NaNo Need-to-Knows: Your Characters

As part of my NaNo Need-to-Knows series, I'm sharing advice on the things you need in order to get through NaNoWriMo. (Click here for a list of links for the ongoing series.)

For the rest of October, the blog part of this series will deal with some writing technique things you need to know in order to create a strong NaNoWriMo Novel.

Since I'm more of a character-driven writer, I'm starting with characterization, but you can sort out the plot-related aspects first, if that's what you want. (I'll be starting with those on Monday.)

But what does one have to figure out with regards to characterization? And why is it important?

Who Is Your Main Character?

Do they have a name? What do they do? What do they want? What are their hopes, dreams and aspirations? What are they willing to do in order to achieve those? What are their worst fears? What are they willing to do to avoid those?

Yes, the way a character looks can be important for description purposes, but when it comes to creating a strong story, you need to go deeper than the superficial. 

Why? 

Because knowing your character means you know what your character will do in a given situation, which in turn can help you drive the plot forward as you write. 

Is your character prone to keeping grudges? Then having something happen to make them want to avenge themselves will be a great way to set a strong story goal. AND your character will want to go after that goal. 

Want means there are now personal stakes to achieving the goal, which is one of the best ways to maintain tension in a story. 

So make sure you get to know your character before you start, or that you create enough opportunities in your writing during NaNoWriMo to explore your characterization. 

Some ways to do this exploration before NaNoWriMo: 

• Spend time to create detailed notes as you build your character. I've heard the snowflake method is particularly good for this. (As with most plotting-related activities.) 
• Or you can take my approach of assuming a character to be a real person that you need to get to know. This approach might be out there, but I find that, if I treat characters like real people, they tend to feel more real in my writing too. Often, I simply do this by letting them live and make their own decisions in a story as I write, but if I want to prepare ahead, I do interviews with my characters. Yes, I literally act like I'm drinking coffee with a character. I'll ask them all kinds of stuff, having some real, deep conversations with them, and then I'll note down their answers. Not only does doing this help you understand a character, but it also helps you nail down the rhythms and cadences of their voice. (Which does come in handy later.) 

What Motivates Your Characters? 

In simple terms, character motivation is the reason behind the reason behind the reason behind the reason why a character does something. Think of it like peeling an onion. There's the skin at the surface, but under that is another layer, and another, and another. The deeper you go, the closer to the heart you get. 

And if you can get to the heart of any situation with a character, you can use that to strengthen the impact of what's going on. You'll also instantly know when a scene doesn't make sense, if it goes against the character's motivation. 

For example. You have a character (let's call her Sally), who gives a bitchy response to a snarky comment from another character (Dan).

Sally could theoretically have hundreds of choices about how she's going to respond to Dan's sass, and she goes for being nasty. Why? Why didn't she walk away instead? Or play sweet? 

Because she sees every sassy comment as an attack on her person and feels the need to retaliate. Why? 

Because she feels like the whole world is out to get her and she needs to fight to survive. Why? 

Because she's seen the hard side of the world and has been in survival mode her entire life. 

Why?

....

And this can go on forever, really. The deeper you go, the more information you have to mine. Just three why's in and we have a very tantalizing clue about Sally's backstory that can help fill her out as a character. And the deeper you go, the more info you'll have. So keep asking why.

Another benefit to knowing your characters' motivations is that you can create some incredibly compelling conflict just by having two characters' motivations and the resulting desires they have oppose each other. 

Characters wanting things are nice. But I frequently want to eat a chocolate. What do they need? What is the thing they would do anything to get because that need comes from the depths of their souls? Those are the truly important things, and if Sally needs something to happen, and Dan equally needs that same thing not to occur, you have instant fireworks. So take the time to learn your characters' motivations, and then figure out if you can put them in opposition to each other. 

It just livens up every scene containing those characters, because now every moment between them matters. 

Thanks for reading! How do you approach characterization? Any further characterization advice? 

Next week, I'll be talking about story goals and inciting incidents, and why they're important. And on my vlog on Friday, I'll be sharing tips on how to choose between story ideas for NaNo. If you're a Patreon patron for as little as $1 a month, you'll be able to watch my vlog post on Thursday instead. 

A romance trend I wish would die.

Anyone who knows me knows that I don't put books down.

Really, I don't.

But I did last Friday. It was a romance, and I had almost reached 50% when I gave up on it. The last straw isn't something I'm going to discuss, since I think it's specific enough that people might recognize the book, and I just don't do that.

I will, however share what had me laboring through a few hundred pages for eight freaking hours on a public holiday.

Conflict. See conflict to a writer is supposed to be something that keeps a main character from achieving his/her goal. When it comes to pure romance, it's about what's keeping the characters apart. Sometimes, it's something like either the hero (MMC) or heroine (FMC) being engaged, or them wanting opposite things in life, or one just not possibly imagining that the other could be a suitable spouse/partner/whatever.

With the latter, it's usually about one or both of the characters being magnificent assholes/bitches. (Think Jack Nicholson in Something's Gotta Give or Sandra Bullock in The Proposal. Or my personal favorite: Harrison Ford in Sabrina.)

Now rule of thumb is that the more hard-assed and untameable the character, the sweeter the happy ending. And time and time again I have seen people simply taking this rule at face value and abusing it. Which often takes the form of the "Happy Ending" being with someone who's either almost or fully abusive. This is particularly prevalent in the falling for the alpha male trope.

The argument could be made of "what message is this sending to the reader", but as is very well documented on my blog, I don't believe in moral preaching in my writing. As such I won't expect it from others.

I do, however have a major issue with writers abusing that rule for one season and one reason alone:

Suspension of disbelief.

Any fictional story, no matter how realistically written, requires for a reader to suspend disbelief. With romance, this is incredibly important because the reader must want to believe that two characters will be together. Because unlike most other genres, this goal is usually not decided on by the characters. (The opposite, in fact.) It's all in the reader's mind.

So if one of the characters in the prospective couple is an asshole (since I mentioned the alpha male, the character will be male. This is the same for female characters too, though), the writer has an additional problem. She/he will have to engage people in the asshole enough for the readers to want him to end up with the FMC. And then, the readers must believe that the FMC would be happy with him. 

This can be done in a variety of ways. First, by showing the reader that there are other sides to him. That there's more to him than the hard-assed exterior. (And even if there is, nothing excuses him from remaining an ass towards the FMC in the end. I repeat: NOTHING.)

The second (and I admit a preferable way) is for the character to go through a growth arc before the get-together in the end. Note the three movies I mentioned above all have this happening.

But in no shape or form is half-way the place to start with this. If it's half-way into a romance and I as the reader would reverse over a character if I hypothetically hit him/her with a car, there's something seriously wrong. And if I get to the end and the character has nothing redeeming him (hot sex doesn't count), the writer of that book has essentially betrayed the trust required for suspension of disbelief. Because 1) I don't want the FMC to spend the rest of her life with and asshole because 2) I can't imagine her life being happy for long because of it.

So please please please, romance authors. Throw us readers a bone. Let us actually like the characters as much as you do?

Flaws and Sympathy

Last week, I wrote a post about complex characters and how to write them.

Basically I think it comes down to showing more than one side of a personality, the good, the bad and the ugly.

It's amazing how often new writers are scared of doing this. I was too. When I started writing my fantasy epic, I was honestly terrified of my decision to write complex characters. After all, fantasy is traditionally the land of noble souls, so I was worried that writing something that veers of far from that, I'd alienate my readers.

And you know, it didn't.

In fact, I ended up loving all of my characters, although two of them are capable of being complete bastards. More importantly, the people who've read my novel so far do too.

There are more than one reason for this, but today I want to focus on one.

Sympathy.

A reader is drawn into a story because of sympathy for the character leading them through it. There are a variety of ways to win sympathy for your character. If you're interested, I suggest you see Moody's series on it.

All of Mood's suggestions are valid. To summarize the series to date:
1) Put them in danger.
2) Make them suffer.
3) Strength of character
4) Have the character be an outcast.

I agree, but there's another aspect to emotional attachment between a reader and a character. Emotion. Specifically: the character's emotions.

You see, putting characters through the grinder isn't enough. In fact, it can be a very risky thing to do if it's not coming organically out of the story.

Aside: "organic" as I'm using it now applies to both plotters and pantsers. There are things that happen in a story because it makes sense within the story (organic). Or things happen because the authors need them for the story to make sense. (not-organic)

The risk comes from the fact that readers immediately pick up on non-organic events. (More on these later.) So instead of sympathy, just adding the four factors above will have readers rolling their eyes at best.

Instead, I propose to writers, the emotions themselves are what make the connection. A characters emotions make a reader's move in resonance. (I.E. they strike a chord.) Complexity of emotion along with complexity of character will move the reader completely. That's why characters can be terrible personalities, but still loved.

In every situation. What is the character feeling? Loss? Fear? Dread? Hope? Love? Anger? Resentment? The options go on and on. How the character reacts emotionally will give the reader something to hold on to.

For an example of what I mean, look at Katniss from the Hunger Games Trilogy. She's mean, cynical, stubborn and out for her own interests above those of others. Not exactly likable noble character material. Yet, she kept millions of readers interested through three books. Why? Because below everything she says and does, she has a depth of emotion that I hazard to say has been unrivaled by her fictional contemporaries. With all her flaws, she deeply loves her sister, which is why she basically agrees to go to killing fields instead of her. That love is what keeps her going in the killing fields despite the terror and all the other mixed emotions that go with it. I personally couldn't care less about a character named Katniss about to die. I care about a fictional person who did something completely against her personality traits because her love for her sister over-rode everything else. My suspicion is, I'm not alone.

So to evoke sympathy, let the reader see what's going on with a character, even when it's only glimpses. Don't only make them suffer and go on a murderous rampage. Have them howling in pain first. And for heaven's sake, motivate the pain by love.

Letting the reader see hurt and love and doubt, gives him or her a hold they won't release until the end.

If you manage to do those right, fitting with your character, all those dirty tricks needed for creating sympathy come out on their own.

How do you go about evoking sympathy for your characters?

Before you go, please remember to vote for some awesome bloggers, and to check out my Word Master Challenge. Six more days left to enter. Have a great weekend! 

Writing a complex character

Well today I finally get to go back to my roots a little, as a writing blogger. Hmm. Sorry, that's a bit of a terrible way to put it.

I blog about writing. Sometimes I blog about my own writing progress, other times I dig into some aspect of writing for whoever feels the need for advice and/or information. 

So. 

Complex characters. 

If you think about it, complex characters are the Holy Grail of characterization. It's something even some best sellers fail miserably at. Not naming names, but I'm sure you can find a few in your memory where their books had great plot, but almost no character depth. 

I also get the feeling that, if you found this post in a search, you're probably plot-driven writer. There's nothing in the world wrong with that. You'll write page-turners, with your natural sense of plot. 

You also know that flat characters are standing between your novel and brilliance. 

Complexity isn't easy to create, though. Yet it is. Sorry. I know this seems confusing, but bear with me. 

Now I'm going to briefly confuse you more. In my own experience of writing, creating a complex character is about not creating him or her. It's simply about creating a character. 

But you've done that, you might say. 

Yes you have. What you haven't done, is give the reader subtle glimpses of the character's other sides. 

Yes, the baddy is amazingly evil. Why? Did someone hurt him? Is he secretly an idealist? Only you know. If your answer is that the baddy is evil because he's evil, odds are he's flat. 

Same goes for your protagonist. No person is perfect. And flat, perfect guys are boring. I'm not saying you should go and change the character into an anti-hero. Anti-heroes can be flat too. Because they're just assholes who stumble into saving the day. 

Everyone has good characteristics and bad ones. Everyone has things they want and don't want. Everyone has bad moments. Everyone has good moments. 

For an excellent and recent example of what I mean, watch Skyfall. The villain is capable of terrible cruelty. He's smart, ruthless and willing to kill to get what he wants. And what he wants is to destroy M. 

But. He's not all about murder and bloodshed. A significant portion of him is, yes. But there are moments when M makes him cry. He's even capable of being incredibly gentle and caring. When he tries to convince Bond to go rogue, he tries to make it look like it's the sensible thing to do. It honestly feels as if he's doing it because he thinks he'd help Bond. After all, if he didn't give a damn, he could have killed him. On the other hand, it might be because he knows he'd hurt M by turning Bond against her. 

All of that going on with a single villain. 

That's depth. 

Giving the character a chance to show more than one side to their personality. 

Your job is to do it with subtlety. Which is the hard part.  

How do you write complex characters? 

Before I go, I want to let you know that I'm willing to answer any writing and edit-related questions on my blog and by e-mail. If you have one, please contact me at mishagericke(AT)gmail(DOT)com. 

OOH yes! Don't forget to check out my Word Master Challenge. It's a great, fun way to stretch your writing skills and there are prizes to be won.