Creating A Character - Oh, My!

Whether I am creating a major character, or a minor character that moves the story along, I look at the storyline, and the setting, to see what type of character I want. Am I looking for a protagonist (the good guy), an antagonist the bad guy), a secondary character that will be recurring (as in a series), or a one time secondary character that is used to deliver information, or in some way move the story along. 

Then I think about the character's background - where do they live, what do they do for a living, what do they believe in. You want your character to be as specific s possible, so that they interact in a reasonable manner with other characters, an so that they serve a purpose in your story. They need to be fairly well defined - male or female, age, body type, eye and hair color, how they speak, how they dress, educational background. Are they calm by nature, do they have a temper, are they shy, are they aggressive? Your characters need to come across as vibrant and real - people that your readers can connect with!

We can also be very creative and make animals into characters. Rita Mae Brown does this very well in two of her series: "The Sneaky Pie Brown" and "Sister Jane". Her animals (cats, dogs, horses, birds, foxes etc) talk to each other and to the humans. It is all very real, and each animal is kept in character. We don't have to go that far - in most books we have humans talking to their pets, and the pets reacting. This can be a very strong component for any story. 

Once you have created your character, document the information in your book's bible, so that you can refer back to it as you write. Readers will note characters that don't always follow who they "should" be. And they will put that info in their review of your book!  

In my next blog, I will be discussing how to develope a character.

(c) June 2018 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited with out written consent of the author.

Creating A Fictional Character

I am in the process of building a bible for my WIP. Since this is the first book in what will be a series, I am starting small - the main character, two ancillary characters, and a bit of background. What I would like to discuss today is how I am defining my characters - what information I feel that  I need to know about them, so that they will come across as real/believable.

Some of the information that I include is:

1. Character's full name and birth date.
2. Physical description of the character.
3. Physical location of the character.
4. Physical description of their home.
5. Background information: Where they were born, where they went to school, where they have worked, who their parents are, who their siblings are.
6.  What are their goals - what is important to them?
7. What is their moral compass?
8. What are their strong points?
9. What are their weak points?
10. What is this character's relationship with the other characters in the story?

When we are building our characters, we need to keep in mind whether they are meant to be a: protagonist, antagonist, background person, background person that moves the story along.

Above all - know the purpose of your character to your story. Without purpose, the character will be ill defined, and your story will flounder.

If you would like to sign up for my (recently birthed) author's newsletter, you will find the form on my site.

(c) August 2017 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission of the author.

First Chapters

 

I have spent a fair amount of time lately thinking about entering a writing contest ... a specific writing contest. In the end, I decided not to. This lead me to thinking about taking my mystery novel out, sharpening my pencils (or learning to work with Dragon Speak!)  and getting a first draft written. For me, the first chapter can be a difficult one. What do I need it to do? Introduce my main character, for one thing. Establish my "voice" for another. My voice for my fiction writing will be a bit different than my voice for other writing that I do. Or perhaps not ... perhaps I am always me.

In my mind, I need to make the main character a strong one ... one that readers will identify with, and that I feel comfortable with. Rather like the person that I would want to be. I want my readers to be drawn into this person's world, to want to walk with her, to want to finish the story! I want to show my character's strengths, and perhaps hint at what her weaknesses might be.

The first chapter is also where I set the tone for the story,where my readers decide if they want to read the rest of the book. Am I going to be uber serious? Am I going to inject a bit (but not too much!) humor? Is there a lot of blood and gore to follow? And by the way ... what is the theme? Perhaps I should sneak that into the first chapter too! Is it romance? Is it theft? Is it family secrets? Is it cyberspace? Is it addictions? Fess up ... let the reader know!

I know exactly where my mystery is going to take place ... in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is important to me as a reader to know what country, and what part of that country, a story that I am reading is taking place in. I will give my readers that same courtesy ... to know where the story is taking place. And the places will change, as I have great hopes on making this a mystery series.

The bad guy (antagonist) will need to show up in my first chapter too ... or at least a hint of who they are, why they are in that position (perhaps a bit of back story), and what the tension is between my main character and the antagonist. Hint ... the antagonist does not need to be all bad (none of us are all good or all bad).

Lots of stuff that I am finding out needs to be in my first chapter! That's okay - I am ready. I have my outline, and I have my characters sketched out in profiles. Who they are, where they live, what they do for a living, where they went to school, what their preferences and dislikes are. It's all written out! To be honest, I did that for reference for myself, so that I can keep my characters straight!

One least thought,  that doesn't belong in this article, but is too good to keep quiet about! When you take out a phrase, or even a whole section, or chapter (this is called editing), don't throw it away. Keep it ... you may be able to use some of it in later chapters, or even in other books or articles. Waste not, want not!   

(c) 2000-2013 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited in all  venues without written permission from the author.