Discovering Character (Plus: Cover Reveal!)
What's the most important aspect of storytelling?
Is it plot? Characters? Writing style?
Like most of the questions I enjoy asking, this one doesn't really have an answer. All aspects of storytelling are important, and two strong points will never make up for a weak third component. That said, I think it varies from reader to reader, which aspect they care about the most. For me, it's characters, hands down. If the story I'm reading (or watching, or hearing), doesn't have strong, rounded, compelling characters, it falls flat for me.
But where to intricate, interesting, faceted characters come from? How are they created?
Some people get lucky, and the characters just arrive, fully-formed (or so it would seem). Other times, it's a struggle; you know your secondary character is a young woman with a painful past, but you aren't sure of much past that. How do you create a rich and believable personality for her?
My process is may sound a little oogly-googly, but I don't think of it as creating characters. I think of it as discovering them, getting to know them, like you would a new friend. When I write a book, I like to conceive of each character as a whole person, with a family and an agenda and secrets and a favorite flavor of ice cream. I don't spend the time to get to know each and every one of them, because stories are like life; you only get a chance to really know a few people.
So how do you get to know your characters?
The best way for me to do this, is just to write that first draft. I'll let the characters wander off on tangents and have long, boring, sections of dialogue, and generally just goof off, in my first draft. By the time that first draft is done, I have a lot of pages of dialogue to cut-- but I know my characters.
If the idea of letting your novel get so obviously off the rails makes your skin crawl, or if there is just no good point in the book to let your characters chat, you can also create these conversations as a side-project, a warmup of sorts. Put all your central characters in an elevator, and then stop that elevator between floors. What do they say? Who swears? Who tries to climb out the emergency hatch?
When you are overly conscious of the fact that these are pretend people you're making up, it can be easy to overthink; you might fall into an endless trap of everything feeling cliche and get stuck, or you may end up creating a lot of Mary Sues and cardboard extras. This is why I like thinking of them as real in some way, fooling myself into seeing them as whole people, who might surprise me.
It's a running joke of plotters, when pantsers say "My characters stole the story! Help!" that this is an unfortunate side effect of not outlining, and that the author should always be in control of the story. Personally, as a plontser, I think it can be wonderful when your characters act organically, in ways you didn't even realize would fix that plot hole later on. It feels like when you go to sleep not being able to remember a word, and then wake up at 3am yelling "RUTABAGA!" Characters abducting the plot are really just the author's subconscious at work; I don't know anyone who literally thinks their characters exist and have control over them (although it can really feel that way), it's a metaphor, you dang literal prescriptivists!
Grr.
Where was I?
There are writing exercises that advocate interviewing your characters, but I've never found that to be helpful for me, because I tend to write secretive, taciturn, grumpy characters who aren't exactly inclined to tell me about themselves. What I've found more helpful is just trusting that character, and forging ahead in the book. If I get stuck, I go back and re-read, checking if the characters are acting inconsistently, or being neglected.
I know, as a beginning writer, that pithy, snarky, "Just Write" advice can be very frustrating. Please believe me, though, when I say that writing is its own best teacher. If you can commit to sit down and write through that uncertainty you feel, through the stuck places and the sloggy middle and the plot hole towards the climax, you will learn so much.
I promise.
So, on the topic of writing, today I procrastinated on doing that by designing a cover for my NaNoWriMo novel! I got the idea from people in the NaNoWriMo community on Facebook. I felt so silly and like I was wasting time while I did it, but when it was finished, I was actually so excited for November! And in my book, anything that gets me jazzed about a project is a good use of time.
So, without further hemming and/or hawing:
You'll probably hearing a lot more about this project during Preptober and NaNoWriMo.
Thank you for reading! Now it's your turn to talk. How do you get to know your characters? Are you a plotter, a pantser, or a hybrid? What do you think of my book cover? If you're interested in making one yourself, I used Canva.
Song Recs:
Comments
Post a Comment