On my recent tousle with the muse (namely-my desperate attempts to bribe my way back into her good graces) I realized that somewhere along the way, I lost touch with who my characters were. I’ve penned over one hundred glorious pages only to find myself wondering what the heroines inner conflict was, or why the hero doesn’t come off as ‘alpha’ to the heroine as he does to everyone else. So I sat, contemplated, read, questioned, re-read, and then it happened. The epiphany came and slapped me upside the head. Hard! My characters lacked consistency in their behaviour… or possibly their mannerisms…or something. I know it’s there, just under the surface and yet I can’t seem to grasp hold of it.
This happens to me more than I care to admit. So many articles, books, and topics out there cover this very thing, but what works? Only you the great and powerful author hiding behind the curtain can reveal that. Why you ask? Because as with many things in writing and life it self, more than likely it is different for ever author, character, or story. Just getting the basics down-height, weight, age, hair color, eye color, you get the picture- isn’t always enough.
In the past I’ve toyed with writing character interviews. Always starting at the moment I first spot them walking into our ‘arranged’ meeting space. Something along the lines of this:
Sasha rushes into the French sidewalk café that was located at the famed Paris hotel in the heart of the city. She spots me waving her over, says a few things to the maître d’, smiles, and heads my direction. Heads turn to watch her as she weaves her way through the tables and stops next to my table.
“I am so sorry I am late.” She says as she slides her feet out the flip flops, and sits tucking one leg underneath and drawing the knee of her other leg up in front of her. The waiter quickly brings over a tomato and mozzarella salad with a glass of iced tea. Sasha thanks the waiter by name and returns her attention to me, politely ignoring the stares from the passersby on the strip and our fellow café patrons. “I’m ready whenever you are.”
“Alright then Sasha, let’s get the show on the road. Who was your first boyfriend and what did you like most about them?”
“Boy you jump right into the nitty gritty of it all don’t you?” she says with a laugh, but I don’t fail to notice the gleam in her eye. There is a story there she is dying to get out.
Other times, it is as simple as rough sketching each characters conflicts, goals, and motivation. The point is, when you are developing your characters, you need to truly know your characters, but it shouldn’t be boring. Have fun with it. Or at least that is my intention. I wonder if this is the golden key which will elicit more cooperation from the ever growing characters cramming their way into my head.
So give it up, share, divulge the info, because you know what? I am not as smart as I pretend to be.
