Creating the Story: Part Two-Characterization

Ah, the characters, probably the most important part of a story. Sure a plot can chug along without decent characterization, events can happen, an ending can occur, but you won’t draw the reader in. In order to have a story that people want to read you must have characters that they become invested in. That they can relate to.

There are many writing sites out there that suggest making up character sheets (you can download and print these it at many websites-just run a search). These nifty little pieces of paper are a good thing to use when you first start out. I suppose many people find them handy throughout their writing career, but my style tends to be a bit more haphazard as I’m sure I’ve already mentioned.

Anyway, these sheets include basic things like the name of your character(s), height, weight, hair and eye colour, birthday, address, parents’ names, job, etc…. In addition, they can also include things like likes and dislikes in music and food, hobbies, political and ideological beliefs, best and worst experiences and how they have affected the person, past relationships…you get the idea.

These individualistic traits are really what you need to focus on, but don’t mention them: show them. Give your character a strange like, a fear that others relate to, an annoying habit, a funny quirk; things that make them seem human and not just two-dimensional constructs. This is what will ultimately draw the reader in and make them feel invested in your characters and, hence, the story.

Now it may seem somewhat of a waste creating this laundry list of traits. When you have a story that you’re burning to write do you really want to halt the creative flow and do something so mundane? My answer is yes because you know what this does? Besides giving you a sort of ‘character blueprint’ to refer back to, it helps prevent that horrible moment when you turn on your computer or open your notebook and nothing comes.

Say, for example, that your heroine is horribly afraid of spiders (I know, simplistic example, but I’m merely trying to make a point so cut me a little slack). You can obviously have a scene where she must confront one or a nest of them. This would lead to the question of how she got into that situation in the first place (another scene or two). If she’s allergic what happens? What if the hero appears, desperately wants to save her, but he’s afraid or deathly allergic? He saves her anyway and exhibits selflessness and bravery. Then what happens? In showing one interesting character trait you could potentially have pages and pages of text.

Don’t forget, though, that your main characters don’t exist in a vacuum. They interact with secondary characters, live in a house, an apartment, a trailer, a hotel. Their story plays out somewhere. This is something I’ll be discussing in my next ‘creating the story’ blog: the setting.

Until then I hope you found the blog enjoyable, informative or both.

Rose Connelly

New Book

Well, “A Blush of Magic” is finished, the query and synopsis have been written and edited and I have submitted it to Sourcebooks for consideration. I’m glad that it’s done, but I actually feel more relief that I now have time to concentrate on my next project. I love the writing process-despite the fact that I sometimes hate it-I know that seems a bit backward. Anyway, once the manuscript is finished, the rest is just a necessary pain. The synopsis especially. It took me over a week to get four pages written, but it’s kind of the antithesis of the creative process. You’re trying to condense hundreds of pages down to just a few.

For now, though, I’m going to just try and forget about it until I need to do it again for my next book (of course, there’s always the hope that I get published and I won’t have to).

Anyway, onto my new book. I seem to be moving into a more paranormal/fantasy based theme, which I’m just fine with as I love fantasy; and isn’t the perfect love a bit like a fantasy? I’m never sure what story I’ll do next as I have notes scattered through notebooks on a dozen stories.

The story I decided to do is really one that was already written (by me not plagiarized). Almost a year ago I wrote this short story in the hopes of submitting it for a writing contest. I managed it, but I wasn’t happy with it so I didn’t submit. My sister read it and told me that it had the potential to be a good story, but it felt condensed, unfinished. I thought about it and realized that it didn’t want to be a short story; it wanted to be a novel. It will now get the chance.

The story is of an hereditary witch, Seraphina, who lives in the highlands of Scotland. She is not what one might think of a witch. She looks like a college student, plays an online game as a warrior when she gets frustrated, and has a thriving website selling amulets, candles, magic-infused objects, etc… She also likes loud music (as well as traditional Celtic music). She was raised by her gran and knew from a young age that a man would come into her life who would either be the love of many lifetimes or her death and destruction.

Jake’s father is Native American and his grandfather is a powerful medicine man. Jake started having strange dreams and was able to sense things at a young age, but his mother, a social anthropologist, feels he is being indoctrinated, led to believe in things that don’t exist, so she takes him away.  He grows up suppressing his powers and telling himself the world is rational and logical. He becomes a police officer and is at least somewhat content until his half-brother is brutally murdered on the reservation. The investigation is eventually called off at the insistence of his grandfather (who claims the attack was the work of an angry spirit in retribution for something his half-brother has done).

When Jake continues to investigate he finds himself waking up in this grandfather’s home, hearing that he has developed a thin spot in his magic shield. Of course, Jake doesn’t believe this and he’s still angry that his grandfather was so sure his half-brother’s death was the work of something paranormal. He quits the force and embarks on a quest to debunk the paranormal. This eventually leads him to Seraphina.

He will have to overcome his cynicism and accept the part of himself he has ignored for so long or risk loosing a woman he is quickly coming to love to a power-hungry spirit.

I’m currently researching and outlining, but looking forward to writing the book.

 

Rose Connelly

Creating a Story: Part One-the Idea

I can’t remember where it was that I heard the comment that all it takes to write is passion, but it got me thinking. While I agree that passion is a necessary component, it is certainly not all it takes to create a story.

A story starts with an idea.  This idea comes from different places. Sometimes you are walking down the street and see something or hear something that inspires you. Other times a story comes from the small, but complicated question: what if? Most of my ideas come from dreams. I often wonder how many possible stories I have lost when I simply don’t recall my night-time wandering, but that is neither here nor there.

Once you have an idea get as much of it down as you can. For me this is usually perhaps a page or two of information. The overwhelming purpose of the story is known. I write romances so I know my two main characters will end up together. I also usually have a basic idea of what type of people they are and major issues/problems they have (either internal or external) since a large part of the story involves solving these problems or personal growth so that they can finally be together.

I may also have a couple of specific scenes in mind. If this is the case, I sketch these out without really worrying where they will go in the story; this will come later.

I also have to have some idea of a beginning, middle, and ending. Now, these are not set in stone and they don’t have to be exceptionally detailed. You could have something as simple as: she’s a writer, but very shy and worried she’s missing out on life.  The story starts with a trip to a small village in Ireland for research. He’s an intelligent farmer who stopped playing the field a while ago and thinks that there is one woman out there for him and he will know her when he sees her.

The middle that I’m referring to is pretty much the entire story, but don’t become alarmed because you only need the bare bones for now. Simply saying that she will gain confidence and he will learn patience and discover that things are not always as simple as he may wish is fine for now.

As for the ending, having an idea of what you want the final scene to look like or even have a few lines of dialogue is fine, but it is very likely to change and I don’t like to be tied into something that early on. In a romance I am content to say that, after struggling through the story, the hero and heroine fall in love and end up together.

I hope you have found this blog interesting or informative or both. I’ll be back with discussions on characterization, setting, and constructing the actual story.

Enjoy your reading and your writing.

Rose Connelly