 | 11 Apr 06 |
I don’t come up with my characters; they come to me. I hate to say I channel them, but really, sometimes, that is what it feels like. Once I come up with a character, I start thinking in their “voice” and it stays with me until the book is written.
This is not always good, since not every character and every book gets written. For example, I have a character named Poppy Carmichael who is really angry right now because I have not yet told her story! Sorry, Poppy. Unlike when I was unpublished and could write whatever I wanted, today I have bosses that want certain things at certain times, so Poppy’s story has to wait.
I WILL tell it. It just won’t be soon. I have four books to write in the next year and a half, so those are first up. Be patient, Poppy! It will happen.
So, I guess when I create a character, and they tell me who they are, it rankles a little when someone writes and says, “Hey, that character would not do that!” That actually happened to me this week, when a writer, who took issue with my writing about Mormons, as well, told me that Allison, my protagonist in WIVES AND SISTERS, would not go more than two years without sex. Of course, that is NOT what the book actually says, but having someone write me with that also tells me that she had some vested interest in the character. No matter what she said, SHE cared. She cared about Allison, enough that she thought about what Allison would do in certain situations.
And then wrote me to talk about it. If a character is real enough that a reader wants to discuss it with you, I guess you have to feel like you’ve succeeded. Even if that reader writes a positive/negative review on Amazon, again, mostly about how she disagreed with the Mormon stuff, but still thought I was a good writer and again, that Allison stayed with her.
In suspense fiction, characters MUST be believeable. They must be someone who could live down the street from you, or even right next door. The clerk at the grocery story, the lady who does your hair, the man who changes your oil When they all suddenly disappear, and you learn they are wanted in connection with a series of murders, you should think, “Wow, I didn’t see that coming.” Until you really strip it down to the bones and look at it piece by piece. Then you can see it. Then you understand why that might have happened, or what the motivation was for an ordinary person to do something so out of the ordinary.
The challenge is to do that in the short space allotted in a book. And do it in a way that the reader doesn’t seem it coming until it happens.
I guess that’s why, at least for me, my method of “channeling” works. The characters tell ME who they are. They tell me their story. I only relay it.
One of my only negative reviews for WIVES AND SISTERS–if you don’t count the Mormon hatemail I get, full of phrases like the derogatory “you people” and “book burning,” and “I am NOT going to recommend this book to ANYONE–came from my local paper, where I used to work.
The reviewer said W&S is an “angry book.” Then the reviewer mistakenly attributed that anger to me. My reader who wrote me, the one I mentioned above, also mistakenly attributed the anger to me on her Amazon review. That is not my anger. That is Allison’s anger. Anyone who reads my personal blog knows I think most of this stuff is funny. That’s not anger. That said, former Mormons are some of the angriest people I know. I won’t go into the reasons why they are so angry, at least not here, but the fact that that anger stood out tells me I succeeded. Allison is authentic!
And that is a character that stays with you.
© 2006 – 2009, Natalie R. Collins. All rights reserved.
Natalie R. Collins was born in Logan, Utah and attended the University of Utah. She worked for eleven years at The Salt Lake Tribune, Utah's largest daily newspaper, before leaving to devote more time to her family. During the ensuing years, she wrote five novels. She also worked for the 2001 and 2002 Sundance Film Festivals as an editor. Natalie is a member of the International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, and Romance Writers of America.
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Natalie, I just finished Wives & Sisters and I loved it. I loved the way everything came together at the end (all the loose ends neatly tied up), and I could relate to Allison and her anger. Keep up the good work.
by Carol Davis Luce April 11th, 2006 at 9:53 amI’ve not been lied to (for the most part) by my religious leaders or my family, but I have been raped. I know my reality. I tend to believe there are at least three basic life responses by the victim. 1) To stay a victim and withdrawl 2) Become a survivor 3) live in denial. You can’t cubbyhole how a victim will react by your own personal experience, you can only validate when it is your response because it is what you know. I give kudos to those who valiantly try to be open to others, but very few of us can step into another’s shoes, even fewer try. From my personal experience Natalie, you got Alison’s response spot on.
As readers we tend to see a character as the writer. Which is true…and yet totally misleading. While a character drives the author and is therefore the writer, Alison obviously not you – just as soap opera actors are not their characters. And yet both author and actor gets lambasted, warned, and adored as their characters.
Anyone who knows you or takes a minute to read what you write – without blinders – would know Alison’s anger isn’t yours.
by Cele April 11th, 2006 at 12:28 pmThanks, Carol! I consider that a huge compliment.
by Natalie April 11th, 2006 at 6:43 pmI think you’re absolutely right . . . it’s characters who stay with you, good or bad, that makes a novel.
by Allison April 11th, 2006 at 8:17 pmNat you more than succeeded in making Allison memorable. I read W&S last year when it debuted in hardback. I still wonder what she’s doing these days.:)
by Karin April 11th, 2006 at 10:21 pmRape victims (in my small understanding) respond in three ways: 1) the withdrawl into themselves, 2) Survive and fight to live another day, 3) act like nothing happened and it will go away. To me you can cubbyhole one lone reaction and say this is how “they” would act. I thought you did a great job on Allison.
Authors and actors are forever being seen as their characters by their adoring fans. Think of how many soap actors are accosted – warned – stalked by fans daily.
by Cele April 12th, 2006 at 7:27 amNatalie, you do write believable characters caught up in extraordinary events. I can’t wait for BEHIND CLOSED DOORS to come out.
by Jen April 12th, 2006 at 8:55 amNatalie, I read a lot of books, and usually have three or four “on the go” at any one time. When I bought Wives and Sisters, everything else got set aside. I was surprised at how intensely I was pulled into the story. I couldn’t read anything else until I had finished it. When I wasn’t reading, I was thinking about it. Allison seems so real. No wonder people think she must be you.
by Teresa Pitman April 13th, 2006 at 6:47 am