CHARACTERS ARE BEST DEFINED BY THEIR ACTIONS
Characters are the cloth, thread
and weave in fiction. Plot is what
happens in a story, but plot is also who it
happens to. Readers choose fiction
looking for intimacy with the characters
in the story. They don't want just a
simple escape when they pick up a book,
they want a companion for the journey.
We must know our characters intimately, know her
background, hopes, dreams, fears, and
secret sorrows. We know about Mrs.
Wilson, her cranky first grade teacher;
we know that Jack Reynolds was her first
unforgettable love and greatest
heartbreak. We know her flaws and
weaknesses, joys and strengths. We
understand how her mother's love or cold
heart shaped her. We know what kind of
underwear she wears and the kind of
sheets gracing her bed. While plotting,
we calculate how her past will somehow
shape the present story.
Fiction is about interesting people in a dizzying passel of
trouble. Readers are not interested in
dull, passive or lazy characters, the type
who would rather complain to their
therapist than make a move or take a
risk, where everything is lovely and easy and
static. They're longing for a character
whose life is much messier than their
own.
Fortunately, it's easy to get a character
in enough trouble to make a reader
wonder and worry about him or her.
Trouble starts with change, and as most
people can testify, change is difficult.
Change upsets the balance of things, and
once our characters are off balance, they
are likely to act in foolish or unpredictable
ways. After you write a biography, list all
the changes that you are going to inflict
on your main characters, and then,
heartless as an assassin, start wreaking
havoc.
After your cold-blooded list of changes is
complete, start your story with the
change that is going to be the most
threatening. This incident should come
from outside the character, should be an
event that disrupts his or her routine.
Once these changes start crashing into
her life, the character should exert every
effort to keep things from careening out
of control, no matter what it takes.
Another function of fiction writing is to be
an invisible puppet master. . Like
the puppeteer, we orchestrate and
pummel our poor characters, but we
remain cleverly invisible, off stage.
Although our characters are mere putty
in our hands, somehow it has to look
seamless, believable, and appear as if
these folks really exist. Because that's
the most basic and compelling component
of all fiction: The characters seem real.
They are not contrived, they are not
used to soapbox an issue, they are not
stereotypes. Instead, they are quirky,
intriguing, strongly motivated, and they
change over the course of a story as
they suffer and acquire insights.