How to Make Your Characters Dynamic

The most interesting characters are those that change throughout the story. Examining what events will affect the characters perception and personality will not only help you understand the character better, it will start the process of developing the plot of the novel. I think that both the protagonist and the antagonist should be dynamic characters. If the novel is a romance, the love interest should also change as the story progresses.

Here are some questions that will help you determine how your major characters change throughout the novel.

What is the character’s self-image at the beginning? Is she an introvert or an extrovert? Is she an optimist or a pessimist?

At the beginning of the story, what makes the character happy or sad? What does the character want most? If she could change one thing about her life, what would it be?

How do others perceive the character at the start of the story?

Now, envision the character changing events that will become part of the plot. What obstacles are overcome? What decisions does the character make? What are the character’s significant successes or failures?

As a result of these events, what personality traits change throughout the story and are those changes desired or undesired? Do they make the character a better person or a worse person?

After brainstorming the major events in the plot that change the character, you should revisit the questions on self-image, things that make the character happy or sad, and what the character wants most at the end of the story.

Finally, how do others perceive the character at the end of the story? Who is affected by the changes in the character and how are they affected.

The main character in my self-published trilogy, The Queen of the Night Series, starting with SEEING MAGIC, is Maggie Stewart. At the beginning of the trilogy she is a self-absorbed, materialistic, shallow teenage girl from California. Her biggest worry is whether to hang out at the beach or the mall with her girlfriends. After her mother’s battle with cancer, and her own battle against the goddess of the Moon, she transforms into an environmental activist and community leader. Find out more about Maggie and her transformation at http://www.amazon.com/author/lauraewrites/.

Maggie is definitely a heroine and my next post will examine two studies of the Hero’s Journey. One examines the concept from the perspective of the great Greek heroes in classical literature. The other started as a primer for scriptwriters of Disney fairytale movies for kids. Until then, keep developing those characters. By the time Nanowrimo starts in November, they will be good friends and the words will flow from your fingertips.

 

Is It Okay to Talk to Your Fictional Characters?

I find that if I know my characters well before I start writing my novel, I’m less likely to develop writer’s block. For that reason, I spend a good deal of time developing my characters before I ever start writing the book, or before I develop the plot.

Every story has a main character. The main character is usually the good guy, or the protagonist. The main character is always dynamic. Throughout the course of the story, the main character will change. Either their personality will evolve, their career path, or purpose in life will become clear. Whatever the story, at the end of the novel, the main character will not be the same person he or she was at the beginning.

In order to conceptualize this change, I want to know everything about my main character. More importantly, I need to like her. Most of my stories feature bright, capable young women who reach beyond their fears and limitations to achieve something great. That means my main character is a heroine, changed by some event that she could not have anticipated.

I start with a detailed character sketch. I ask the questions, what is/are…

·                     Her name, and/or nickname,

·                     Her physical appearance,

·                     Her family, or who lives with her, including pets

·                     Her closest friends and her mentor,

·                     Her love interest (if any),

·                     Her worst enemy,

·                     Her personality traits, i.e. introvert/extrovert, quirks, assumptions, secrets, regrets, weaknesses, vices and past trauma,

·                     Her goals, dreams and fears,

·                     Her special skills or innate abilities,

·                     Her religion or moral values,

·                     Her likes and dislikes, i.e., favorite color, food, music, etc., and

·                     Her most significant childhood memory, and character changing events in life so far.

How do I find out the answers to these questions? I ask her. So yes, it is okay to talk to your fictional characters, provided they don’t really talk back. After all, as Hermione said, “Hearing voices is never a good thing.”

Good luck getting to know your main character. In the next post, I’ll discuss how a character changes over the course of the story and how to develop that change as part of your character sketch.

 

Remember to check out my books at

www.amazon.com/author/lauraewrites

Prepping for Nanowrimo 2016

What’s the trick to writing a good novel? I don’t know, and I’ve written eight of them. I do know that every novel must have three things: interesting characters, fascinating settings and an intriguing plot. This year, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I want to develop these three things for my own novels. I’ll discuss exercises, templates, outlines and examples of how to develop these elements of novel-writing before starting a new novel, and hopefully, become better prepared for Nanowrimo 2016 this November.

I use Scrivener to organize my novels. My Scrivener template will be available on my Google Drive for anyone who wishes to download it. Just follow the link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzGNFy181nZiM0J5TGI3WXJyUkE/

My template is organized into the following sections:

1.      Manuscript – Chapters and Scenes

2.      Plot Development – contains exercises and the final outline

3.      Character Development – contains useful exercises for developing characters

4.      Setting Development – contains links and ideas for visualizing settings

5.      Front Matter – Contains elements needed for publication like copyright notices and dedications

6.      Research – a repository of all research including web pages and scanned items

7.      Marketing – a repository for submissions to agents, contest entries and advertising

If you want to get your own copy of Scrivener, go to their web site at http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php/.

My next post will examine how to develop an interesting character, and don’t forget to check out my self-published novels at http://www.amazon.com/author/lauraewrites/.