Every story needs characters; whether your characters are people, animals or inanimate objects (think Disney’s Cars), it takes believable characters to drive a story. A story may be plot-driven, but without 3 dimensional characters, the plot will fail. Who wants to listen to the woes of a flat, unbelievable heroine? Who’s going to turn the page to find out what happens to a character they can’t believe in, one who they don’t care about? The key to a good story is to get your readers to really care about what happens to your main characters, to believe on some level that they really exist and what happens to them matters. It is what will keep your readers coming back for more. How many people finished reading the first Harry Potter and needed to know what happened to Harry and his friends next? It wasn’t a want; they actually felt they needed to know. So how do you create flesh and blood out of paper and pen? For me, the first step is to have a story in mind that I want to tell and then populating it with characters. In order to create a believable character I have to get to know him or her. Some authors have conversations with their characters, playing both parts in their imaginations. Some authors have a formal interview with their characters. There is a quick and easy interview to start with at http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Character-Interview-as-a-Writing-Tool. Not everything that your character tells you will actually make it into the story; a lot of it will be back-story or motivation. One important thing to note here is that this system requires us to free write, to just let go and let the character’s personality take over, to not second guess or edit or even think consciously about what would sound better. The character needs to take over in order for us to know why they do what they do; why they act a certain way. We need to get into their heads, so they will get into ours. Finding out a character’s background will help us know what he or she likes and dislikes. It’s important to figure out how they grew up, what their challenges in life are, what drives them, what their goals and ambitions are. Again, a lot of this won’t actually end up being written into the story, but to make them believable we need to know how they would behave. Readers tend to be turned off to a character who behaves in a way that the reader sees as “uncharacteristic” of them. We wouldn’t have someone who loves dogs kick a dog out of his way; that would be uncharacteristic of him and the reader would lose faith in that character. I find that if I loosely base my characters on people I know or composites of characteristics of people I know, they tend to be more believable. I find things that I dislike about people and things that I like about people I know and combine them into a certain character. This is one of the reasons I call the stories I write “faction” not “fiction”; my stories are based on factual events that I have fictionalized and populated with my own characters, who are fictionalized versions of people I know, or composites of several people combined into one character. That’s what works for me. What works for you?
Connect With Darlene Quinn
"Webs of Fate grabbed my interest from the first line of the prologue and wouldn't let me go."
Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, New York Times bestselling author of The Cheater and My Lost Daughter
“On first opening the pages of Darlene Quinn’s Webs series, readers may well feel that they are in for an engaging ‘all about’ novel—in Quinn’s case all about the glamorous, dangerous, byzantine, and ultimately exciting world of fashion and high-end retail—and those readers would be right. But wait! There’s more! Quinn develops her storylines and plot in a way that keeps the world engaging and the books charging forward. And don’t get complacent—nothing is what it seems and no character is without great secrets that will twist events and surprise the reader in breathtaking ways. There’s a great deal of fun and entertainment to be had in falling into these beguiling webs.”
Frank Gaspar, author of Stealing Fatima, Endowed chair/distinguished professor and writer in residence, University of Massachusetts
With obvious “insider’s” knowledge, Darlene Quinn has created a web of intrigue that draws the reader into the best and worst of the retailer¹s world. I found myself rooting for her smart women, and wishing I could boo the villains. The book came with me on a trip, and once I began reading, I made sure it was always within easy reach. Best of all, I can say proudly, Darlene was once one of my students.
Maralys Wills author of Higher than Eagles, Author of Damn the Rejections, Full Speed Ahead
Darlene Quinn expertly captures the drama, greed, and emotional tumult of personal lives gone awry during the hostile takeover attempt of a high-end retail chain in Webs of Power.
Laura Taylor, award-winning author of Honorbound
January 22nd, 2011 at 3:32 pm
That is pretty much what I do, too, Darlene. I think it is quite common. It makes characters believable because they are based on real people you know.
January 26th, 2011 at 5:02 pm
Thanks Darlene for sharing that. I’ve not thought about writing a story book but if I did that is very sound advise.
Michael Berry
“We all see and experience the world, not as it is, but as we are.”
http://blog.prosperyourmind.com http://www.prosperyourmind.com
January 29th, 2011 at 1:48 am
Great points on “uncharacteristic” behavior Darlene. I try to put myself into my character’s situation to see how I or anyone I know (basing a character upon) to see what the character would characteristcally experience and how they should or would react to it. Make sense?
January 29th, 2011 at 11:43 am
Darlene, I think characters in every story is very important. Your emphasis on any writer to develop them with the story is timely. Thou, I haven’t written or authored a book. I do think you’re a creative writer without boundaries. Gathering from every article, that I read from what you have written. Great writers can not conform to a particular way of thinking. We must be very creative, to bring out the characters like in real life. Particularly, fiction is my worst stories to read. It must be noted imagination is not bad, however one must connect with people. As the people are your readers.
Tony, Thika-Kenya.
January 31st, 2011 at 7:05 pm
Absolutely! We must stay true to who the character is. That is not to say that a character can’t change, or evolve, but if they do even that must be true to who the character was and is to become; there must be a catalyst for a drastic change in character, some traumatic event that caused such a dramatic change.