One thing I love about the holidays is the Twilight Zone marathons. This last Thursday was no exception. One episode caught my son’s interest. In A WORLD OF HIS OWN, a playwright’s wife catches him with another woman. Problem is the other woman somehow ‘disappeared’. The playwright then confesses his ability to make his characters come right to life. Unfortunately the wife finds out the hard way that she is one of his characters too.
My son asked me, “Mommy, wouldn’t it be cool to do that?”
How often do our characters speak to us? I decided last month I’d start a new project. I wanted it to be something unlike anything I’ve written so far. Well, my characters got very antsy, one in particular. I swear Carter, kept on me to write certain scenes and he couldn’t wait for me to get to act two of my story where he meets Esperanza.
We all know the rules on writing characters. To avoid stereotypes and clichés. One thing I learned from a UCI extension class I took with Louella Nelson is to sketch out my characters. I go through magazines and tear out photos of people I think would look like my characters though with my current project I went to iStock. Then I list down all their strengths, weaknesses, quirks, and a wound. For example in CROSSED OUT, Stephanie’s wound is she doesn’t trust authority.
Another big thing I learned is to flesh out the villain. Some of my favorite villains of all time include Spike from BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, Damon from VAMPIRE DIARIES, and yes, Rhett Butler from GONE WITH THE WIND. I try to show some weakness from my villains. It’s like someone once told me when I was writing my memoir on my life growing up with a bipolar father, that I needed to look for vulnerability. Yes, it was tough but doable.
What are some ways you bring your characters to life?
I loved Spike! He had so many sides to him that he was amazing to watch. I agree that we need to create characters like that. Ones that will surprise us. Ones that will have us rooting for them--even if they are the bad guy.
ReplyDeleteI love giving my characters quirks. Griffin bites his nails and has an allergy to fire (which is a pain, as he controls the ancient elements of Earth and Fire.) Basil is picky about grammar; he is constantly correcting his young apprentice. Drives Griffin crazy.
ReplyDeleteOMG, I keep forgetting they're not real...
LOL, I know what you mean!
ReplyDeleteI also cut pictures from magazines and cataloges of my characters and tape them on poster board above my desk so I can look at the while I'm writing. Seeing the way their hair curls or the smug expression on a face gives me ideas of how they would act in certain situations in the story. This is similar to the vision boarding workshop I did at the library last week.
ReplyDeleteMy Lizzie sometimes bends the truth to suit her, which I think adds to her independent personality.
The characters, to me, make the story. :)
Totally. Now I'm going to watch Taylor Swift, who happens to be my character Jordan's favorite singer. I'll be listening a lot to her this coming year. Also I plan on making an announcement by next week on her story!
ReplyDeleteI always cut out photos too!!! And I conduct "interviews." Good tools.
ReplyDeleteI love taping pictures of my characters to the wall. I use both magazines and online stock photo sites like corbis.com. I write character taglines on the margin as well as key dispositions/quirks. Whenever I get stuck, I just look at the picture and ask the character what they would do.
ReplyDeleteI already like your character b/c Taylor Swift is my fave singer too!
ReplyDeletebeth-project52.blogspot.com
Taylor Swift is so talented and down to Earth. Another writer friend of mine sent me a link to LOVE STORY and said, "This is so Jordan's music." I agree!
ReplyDeleteNp photos for me. My heroes and heroines always come to me in words.
ReplyDeleteI'm a visional learner and have to see things, one reason why I love to rip out photos of people I think would look like my characters. Plus, it's fun too.
ReplyDeleteJL, my characters whisper to me about things they want--like Carter getting very impatient for me to write the scene he finally meets Espie. I had to tell him to chill or take a cold shower!