Writers Tricks of the Trade Volume 6, Issue 5

WHO IS MY CHARACTER? WHY DO I LOVE OR HATE HIM/HER? J. D. Webb WHAT MAKES A GOOD BOOK? Available on Amazon J.D. WEBB What do you remember from your favorite books? I’d bet it’s the characters. You connected with them and felt sad when you finished reading. Then you look for another book about those same characters. What makes up a beguiling character? Here’s my take on how to develop a character. I used these techniques to write my latest book, Smudge. All main characters are female and getting in touch with my feminine side was a challenge. You can’t describe a color as purple like guys do. It must be orchid or lavender, or fuchsia. Fortunately my writing group consists of me and five women. I received a graduate study in female psyche. 1. OUR HEROINES We’ve all been through the lists of character traits and descriptions for our characters and that’s fine. But do you really know your character? How she will react to situations? What events in her life compel her to act a certain way? It’s far more important to be able to get into her head and know how she will respond when confronted by danger or conflict. Also, how she will deal with suspense. To do that you have to create background information. This leads to a compelling protagonist for whom we’re pulling because we have become emotionally attached. This leads us to more believable plot twists and turns. We have to elicit emotions. Our reader simply crawls into the heroine’s mind. 2. THE ANTAGONIST(S) As mild mannered folk, at least usually, writers have a hard time portraying the bad guys. How do we think like a criminal when we spend our waking moments trying to stay out of jail? I know authors who are afraid that once they become intimately familiar with their antagonists, their own behavior will be affected. I had difficulty envisioning a despicable character in one of my books. I couldn’t seem to get connected with him. Then I hit upon the idea of getting a picture of him. The FBI’s ten-most-wanted-list contained a picture of a Russian mafia killer, which I printed out and pasted onto my monitor screen. When I needed to get into the character, there he was, Ferlin Husky Lewis, looking nasty. It worked because that character scared my wife. She may still be wondering about me. SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2016 PAGE 24 WRITERS’ TRICKS OF THE TRADE

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