You’ve got a
great idea and you’re ready to write, but then your characters look at you with
a curled lip egging you on to even try to get in their
brain. When we were in grade school you
learned the Ws; who, what, where, when, how and why. You’re not in grade school now. Jane is not going up the hill with Dick. Jane is batting her eyes as she feels the
warm breeze from the late summer wind, she’s dreaming of running her fingers
through Dick’s dark hair as he holds her in an embrace.
How did she get
the desire building deep inside her?
Where is she coming from? She’s
not going to answer that question because you asked. In my experience when I have a stubborn
character that doesn’t want to share her story I get a snack and sit down with
him or her and interview them.
There are simple
questions you can ask or you can do hard ones. The ones I find most important
are:
What’s your
name? I know it seems simple, but there
is more to a name than just Jane Jones.
What does the name Jane mean? Is
she one of those Jones’ or did she marry into that name?
Tell us about
yourself. This is where you discover the moral
fiber and why’s of your character. I was
the middle child of seventeen or I was raised to believe in myself by hippie
parents, etc.
What do you do? Some people have jobs and some people have
professions. Even if the person’s a fry
cook at the local fast food place, if
they’re like Spongebob who sees it as his life’s profession, it’ll
mean more to him than a successful stocks trader who hates what he does and
wants to be a carpenter.
What’s your
greatest fear? Fear equals weakness,
most characters need to overcome something.
Whether it’s spiders or commitment,
everyone has an Achilles heel.
What’s your
greatest desire? Yes, it
seems like Jane’s desire is for Dick (You know I’m really irritated that in the
forties and fifties they didn’t see how wrong those names were…go back to
question number one). Jane’s real desire might be to go to Alaska and mine for
gold. We don’t know, ask her.
What’s the
worst thing you’ve ever done? A serial
killer may say the worst thing he’s ever done was not taking the necklace off
the corpse because he really liked it.
While a regular person might say they left without paying for
coffee. Again, you’re
learning about their morays.
How have you
been admirable? “Why yes,” Jane cooed.
“I brushed my teeth after going down on Dick at the top of the hill before I
made him kiss me.” Your humble
characters might still say no even though they rebuilt a house for a family
after a fire.
What could make
you cry? Do you have a weeper or could
you watch your whole family die in front of you and think…hmm,
I guess it’ll only be one for supper tonight.
What could make
you murder? For characters that are
parents, this could be an easy one. Unless they are bad parents. Do you see how this is showing you so much
into their souls?
What would
describe you in a few words? This will
be the hardest one to answer and could turn into your catch phrase.
Still can’t get
the tight-lipped character to talk? How about this? I recently learned about using Tarot
Cards with writing. No,
I’m not saying summon the dark forces to tell you if you have a best seller on
your laptop. There are many types of Tarot
Cards out there, and they all have different sets of
pictures. I just picked up a very
paranormal set with amazing graphics. It
doesn’t matter what the card says or means, it’s
what the picture say to you.
Lay out a card
for every question, then look at them in order. You’d be amazed how a picture can answer the
question for you. Again,
it’s not about the death card or the king of cups, it’s about what does the
figure or person or drawing say to you.
Just remember,
there is more than just the Ws in writing, you’re
creating a person or being that if they walked off your page could be
whole. If you can’t do that for your
characters, people aren’t going to care about
them and if they don’t care, they won’t read.
 |
| Michel Prince |
Guest post by Michel Prince. Michel Prince is
an author who graduated with a bachelor degree in History and Political
Science. Michel writes young adult and adult paranormal romance as well
as contemporary romance.
With characters yelling "It's my turn damn it!!!" She tries to
explain to them that alas, she can only type a hundred and twenty words a
minute and they will have wait their turn. She knows eventually they find
their way out of her head and to her fingertips and she looks forward to
sharing them with you.
When Michel can suppress the voices in her head she can be found at a scouting
event or cheering for her son in a variety of sports. She would like to
thank her family for always being in her corner and especially her husband for
supporting her every dream and never letting her give up.
Michel is a member of RWA Pro and Midwest Fiction Writers. She lives in
the Twin Cities with her husband, son, cat and new puppy.
LINKS:
Michel will be awarding a butterfly gift basket to one randomly drawn commenter and a butterfly necklace to a second randomly drawn commenter. So I encourage you to follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/11/nbtm-chrysalis-by-michel-prince.html
