OCTOBER, 2018
DO BE CRUEL—HOW TO CREATE CHARACTERS
THAT INTENSIFY PLOT
By: Alice Orr
Do Be Cruel. Put
your character in hot
water from the start.
In the most powerful
stories, an intensely
conflicted situation
starts on page one, or
even before page one.
Your main character is smack dab at the
center of that situation, in hot water that
will become hotter and hotter, then hot-
ter still. But first you must set up this
situation, and second you must set her up
to be smacked down hard by the conse-
quences that follow.
Do Be Cruel. A story that shows
you how. Please forgive me for taking
you back to Tara when we all know it’s a
politically incorrect place to be. But Scar-
lett O’Hara’s doings and undoing will
never be Gone with the Wind when it
comes to great storytelling technique, and
that’s what we’re focusing on here.
Do Be Cruel. Margaret Mitchell
knew how to twist and turn a yarn. She
tangled us into her plot, tying us more
tightly to her main character with every
scene. Scarlett herself adds knots to this
tangle by making choices that raise the
temperature of the hot water she’s in to
boiling and beyond.
Do Be Cruel. Set your character up
for a long fall. For your character’s
downfall to be significant, we must see
and, more importantly, we must feel her
topple from a great height. Scarlett is the
perfect protagonist for such a plummet.
She’s the southern belle of the southern
ball at the start of her story, confident to
20
the point of unabashed arrogance.
“Fiddledy-dee,” she says to any sugges-
tion that life could go anywhere but her
own totally self-centered way. She and
her hooped skirt are bouncing toward a
precipice for sure.
Do Be Cruel. Set your reader up for
a fall also. In order to “give a damn,” a
phrase that will figure in Scarlett’s down-
fall, your readers must sympathize with
your character’s motivation. We must
understand what she wants and why she
wants it. We must want it for her too. No
matter how ruthless and manipulative
Scarlett may become, we must be on her
side, at least in the beginning. We are on
her side because what she cares most
about is Tara. What she wants more than
anything is to preserve her home. Deep
down at heart level, we get that.
Do Be Cruel. Create a catastrophic
story environment in general. What could
fit that bill better than a war? Not just
any war, but the war that split a country
in two and sent Scarlett’s future fantasy
crashing to smithereens at her satin-clad
feet. Your story may not involve a civil
war, but it needs a bloody battleground
all the same. A catastrophe that embroils
your characters in fiery controversy, the
more fire the better. A cataclysm that
leaves casualties in its wake, with your
character only barely escaping the flames.
Do Be Cruel. Create a catastrophic
personal obstacle as well. What could fit
that bill better than doomed love? It
worked for Romeo and Juliet. It works
for Scarlett and Ashley Wilkes too. She
makes a bad choice while he, being a
fairly weak fellow, makes it worse. Can
you think of a couple less temperamen-
tally suited for one another? Not to men-
tion Melanie and the whole aristocratic
arranged marriage thing. Plus, some addi-
tional disastrous choices on Scarlett’s
part, with a bit of Rhett Butler in the mix.
Catastrophe, here she comes.
Do Be Cruel. Don’t forget that ro-
mance is a battleground. If you’ve read
my previous posts on character creation
and taken them to heart, your main char-
acter already has way too much trouble
on her plate. The last thing she needs is
to fall in love, either wisely or unwisely,
at this point in her story. But your author
job is to hot the pot under this person
you want us to care about, even love. The
heat of a relationship she doesn’t need
but can’t resist is kindling waiting for a
spark. So light that match and let it flare.
Do Be Kind to your storytelling ca-
reer. The name of this game is Hook the
Reader, and your most powerful playing
piece is a powerful protagonist. The
heroine we love from beginning to end.
Or, if you make it work the way Margaret
Mitchell does, the character we simply
can’t let go of, even when the deluge she
wades us into burns our own satin slip-
pers straight off our toes. Either way, she
makes us say, “Frankly, Scarlett, we can’t
help but give a damn.”
Alice Orr—http://
www.aliceorrbooks.com.
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