WHO IS MY CHARACTER?( CONT’ D)
3. Agendas Humans carry around personal agendas. We all have one. Your characters also must have one. The emotions driving that agenda are love, hate, greed, anger, pity, grief or fear and combinations thereof. Opposing agendas cause conflict, which leads to action. When these agendas collide, we have our story. We must make sure to nail down who’ s willing to do what and why. Above all, be logical. Props cannot appear as if by magic. And they need to fit the circumstances. A ninety-something grandma rarely carries a. 357 Magnum in her purse. Readers resent authors who cheat by concocting something out of thin air. 4. Readers This brings up a serious point. Your reader is smart, and often able to figure things out before we think she should. Solid reasons to love or despise our characters are necessary. Believability is paramount to building characters. The more our reader loves the protagonist, the more suspense is generated when she’ s in danger. Actions that don’ t ring true to the character will cause the reader to close the book and swear not to read anything by that author ever again. The kicker is – she’ ll tell her friends as well. The villain is to be despised and exact animosity from her. A sympathetic villain will not cut it. That’ s not to say that nasty characters can’ t have some redeeming quality. They can’ t be despicable all the time. The character I mentioned before, Ferlin Husky Lewis, is a cat lover. As a child he had a beloved cat. That cat gave him the only love he ever received. In my story he befriends a stray and even buys food and a toy for it. However, his nastiness comes to the fore when he abandons the cat to save himself. 5. Personalities We should be familiar with the various personality profiles. Our characters must fit their profiles. Be careful of stereotypes. Individuals often defy stereotyping. Actually, this makes for more interesting people to populate your story. I have an excellent reference book I use when troubled by one of my“ friends.” The Writer’ s Guide to Character Traits by Linda Edelstein, Ph. D. She categorizes personality profiles geared toward the way an author would use them. This is particularly good when trying to develop antagonists. There are many more such books available. 6. Vulnerabilities Vulnerabilities are tools to be used to create suspense. Whether a fear of snakes, spiders or heights, use that weakness to ratchet up the suspense. I had a scene where my victim was running for her life in the woods. The stalker was closing in, so she hid behind a fallen tree limb. As he approached, a bug crawled up her face. She’ s deathly afraid of spiders. The suspense was enhanced. She persevered in spite of her phobia. Consider the influences your character has experienced to create a background that helps drive them to whatever goal they seek. Fear comes when we are not in control of a bad situation. 7. Internal Dialogue
Every situation we encounter encourages internal dialogue. We are always thinking about our surroundings, our plans, or our expectations. I challenge you to remember a time when you weren’ t thinking about something.
WRITERS’ TRICKS OF THE TRADE
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SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2016