OCTOBER MAY , 2020 , 2020
CHARACTERS FIRST AND FOREMOST By : Alice Orr
What would life be without people ? I identify strongly with places . Still , no matter how much I may love a place , the first thing I do when I get there is look up family and friends . Anywhere on this round planet is flat earth for me without people to care about there .
What would stories be without characters ? What would stories be without characters we feel connected to ? And , where do we connect with these characters in a meaningful way ? To have meaningful relationships , with the people in our lives and the people in our stories , we must connect with them at the heart . Otherwise , we have not truly connected at all .
As a storyteller , you want your readers to make the heart connection also . When they do , storytelling magic happens . When they do , you , as author , have created a world that involves the reader at the deepest level . You have hooked your reader , and she won ’ t want you to let her go .
First and foremost , however , you must make that connection yourself . You must get to the heart of each character you create . Novelist Toni Morrison called this “ Going Deep .” Her storytelling teaches us that the deeper we go , the better our writing will be . The heart is the deepest part of your character , but that heart is always hidden .
At the outset of your relationship with your characters , they show you their surfaces . You may catch an occasional glimpse of what lies beneath , but little more . You must see far beyond these glimpses to write an affecting and memorable character . This is especially true when your purpose is to create an affecting and memorable protagonist / main character .
You must burrow beneath the surface of your character . You must find your way through the thicket of the lies they tell and the secrets they keep , even from you . You must grapple with the fears they grapple with themselves . You must decipher all of that in order to reach the heart of your character and give her life . Like Toni Morrison , you must Go Deep .
Too many manuscripts fail to Go Deep . Editors and agents respond with phrases like , “ This doesn ’ t have that special spark we ’ re looking for .” Or , my personal favorite , “ I didn ’ t love this enough .” Both are alternate versions of , “ This just doesn ’ t work for me .” An author stares at these words and wonders , “ What the ( expletive of your choice ) does that mean ?”
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