Have you ever picked up a story and
thought how absolutely flat the characters seem? How does that happen and how
can you prevent that from happening in your story?
Remember that even though your
readers may only read about a short time period of your characters’ lives they
should still have a past that brought them to where they are in your story. The
things they experienced up to the opening of your story may have a lot of impact
on their present actions and reactions.
One idea, at least for your major
characters, is to actually build dossiers of their lives. List things about
each character’s childhood, include parents and siblings. Were the character’s
parents married, divorced or deceased? Did your hero suffer a tragedy or
something that he had to overcome? What happened to your antagonist in earlier
years, was he betrayed by someone close, did he lose hope because of some
unspeakable act?
Once you’ve given your main
characters a past, set it aside. You probably won’t need to share much with
your readers, as a matter of fact unless something from that character’s past
explains an unexpected or strange reaction, you AND YOUR CHARACTER are the only
ones that need to know. Even if past information is relative to the plot you
don’t need to spill it all to your readers at once. If you “info dump” you
might easily lose the attention of your readers by transporting them out of the
present story with too much backstory.
There are safe ways to provide
necessary backstory. During a conversation between two or more characters one
might pipe in with a NATURAL sounding comment such as “Hey remember the day we
all got lost in that wax museum?” Depending on when you place the shared memory
might help to explain some otherwise irrational reaction to walking into a room
full of mannequins. The rest of the memory needn’t be shared unless it is
significant to the today-story. Especially in a first person story you can also
share private memories or even little flashbacks. But remember to keep those
background stories short and sparse.
Just like in real life traumatic
circumstances, family traditions, and behavioral lessons would affect present
day actions and emotions. By understanding who your character is, it becomes
easier to simply let your character react to the environment and the people you
put in front of him. Your character has motivation to react certain ways
CONSISTANTLY. For instance if your character has a fear of dogs because of a childhood
incident, she won’t go running to hug a strange dog in one scene and then cower
in another.
YOU think up the story-line and create
your cast of characters, and then you could pretty much let them write the
story for you!
Writing Exercise: Do you have a fear
of spiders or loud thunderstorms? Or do you have any reactions to certain
situations that your friends think is irrational? Write a one-page letter to
your best friend and explain WHY you react the way you do. Keep it to one-page
and remember it is from YOU to someone you trust. (btw, you DON’T have to
actually give the letter to anyone.
Writing Prompt: Make a list of at
least ten STRONG memories you have that has changed the way you view your
surroundings, other people, and perceived threats.
Challenge Assignment: Lean back in
your chair and close your eyes, If you could magically transport yourself to a
different place see it and feel it. The set your timer to 30-minutes and write
about it. Remember to show, don’t tell. No matter what keep writing until the
timer goes off, it doesn’t matter if your story is coherent or not, just write.
