I know you’ve heard the many
reminders to know what motivates your characters, to understand their back stories
(even if it isn’t included in your book) so that you have more of an
understanding why they like or dislike the things they do. Maybe your character
was bitten by a dog as a child and has grown up with a fear of all dogs; or
maybe he witnessed a violent act which took the life of a close friend and now
he is determined to dole out vigilante justice.
Think about your own life and if a
certain smell makes you feel nostalgic; why? Is there something that scares you
today – do you remember a time you weren’t scared? What happened to change
that? Everything we go through has an effect on our lives in the future. Combat
veterans and trauma victims may suffer from PTSD – Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder – and things might “trigger” them into relieving their worst memories.
Not all memories have to be bad, if mom made homemade chicken soup every time
one of her children got sick, then chicken soup might become a comfort food and
actually sooth away aches and pains.
Understanding your characters shouldn’t
be confined to just the things that have already happened. Like everyone, your
characters have dreams and desires; maybe they’ve set an ambitious goal for
themselves. Determine what they want to happen, it could be a school degree or
a job promotion, it could be emotional and they may want to be loved. It may
sound simple and even realistic – but what is really driving them. Why is the
goal important? More important than WHAT your character wants is what he fears
will happen if he DOESN’T get what he wants. Does he worry that he is going to
turn into his alcoholic father if he is stuck in a dead end job he hates for
the rest of his life. Maybe she’s worried that her husband will leave her if her
diet doesn’t work and she doesn’t lose weight. Understanding why the goal is
important will help you know what is driving your character and that is the
urgency you can let your readers see.
Think about your life and the things
that may have occurred in the past to color your attitudes. If you are involved
in a relationship or very close with a friend that you did NOT grow up with
think about different reactions you both may have to the same situation. What
do you think makes your viewpoint so different, what was different about the
way you each grew up? Did you ever wonder why you reacted to something the way
you did; perhaps you were really reacting to something that happened to you a
long time ago. The same type thing can happen to your characters.
Giving the characters you create a
past, dreams for the future, happy and sad memories, and fears whether rational
or irrational, will add dimension and make them more than just descriptions on
a page.
Writing exercise:
Write a letter of apology (you don’t have to ever mail it) to that one
person you might have yelled at because you overreacted. Explain why you felt
so strongly and compare the situation to something that happened in your past.
Explain it thoroughly so that the recipient will understand your viewpoint.
Writing prompt: You
WERE bringing a date to your high school reunion but at the last minute your
date called and had to back out with what was MOST LIKELY a legitimate excuse for not being able to go,
but there was that little bit of doubt in the back of your mind. You’re still
embarrassed when your classmates make fun of you showing up alone. What
believable reason do you give your classmates for the reason your date is not
there?
