Anyone can have (and everyone has had) a bad day. We need to let our characters face all kinds of strife as we build tension in our
stories. Why should our readers be interested in our characters’ bad days?
Make each character real, make them more than just three-dimensional.
We’ve discussed giving our characters lives BEFORE the story opens; their
experiences color the way they act, may help determine their goals, and certainly
influence their interactions with others. Even though your reader may not need
to know all of the character’s background, you as the author must. HINT at the
protagonist and antagonist’s past, but don’t throw down a whole block of
backstory (explanation) why they like or dislike, or why they take something
too personally. Your readers don’t need to pour through sentences and pages of unnecessary
explanations.
If your character feels real to your reader then she will
care what happens to him especially when you drop tiny little references to a
long ago past as you throw conflicts, obstacles and disappointments at your
hero. (Yes, do NOT be kind to the characters you create). You can certainly
show your hero’s dismay when he comes home to find his family seated on the
building stoop, he can feel his disappointment in himself for failing to
provide enough to keep his children housed. But if you throw in a quick memory
flash of his own childhood and cold nights sleeping in an alley as he sees his
own child looking lost, suddenly his frustration seems even more poignant. And
just to add salt to his wounds he can miss his late-wife’s knack for always
seeming to make ends meet.
You want to do more than just tell a story, your reader needs
to feel emotions. Did you watch the show “This is Us”? In one of the episodes
Kevin loses a chain and medallion and he is upset and it made viewers tear up
when it was revealed that the medallion was one of the few things he still had
from his deceased father – make everything as personal as possible so that your
readers are invested, let them hope and cry and feel right along with the
character.
Keep the tension high throughout your story with lots of
small PERSONAL conflicts to keep readers turning the pages. Let some of your
character’s dreams and goals seem just out of reach and yet let him/her still
keep reaching. Remember to allow your readers a chance to catch their breath
though by interspersing tension and calmness (heavy on the tension) — maybe
interrupt the single mom’s fears and doubts with a quiet moment watching
children playing in the park and then zing it right back to the conflict and
her doubts of being able to do this on her own. Don’t waste words in the story,
there is no need to describe the wallpaper in excess flowery prose, for
example, keep it short and simple.
You don’t have to include every word of dialogue or every movement.
Describe settings, objects and even what a character looks like only if the
description is relevant to the story. Short sentences can help build tension.
It doesn’t matter how much you love your hero/heroine, they
cannot be perfect, that’s not realistic; it’s the same for the antagonist,
he/she is not all bad. Make your readers ask questions which you will provide
the answers to WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT. Never info-dump, smatter your story with
relevant information. Hint at the past, you don’t need all the details.
Writing
Exercise: Think of your most valued possession (inanimate) ever. Describe
to your readers what this piece means to you. Do you still have it? If not, how
did you lose it? Do you miss it? If you still have the item, what do you do to
keep it safe so you don’t lose it? What are your eventual hoped-for plans to do
with the object? Write a few paragraphs about this item, fill your words with
emotion.
Writing
Prompt: Make a list of your ten greatest fears. Next to each fear
write a short sentence something from your past that may have instilled this
fear in you.
Challenge
Assignment: Write a short story (1000 to 2500 words) involving a
crime, a victim, and a hero/heroine. Solve the crime near the end of the story
but keep your readers guessing. Show the finished story to one-to-three trusted
friends and ask for their HONEST critique of the story. Did they feel for the
characters? Were they surprised along the way?
