I've been struggling with my writing lately (hey, what else is new!). As I write I become more and more aware of my faults as a writer, especially as I'm also reading other mysteries at the same time and see how well other writers do the things I'm having difficulty with.
One of my weakest skills, if not my weakest, is characterization. Most of my characters feel flat to me, not quite real. And I'm not sure how to make them better. I've read the books, blogs, articles about creating compelling characters and I've tried to use some of what I've read, but they just don't seem to be clicking.
Except for one. I do have one character, Major, who feels real to me. I'm not sure why he's been my most successful character. When I first wrote him, I didn't realize he was going to play an important part in the story. But I quickly grew to like him very much and wanted him to be a bigger part of the story.
But my other characters, and especially my main character, Abi, just seem to fall flat. In my mind I know what is supposed to drive Abi but on paper I haven't been able to communicate that properly yet.
It's depressing because I read how other authors begin to see their characters as living, breathing entities. The characters tell them what works and what doesn't. I don't seem to feel that, except with Major.
There are these exercises a writer is supposed to do where I write out all the little characteristics about my main character in order to know her as well as possible. Like, what would she wear to a party, what does she like to eat, what curse words does she use when she gets angry, etc. And while it's easy to simply fill in anything you want, I've found that doesn't work for me. I simply draw a blank when I see these questions. I don't know what Abi would wear. I don't know what Abi likes to eat. I don't know what curse words she uses.
I do know she tugs her hair when she gets stressed or nervous. I do know she snaps at people when she's scared or angry. I do know that she hates crossword puzzles and mystery novels, but can't keep her nose out of other people's business. I know she's always surprised and upset when she's confronted with the fact that life isn't fair.
Is that knowledge enough? Would knowing what food Abi likes to eat and what she wears to a fancy party make her seem more real to me? I don't know. All I do know is that right now she's still two one-dimensional and it's driving me crazy.
Maybe I just need to practice, or most likely I just need to keep writing and eventually she'll start to emerge more and more, like a fictional butterfly trapped in the pages of my writing, just waiting to break free and fly on her own. I just wish she'd do it sooner rather than later!
My Comfort Foods
21 hours ago
Perhaps you've solved your problem in the last paragraph. Instead of thinking about her likes, perhaps think about how her behavior/demeanor makes the people around her feel.
ReplyDeleteBecause I'm writing in a close third person, I'm trying to keep everything in Abi's perspective, so showing how her behavior makes other people feel would leave her perspective, unless I show it by having the others react to her. Hmm, I might give that a try. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI faced the same (or similar) dilemmas with my writing. I worried so much about not knowing my characters deeply enough that it stopped me from just getting the story out of my mind and onto the page. I originally started with a large list of character questions, which helped a little but I quickly got bored and frustrated when I got stuck on certain questions (for example, ‘what is his/her favourite music? ) So now, Instead of trying to answer a list of questions, I write short scenes from different points in my characters life. These are times in their lives where they have gone through something traumatic or have been thrust into a situation where they’ve had to respond outside their comfort zone. But it doesn’t have to be a distressing event it could be hearing their child’s first words (i.e. any experience that brings about an emotional response in the character.) The more I write in this way the more I discover about my chosen character. Because these scenes are not going to be included in my final story, I don’t worry about making any mistakes and this allows me to learn much more about my characters and how they deal with things.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about those long list of character questions. I like some of them but I can't for the life of me figure out what my main character would wear for a formal occasion!! I like your idea of writing different scenes from different points in your characters' lives. I think it's a great idea, because I definitely get a better feel for my characters as I write them, not as I try to answer questions about them. I just may give your solution a try! Thanks.
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