Secondary Characters

I moderated an interesting panel discussion at Archon 39 this past weekend. "When Your Secondary Characters Demand Their Own Stories", with panelists Jacqueline Carey, Adrian J. Matthews, Cindy A. Matthews, Henry Melton and myself, started with examples of just those times. At first, these seemed to point out the differences between "plotters" - those who plot out their stories beforehand - and "pantsers" - those who write by the seat of their pants with no initial plan. "Pantsers" had characters who seemed to wander into a story while "plotters" didn't allow their characters to stray outside their predetermined roles.

But, as the discussion went on, it turned out that there wasn't that much difference between the two sliding scales of writing. What mattered was the character. Some background characters could appear, speak their lines or carry a spear, and vanish in the next paragraph. A secondary character could stay in the shadow of the main character, never moving out of the role of the main character's best friend or supporting team. But then there are those, that due to either being so well developed or with such an interesting backstory, that somehow catch enough interest (either the author's or readers') that people demand that more be told. Cindy Matthews found it happened with just one throwaway line spoken by a character. Henry Melton noticed one secondary character had become so interesting that he realized that the story should be about that character, the father of the main character, rather than the son.

Several of my short stories in Agents and Adepts are due to my own "secondary characters want their own story" issue. While looking for a publisher for my first book, The Crystal Throne, I found my Fleet Ones, a race of talking horselike beings in that book, rather pushy in that regard. Renw's story of how he teamed up with an elf to become a scout was something I had to explore, as well as how Elin left the herd to learn magic. Elin even pushed his way into Talking to Trees.

Is this something you can plan? The panelists were divided on that. In order to make a story interesting, you have to have interesting characters. One way to make a character interesting is to mention details, such as what the character likes or dislikes, mannerisms, etc. The more details we know about the character, the better. The problem comes with knowing so much about the character that she or he takes over the story. The panelists did agree that, if a character doesn't fit a story, no matter how interesting he or she is, for the sake of the story it might be best to move him or her to another file to save for another story.

Patricia Wrede covers this dilemma well in her tips on writing about secondary characters.

What secondary characters are you aware of that have gone on to their stories?

Family Tree

When I was in grammar school, one of our assignments was to create a family tree. I don't remember if the assignment was in Social Studies or Geography, but I do remember making the chart of my grandparents, their children, and my immediate family. Many of my classmates had larger charts, but mine was short generation-wise and large family-wise.

Family trees and the importance of knowing family history popped up here and there in many of the books I read when I was young. Little Women followed by Little Men, Eight Cousins, and even Freckles, which had a side plot of tracking down a child left at an orphanage. Several series of horse and dog books emphasized lineage and traits passed down from parent to child. And then came Lord of the Rings with its various family lines of elf, dwarf, hobbit and humans all looking back to an important ancestor or down to a descendant destined for impressive deeds.

Sometime after college I decided to do some research into my family tree. According to my father, his father cut himself off from his family, which was why that side of the family only seemed to start with my grandfather. I contacted my father’s oldest sister and fortunately she was able to remember more about both my grandparents on that side, including names of great-grandparents.

My mother's side presented some difficulties, as my mother was an only child. Although my mother had died while I was in college, her aunt was still alive and could give details on my mother's father's side of the family back several generations. But not the maternal side. My mother's mother had been raised by her cousins. I still can't find out what happened to the parents.

It’s been interesting to watch the improvements and accessibility in doing family research. Back in 1979 I had to hire a researcher in Pennsylvania who could check courthouse and graveyard records for my Irish/English/German (my father's) side of the family. I could request census records on microfilm through interlibrary loan and spend evenings scanning street addresses to find households. Nowadays sites such as FamilySearch.org can let you look through those records for free and membership sites like Ancestry.com have even more records.

When I first started my family tree I hand drew charts listing and linking families. Over the years several companies sprang up with charts you could fill in and share online or print for relatives. Ancestry.com is what I use now. I've been contacted by relatives I never knew existed and it's great to see how the trees match. Research on my German side got a big boost after I heard from a previously unknown cousin on that side who was looking up baptismal records.

If you decide to research your family tree, don't be surprised at the reactions you might get from some family members. Back when I started, I'd send copies of the hand drawn charts out to my cousins, and while some were enthusiastic, I never got any details to add to the tree back from them. Not even about their children.

Some people are reluctant to share details about their trees because there are some "researchers" that add people to their trees without stopping to figure out dates and places. I've had three people add my great-grandparents to their trees and attach a marriage certificate from 1884 in West Derby, England, to them. However, in 1884 my great-grandparents had already had four kids and were in America. Somehow I doubt they would have made the trip back to England to get married.

Television shows like Who Do You Think You Are are great at drumming up interest in genealogical research, but present a false image of how difficult family research can be. I would love to have been able to walk into the National Archives in Dublin and have them present me with a list of my Irish ancestors. They do have access to a lot of paper records, but, as I learned last week, they start off the search with a number of the free databases accessible to anyone worldwide, such as FreeBMD, which is the birth/marriage/death index for England and Wales, 1837-1915; or Irish Genealogy.ie. There are also Facebook groups on genealogy in general and genealogy in specific areas.

There are several gaps difficult to fill. My problem with my mother's maternal line isn't helped by the fact that the records for the 1890 census for the U.S. were destroyed in a 1921 fire. Irish records have a similar problem in that a number of archives in Ireland for records before 1922 were destroyed by a fire there in 1922.

Still, genealogical research is fascinating in many ways. And it can be fun to turn that to the development of characters for fiction across several genres, not just family sagas. I'm currently working on a YA science fiction story about a girl who wants to be an explorer like her grandmother. Plotting out her family is important.

The Lord of the Rings and its companion books aren't the only books I've read with large family trees. Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's Liaden Universe is so extensive that there is a wiki to help keep track of the clan and its members. Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series and Elizabeth Moon's Serrano series also stretch over several generations. C.J. Cherryh's Foreigner series has important relationships between families determining the leadership of a planet.

Have you done any genealogical research? Do you enjoy fantasy stories with extensive family trees? Or family sagas?

Making Characters Come Alive

There is still so much about writing that I'm learning. I'm always learning, everyone is. But one thing I've been working on lately is making my characters, including the minor characters be more than one dimensional cut outs.

How to do this?

There are a couple of ways. One, for characters who play a significant role in my story I go online and find pictures of what I think that person looks like. Now I have a concrete visual that I can use in description.

Another way is to find out things about the character, even if it does not seem relevant to the story line. What job does the person have? What sports do they like? What things do they carry around in their pockets? What music do they listen to? The more I know about my characters the more real they become and the easier it is to make them come alive on page.

As a very minor example. In my newest book, Honestly, Ali, leaves the headmaster's office and runs past the secretary at her desk. I could have just left it at that. It's a minor point, but I describe it this way.

I hurried out, through the outer office, past Mrs. King who always had a smile for everyone and a big bowl of candy on her desk.

This tells us something, however small about Mrs. King and makes her more real.

A tactic I use with major characters is to have them tell me who they are. I assign them an essay entitled "Who I Am". What the character tells me in that essay doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the story at hand, but it gives me a better feel for who the character is over all. 

For example, the fact that although Ali's mother is a movie-star, Ali is fashion-challenged, is a running joke throughout all the Ali books. In fact the first book starts with Ali realizing that her Mickey Mouse t-shirt may not have been the best choice to wear on that particular day. It's a minor point, but it helps to keep Ali real throughout the books.

What tactics do you use to make your characters come alive?

Collecting

The collecting impulse strikes some of us early. Leaves, bugs, buttons, rocks, dinosaur names, birds observed, shells, stamps - we organize our collections, making lists of what we have and what we need. The things collected change over time - action figures, all the works of an author, the music of a particular singer or band, shoes, the memorabilia of a sports team, the episodes of a television show, ornaments - and the drive to collect may vary in intensity, but the urge to collect is not limited to any one personality type. And although whatever is collected may not make sense to outsiders, chances are good that there are other like-minded collectors.




Adding the collecting side to a character creates all sorts of possibilities to a story. Isabella's need to collect Fireside Girl patches often is the main drive of a Phineas and Ferb episode. A child who likes to collect bugs may grow up to become a biologist or entomologist. A budding rock collector might become a geologist or a jeweler. Or just stay someone who likes rocks. For a story set in the far future, I'm confident that space ship spotting will be just as popular as train spotting or aircraft spotting nowadays.

Everyone knows that dragons collect gold. The fun part of Jessica Day George's Dragon Slippers was discovering that dragons collect other things as well. Like shoes. And dogs.

Firefly fans remember that the pilot, Wash, had a collection of small plastic dinosaurs. It wasn't a major plot point, but it added a certain something to the character.

Collections can be used as an expression of current status, or they can be a remembrance - of friends, of childhood, or just a happy time that the character revisits when sad.

I have small horse statues still from my childhood, dragon statues and artwork from when I was a big fan of the Dragonriders of Pern series and a collection of geodes (yes, I like rocks). Those were things I choose to collect. I also have some bird statues and artwork that friends gave me because I have a bird.

Perhaps a character has a collection of the teddy bears that her boyfriend gave her. If the relationship breaks up, whether she keeps or disposes of the collection would be an part of the story. And does she just throw out those teddy bears or give them to charity?

Are two characters in a story friends because they collect the same things? Or do they become rivals?

Do you have any favorite stories with collecting as an element?

6 Qualities to Keep in Mind About Characters

6 Qualities to Keep in Mind About Characters

1. Appearance

Writers, whether for books, television or movies, seem naturally drawn to creating beautiful characters unless they believe there is a very good reason to do otherwise. Sometimes the story needs an ugly duckling, or someone with such a deplorable personality they can’t possibly be attractive (unless it’s as contrast). But if you, as the writer, will watch people at a mall, airport or other crowded venue, you’ll realize how few actually attractive people there are. A majority of the population are plain, simple-looking. If your book is to be believable, your characters should follow suit. Make sure that physical features are consistent with that person’s ethnic origins, unless there’s a good reason for exceptions.

Secondly, don’t introduce your characters with an extensive physical appraisal. Readers get lost in a list of physical attributes. Sprinkle them through dialogue, action, other characters’ reactions.

Remember, appearance goes beyond actual physical visualization of characteristics; it includes how the character walks, carries himself, stands, moves. Are they graceful? Fast? Slow? Purposeful? Hesitant? Comportment can indicate a lot about a character’s personality, too.

2. Attire

How do your characters dress? The period and locale will determine the general costume, but personality is still easily realized through their choices. Clothing can indicate social status and what the character feels about that; or how about what they do to earn a living? Is their clothing austere, or ostentatious? Prim, or provocative? What kind of accessories, if any, do they wear, and why? In the current trend of writing Steampunk, types of clothing are especially significant. Same goes for a Fantasy Quest, sea voyage, anything Historical (here research is essential).

3. Characteristics

This word even contains ‘character’ because through these habits and behaviors our ‘character’ is revealed. When designing and writing about your character, be sure to keep these in mind and, more importantly, be consistent.

What facial expressions does your character exhibit? Are they self-conscious about them, or are they natural, or does it depend? If the character is physically demonstrative, how is this characteristic conveyed?

Do they use their hands a lot, or is the person’s entire body an instrument of expression? Do they often handle or caress objects? Are they calm, or fidgety? Do they make physical contact with other people, or deliberately avoid contact? Do they observe conventions of social distance (the space people leave between each other according to their social status and relationship)? Do they establish and maintain eye contact — and is this a sign of forthrightness, or an effort to dominate others — or are they evasive about it?

What implements do they carry and use—pocket knife, compass, pocket comb, wallet, pocket watch? Are these objects practical, like tools, or are they talismans—rabbit’s foot? Does this person rely on instruments, or on thoughts and ideas, or on both?

4. Speech

The way a character speaks tells volumes about that character. It can determine how and where they grew up, what type of job they work, where and how they currently live, types of friends, social status, religious beliefs. Think about what their tone of voice sounds like. Is it smooth, gruff, harsh? Are they quiet and soft-spoken or loud, brash, out-spoken? Is their pitch high or low—or does it vary depending on the scene? Do they mumble or enunciate clearly? Are they taciturn, or voluble? How else is their personality conveyed in the way they speak or how talk or think to themselves? Are they kind, or cruel, in their speech? Respectful, insolent or condescending?

Do they have an unusual accent, or do they try to suppress it, and are they successful all the time, or does the accent prevail when they are emotional or unguarded? Is their general mode of speech an effort to hide or overcome their origins? If they must speak a foreign language, are they fluent, or merely competent, or not even that?

5. Environment

Environment is a double-edged sword. It can indicate a lot about a character as well as influence the way the character dresses, speaks, behaves. Once you’ve decided your character’s appearance, dress and behavior, make sure their environment meshes. If something is out of place—unless you as the author intend it for some important reason—change what stands out. Make sure the character’s dwelling suits their social status and lifestyle, speech and dress. How does their dwelling reflect the character’s personality? How does their workplace do the same? Is the personal environment functional and practical, or is it expressive of the character? Do their possessions convey a simple lifestyle, or one devoted to acquisition of goods?

Remember, the way personal items are displayed in one’s home or workplace reveals much about the person. There are three general categories: things displayed ostentatiously (certificates, trophies, autographs), things displayed unselfconsciously for both the person and for visitors to see (vacation photos, knickknacks), and things displayed solely for the benefit of the space’s occupant, not its visitors (mementos, notes from loved ones).

6. Family Background

            Everyone is well aware that childhood experiences, numbers of siblings, parental involvement or lack thereof, school experiences and friendships/bullying and more all have profound influences on the adult character of a person. The same should hold true for your fictional characters.

            Consider familial relationships growing up as well as currently, friends before and now, enemies, coworkers, neighbors, merchants where the character shops often, the movie ticket seller, the cab driver… You get the point, I’m sure. In designing a character, keep all relationships—past, present and future—in mind. How did they influence the character’s current appearance, behavior, mode of dress, social status, living locale/style? Do do they currently influence these things and how will these influences affect your character’s future?

What other categories can you add to this list? What do you consider when designing a character?

For a peak at a new character in the Seraphym Wars series, order my newest release, Prophecy, due out tomorrow.

Prophecy Blurb

For centuries the residents of Solsyl lived in peace and harmony with the planet. Then the dragon-demons arrived, causing the Great Shuddering. Majikals from everywhere scurried to find shelter from the evil while humans hid. Laud regretted his rash decision of exiling the demons on Solsyl and asked one of his advisors, a member of The Conscientia, to protect his people. Jeremiah Holyfield agreed to leave the peaceful world of Revrum Natura for a life of constant strife and fear on the newly renamed planet of Dracwald. But Narciss, ruler of Tartarus and King of the demons, desperately wants what Jeremiah has sworn to protect—a Prophecy of Narciss’s future doom. And Narciss refuses to take no for an answer. But Jeremiah discovers allies along his path and even true love, which he never dreamed possible.

But forever is a long time to protect something without ever letting down one’s guard.

Available September 16, 2011 as eBook.

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The first book, Odessa, is currently available as eBook or Print. For a personally signed copy with a print of the map of Dracwald for $13.00, send me an email: myrnawatts (at) gmail (dot) com

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A Rose By Any Other Name (Sorry, Mr. Shakespeare)

What's in a name? For me, as a writer, everything.

I know writers who can actually work on a new story while calling their main characters "A" and "B" or merely leaving blanks where the names should be. I have never been able to do that, so I don't understand that ability at all. I envy it and at the same time, I can't help being mildly shocked by it at the same time.

My stories always start with a named character. When I write a novel or a story, I usually have a pretty good sense of where it's going, what's going to happen, and whether my protagonist is male or female. But until I have that character's name, I'm in a bit of a bind. And not much gets written.

For me, meeting a character for the first time requires a proper introduction. And the introduction by definition requires a name. When I wrote Saving Jake, I already had the name "Jake" in my head. The rest of the characterization was so easy once I had the name that I usually tell people that Jake rang my doorbell as a fully developed person. I know exactly how he looked (long hair, sad brown eyes), exactly how he dressed (bottle-green trench coat from a second-hand shop and a pair of red high tops), and exactly who he was (sensitive, artistic, and rebellious). Until I had his name, though, the rest of those details were nonexistent.

In the manuscript I am currently sending out, Daniel Rhode appeared on my doorstep, told me I couldn't write the book without him, and proceeded to take over an entire subplot that I didn't know existed until he turned up. Like Jake, Daniel's personality came intact with his name and there was very little I didn't know about him.

I find that when I'm really struggling with a story, there's a pretty good chance I don't have the right name for my main character! As goofy as that sounds, I need to know who it is I'm writing about and until they come up and whisper their names into my ear, I haven't got a clue.

A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but a character with the wrong name will never share his or her story with me no matter how I work at it. And having no name? That's just love's labors lost.

Character vs Writer's Plot Clash!

Years ago a friend lent me a book and told me I just had to read it. What was funny at the time was how he also told me the first three books were great, but the ones after weren't worth it. Didn't sound like something I wanted to get into, but since he went to the trouble to bring me one of them, I figured I’d give it a shot.
Within the first few pages I hit something that just about made me think there was no point in reading the rest of it, regardless of the good prose and likeable characters. It was a bad case of where Character Motivation/Smarts and the Author's Plot COLLIDED. (This is not just a book issue. It’s a lot more prevalent on TV.)

In this particular book, a man who lives in a non-magical land and is very well versed about nature, comes across a plant he’s never seen before. He cuts the plant, and it hits him with a thorn in retaliation. When the hero tries to remove the thorn, the latter embeds itself deeper into his hand. The hero has no knife, so does what he can, but the darn thorn acts in unnatural ways and evades his attempts to remove it by totally disappearing into his flesh. He mucks with it for another moment but can’t get rid of it, and then for all intents and purposes, shrugs his shoulder and goes on his way as if this thing that’s invaded his body is of no consequence.

Now, hold the phone!

Anyone who had a thorn in their hand and saw it dig itself deeper like some stubborn animal would be screaming bloody murder and trying to get themselves to the nearest doctor to get the sucker out. (I know I would!) Yet this man forgets all about the invader, except for noticing occasionally how the hand turns red and hurts (like that wouldn't be sending panic signals to anyone else), and goes on his way getting into the meat of the adventure and so on. In my opinion, there was a definite clash in what the writer wanted to set up as a later problem, and what the character would have really done about the problem when it happened. Personally, I would have fallen for the state of things as written if the guy had a least panicked a little, did try to go home to get help, even if on the way he got distracted for a short while by other events going on around him. So this clash between the author and his character could have been averted or minimized for the reader and made that much more believable.
As a writer, you’ll often try to stick to a mental road map of where the story needs to go. And that’s not a bad idea. But it’s also important to absolutely stay true to the motivations and characteristics of the characters you’re portraying or you will be doing the whole novel/story and your readers a huge disservice.

Listen to what the characters tell you, even if it's not part of the map! Would they really go into that dark room alone especially when they hear the growling noises coming from inside? Probably not. Yet there are ways to have it happen where despite their common sense, they’d still go in there.

If you just have to have something happen in the story, but it clashes with your character's motivation/personality find a way to shift the situation so they will do what you want anyway. If you can’t find a way, it wasn’t mean to be – so ditch it. Don't force it! Here's an example: An old saying is that Tonto (The Lone Ranger's Sidekick) never goes into town. "Tonto no go to town." For him, going to town is a stupid thing to do because he knows that due to his race and the prejudices of some of the people there, he will not be welcomed and bad things are likely to happen. But in order for your plot to progress in the story you’re writing, you absolutely must have him in town because it’s the only way he’ll meet the beauty from Boston and fall in love.

So what do you do? You can't just suddenly have Tonto say he wants to go to town. That's totally against his usual motivation/personality. But if he absolutely needs to be in town, be smart, burn some brain cells and then arrange matters in a believable way that while still being true to his personality and choices, Tonto still goes into town.

Making this happen for Tonto is easy.

If the Lone Ranger went to town and hadn’t been heard from in too long and Tonto knew his friend was going into a possibly dangerous situation to begin with, Tonto would eventually go to town to look for his friend and make sure he was alright.

If Tonto received a message that the Lone Ranger was in trouble and needed him, this would also drive him to go to town--his need to be there for his friend would overrule his hesitation about going to a place where there could be unpleasantness or even danger for him.

Both options above keep Tonto true to his character yet it still gets him to where you need him to be to progress the story you want to tell. Know your characters’ personalities and motivations and remain faithful to them. Don't let the planned plot put you in a Character vs. Writer's Plot Clash. The more believable and reasonable you can make the choices your characters make due to the factors you've thrown at them, the more fun and believable the story will be.

Let’s make our work a No Clash Zone~!

Gloria Oliver
Unveiling the Fantastic
www.gloriaoliver.com

Unlocking the Mystery of Sarah

The last time I blogged here I said I would tell you about my YA/crossover manuscript, PFC Liberty Stryker. Some things have changed since then. Eventually I will get to that story.

In the meantime, it just so happens I have a middle grade title coming soon in ebook from Binary Press Publications.

*UPDATE*
Letters to Juniper will be released in ebook in November.

Letters to Juniper is a gripping account of life inside a Separatist compound during an FBI standoff, from a 12-year old girl’s perspective. Sarah Smith remembers when she was six years old her mother died and she moved to northern Idaho with her brother and father. Their lives changed drastically. The only vivid memory she has of her early childhood is her best friend Juniper Holland. In her letters to Juniper, Sarah reveals her innermost thoughts and feelings about her reclusive life with three younger brothers under the rigid oppression of her father and stepmother who call themselves Separatists. Their lives are turned upside down by an FBI investigation into her father’s association with members of the Aryan Nation. As the tension and violence escalate, Sarah faces life and death decisions in order to survive.

In May 2007, Letters to Juniper" won YA Fiction.com's "First Three" middle grade contest with this comment: “’Letters to Juniper’ was a pleasure to read, and the judges quickly became intrigued by and invested in Sarah's story.” One of the judges was so intrigued she asked if I would let her read the full manuscript, which of course I did.

The ideas for my novels always come to me in the voice of the main character. Letters to Juniper was no different. During the 90s, I was as horrified as everyone else at news stories about the Montana Freemen, Ruby Ridge, and the Waco Siege. In all three cases, children were living inside the compounds during the standoff. I asked the question: “What would it be like to be a child, yet old enough to be aware of what was happening?” Not long after, Sarah came to me and told me her story in the form of letters, like a diary.

Wouldn’t it be swell if the act of writing simply involved taking dictation from the voices in our heads? Creating a character requires more than voices. The character must become flesh and blood. I had to unlock the mystery. Who was Sarah Smith?

The news stories were all about what happened after the FBI showed up. Lots of footage of reporters and agents standing around with video cameras trained on buildings. Okay, so Sarah’s home was surrounded by federal agents. How did she feel about that? What was her true conflict?

I needed to know what was going on inside those buildings, which meant I had to peer into an alternate universe of Aryan Nations inhabited by skinheads, white supremacists, Separatists, and neo-Nazis.

I visited some of the groups’ websites but they were packed with propaganda and hate speech. They were also pretty sophisticated. While I was poking around at one of the sites – I won’t say which one – an angry red message box popped up on my screen: “WARNING!”. The message said something about me not being a registered user. I don’t remember the exact words. I closed my browser. Then someone sent me an email asking why I was looking at the website, which totally creeped me out. I couldn’t figure out how they knew my email address. During my initial research I read about a writer who had become acquainted with a group of neo-Nazis in the Chicago area so he could get interviews for a story. Then he disappeared. I decided one-on-one contact was a really bad idea. I didn’t respond to the email.

Instead I looked in a different direction. I spent hours and hours at the library digging through the periodicals section. I found several accounts in magazines and books by attorneys, law enforcement agents, and journalists, all of whom had witnessed life inside isolated, extremists’ compounds. Many of their stories provided details about the leaders’ use of rigid beliefs and oppressive rituals to control others, especially women and children. I had found Sarah’s conflict.

That search led me to interviews with women who had left extremists compounds with their children, some of them refugees of the Branch Davidian ranch in Waco. Their confessions offered a glimpse into the emotional impact on the children. I also gleaned background information which helped me understand how the women and children ended up in those situations. From their stories I constructed a bio for Sarah Smith. At the same time I discovered a key element to her past that surprised me, and will certainly surprise readers.

The more I researched, the more I understood Sarah. When creating a character I definitely use character sketches, bios, and interviews. But for me, research is a passion. Through my research process, the characters show me who they are. They come to life.

Peggy Tibbetts

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