The Basics - Part Two: CHARACTER

The Driving Force

So, you feel that you have a sure-to-dazzle idea in your head, it's grand and vivid and full of things you can't wait to share with others. Here's a very important fact: it doesn't matter if it takes place on a space shuttle, in a submarine, on top of a mountain in a haunted cottage or in a meadow of talking flowers (it will matter how you introduce your world and set the scenes, but more of that in Chapter Four: WORLD). If the scenery doesn't matter, then what does? At this early stage of your plotting the plot, I would say that the focus should fall on the people; the characters; the villains; the humpty dumpties; the maniacs and jesters; the good-in-need-of-some-bad and the bad-in-search-of-some-good. In short - build interesting, gripping personas to populate your story, and you will have the audience hook, line and sinker.


Safe to say: most worlds are built around the character, and perhaps the STORY and the CHARACTER are really the same chapter, because usually the concept of your story will be born from the idea of a character. Let's then say that you have done a list or an overview of some sort - as discussed in the chapter prior - of your storyline, showing the plot and where you would like it to take you; naturally, you already have your main characters already in mind, and so should, as they are the driving force behind the storyline.

Nothing has taught me more about character than writing screenplays. There's such a subtlety that can be used when revealing character and all of it doesn't have to be cramped into the first page or first chapter. As with anything when you are writing - you shouldn't rush. There's no hurry, plant little revealing moments along the way, and your readers will enjoy getting to know your characters just as much as you do when you write them.

To the Point

When presenting the characters, I try to remember these points:

¤ Action Speaks Louder Than Words - let your character be active. A screenplay mantra is "Show, don't tell", this can easily be applied to your novel writing as well. Keep it in the back of your head: instead of writing a line of descriptive dialogue that is superflous for the scene, or situation, simply cut to the action that it preludes.

Example:

"Where are we going?" asked Peter, taking a huge bite of the hamburger he had just extracted from the bag, the look on his face not being far from delight as he chewed the food.
"Over there, I guess," Susan replied non-committaly, strolling past him to follow in the footsteps of her brother.

Consider:

Peter dug around in the bag for the hamburger he knew was hidden somewhere behind the french fries, extracting it with a look on his face which was not far from delight and biting into it just as Susan strolled past him, heading across the parking lot in the footsteps of her brother. Her back was quickly fading among the shadows of the woods beyond it and he wanted to call out to her before she disappeared from view completely, however, it proved mightily difficult with his mouth full of burger.
He stood indecisive for another moment, but the scuttling of a newspaper being ushered across the asphalt by an impatient wind got his feet quickly moving after his friend.

By removing the dialogue, which was simply preluding the action that was about to show, and not tell us what they were going to do anyway, it still conveys what I wanted it to tell the reader: that Peter doesn't know where they're going, that he's a follower, while Susan is rather careless with him and doesn't really care whether he comes or not.


¤ Character Arc - decide who your character is at the beginning of the story and then make sure that he or she has an arc that is believable and progressive.

Example: If your main character is meek and cowardly, he should, of course, end up a brave and brazen hero; if your main character is strong and independent, he may need to be reminded that it's okay to ask for help once in a while, and that co-dependency can be necessary; if your character is happy-go-lucky he may need to face reality and the struggles that most of us have to go through; and if your character is beaten and down on his knees he will need to teach himself about strength and how to get back on his feet and carry on.

Naturally, unless it's a tragedy you're writing - well, even then - the main character is on a journey of self-discovery and needs to evolve during the story in a positive way; he needs to find those sides to himself that so far has been subconscious, but that are necessary for his personal growth. Bravery, humility, strength - all of these are powerful traits that, once they're beginning to be apparent in a character that has been lacking them, will make the reader feel that the evolution has come full circle.

¤ Appearance and Accessories - hair color; eye color; height; weight; what is his or hers favorite color; does he or she wear jeans or trousers; does she enjoy skirts, blouses, sweaters; are they comfortable in their own skin or do they want to loose or maybe gain weight; does he or she bite their nails; does she wear make-up, does he?

By accessories I mean, does she have a ring that never comes off her finger, a favorite bracelet, does she always carry pen and paper, a day planner, would she not survive without her cell-phone? Does he have tattoos, piercings, jewellery? Does she? We all have everyday items that we can't imagine leaving the house without, let your characters everyday items be tattle-tales of who your characters are. Let them reflect if they're miserable, pretending to be happy; frightened, pretending to be brave; lonely, pretending not to care.

And what they wear and what colors they choose naturally goes into what type of person they are: whimsical and she may not be wearing a tight gray office suit with a pink tie; broken and depressed and she will probably not be adorning pastelles. It doesn't have to be too on-the-nose. You could have a lawyer in a strict gray suit who is whimsical in her off-hours and likes to wear can-can skirts and go dance polka, but then, perhaps, she wouldn't wear just any tie, but one with polka dots. Or even something subtler, like a certain belt, or a big, sparkly ring on one finger, the possibilities are endless.

To reveal - by describing your characters outards - what is moving in your characters innards is something to strive for.

The Most Important

Naturally your characters will come to life on the page. I very seldom sit down and list personal traits for my characters - though sometimes it absolutely helps, especially when I'm writing a script - but these points are good to remember when you go back and edit.

The most important thing - in my opinion - for any character to have is what I mentioned above: a strong, believable arc that moves steadily from its starting dot to its finishing dot, and which is unshakable in its foundations. You don't want anyone to go "But why is she running out of the cave when she got that sword from the prince and she's been talking about wanting to be a dragon slayer?" (Not that I personally would have her slay the dragon, because I believe them to be magnificent mythical creatures that mean no real harm; but then I would have her face the dragon and actively choose to put down her sword, not do a complete turn of character and run screaming for her life.)

The "It's Alive" Factor

Let your instincts guide you, play around, empathize with your characters, see yourself in their situation, act it out in your head or read your words outloud and try to get a sense of the realism of it. It doesn't matter if it's a mob story and you've never met a mafia boss in your life or if it's a fantasy adventure where half of the creatures populating your world is something that only stems from your imagination - the characters have to be alive.

An alive character isn't dead (duh), but has little tics, might say the wrong thing at the wrong time, might feel awkward, might hesitate when they shouldn't, will absolutely make mistakes, though they will usually be able to fix them or at least learn from them, might be obnoxious and not know it, might be smarter than they realize, shyness, boldness, humor, warmth, infuse your characters with as much real life that you can get, and if you still feel unsure of what I mean - look around, study your family, your friends, your pets, yourself. We all have characteristics that you can pick and choose from.

Good luck!


Summary


¤ Interesting, Gripping, Alive Personas will help draw the reader in and keep them from putting the book down. Ever.

¤ There's No Rush, plant your revelations of character selectively throughout the story, not throughout the first chapter. Remember, the evolution of the character is also interwoven with the evolution of the storyline itself. You wouldn't begin the story with the last chapter, would you?

¤ Action Speaks Louder Than Words - let your character be active and cut unnecessary dialogue. More of this in Chapter Three: DIALOGUE.

¤ The Character Arc/The Most Important - the main character is on a journey throughout the story and needs to evolve in a positive way; she/he needs to find those sides to her/himself that have been subconscious, but which are necessary for her/his personal growth. Bravery, humility, strength - all of these are powerful traits that, once they're beginning to be apparent in a character that's been lacking them, the reader will feel that the evolutionary process has come full circle.

¤ The "It's Alive" Factor - fashion your character, be they fantasy or mobsters, after people with flaws, no matter what the flaw is, everyone has them, and your reader will be able to identify and laugh, cry or wish to kill your character for them. Oh, yeah - trust me on that.

Recommended Literature:

The Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling (every character is memorable and has traits that are completely personal)

The Lord of the Rings by JR Tolkien (the same as with Harry Potter - a world is painted around the characters to bring them into focus)

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis (Patrick Bateman is delivered in a flawlessly ruptured manner that fits perfectly with Bateman's ruptured psyche)

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk (to teach your character that for every action - a reaction. Palahniuk does this effortlessly by creating a modern Jekyll and Hyde.)

For personal traits I would also recommend you opt for the visual and watch a few of your favorite movies. Let's take a classic, which most of us should know, as a simple example on how to observe character:

Dirty Dancing - Who is Baby? Does she start out as a shy, silent girl-in-the-corner type of character? No, she doesn't. She isn't as self-confident as her sister Lisa, but she's driven, she wants to help people, join the Peace Corps, and so, in a sense, she already possesses bravery in certain areas of life. Where she needs to evolve is on the love front, where she hasn't had much experience. And what is the theme of the movie? Yes, yes, dance - and the other? When Johnny says that famous quote "Nobody puts Baby in a corner" - it's almost as though he's stating the essence of her character right then and there.

Shock

I am sure I am not the only one in complete shock over the death of Heath Ledger. I've been talking about him a lot lately, with family and friends, in anticipation of The Dark Knight, and it feels absolutely surreal that he's gone. It's quite strange to me how you can mourn someone you've never actually met. He will be missed.

The Basics - Part One: STORY

Let me begin by stating the obvious: the thoughts on writing, which I am about to put down, have been put down by writers before me, many times over. I have come to discover what works for me and what doesn't and I now wish to put that down, in case it may be of service to some forlorn soul out there in desperate need of a base to build on.

Thus - here I lay the first brick.


The Idea that Inspires

So, you have your white page, you have your writing tool of choice (I pray you didn't go down the dark road and opted for the blood) and you have the good head on your shoulders, which is bursting with ideas and eagerness to share those ideas with the world. Brilliant!

The first step is, quite naturally, to determine which idea you wish to run with. This is, though so natural, an extremely important step since it will determine the steps that are to follow; as they will bring you into a world that you should want to walk or stroll or dash through, it's paramount that you allow yourself the time to be tentative at first, perhaps even feel as though you're about to stumble once or twice or many, many times. Getting to know your world is never easy, and you must be very patient with how it chooses to admit you.

You have snippets of this world in your head: little bright flashes that has revealed themselves to you in all their glory, but that is it. Those snippets need to be placed before you, and the enormous, gaping, empty holes between them need to be filled with other snippets to go with the snippets that are so extremely clear to you already. Daunting, nay?

You stare and you stare at your white page and soon you feel as though you want to rip it to pieces and toss all its mockery into the trashbin and be done with it. Why don't you? Because you can see it. You can see how - if you just sit and stare for a while longer - your world will fill that space, and it will be grand.

It's different for everybody, of course, because we're all so different. For some, all they need to do is place the pen to the paper and it's as though their wrist knows all the moves on its own and they needn't do anything but go along for the ride. For some, the process is slow: one paragraph at a time. And for then some, it's a combination.

The Comfort Zone

What you need to do is find your comfort zone when trying to determine the basics of your storyline. Here's my way of doing it:

For years I wrote without using any sort of real technique when plotting what was supposed to happen in my books; I always had a sense of where I wanted it to be heading, but I never felt as though whether I actually thought the events through or not would have any real impact on my writing; I thought it might even stump me .

I realize that my situation was different from the avarage author's as I - when I began to write longer pieces, two-hundred pages and more - was a fanfiction writer, and posted my stories chapter by chapter; this meant that I had no real control over the storyline from moment to moment, as the previous moment had already been read by people now waiting for the following moment. Because of this I pretty much let the story and the characters take me where they willed and allowed them to end up wherever seemed to fit best with what had come before. The end product - the novel itself - had been edited about three or four times a chapter, but the editing had taken place chapter by chapter and thus had no real impact on the main storyline or the little subplots and foreshadowings that could have been done much more neatly. (Or so I know, in hindsight.)

I will tell you my way of thinking now, as opposed to then, and if you find that you feel the same way as I used to, or can recognize yourself in the way I think now, then you can always use this as a foundation to build your own techniques on:

Feeling I have a good idea, I like to make notecards for every chapter, with room for extra notes as additions are inevitable, as well as changes, once I actually begin to write. The notes are also invaluable to me when jotting down foreshadowing of upcoming events. I will know how long I have been planting subtle hints of an occurrance, and I can choose how long I wish to drag it out in the storyline before the occurrance occurs. Example:

Chapter Thirty-Two: Softly They Tread

Notes: Imogen sees a flicker. Elaborate.

Imogen and Daniel flee the tower, retracing their steps to the edge of the woods. They argue about whether to venture into the woods again, considering what happened last time, or whether they should take the longer, and unknown, route around the woods and across the rocky plains. Finally a light being seen in the highest window of the tower convinces them they should go through the woods, as there are more places to hide. They walk in silence, Daniel not wanting to discuss what happened to him in the Shadows and Imogen feeling too worried about him to really want to know what he's thinking. Suddenly Imogen screams and when Daniel turns around, she's no longer behind him.

What I do in this chapter summary is to mention a little of what's come before, giving me a sense of where in the story I am; I add a few hints as to the mood of the characters, which is a great thing to do, because when reading through the overview you can see if there are any places where the characters feel as though their behavior might be erratic, uncharacteristic or odd. If Imogen had been clinging to Daniel, refusing to let go of him now that they had been reunited after his escape from the Shadows, it would be strange if she's stand-offish towards him in this chapter, for example. More of that in Part Two: CHARACTER.

The Balance

What you want in your story is balance. You want the pacing to be right, meaning you don't want to write two-hundred pages of foreshadowing - telling the reader that something oh-so-huge-and-am-a-zing is about to happen - to move too swiftly through the climax of the story, making the reader wonder what happened to that Hit Over the Head feeling they were expecting.

How do you achieve a nice pace?

It is, as any writing, extremely individual, what's a great pace for me might be too slow for you, and vice versa, but what you should think about is to reveal things at steady intervals and with foreshadowing of the situation that is looming up ahead being firmly planted beforehand; the situation can be a new main character stumbling onto the scene, a sudden rescue being staged, unexpected help from a previously unknown source, all of these being incidents that - without at least some foreshadowing - will feel out of place and too much of a coincidence for the reader to believe in it, leaving them with a sense of having been brought out of the world you've drawn up around them because their belief in it has been swayed.


Foreshadowing is a tool to build anticipation and suspense in the readers mind as they begin to understand that something is coming that will have an impact on the characters and storyline. It's important to use this tool to keep the reader interested in the story, remembering that baiting the reader with every new paragraph is the goal of your storytelling. Strive for them being unable to put your book down, and you will achieve it. Of course, as with most of everything in writing, you should apply it in moderation.


If every chapter of my book is 5 pages long, I would wish the resolution of the flicker to occur somewhere around the 20th chapter, which would bring us 100 pages into a 300 page story. The resolution of the flicker would be the bridge that would take us from Act One and into Act Two, Imogen and Daniel escaping the tower and their captor serving as the end of Act One. I would place a few short mentions of the flicker´as foreshadowing, two or three times in those 100 pages leading up to the resolution - more times than that and it will feel like overkill. If Imogen sees flickering lights every two pages the reader might begin to wonder if it's leading up to her having a complete nervous breakdown or at least turning out to be mildly insane.


The topic of moderation ties in with the topic of pace: don't rush it, but reveal little clues along the way. You don't have to worry about mentioning something briefly in chapter two and picking it up again in chapter fifteen, your reader will remember, and feel all the more clever for it. Of course, if your mention is too brief it will get confusing, and this ties in with the foreshadowing. See how neatly it all works?

Here is how I would write a brief mention of the flicker:

Imogen paused, her eyes focused on the hanging branches to the left of the path where she, for a second, could have sworn that she saw the flicker of a light, too exhausted to burn any brighter. It was gone in an instant, and perhaps it had all been in her head - the woods seemed to play that sort of trick on her - but she concluded that she shouldn't fool herself into believing they were safe, even if the trees stood motionless and dumb around them.

This is one paragraph that deals with the flicker, that sets a mood around the flicker and lets the reader know if they should be expecting it to be friendly or possibly dangerous.

End Note:

What is important to remember when writing anything is not to get stuck on the first line of your story. Not to let that white page taunt you with its bright void.

50 percent of writing is staring into space, 10 percent is getting the thoughts you harvest after the space-staring onto the page and 40 percent is revising it until it's so whipped into shaped that you may hardly recognize it anymore.

Don't be afraid of that first sentence, don't let it stop you if you feel it's not up to par - write on. Write pages after that first sentence, and don't stop until you're done. Don't start revising until all of the harvest is splayed in all its glory before you, and once it is - hack the hell away at it. Toss half of it out, change the other half completely around, have fun, play!

The revisions part can be a liberating process because this is when you get to take complete control over your creation. Your characters can no longer push to get out, they're not running the show, they're out there, exposed, in their little contained world, and you are their Creator - they had better bow to your will or face the death sentence. Sound manic? It can be. But you have to be tough if you're going to have the stomach to kill your babies, and you have to be tough with yourself when deciding what function each and every paragraph serves.

One of the mightiest books I've ever read is "The Crimson Petal and the White", which is over seven-hundred pages long and feels like two-hundred. Every single paragraph is there for a reason, nothing seems redundant, and it's absolute poetry from start to finish. Amazing piece of fiction.

My final advice when concluding this first chapter on The Basics is this: read.


Read books. Read whatever medium it is you wish to write and learn from the true masters. Think about their way of structuring their story, their way of telling it, and though you shouldn't strive to copy them, you should strive for the ability to walk in their footsteps.

Summary

¤ Step one: choose the idea that inspires you the most, that drags you into it and makes you feel like you have to tell it or you'll just have to die.

¤ Step two: if so inclined, find a way that suits you to write your storyline down, chapter by chapter or in broad stroaks so that you know where you're headed and where you're coming from. It's always good to make notes as you go along so that you can place your moments of foreshadoing in the right places.

¤ Step three: find the balance in your story, remembering to use techniques such as foreshadowing for upcoming events, new character introduction, plot twists etcetera, as well as thinking of the pace you wish to set for your storyline's development, as well as your characters'.

¤ Step four: everything in moderation. You don't have to use the tool of foreshadowing a plot twist on every two pages of your story for thirty pages, it's condescending toward your reader and makes him or her feel as though you don't trust their intelligence to pick up on your mentions of upcoming twists, even if the mentions are very brief and happen only two or three times in a hundred pages before the big event.

¤ Lastly - do not be intimidated by the white page. It's your friend. Let it's blankness inspire you to fill it! And read. Read, read and read. And then, read some more.


Books I Strongly Recommend:

The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber (the narrative is exquisite)

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (the structure of the storytelling is quite compelling)

The Thornbirds by Colleen McCollough (character development and moderation)

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (she plays with grammar like its made out of clay)

The Story of Pi by Yann Martel (for wonderful twists and turns)

The Strange Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (for truly original characters)

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee(it has it all)

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (she has a very unique way of using punctuation)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (she knew romance like no other, how to write love in perfect moderation)

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (the wit of Dickens is unsurpassed)

The Basics: Before We Begin

These are the most important things for any writer to have: ¤ A white page (can also be a napkin, a table cloth, toilet paper roll, a receipt, the back of a hand etcetera) ¤ A pen (could also be a pencil, a marker, a crayon, a piece of coal, or even blood, if the occasion calls for it. Personally I wouldn't use anything other than a pen - if I'm to write by hand - simply because a pencil needs a sharpener and, oh, horror, you can erase it. You must never erase a thought once it's down on paper unless you're absolutely certain that it doesn't belong there. As to the other items on the list, don't be ridiculous - blood? This is not a David Lynch movie.) ¤ A good head on your shoulders. There are no substitutes for that one. You will have to deal with a lot of hardcore thrashing throughout your career as a writer, especially your career as a fresh writer believing that every word you write is absolutely in league with Shakespeare and that Ian McEwan should just hang his hat on a peg this instant and call it quits - there's a new sheriff in town and he ain't afraid of using his italix. You will have to listen to a lot of people disliking what it is you do and here's where the Good in the a-good-head-on-your-shoulders sentence comes in: you will have to listen intently, sift through all the maddening things that are being said, and find kernels of truth that you can use to Improve Your Writing. I will come back to how you should structure a constructive review of someones work, and how you should expect them to give you constructive criticism, in a later post, but for now, this is all I wanted to say, and all I need for you to remember as we head into The Basics: Part One - Story. Annie.

Prologue

I am writing this prologue because that is what I hope my first message on this newborn blog will prove to be: the prologue of fruitful labor and many pages of thoughts, commentary on writing and the life that inspires it (or, at least, goes with it).

I am a writer, and have so been since I was old enough to scribble, but I'm still a novis in the world of Writing - such an intimidating, humbling world it is. My wish is that The White Page will aid in releasing the inspiration we all carry inside of us, the stories waiting to be told, the characters bursting to live and speak and opinionate themselves against Evil, or perhaps Good. It's our need to express the landscapes we can see before our inner eye, the universes we travel to in our daydreams, the paths we walk in silence that would - had we not been granted Inspiration - have been kept silent, forlorn and private.

What I wish for this blog is to begin a discussion, to attract you: the aspiring writer; the professional writer; the closeted writer; the insecure, the tentative, the obscure, the crushingly talented, the craving writer, to join in the discussion and make it your own. There are no stupid questions in this blog. Comment with a question and if the answer is not stored away in my head or the head of any of your peers, I will clickety-click away and fetch the answer. Probably by using Google. Heh.

Of course, I state here and now that I will, at times be inclined to, give the answer based on my own opinion, and as I am yet to be fully integrated with the world of Writing, you will have to choose whether you agree with me or not.

I can say this of myself: I am a novelist, a fanfiction writer (Buffy the Vampire Slayer for six bloody years), a short story compiler, a poet (without any knowledge of proper length or shape, forgive me), but my biggest passion is screenwriting. I have been writing screenplays for nearly five years and feel every day is a new stage in development for me - it's fabulous. I love all genres, but I detest sloppy plot, loose or flat dialogue, uninteresting characters and twists that have no foreshadowing - this goes for books as well. And as you read this blog, you will get to know what I'm about and whether you can trust my opinion or not.

I am growing as a writer, and I truly wish this to be the place to grow in, to come and look for those elusive answers to those big questions that haunts anyone seriously committed to this craft. You know what they are. As I go along, I will be asking myself those big questions and I am determined to get the answers and write them down for the world to see. In the end - after all the fruitfulness and thinking and living - I hope this blog will prove a guide for any writer who is in need of it.

I am a member of Urbis.com (my name is annie) and ShootingPeople.org, which is a sad little list, but all I have so far had time for. This is about to change and I am on the hunt for worthwhile, professional sites, all of which will be promoted on this blog, along with competitions and whatnots.

Let me round it up by saying that I am happy to be here, and believe it may be the start of a beautiful friendship.

Yeah, yeah, but it's a classic.

Hopefully yours,
Annie.