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?
