Building a Story: Character

As I work out ideas for a new novel, thoughts about the characters emerge fairly early in the process. I don’t usually create detailed character charts or summaries. I find I don’t know enough about the character—or even what characters will be in the story— until I get into writing it. But as I read more about plot, I’m getting a better picture of what I really need to know about the characters to make the story work. Some recent advice that is shaping how I think about my new characters:

Creating Two-Word Characters, Guest post by Nick Thacker at K.M. Weiland’s Wordplay. 

I like this idea, because it gives a quick “tag” for thinking about the character and keeping in mind a key trait as I’m working with them for the story. It also forces me to think about what the most important thing is about each character that I want readers to know.

Quote from the post:  “The Two-Word approach lets me hone in on the two most important, overarching qualities of my characters that will truly bring them to life for my readers.”

From the Intern: Reasons Editors Pass (Part 3) by Nicole Steinhaus on YA Stands.

This is such a useful post to review if you’re working on developing a character. I’ve read a lot of middle grade books where there are evil villains because kids can relate to it easily. But I think there’s still room for “layers of gray” and characters that are a little more complicated and less clear cut. For example, I’m sure “mean popular girl” has feelings too.

Quote from the post:  “See what types of characters are out there. Then do something different.”

Agent Jill Corcoran on “What Makes a Book Sell” offers important advice about thinking about the “whys” for including each character in the story. 

I often automatically include a friend for my main character because friends are so important for middle grade readers, but this post reminded me that every character needs to have role in moving the story forward. The friend character can’t just be there to showcase some quality of the main character.

Quote from the post: “Be absolutely mindful of every character you put in the book.”

 What have you learned recently about creating characters?

Creating Worlds and Characters

Since things have been too crazy for me lately to write my own blog post, I'm going to direct you two very interesting posts I read this morning:

In her post, MG vs. YA Characters, YA author Beth Revis gives us a really interesting take on what's beneath the surface of characters and some insights on how to get into their perspective. It definitely gave me a lot to think about.

Over at The League of Extraordinary Writers, Lorin Oberweger guest posts on World Building, posing the question: Are you world building or world recycling? It's all about how the worlds you see in TV, movies or other books influence the way you shape your own story world. Lorin also gives us some tips and questions for how you can make the world you're creating unique.

Four Ways to Remind Readers of Out of Scene Characters

In my work-in-progress, my character spends part of the story away from her family and friends. This is tricky, because I don't want the reader to forget about these early characters, especially since one or two of them have important roles later on. So I had to think of some ways to keep these characters in the back of the reader's mind, even though they're not around in the middle of the story. Some strategies for keeping off-stage characters in the story:

Introduce some memories.  If the main character thinks about a time or event when they were with the out of sight character, it can do double-duty. You remind the reader of the character who isn't there, as well as adding in some emotion for the main character.

Send a message. When the off-stage character sends a message, it needs to be natural, so this doesn't work if there isn't a good reason for it. But it might also be a way to include a little mystery.

Use imagination. Sometimes, if you're really close to another person, you think about what they might think when they're not with you. I can totally see a girl imagining what her friend (or her sister or her mom) might think of a situation.

Drop a name in conversation. Not exactly subtle, but if there's a natural way to do it, characters who are in the scene could mention the out-of-sight character. It could be a way to advance the plot while reminding the reader of that other character who will eventually show up again later.

Do you have any other ideas for how to remind the reader of characters who aren't front and centre in the action?

Create Ordinary Characters by Making Them Dramatic

As I revise my novel, one of the things I'm noticing is that I'm often amplifying character reactions and behaviour beyond what they'd be in ordinary life. It's not that I'm trying to create an extraordinary character. (Though I suppose all authors want to think of their characters that way on some level, or else why would we bother writing about them?) But using words to shape personality involves making judgments about what is important for the reader to know, see or feel and then writing to emphasize those elements.

To bring out a character's personality, I think it's important to sometimes make their reactions a little over-the top. Give them a dramatic flair. In the same way that writers pile on more and more impossible obstacles for a character to struggle through, the actions and reactions of the character need to be big and bold to show that they are up to the challenge. Being bold doesn't mean that characters can't be quaking in their boots or feeling timid in the face of danger, but their fears or lack of confidence need to be big enough, noticeable enough, for it to stand out to the reader.

Some tips for making characters more dramatic:

1. Create a character that is conflicted to begin with. If there is something about the character that sets up an inner conflict, it can create empathy even before the story gets started. A typical example in a middle grade or YA novel might be having a character with a parent that recently died or moved out. Or some type of disability. Even if that's not what the story is going to be about, there are underlying emotional issues to resolve and that creates more drama.

2. Have secondary or minor characters react to what the main character is doing. This draws attention to the reaction or behaviour for the reader. If the other characters think it's important, then it must be important.

3. Choose the reaction with the most impact and let it stand on its own. Write all about how the character acts, thinks and feels when reacting to an event in the story. But then go back and choose the most compelling way to describe it and cut the rest. Over-explanations take away from the dramatic impact. But watch out for the opposite problem too, where the reader doesn't know enough about what the character is thinking and feeling to care. It's all about balance.

How do you make your characters more dramatic?

Writing Tools: Creating Characters for Children's Books

Even though I write children's books, a lot of the writing tools I come across for plot or character are aimed at writers of adult books. But I recently came across this great character chart for MG and YA  on Jennifer Nielsen's blog:

Do you use a character chart for writing children's books? How do you construct your characters?

Thinking About Minor Characters

When I'm writing, I pay the most attention to the main characters. Minor characters are kind of there, in the background, emerging when I need them. But I'm realizing they need some serious attention.

I don't want a lot of characters cluttering up the thoughts of my reader and getting in the way of the story. (As a reader, I sometimes put down a book if it has too many characters to keep straight). So how do I know if these minor characters should even be in my novel?

1) Is the minor character necessary?

In the chapter I'm working on, there are two or three minor characters that don't appear anywhere else in the story. When I think about it, they do have a purpose. They add to the realism and authenticity of the story (they show the point of view character isn't socially awkward, see my post on friends in middle grade novels for more on this). They also pass along some information to the POV character.

But are there other ways the main character could get the information? Of course. She could overhear a conversation or interact with a more important character. Or maybe there's another, more creative way (time for more brainstorming). A good way to test if a minor character is necessary is to re-write the scene or chapter without them and see if it works.

2) If the minor character is necessary, how much detail should I include?

For me, the more details I include about a character, the more importance they take on in the story.

A detail that I'm struggling with is the minor character's name. If the POV character knows this person, she's going to think of them by name, not by some reader-friendly description like "the girl in bunk 4 in my cabin at summer camp." As a reader, I really hate that.  But if my main character references the minor character by name, will my reader expect the minor character to be significant in the story? Will readers feel cheated if they don't see the named character again after this chapter? I don't have the answers yet, but I'm working on it.


Do you have any tips for dealing with minor characters? Do you include their names?

If you want to know more about minor characters, I recently found this article by David B. Coe, Basics of Writing part XII: Creating Minor Characters.

C is for Characters

If you pick up a novel from any middle grade series, one of the first things you’ll notice is that it has a strong main character. With so many things competing for a middle grader’s attention, your reader needs to start becoming attached to your main character right from the beginning of the story.

How can you create a character that your readers will care about?

Get the age right. How old should your main character be? In most middle grade novels, the main character is slightly older than the target age group – around 13 for upper middle grade, maybe 11 or 12 for younger middle grade. But just stating their age in your story isn’t enough. Your character needs to have the perspective of a middle grader. This is so hard to do. As an adult, there are lots of things you know that a middle grader wouldn’t. The way a middle grader thinks and how he or she solves a problem is going to be different than the way an adult would.

Think about their interests. What does your character really love? If they have a passion for something, that can fire up a passion in your reader, too. It’s like sharing an interest with a good friend. You both like spaceships or trying on makeup. Did I say spaceships? Well, we’re talking about middle graders here, so their interests are the ones you need to tap into. This is also the age where there really starts to be a distinction between “boy books” and “girl books”.

Be choosy about details. Middle grade readers don’t want to read too much detail, they want to find out what happens. And the details that do you do include about a character should be specific. Like a unique hobby or interest. Is hair and eye colour important? Maybe, if it's something your character is proud of or hates about themselves. Sometimes character details are things you need to know to create the character, but don't necessarily need to be included in your novel.

Some of the best advice I’ve gotten about creating character comes from The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life by Noah Lukeman. He suggests that creating a character doesn’t stop at generating a list of characteristics and traits. A key step is to go further and think about how these characteristics will affect the plot of the story.

Links:

Creating Compelling Characters by Jodie Renner over at the Blood Red Pencil.

Seven Ways to Develop Compelling Characters, notes from Gail Carson Levine's keynote speech at the 2010 SCBWI conference in LA, by Ingrid Sundberg of Ingrid's Notes.

How to Avoid Creating Plastic Characters by Jody Hedlund at her blog.

A whole slew of links to great posts about creating character in The Best of the Best: Character, Plot, Dialogue and Structure from Adventures in Children's Publishing.

MG. vs YA Characters by Beth Revis gives us an interesting take on what lies under the surface in middle grade and YA characters, and what makes them compelling.

Do you have any tips for bringing characters alive for middle grade readers?