 | 24 Feb 09 |
Evidently, in a moment of weakness, I promised to continue my “manuscript milestones” theme and talk about that magical moment when a character comes to life. And some of you…remembered. Some have emailed me and…asked for this blog. And thus I am guilted into blogging about character development. I admit, this is a little like “plotting” for me — I talk a good game, give a decent workshop, offer tips and techniques that really work. I just don’t necessarily practice what I preach. But I’m going to share my process, just in case it strikes a chord with others.
But first (and I’m not procrastinating, I swear!) an announcement! Two weeks ago, I promised a winner of FRENCH TWIST for best suggestion of a tool we can’t do our job without and the winner is Kait Nolan who shared links for Dropbox and ywriter — excellent writing tools! Kait, if you email me directly at roxannestc@cfl.rr.com with your mailing address, I’ll get a book out to you right away!
And now I suppose I will have to talk about characters…
I have a good email friend I write to almost every day, certainly every week, and spend a lot of that time whining about discussing my struggles as a writer. Her advice is always the same, to the point where it’s a little joke with us. “Know thy characters,” she tells me on a far-too regular basis. It’s all about character. Story is character. Character is king. Know thy characters — before you write about them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, sez I.
I can’t know these folks in advance, any more than Allison Brennan will create a 3-D plotboard or Karin Tabke will cease to drop f-bombs. Some things will never change. I don’t know my characters when I type ‘Chapter One’ — and I’ve already openly admitted right here that I hate those two words more than any others. Perhaps there’s a connection, eh?
Book after book, I start to write without much of a clue about who these people are. I discover them as I write. The layers come off, the characters say and do and think things that surprise me, a person takes shape, a backstory is revealed, a conflict is deepened. Needless to say, the sooner this happens, the easier the book is to write.
Not all writers (certainly not this one) have any idea who that character is/will be when they start. If I waited until the character was fully formed in my mind, I’d never start a book. I’d be paralyzed.
I only have two things in place as far as character development when I open that woefully blank document. First, I find a single word to sum up what I think will be their major character trait (one I suspect is closely tied to their major character flaw or personal challenge). Just looking at my books and pulling out a dozen characters at random, I can remember the word for each of them: Relentless. Reckless. Impulsive. Controlling. Biting. Rebellious. Determined. Protective. Resourceful. Precise. Curious. Distrustful. Nurturing.
When sketching the story and the people who will populate it, I give each character this “key word” or trait as a hook where I can hang their dialogue, actions, and introspection in the first few chapters. The descriptor, at that point, is merely a crutch to get me started on the long climb ahead.
The other “must have” is a picture that shows the hero and heroine’s attitude. Not necessarily their precise looks, although I try to be as true as possible with coloring, hair, and body type (and yes, I do have that in mind when I start, but have been known to change it). But for each main character, I have to find a picture that captures the “essence” of who he or she is. I use the hero’s picture as my screen saver, and he becomes my muse, guiding and inspiring me to uncover, and tell, his story.
Is this “knowing my characters?” Heavens, no. (It makes for a really nice screen saver, however.) The discovery process takes place at the keyboard. What I do there is…sculpt.
I think of that attitude-depicting picture and single character trait (along with the physical traits, the backstory I know, and any scenes where this character has appeared in previous books) as a giant chunk of marble. For each character, their motivation and goals are my multi-purpose chisels, the story premise is the mallet, the conflict is the crack of the stone as I start to carve and create a shape. I tap out different lines of dialogue and inner thoughts until one feels like it fits; I smooth away one rough spot only to find another; I carve an action and stand back and observe it, then try a different cut of the stone to see if that feels better. Once I find the shape I like, I polish that aspect of the character, then move on to the next scene. Slowly, a multi-dimensional person begins to emerge. Day after day, page after page, chapter after chapter, the marble becomes a man.
I don’t know if this technique can help any other writers, but it is the only way I know how to do it.
Have you ever seen Jean-Leon Gerome’s painting Pygmalion and Galeta? 
It hangs in the Met, and a much less valuable version of it hangs in my living room. The painting depicts the mythological moment when Pygmalion falls in love with his creation and she comes to life. That work of art speaks to me every time I see it because I relate to the thrill of falling in love with a character, the lightning bolt-to-the-heart moment when he becomes a real person and his destiny matters very much to me. I like to think that’s the moment in the book that the reader falls in love, too.
I know when it happens: the scene when I realize that a character would never behave a certain way, or I know instinctively the direction of his or her personal compass. It happens when I don’t write and delete twelve different versions of a line of dialogue, but words spring from my fingertips just as they would from that character’s mouth. I can see the lines and angles of a personality, and understand every utterance and thought, and all of it is real and beautiful to me. This is my bliss, my character milestone moment.
And this magic, in my case anyway, cannot take place before the book is written despite a mountain of character charts, hours of interviews, an imaginary dinner date, a fictional horoscope, or a sneak peak into the hero’s desk drawer. All of those techniques are valuable in preparation for writing, but none of them make the character “real” to me. That doesn’t happen until I find and free him.
So when exactly does this bliss happen? Sometimes, in a “gimme” book that’s a breeze to write — yes, my little snowflakes, such things exist; I’ve heard tell of them – the character milestone moment happens early in the book, before page fifty. Sometimes it is more like the mid-point of the book, and that requires some rewriting of earlier scenes. Some very bad times it happens near the end of the book, and that means I better gear up for that great big honkin’ revision in my immediate future. But it will happen every time. I know I will eventually find the man in the marble, and fall desperately in love with him.
My message to writers: take heart if you don’t know your characters before you start writing. Don’t panic, don’t let this keep your from starting (and finishing) a book. Keep sculpting, keep chiseling and carving and cutting the marble until the man inside emerges.
I’d love to hear from writers about your techniques for character development (file it under “perhaps there is a better way”) and readers…is there a moment when you fall in love with the character? That can be every bit as magical, too!
© 2009, Roxanne St. Claire. All rights reserved.
Roxanne St. Claire is a New York Times bestselling, RITA-Award winning author of nearly thirty novels of romance and suspense. The author of two popular romantic suspense series, The Bullet Catchers and The Guardian Angelinos, Roxanne is hard at work on new books for 2012, which will include the launch of a contemporary series, Barefoot Bay, and her first young adult novel, Don't You Wish, and a brand new stand-alone romantic suspense, Space in His Heart. A five-time RITA nominee, Roxanne's books have won the National Readers Choice Award, the Daphne Du Maurier Award, the Maggie Award, the Booksellers Best, the Book Buyers Best, The HOLT Medallion, multiple Awards of Excellence, and Borders "Top Pick"" for Romance in 2007. She lives in Florida with her husband, two teenagers, and one impossibly cute Australian Terrier named Pepper.
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As someone who is writing page 9 of the last chapter of her first book, I can tell you with absolute certainty I have NO techniques for character development. This book began about six years ago when I saw an article about online sperm banks. I toyed with a story idea, poked at it with a stick for years and wrote the first chapter. Last November I finally got my arse in gear and vomited another 50K on paper for NaNoWriMo. Then it sat until a couple weeks ago when I saw that eHarlequin is having an online pitch contest that’s perfect for this book.
The remaining two chapters have been painfully slow. I got the required one-page synopsis down to a page and a half and a wonderful and talented friend helped me trim away the fat. She’s also the same brilliant and amazing person who suggested a year or so ago, “What if the dead guy wasn’t her brother but her husband?” I got chills and knew that was the right way to go.
My hero started out looking like Eric Close (Martin on Without a Trace). Midway thru the book Eric’s photo was replaced by Hugh Jackman’s. The silly grin, the self-deprecating humor and the sexiest-man-alive looks were it.
I’m still trying to figure him out but I’ve learned he won’t wear a bow tie with a tuxedo and it hurt him pretty badly when his mother told him she wasn’t sure which of her men du jour was his father.
Can I borrow your chisel?
by Marilyn February 24th, 2009 at 6:12 amMy chisel is your chisel, dear friend. I hate to tell you this, but it’s all in the wrist. xoxo
by Roxanne St. Claire February 24th, 2009 at 6:17 amSometimes, I wish I worked the way you do, Rocki. My Muse dumps characters in my lap long before there is a plot (or time to write a book based on said plot.) They ride around in the car with me. Yeah. I’m the crazy lady at the light in the car next to you, chatting away to…no one. (I pretend I’m talking on bluetooth.
) When my DD’s friends would come to the house and ask her who I was talking to, she’d laugh and say, “Oh, Mom’s just talking to her imaginary friends again.” Yeah. I was the weird mom. But I made good cookies so that sort of made up for it. I live with my main characters for up to a year (or more) before they ever emerge on paper. I even have a few that still don’t have a story and they’re getting down-right nasty about it.
Wanna trade?
by Silver James February 24th, 2009 at 7:18 amI would love to trade, at least for one book. I wonder if the process would be easier with a fully formed character driving the story instead of the other way around!
by Roxanne St. Claire February 24th, 2009 at 7:32 amRocki, I don’t know if it’s easier because I’ve had plots hijacked by characters I thought I have a handle on them, they up and surprise me by their actions. I had a good guy with an alleged heart of gold, but it turned out he was just as big a jerk as the bad boy, who didn’t even come close to being gold. But Bad Boy was real and honest. To himself and to the story. I REALLY need to drag that MS out one of these days and get it finished. So many characters and plots, so little time…
by Silver James February 24th, 2009 at 9:24 amI so relate to this. Halfway through a book and I’m still finding out who my characters are. I don’t mind it tho, I love the discovery! Do I wish it happened faster, more efficiently? Sometimes yes. But I’ve learned not to question the process and just be thankful I have one that works for me.
by Kristen February 24th, 2009 at 7:31 amI’m halfway between Syl and Rocki. I generally have a few characters that I know incredibly well — they won’t shut the hell up, and I’m constantly trying to figure out why they’re bothering me and what their story is. That said, there’s often a lot of stuff I don’t know about them, in the same way you can’t know everything about people until you’ve been through very stressful events with them. You know — will they be brave or be a coward, selfless or self-centered, panicked or calm, etc.
However. There are things that I discover about characters along the way that floor me, especially because when I look back at previous books, I realize that it was planted all along and *I* didn’t see it. It’s shocking when that happens, how the subconscious works. For example, in book 3, I learned something about Cam, about a secret he’d been carrying — one that has destroyed a lot of his hopes for happiness. I did not know this secret until the person whose secret it was finally started talking to me about it. I remember sitting back in my chair, thinking, “Whoa.” And my scalp tingling and knowing that this was critical not only to this story, but to the future, and it was always there. I just had to chisel my way to it.
Love the blog, Rocki.
by toni mcgee causey February 24th, 2009 at 7:44 amI think that’s the amazing part – it’s there and so often we are crafting our way toward that point without even knowing it. Scalp tingling is always a good thing!
by Roxanne St. Claire February 24th, 2009 at 8:51 amThanks for that insightful post, Rocki! I get the ideas for my books when I’m talking to someone and they’ll do or say something that catches my attention. I ask the “what if” question and blam! I’ve got a possible plot.
Right now on my current WIP, I’ve got my heroine in place and am working on my hero. Do you ever find yourself liking your hero so much that you don’t want anything bad to happen to him? How do I get myself out of thinking that way?
by Rosemary February 24th, 2009 at 7:48 amI always find myself liking the hero so much that I don’t want him to do anything that anyone else wouldn’t like. I get paralyzed by that “is this heroic?” thought all the way through. Once I truly know him, then his mistakes make sense and if he does something less than heroic, I understand why or at least hope I do. I don’t want the hero to be perfect, but always honorable.
by Roxanne St. Claire February 24th, 2009 at 8:52 amYou know I’m with you all the way on characters. I love that ‘click’ moment when I know who the character IS, not just who he appears to be.
I normally know what they do for a living. Once I figure out WHY they do it, they’re real and we can get down to the good stuff.
The sequel to my first book was just released in print, and I think it was a close to a ‘gimme’ as I’ll ever get because I already knew my hero and heroine. This is a ‘real’ sequel, not a connected book, or a spin off, or whatever they’re called these days. Same hero, same heroine, three months after book 1 ended.
Of course, they’ve grown, I know them even better, but it was a very comfortable time — at least as far as the characters were concerned. I got to flesh out some of the bit players from the first book, which was fun as well.
Of course, I still had to deal with the plot, which is a mystery, so I can’t say I sat down and wrote the book in one go. But it did go faster.
by Terry Odell February 24th, 2009 at 7:59 amI always find it amazing how much more I know about each character by the time I finish the book. They emerge slowly at first and then “Bam!” there they are–fully developed! I agree–the moment is magical! It’s like birthing and raising a child! You insert all these ideas about how they’ll look or what their personalities will be like while they’re still in the womb. Most of your conclusions are based on “DNA” and the personalities and physical traits of family members you see everyday. Then the child is born and slowly but surely develops into this person who is totally unique. It’s amazing!
by Debra Webb February 24th, 2009 at 8:44 amGreat analogy, Deb – it is just like planning for that baby, expecting a certain person and then they arrive and they are completely different. And every day you watch that person form and grow (and try, in vain, to bend it to your will!!) until they are who they are meant to be.
by Roxanne St. Claire February 24th, 2009 at 8:58 amMy personal favorite technique is character interviews–but perhaps not what you think of as character interviews. Lots of folks think of character interviews as filling out those long, detailed worksheets detailing stuff like their physical characteristics, who they took to prom, and who knows what other details. But that’s all looking at characters with yourself as author. While such techniques can be useful, I find it’s too distant.
So what I mean by interviewing characters is that I have an accomplice (generally my CP) who does the interviewing and I respond AS the character, completely IN character. I actually did an entire series on recently over on my blog if anybody’s interested. I tend to find that when I sort of become the character, I learn a whole lot more about who they are and how they respond.
by Kait Nolan February 24th, 2009 at 10:37 amKait, in a similar vein, I’ve interviewed my characters as applicants for the job of romance hero or heroine. I’ve got them posted on my website under the Free Reads section.
by Terry Odell February 24th, 2009 at 10:44 amRocki I can so effing relate!
i find i begin with a germ, and then i go forward into the land of the unknown and discover my characters. i love the process and sometimes, it takes hitting the delete key more often then not, but then, when the moment of clarity occurs, it’s like the angels are singing.
in my current wip my heroine is so damaged she has built a very thick wall around her and dangles expletives from every brick. i went back the other day and toned her down. she was not happy. so, i undid what i had done, she thanked me and i just have to accept that my girl uses profanity to keep everyone away. it’s her weapon.
by Karin Tabke February 24th, 2009 at 10:43 amLOL on that effing profanity. I had a heroine who swore a lot and it really irritated the hero. (And a reader or two, I’ll warn ya.) But I had fun with it. At one point she lost her iphone and muttered, “F*** a duck” – I never thought I’d have the opportunity to use that phrase in a book!
by Roxanne St. Claire February 24th, 2009 at 10:52 amI am soooo jealous! I want to use that phrase so bad! LOL I have a character who swears a lot, too. Everyone from her godfather to her foster brother to her love interest calls her on it. She just flips them off and goes merrily on her way. *glances over her shoulder, watches Sade’s eyes light up* “I am so using that in the next fu…freakin’ book. Yeah, yeah. Polite company and all that shit.” She’s incorrigible. What can I say?
by Silver James February 24th, 2009 at 11:21 amSilver, I didn’t invent F*** a Duck. Feel free to use away! I love incorrigible characters!
by Roxanne St. Claire February 24th, 2009 at 11:29 amHa! This makes me think of Debra Morgan in Jeff Lindsey’s Dexter books (now the incredibly TV series). I actually don’t remember if she was that bad in the books, but the character on the series has quite the mouth on her.
by Kait Nolan February 24th, 2009 at 11:47 amCharacters in books are so amazing. Even if your couldn’t remember the title was Gone with the Wind, you would remember Scarlett. When I look at my bookshelves I remember princesses, pirate chicks, female time travelers, but most of the time I can’t remember a title to save my life.
by Amanda February 24th, 2009 at 11:00 amSo true, Amanda. I can tell when people talk about my books, they NEVER use the title (unless they are writing to me). In conversation, it’s always “the race car guy” or “the TV psychic one” or “the two who played poker all the time.” It’s truly a compliment to my chiseling!
by Roxanne St. Claire February 24th, 2009 at 11:31 amI know the physical traits when I start a book (doesn’t mean someone won’t change from blonde to black hair or blue to green eyes though), and I usually have an idea of what it is they want or think they want. That’s about it though.
I learn their backstory as I’m writing. Not to say I write all the backstory in the book, but little things they do or say will tell me who they where.
In my current project, which I’m loving, the hero did something that makes the heroine wonder if he could possibly be one of the people she’s always heard existed but didn’t really believe in. It’s a paranormal. Needless to say, when he did what he did and she thought what she thought, I sat back in the chair and was like, really? Okay, didn’t know that about him either. In fact, I didn’t even know that part of the race existed. Which to me is really cool since I’ll be exploring that in the writing of this book.
The thing is, it works for me this way. I love discovering my characters as I go alone. Like you, I have to go back during edits and fix things once I know them better, but that’s the fun part of the edits.
by Vicki February 24th, 2009 at 11:39 amOh, yes, Vicki! The sit back in the chair and stare at the computer in amazement moment. It’s the BEST. I remember when I first wrote Jack Culver, who ultimately became the hero of NOW YOU DIE. He was, like Allison mentioned in her secondary character blog this week, a character with a “function” – the one driving the overarching mystery. The first WORD he uttered just torqued the head of the Bullet Catchers, Lucy Sharpe. Instantly I felt chemistry – and never anticipated it. I remember flying through that scene (they are both in it, but neither is the main character in that book – it was Fletch’s book, FIRST YOU RUN) and doing just what you describe, sitting back and letting my jaw go slack. Sometimes this job is just like magic. Good thing, too, because sometimes this job is just like hell.
And yes, it’s fun to edit when you finally know them. Easy, too.
by Roxanne St. Claire February 24th, 2009 at 12:22 pmRocki,
Awesome blog!
Usually a whole story line will hit me and then I write…slowly, I get to know my hero and yes, sometimes I have to go back and polish..adding layers for the readers. Giving them a hint in the earlier chapters that I wasn’t given until mid book.
When a story line hits me…it comes with a flavor of each main character but as I write, they come alive and start talking – revealing things I didn’t see or wasn’t told when the idea first came into focus.
Really, it’s my characters who write the book. I’m just there to keep control over the conversations and allow only one to talk at a time. LOL
Kind of like organizing a dozen children at a birthday party!
Hugs
by Houston A.W. Knight February 24th, 2009 at 11:55 amHawk
LOL – I’ve organized those parties. Or maybe I should say…I’ve *attempted* to organize those parties. There’s usually wine involved by the end of the night!!
by Roxanne St. Claire February 24th, 2009 at 12:23 pmLOL Rocki…I hear you! There are time my Char’s drive me to a mimosa just to slow them down…or cool them off…LOL
Hugs
by Houston A.W. Knight February 24th, 2009 at 1:52 pmHawk
Rocki…boy do I relate to this! I try to do some prework, and since publishers tend to force us to do a synopsis, I always THINK I know my characters.
This amuses my characters. I swear they stay up after I go to bed at night plotting to make me insane.
My biggest “tool” in writing is simply that I won’t give up. I will finish the book. Some are easier than others, there are books that I had to rip apart and rebuild them to make them work, but if that’s what it takes, then I do it. Sheer stubborness sometimes pays off!
by Jen Lyon February 24th, 2009 at 12:10 pmThat is EXACTLY what it takes. That, Ms. Jen, is The Secret that everyone is looking for. Don’t give up until the book is finished, regardless of how much you have to rip it apart. Well said!
by Roxanne St. Claire February 24th, 2009 at 12:24 pmWhenever I start a new story I know very little about my characters. The more I write the more I get to know them.
by Violet February 24th, 2009 at 12:34 pmI tend to write that way myself, and I know at least two or three other writers that write that way as well. I say that whatever method works for YOU is the one that you should use. Everyone is different; why shouldn’t our methods of writing be different, too?
by ALR February 24th, 2009 at 1:19 pmI get stuck at the beginning of Act Two of every damn effing (to borrow from Karin) book precisely because I don’t know my characters well enough and they just stop working for me. Inevitably, it’s because I’m trying to force them to be something they’re not. I can picture them physically, I can watch how they react to any given situation, but I do not know WHY. In SUDDEN DEATH I got stuck around page 150 because every time I put Jack and Megan together the book stopped. THEN I realized that I thought they’d known each other in the past . . . but they DIDN’T. They’d never met. And once I accepted that, the rest of the book was smooth sailing. (relatively.)
I love your marble and chisel analogy. Stephen King compares the story like an archeology. The story is a fossil and you’re there first with your big hammers and shovels and picks trying to get rid of the useless dirt and rocks, then you bring out your fine tools to carve out each bone without damaging the fossil or missing a piece.
Some characters are easier than others. Some talk a lot more than others. Dillon Kincaid was one of my easiest characters to write, I knew him inside and out. Very much like his character–honest, forthright, intelligent. His twin brother Jack on the other hand? Damn, he was stubborn.
I don’t do character charts or interviews or anything like that. Discovering character is part of my writing process, warts and all. Sometimes I wish there was an easier way, but whenever I try to change my method, it takes me twice as long to write.
by Allison Brennan February 24th, 2009 at 2:21 pmMotivation is the key, Allison. I really struggle with that and it often is the ugliest, hardest part of my character development. REALLY particularly hard with villains because I’m just not hardwired to think like a bad person. And their motivation can’t always be money. Like Madoff – ever since that scandal broke I’ve been wondering about his motivation. He has/had more money than God, so it had to go much deeper than just “more, more, more.” It’ll be fascinating to see if we ever find out what motivated him to wreck so many people’s savings…and lives.
by Roxanne St. Claire February 24th, 2009 at 3:33 pmHere’s a very interesting article on Madoff: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/business/25bernie.html?_r=1&em=&pagewanted=all
The only thing that isn’t clearly explained in this article is motivation. They discuss psychopaths and compare him to a serial killer, etc., but there is always a reason that goes back to childhood. Always. He truly may be a psychopath and have no empathy or remorse, but there’s something else in his history that can at least shed light on this, either a behavior or a tragedy. The fact that no one remembers much about his parents is key, I think. But that’s me being the couch psychologist . . .
Motivation for villains, BTW, is rarely about money, even for thieves.
Now, I do understand my villains far easier than my heroes and heroines . . . I don’t know what that says about me!
by Allison Brennan February 24th, 2009 at 4:25 pmThanks for the link, Allison. I am fascinated by the guy – kind of like I was about OJ back in the day. You DO have the villain nailed!
by Roxanne St. Claire February 25th, 2009 at 4:53 amWhat a great post! Thank you for doing this. Love the comments too. Great education!
by Lauren February 25th, 2009 at 8:03 amI’m so glad you do the same thing! Very rarely do I plot out a book beforehand. But, I have been known to plot specific chapters if I’m stuck and want to stay on track.
So, I’m usually surprised when my characters do or say things that I didn’t think they were capable of. Sometimes it’s a good thing because it will lead to another twist or turn in the plot. Sometimes it’s a bad thing because a re-write for earlier chapters is in order.
Then there are times when I, or my CP’s, dream of my characters. I guess that’s a good thing
Anyway, my point is that I’m glad an established author struggles in this arena the same as this still hoping to be discovered writer.
by Sandra Sookoo February 26th, 2009 at 7:07 am