Make Your Characters Real

 THE CREATIVE PROCESS

It's easy to fall into the trap of not fully "fleshing out" our characters.  Even with strong GMCs, our characters can still be flat and uninteresting.  And boring characters will have readers closing the book.

What does "fleshing out" mean?

Fleshing out means to expand or become more substantial.  For writers it means making characters more human.  There's nothing worse than a perfect person...or a perfect character.  And that's as if there really was a perfect person.  We do try, but we're human...and that's what the characters in our stories should be.

Each character must have, well, character.  After all, that's why they're called characters. ;)  Character is made up of different things.  Because no one (especially our characters!) is perfect, there are both positive and negative traits within our personalities, just as we have strengths and weaknesses.

• Human Traits
• Strengths
• Weaknesses

When thinking of main characters in a romance (hero and heroine), having different and sometime opposing traits, strengths and weaknesses, is ideal.  Here's a short list for some ideas:

Disciplined/Free Spirit
Homebody/Nomad
Driven & Determined/Lives for the Moment
Cheerful/Angry
Courageous/Fearful
Rigid/Adaptable

Don't shy away from putting them at odds from the very beginning.  Do be sure each trait is motivated (think backstory of character).  What has happened to the character in the past?  Or is happening now that will keep them apart?  (Remember that Push/Pull thing.)  For some reason, these characters should not come together and have a happily ever after.  Read the back covers of your favorite books for ideas, but mix them up, don't steal. ;)  It doesn't matter if the hero and heroine have a past together or not.  Don't always stay in the safe zone.  Mix it up.  The only thing to keep in mind is that motivation.

Give your characters weaknesses.  That's what makes them interesting and real.  Fear works well as a conflict.  It builds conflict.  Connect that fear to the the character's backstory and well-motivated goal that are counter to the other character's, and you're building the conflict between them.

Make them human.  Give your characters a personal habit or small mannerism that sets him/her apart.  I recently turned in a book with a hero who answers "Right," instead of "Yes" or "Okay."  I didn't intend it to happen, but that was a part of him.  Does the heroine cross her legs and nervously wave one foot when seated?  Does she slap her hands on her hips and jut out her chin when angry?  Be a people-watcher for mannerisms to use.

Make them different, even when it's different from the "real" them.
I'm a huge Susan Elizabeth Phillips fan.  Her books are funny and wildly emotional.  I have three that are my favorites.  The first is IT HAD TO BE YOU (Chicago Stars Series).  The heroine, Phoebe Sommerville, is my all-time favorite heroine, so when I had the good fortune to attend a writers' workshop given by SEP, I was thrilled when she talked about building characters using Phoebe as a example.  If you haven't read IT HAD TO BE YOU, Phoebe is a buxom, curvaceous woman and always dresses to show it off, who happens to wear pristine, white underclothing.  Nope, no thongs or bikini undies for her.  She uses her seemingly sexual appearance (through clothing, swiveling hips and pouty lips) as a shield to hide the real her.  There are reasons, meaning she is well-motivated.  What I remember most of that workshop was SEP sharing that she started with a very private heroine, who wore white, common-sense undies and bras.  That was the skeleton of the character.  As SEP built the rest of the character from the inside out,  Phoebe became a "sexpot" on the outside.  People saw one type of woman, but inside there was an insecure girl.  So even within one character, there was conflict, and that's what it's all about. Of course there's always Push/Pull within a character.  It's the I want but I can't have conundrum.  Let's face it, we all have a secret self.

The above is a reminder that our characters should reveal their true selves to the reader, long before revealing it to the other character.  Do it slow and easy.  Don't dump it immediately.  And when you do bring it out, little by little, show it, don't tell it.

Make your characters three-dimensional by using:

• Internal thoughts
• Emotions
• Actions

While your character may say and act one way, what that character is thinking (internal thoughts) and feeling may be quite the opposite.  Be certain you don't forget that or leave it out.  A character may be hard and unforgiving, but when it's shown that it isn't so by using internal thoughts along with clear motivation, that character has dimension.  As for actions, we all know the old saying that actions speak louder than words. Tears welling in the eyes, tone of voice, teeth or hand clenching, and more can be felt by the character and seen by the other.

Make them unforgettable.

When readers close your book at the end, you want them to feel an emotion.  A good emotion.  A smile, a happy sigh or even a tear will endear a reader to your characters and your book.  Make those characters touch the heart by becoming "real."

“I will go to my grave in a state of abject endless fascination that we all have the capacity to become emotionally involved with a personality that doesn't exist.” 

― Berkeley Breathed

Building the Story: Characters

THE CREATIVE PROCESS

As I work on making changes on a proposal, I'm given pause to think about how important characters are to the plot of a book.  It's characters and our love of them that make a great story.  And, yes, even a mountain or a whale can become characters that change another character.

In romance, our characters are sometimes both two protagonists, while also being the antagonists.  If the two solve their differences--of which there should be one tough one and other smaller ones--and the conflict is resolved too early, the story dies.  While it's nice to see two people get together, it's even better when there are problems to deal with and eventually solve to get to that happily ever after.

I'll freely admit that I'm constantly learning, and I appreciate that I have an editor who is willing to teach me, in a asking-the-right-questions way.  I truly appreciate that she makes me dig deeper to build better characters, GMC and, in the end, stories.  If that means reworking a project, so be it.  One more lesson learned by redoing.

Making mistakes (by not fleshing out the character and their emotional conflict, as was my recent case) does teach us, if we let them.  Throwing up our hands and giving up is the stuff of people who refuse to try, to learn, and to redo, if necessary.  And we all make mistakes, whether in our writing or our lives.  It's making the most of them--learning from them--that makes us better writers and people.

So how do characters help build our story?  Much of it comes back to good, ol' GMC, but if the Conflict isn't strong enough, the story is weakened.  That's what I was facing last week.  Yes, there was conflict between my H/H, but as my editor pointed out, it wasn't strong enough.  It needed to be something other than their conflict in the past.  It could stem from the past, but it had to be an emotional NOW not THEN.

Once I gave some thought to what she said--and added the brainstorming genius of a writer friend (Thanks, Kristi! And Kathie for the ranching info!)--I was on the road to a better, more emotional story.  The basis was there, but the push-pull of the romance and the conflict needed to be pumped up.

The characters themselves was the answer, and it had been there from the beginning.  I just hadn't dug deep enough to reach it.  Once it was pointed out to me that the two characters were a lot alike, that their biggest strength was also their greatest weakness, that push-pull emerged.  Two people, who had always insisted on having complete control of their lives and everything involved, would always be at odds, often about nearly everything.  Add in the past they shared that had often found them not only at loggerheads, but as adversaries, in spite of their secret attraction to each other, and that conflict is going to grow larger when they meet again.  Not to mention that night, fifteen years ago...

Just what is push-pull and how does a writer use it?  Take two people who might not normally be even friends, much less lovers, throw them into something that will push them together and make them grow.  But don't forget to throw in something that will pull them apart, not once, but several times.  Think turning points.  Yes, those things that change the course of the characters and/or their journey to their goal, and sometimes even their goal.  Keep their motivation in mind, too, since it's the reason for those goals.

Turning points can be both negative and positive.  Growing closer is a positive (push), whether it's a first kiss or a realization or acknowledgement of love that brings them emotionally closer.  But it's those negative ones (pull)--the overheard conversation, the words or actions of one, the knowledge of something previously unknown and not particularly welcome--that keep the story rolling and the reader reading.  When it comes to characters, bring them up, then smack them down.  Torture them, but don't forget to reward them.

Digging deeper isn't always easy, but it's well worth the time and effort.  In the end, it will make for a better, emotional book.

Shameless Promotion
The story that spawned this blog post is still in the submission stage, but it's the story of the sister of two brothers who are the heroes in two books coming out this year.  This new sister/heroine does make an appearance in both, so it's become close to my heart.  Only time will tell if Erin's story will hit the stands. Until then, I hope you'll give her brothers' books a read.

Especially for fans of cowboy heroes...singing ones...

Don't miss Kristi Gold's THE CLOSER YOU GET, available NOW!

A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success. ~ Elbert Hubbard 

Time Off

THE WRITING LIFE

The time came for me to keep a running To Do list.  I kept forgetting to do things, then rushing to get them done when I realized they needed attention.  My list never seems to be finished.  Each day I add something new, in spite of marking off at least one or two items that were already there.

Sometimes we simply need to take a break.

In addition to writing, I design author websites and provide childcare for my grandkids.  All but one of the five (a step-grand makes it six) is in school.  (Hear my hallelujah?)  So last week, still in the throes of not having my taxes filed yet, website work to do, and a proposal that needs some changes and polishing, my youngest daughter decides we need to take the youngest grand (her niece) to the zoo.  One more thing to add to the list.  But I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Okay, if you really want to."  After all, there's a special admission price this month on Wednesdays, making it less painful on the pocketbook.

With a backpack stuffed with sandwiches, and my camera in hand, we went to the zoo.  It's been a while since we've gone.  In fact, Payton (above with the bears) has never been to our zoo.  She wasn't exactly wild about the idea at first, but once there, when told, "Come on, we have to go," after looking over an animal, she cried.  Yeah, I think she liked it. :)

We have a wonderful zoo here, much better than the tiny (free) one in a park that I visited as a child.  Not that I've never seen better than that old one.  I've been to some of the best, including the Chicago Zoo and the San Diego Zoo.  But I have to say that ours now ranks among the best.  While there are some of the more common animals (lions and tigers and bears and, of course, elephants, and Michael Jackson once bought a baby giraffe from our zoo), we include the more uncommon from all over the world.  The best part is that the animals are shown in their natural habitat, not sleeping or pacing in cages.

Stork

The zoo is divided into sections, including areas of the world.  There's the Children's Farms that include an Asian Farm, American Farm, and African Farm.  Our new Penguin Cove opened a few years ago, and there's an indoor Amphibian & Reptile building, that begins with three large, and very old, tortoises and ends with the snakes (shiver).  Since seeing Harry Potter, I have images still in my mind of how the glass disappeared when I stand in front of the Anaconda exhibit.

Inside the Jungle

The Jungle building is one of the most popular and includes not only a real waterfall, but fruit bats flying freely and vampire bats in a dark, glassed in area.  Plants are everywhere, and the birds are free to fly and roam...and make a lot of noise.  There's the North American area, with bears and buffaloes and more, the Gorilla Forest that's so much fun to watch.  Africa and Asia, which includes the Tiger Trek, moves on to Australia and South America.  Most of the animals from those last two regions were unavailable, thanks to our colder weather here, but we'll catch them the next time.

Gorilla playing with a sheet

The exhibits are all well-marked as is the way to each area, and the information shared on each animal is fascinating.  School children from the city and surrounding school districts take trips to the zoo every year and learn new things.  And, yes, I do read those information signs.  Flamingos get their pink/orange color from eating greens that contain iodine.  I remember the flamingos at Cyprus Gardens in Florida when I was child, but I never knew until yesterday that the underside of a flamingos wings are black, thanks to them taking low flight from the shore to the pond yesterday.

While it wasn't the beautiful day forecasted, and the sun refused to come out from behind thick clouds, with a stiff breeze and 10 degrees cooler than expected, we still had a wonderful time!  Proof, once again, that time off is needed by everyone, and it doesn't take much to make some of those times memorable.

“Sometimes it's important to work for that pot of gold. But other times it's essential to take time off and to make sure that your most important decision in the day simply consists of choosing which color to slide down on the rainbow.” ~ Douglas Pagels