The Writer's Corner: Developing Characters

Since I seriously began writing several years ago I am constantly working on improving my craft.  A friend of mine told me recently that to get good at anything you need 10,000 hours of practice. Of course, I had to translate that to something that had meaning to me so I figured out that if you treated the art of writing like a job and practiced 40 hours a week - it would take you 4.81 YEARS to develop any degree of proficiency. Which seems completely reasonable to me. And which also means I have a LOT of practice yet to do!!

One of the areas that I want to specifically focus my efforts on this year is the art of developing characters.  There has been many a discussion about what drives a story: Plot or characters?  Though I love a good plot full of unexpected twists and turns, my answer always falls on the side of characters. Because if I don't care about the characters, I don't care about the twists and turns.

As writers, we probably all know about creating character charts - basically a summary of character traits, both physical and emotional. But it's the next step that intrigues me - creating scenes that show how the forces of the physical and emotional backstory are reflected in the character's actions, ie. creating character motivation.

I read a great blog post recently, written by my class of 2k11 buddy, Tess Hilmo, talking about character tells vs. character traits. (You can read Tess' whole post here.)   I'd never even heard of character tells before but basically a character tell is something they do that reveals something of their character. For example, a character straightening their tie incessantly. Tess's well-made point is that the 'tell' should also be built in with a trait to create more depth. For instance,  the tie straightening could reflect the character's insecurity - if that is the intent then that 'tell' should also be reinforced with insecurity being a trait of the character and flesh that out with other examples.

I found another fascinating blog post by Livia Blackburne about building strong characters by having them act out of character. (Read her post here.) We all get an initial first impression of characters when we start reading.  Livia's suggestion is to have a character act completely opposite to the reader's initial first impression to create a powerful dramatic effect.

On that same note, my family has just started watching the TV series, LOST. (I know, I know, we're a few years behind...) Anyway, the point is, I made a comment to my husband last night that it was interesting how our loyalties to the characters shift as we grow to more about them. Our initial first impressions were not always accurate, which does make the character infinitely more interesting.

There's lots more to discuss on this topic but tell me what do you think makes characters memorable?

Who are some of your favorite literary characters?

~Kiki

When Songs Inspire Characters, Where do Characters Come From and other Musings

I guess we’ll call this blog post Monday Musings cuz it’s late and it’s possible I could be rambling here.  I’m still thinking about inspiration (my post on Friday) and story development and how characters form in the writer’s head.

I know many authors create playlists for when they write.  Or playlists after they’ve written a book that are evocative of the story. Stephenie Meyer, of Twilight fame, went on her book tour and brought along a musician who inspired her.  I’ve talked to other authors who were inspired to write a book from hearing a particular song. Conversely, I read somewhere that Kenny Chesney wrote a song, I think it’s called You Had Me from Hello, after seeing the movie, Jerry Maguire.

There are times when certain songs really resonate with me. It’s almost like there’s a familiarity the first time I hear them, as if I already know the song, even when I haven’t heard it before. And I play them over and over and over until I drive everyone around me completely mad.

Anyway, where this is all leading is that a song that I love recently inspired a new character. I’ve been working on THE TARA STONE, which is the third book in my series THE FAERIE RING. The story deals with the ancient Irish Faerie Court and a character named Finn MacLochlan. Well, The Script’s song, I’m Yours, (YouTube video of the song at the bottom of this post) seems to perfectly describe this character in my head.  One stanza in particular actually inspired the addition of another character:

                      The day news came my best friend died

                      My knees grew weak, you saw me cry

                      Say I’m still the soldier in your eyes

So, from this bit of inspiration, the character of Fraoch O’Donoghue developed.  Of course, the writer of this song is The Script’s Danny O’Donoghue, so Fraoch’s last name is a little nod to the songwriter’s talent, who very conveniently, happens to be Irish.

I don’t know if this book will sell, but if it does - and if you read it – now you know a little secret about where Fraoch came from.

So you tell me: Where do ideas for your characters come from?  There is a post over on the Elevensies today asking about where character names come from  -pop over and see what responses they got.