We’re delving deeper into characters this week with a look at…delving deeper into characters 🙂 No matter how many sympathetic choices you show a character making, readers can’t really connect to a character if there’s nothing of substance to connect with.
As readers, we say that characters are sometimes flat or shallow. Usually, in those cases, I find that the story doesn’t give us enough information about them. If the heroine always does the right thing, but we have no idea why, the story rings hollow. Similarly, if the hero makes a crucial mistake, but we don’t see a deep-seated motivation behind his choice, we can get disgruntled and even confused. They become caricatures instead of characters.
I want my characters to feel like living, breathing people to my readers. The best way for that to happen is for them to feel like living, breathing people to me.
There are plenty of worksheets that can help writers flesh out their characters. Favorite colors, birthday, zodiac sign (and whether they believe in them), etc. I find the best way to flesh out my characters is to just spend time with them.
I spend a lot of time with my characters. Especially in the longer works, where the characters reappear throughout the series, I’ll be with those characters for years. I need to know much more about them than will ever appear on the page.
I have conversations with characters in my head while I’m waiting in lines. I’ll imagine how they might react to a funny or poignant moment in a TV show or movie. I’ll laugh at the thought of them trying to fit in at a family BBQ or to seem normal during a trip to the grocery store.
OMG now I’m imganing Adamant wearing shorty shorts at a charity car wash, lol!! Love, love this post (and Paige and Khel are still one of my favorite of your couples). 💜 💜 💜
Adamant in short-shorts, OMG. That sounds like so much fun 😀 I’m glad you enjoyed the post (and Paige and Khel 😉 ). Thanks for reading! <3