need to with my characters - to make them all they can be.

I know some people have issues with THE HELP, and I'm not going to discuss those things here because they aren't relevant to this post. But what struck me about that book back when I read it, and even now, years later, are those characters and how they were different from each other, each special in her own right, and how much I grew to LOVE them. I mean, I LOVED THEM. I didn't want to return the book to the library because I was going to miss them - as if they were living and breathing inside that book.

I think writers know deep down that character really is THE most important part of a story. But we forget it, because when you're trying to sell a book, it's all about the hook - the plot. "Oh that sounds so good," you want people to say.

But after you've read a book? The plot isn't gonna be the reason you want to share it with the world. It's probably part of it, certainly. I mean, it has to work and work well and have the majority of people cheering at the end. Still, the characters are going to be what makes people fall in love. It's the characters people remember years and years later.

Scarlett and Rhett
Atticus and Scout
Edward and Bella
Remy and Dexter
Hazel and Augustus

and most recently

Olly and Maddy (Everything, Everything, which seems to be flying off the shelves)

There's always more work to do for writers. More things to learn. Always. Which I guess keeps things interesting, right?

Have a great week!

Friday Five - TV show edition and what I take away for my writing

1. "New Girl" CRACKS ME UP. I love it. Love, love, love it. Every time they showed the turkey in the dryer, I laughed.

2. I love "Modern Family" for the same reason - funny!

3. My new obsession is Downton Abbey. I've watched five episodes and cannot wait to watch the rest. Season 2 starts up January 8th on PBS and I will be there with bells on. The characters. The setting. The dresses! And Matthew. Ohhhhhh Matthew.

4. "Vampire Diaries" has been excellent this season. I've loved finding out about the history of the originals and seeing a different side to both Damon and Stefan.

5. "Once Upon a Time" is a new one I've been watching. I love how the show flashes back and shows us the characters' history, and feeds our desire to see the fairy tale aspect alongside the present day, contemporary characters.

Wow, what a varied list. And yet, what it shows me, what I take away as I go back to work on my YA WIP, is that whether the story is about vampires or aristocrats or a gay couple, what pulls me in, what makes me want to keep watching, are the characters.

And so it is in the fiction that I read as well.

We must remember, as writers, that yes, a great hook and fascinating plot are well and good, but in the end, it's the characters the reader wants to connect with. Give me an interesting character, someone I can relate to on some level, or admire, or want to be, or maybe even despise and want to see change, or SOMETHING, and I will follow that character anywhere. Yep, character is where it's at.

Happy weekend!

Monday Motivation - on characters

"The characters in your story will not engross readers unless they are out of the ordinary. How can it be otherwise? In life, ordinary folk do ordinary things every day. How much of that do we remember? Precious little. In life and in fiction, when people act in ways that are unusual, unexpected, dramatic, decisive, full of consequences, and are irreversible, we remember them and we talk about them for years." ~ Donald Maass, from his awesome book Writing the Breakout Novel

Why do we love Charlotte so much? Because she's extraordinary. In her special, quiet ways, Charlotte does extraordinary things to help her friend Wilbur. And Wilbur, like us, is changed as a result of watching the kind and selfless actions of his friend. Extraordinary people (or spiders as the case may be) do that to a person, don't they? They make us want to be better humans (or pigs as the case may be).

These characters are why Charlotte's Web has been and continues to be one of the greatest children's books of all time.

This week, as I write, I'll ask myself, how can I make my main character more like Charlotte? Not literally, of course. After all, there can only be one Charlotte.

Extraordinary.

Memorable.

That's what I want my main character to be.

Do you have a certain character you think of sometimes, that makes you want to dig deep and write an extraordinary character?

On characters and emotions

If you have never seen Friday Night Lights, you now have the chance!

They've started at the beginning of season 1 on ABC Family Channel at 6 pm and it will air M-F, taking us through the show. If that isn't enough awesomeness, Gilmore Girls, the first season, is playing right before it, at 5 pm. So, I've been watching GG while I make dinner, and then after dinner, I catch what I can of Friday Night Lights.

So this isn't really a post about Friday Night Lights. I mean, it is, but it isn't. It's about what I've learned from watching this show that I think is really important for us writers.

Last night I tuned in about halfway through the episode. Coach Taylor has lost his star QB and the town is expecting big things from this team. From this coach. And he's feeling the weight of that. People are looking at him, expecting him to pull out a miracle, and he has no idea what to do. He has a brand new QB who is going to have to step up and do big things. He's scared for himself, his team and his new QB.





His wife, Tami, comes in to his office with a six pack of beer, sits down, and he starts telling her he doesn't know what he's going to do.



And when Tami starts talking, I start crying.

My husband is like - you just turned it on a few minutes ago and you're already crying?

This got me thinking. What is it about certain scenes that go right to the heart and touch me like that? I want to know what that is. I want to understand it.

What does Tami tell her husband, as he's sitting there, the stress and worry eating him up? She says:

"I believe in you. This is what you DO. If anyone can do this, it's YOU."

It touched me because I have felt that fear and worry around letting someone down in my work. Maybe even recently I've felt that. And what do you most need to hear when you're feeling that way? You need to hear *exactly* what Tami said. But how often do people actually get that? Not often. So the emotions come up because it's not Coach Taylor sitting there, it's YOU. And Tami is talking to YOU.

That's what we have to do in our writing. We have to make people see themselves, somehow, in our characters. I'm about as different from Coach Taylor as you can get. And yet, last night, I felt his pain. Situations may be different, but EMOTIONS ARE THE SAME. We have to be able to bring that to the page. We can do the best job in the world bringing a character to life with all of his likes and dislikes, interests and hobbies, etc. But in the end, we must show what's in his heart and get people to feel that too.

That's why those of us who love this show tell people - it's really not about football. It's about characters with issues we can relate to and even better, friends and spouses and family members who respond in a way that touch our hearts. It's real in the best possible way, if that makes any sense.

Clear minds. Full hearts. Can't lose. I hear you, Coach Taylor. I hear you.

A Friday Five Courtesy of Donald Maass

From the book WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL by Donald Maass.



I highly, HIGHLY recommend this book. I won my copy courtesty of Becky Levine (thank you Becky!!!) and clearly, my guardian writing angel knew I would be needing it and helped Becky to draw my name.

1. "A high-octane plot is nothing without credible, larger-than-life, highly developed characters to make it meaningful."

2. "When people act in ways that are unusual, unexpected, dramatic, decisive, full of consequence, and are irreversible, we remember them and talk about them for years."

3. "What makes breakout characters broadly appealing is not weaknesses but their strengths, not their defeats but their triumphs."

4. "Virtually all readers seek out novels for an experience of human life that is admirable, amusing, hopeful, perseverant, positive, inspiring, and that ultimately makes us feel whole."

5. "A character in trouble is engaging if she has sympathetic qualities, e.g. she is aware that she’s in trouble and tries to change. What we cannot tolerate is willful self-destructiveness."

Happy Friday!