We’ve made it to Part 3! The previous two parts were slanted toward the writing method. This gets more into the content side of things.
3. Tell me about your characters!
I’ve noticed in several of the stories I’ve beta read that the main character is underdeveloped. I’m guilty of this myself; after all, if I’m writing from behind the main character’s eyes, shouldn’t the reader be able to see what I do? But that makes it all the more important that we fully flesh them out. Two ways to do that is by solidifying your character’s motivation, and by giving them relationships – good or bad – to explore on the page.
Every character needs a motivation. Whether that’s to save the world, or just to eat a hamburger (how much can you tell about a character by their quest for fast food?) there needs to be some driving force. In one story I read, the main character is motivated by power, as is mentioned over and over again, but power for that character is never defined. I think it’s no coincidence that there were very few people he had any real conversations with. The only two characters he had more than passing interactions with were his master and his girlfriend, but even these were shallow. They said very little about who he was as a person, and thus many of the things he did and said felt wrong. Plus, on the other side of the coin, motivations help to dictate how each character interacts with the other. Do they see each other as an obstacle to their goals? An ally? Nothing more than a passerby? And if that’s the case, do they value their input into their lives? Or do they see them as lesser than?
In another book, the main character narrated in first person, and the other characters – all of whom he had only met during the course of the story – seemed to know and feel for him better than I, the reader did. The main character positioned himself as a recorder of the end of the world. The people around him were the interesting ones, yet as I felt was overlooked, the narrator, as a part of the group, was still a part of the story. There was great opportunity for the author to have him connect with the others on the page, not just off of it. Not to mention, some of the few actions he did take felt abrupt and out of character – because I didn’t know his character. It was glossed over.
When I read I’m looking at the people, the relationships. Yeah, the plot is important (I have to be in a very particular mood for something without plot, and if the plot can get me thinking, even better), yeah the setting is great (I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for middle ages/high fantasy/urban fantasy/etc. settings), but here’s the thing. There is no new idea under the sun. I believe that. I’m okay with that. I’m still going to find a book to read that’s new to me, and I’ll be honest, I’ll intentionally read a hundred books over the same trope in different wrapping paper. But what that means, to me at least, is that plot and settings alone aren’t going to cut it. The characters and how they interact with the plot, with the setting, with other characters, and how that changes over time, that’s where it’s at. You can learn a lot about a character from monologues and exposition about their thoughts and feelings, but you’re not going to really get to know them until they interact with other people. [editorial: I think that can also double as a statement of modern day people and our online lives and obsessions, but I digress]
I think main characters should connect with at least one other person during the course of their story. Even if they’re the strong and silent type (maybe even especially if they’re the strong and silent type) I think this is a great way to flesh out all sorts of aspects of a character’s personality. Plus it’s excellent exercise, even if it doesn’t make the final cut!. When I wrote The Dream Thief’s Story, I wanted Fae to have at least one good conversation with each of the other characters. It’s a short book, novella length, but I think it really helped me to show Fae’s character – as well as the others – as much as possible across those pages.
Thanks for reading!