Character is one of the most important aspects of a compelling story... but sometimes they can be ridiculously hard to get right. Character is intrinsically tied to plot, and it can be difficult to separate the two. Yet a character that resonates with readers can stand on his or her own.
There's a lot of discussion on how to create a relatable character in the posts below, as well as essays on what makes character's strong, and ideas on how to create well rounded characters. There are analyses on the relationship between character and plot, the breakdown on when it's okay not to have a huge character arc, and on building your main character through secondary characters. As always, there's a wealth of information in the AYAP archives... and we've collected the best of it below.
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I was reading an interview with NYT Bestselling author Tess Gerritsen over on Novel Rocket, yesterday, and she mentioned that her favorite piece of writing advice is to focus on the character's predicament. I love, love, love that, because it actually addresses four different aspects of your WIP.
In one fell swoop, you can nail the core of your character, the movement of your story, the place you start it, and how you tell it.
Here's how.
- Start by putting yourself in your character's head. What's her problem? What no-win predicament does she find herself in? Journal this, just as a rough paragraph or two or three, writing as if she is screaming at someone for putting her in that situation. Let it all loose. Imagine the confrontation, all the emotion, the frustration, the desire to move forward and fix something.
- Examine that thing that she has to fix and establish the consequences if she fails. Brainstorm why she wants to fix it and jot it down your on one page in a notebook, note software program, or on a Scrivener entry. Why does she need to fix the problem? Why does she have no choice to act to change that situation?
- What is your character willing or forced to give up to fix her predicament? Add a second page to your notes. Write down what is most important to your character. Explore what defines her view of herself, and how this predicament effects that. What wound from her past or weakness of character is going to make it harder for her to repair the problem? What unexpected strengths can she find along the way that will help her?
- Now build your plot like dominos. Once you have a pretty good grasp on the predicament itself, it's relatively easy to make a timeline of how the problem, the person who created that problem (or personifies it) and your character intersect. You can build your plot as if it's inevitable: this happened, your character reacted, because your character reacted, this other thing happened, and so on. One thing leads directly to another.
- Next, taking into consideration who your character is, find the place in the timeline, or right before what you've jotted down, where the problem first rears its head. This could be something that your character did that set the problem in motion, or something coming in from outside to shake things up, but there has to be a change. This is where you're going to begin your story, on the day that is different, with the first domino. Write down what that incident is.
- Finally, put everything together to set up the story. Your opening has to show the inciting incident, suggest the story problem, and jump start the action, but you also want to foreshadow your character's strength and the weakness that is going to hold her back. You want to give us a hint of the personal lesson she will have to learn in order to get out of the predicament she's facing.
That's it. When you look at it from the standpoint of the character's predicament, every aspect of the story comes together. Whether you're a plotter or a pantser, and regardless of whether you're writing a fantasy or sci fi novel, a romance, a contemporary, or virtually anything else, these six simple steps will help you get enough information to structure it in a way that will let it feel like it's writing itself.
Happy writing!
This Week's Giveaway
An Ember in the Ashesby Sabaa TahirHardcoverRazorbillReleased 4/28/2015I WILL TELL YOU THE SAME THING I TELL EVERY SLAVE.
THE RESISTANCE HAS TRIED TO PENETRATE THIS SCHOOL COUNTLESS TIMES. I HAVE DISCOVERED IT EVERY TIME.
IF YOU ARE WORKING WITH THE RESISTANCE, IF YOU CONTACT THEM, IF YOU THINK OF CONTACTING THEM, I WILL KNOW
AND I WILL DESTROY YOU.
LAIA is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire’s greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim that they will help to save her brother from execution.
ELIAS is the academy’s finest soldier— and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias is considering deserting the military, but before he can, he’s ordered to participate in a ruthless contest to choose the next Martial emperor.
When Laia and Elias’s paths cross at the academy, they find that their destinies are more intertwined than either could have imagined and that their choices will change the future of the empire itself.
Purchase An Ember in the Ashes at AmazonPurchase An Ember in the Ashes at IndieBoundView An Ember in the Ashes on GoodreadsMore Giveaways
I have exciting news! Want to know the title for the final book in the Heirs of Watson Island trilogy? Head on over to Elizziebooks.com. Liz has my first ever video about Compulsion and the title, plus a great new giveaway. There are two additional places to win a necklace and T-Shirt, and you might even find a Persuasion teaser along the way. : )
There's also a grand prize, and you'll be automatically entered to win it when you enter any of the three T-shirt giveaways. But if you'd like even more chances to win, keep an eye out here, and on my Facebook page. I'll be posting a separate Rafflecopter in a little while!
And finally, don't forget. There's a new Compulsion for Reading bag of books this month!
What About You?
Have you wrestled with this kind of an approach to writing your story? Are you a plotter or a pantser, and is this too much or too little planning for you?
As a reader, do you like stories where the plot feels inevitable? Can you think of an example of a book that read like the characters never had any choice but to do what they did?
Before we roll-out our fabulous lineup of bloggers with great craft of writing tips for 2015, we thought it might be fun to look back over our 2014 craft posts and highlight some of the best tips that we found to be fresh and useful. The ones below come from the first half of 2014 and cover aspects from Character Development to Worldbuilding to Prologues. We hope you'll find a snippet that speaks to you and then click the link to read the full article. And remember the blog labels! Follow
Craft of Writing to read more great craft articles than could be mentioned here.
Finally -- don't forget our new monthly
Ask a Pub Pro column where you can ask a specific craft question and have it answered by an industry professional. So,
get those questions in! Or, if you're a published author, or agent, or editor and would be willing to answer some questions, shoot us an email as well!
Craft of Writing: Best Craft Tips from 2014, part A
Character Development:
Whenever writing a character, always keep one question foremost in mind: what is this character’s motivation? What does this character want? Characters drive stories, and motivation drives character. So that basic motivation should never be too far from the character’s thoughts. What does this character want and what is he or she doing in this scene to get it? It’s almost a litmus test for the viability of a scene. If your character isn’t doing something to get closer to what he or she wants, then you should be asking yourself if the scene is really necessary.
(from
Using Soap Operas To Learn How To Write A Character Driven Story by Todd Strasser on 2/11/14)
Plot Element (A Ticking Clock):
 |
| from sodahead.com |
The clock is mainly a metaphor. You can use any structural device that forces the protagonist to compress events. It can be the time before a bomb explodes or the air runs out for a kidnapped girl, but it can also be driven by an opponent after the same goal: only one child can survive the Hunger Games, supplies are running out in the City of Ember....
Only three things are required to make a ticking clock device work in a novel:
-- Clear stakes (hopefully escalating)
-- Increasing obstacles or demand for higher thresholds of competence
-- Diminishing time in which to achieve the goal
(from
The Ticking Clock: Techniques for the Breakout Novel by Martina Boone on 5/20/14)
World Building (Details):
Whenever you have an opportunity to name something or to get specific about a seemingly random detail in your story, do it. Don’t settle for anything vague or halfway. Be concrete. You never know when one of these details might come in handy later. They’re like tiny threads that you leave hanging out of the tapestry of story just to weave them back in again later.
(from
Crafting A Series by Mindee Arnett on 1/28/14)
Editing:
“Write without fear
Edit without mercy”
Your first draft should be unafraid. Personally, I’m a planner, but you don’t have to be; I know published authors who aren’t. The important thing is that you embrace the flow of creation and let the story and its characters live. Don’t judge at this point. Write until it’s done.
Once you have that first draft in place, set the story aside for a few weeks, then take off your writing-hat – with all its feathers and furbelows – and don your editing-hat instead. The hat your inner editor wears is stark. No-nonsense. Maybe a fedora.
(from
Edit Without Mercy by L.A Weatherly on 1/7/14)
GMC:
Even less likeable characters are readable and redeemable so long as they are striving for something they desperately care about. One of the basic tenets of creating a powerful story is that the protagonist must want something external and also need something internal one or both of which need to be in opposition to the antag's goals and/or needs. By the time the book is over, a series of setbacks devised by the antag will have forced a choice between the protag's external want and that internal need to maximize the conflict. The protagonist must react credibly to each of those setbacks, and take action based on her perception and understanding of each new situation.
(from
Use Action and Reaction to Pull the Reader Through Your Story by Martina Boone on 5/2/14)
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| from pixshark.com |
Theme:
Theme is important when writing. It can be one of the things that puts the most passion into your work. What is it you are really trying to say with this book? You don’t have to know before you start writing. Heck, you don’t even have to know while doing the first revision. But as you go over your manuscript again—and again—you will see things popping out at you. Tell the truth. Dreams matter. Work together. Listen to your own heart. Those are the things that make us fall in love with literature. Once you begin to notice these repetitions (or if you know what you want to say from the start) the real fun begins, because you begin to see all kinds of beautiful ways to make it evident. Symbolism and dialogue and imagery.
(from
Write What You Love and Stay True To Your Passion by Katherine Longshore on 6/20/14)
Story Structure:
On Prologues:
The point I’m trying to make is that you should always strive to be confident in every page, to the point where you should never need a crutch like a prologue. Instead, the beginning needs to be amazing. Not necessarily adrenaline-filled, not necessarily action-oriented. Just damn good. Every page of your book should be, at the very least, strong and interesting writing, and your opening should have the tangible hooks of the ‘problem’ we feel in this book, even if they are only tugging ever so gently. If you have a prologue its worth examining the real page one and making it stronger, finding your real beginning, having faith in your book and your writing. If it doesn’t hold up, prologue or no, the book won’t work.
(from
An Agent's Perspective on Prologues by Seth Fishman on 2/24/14)
On story structure and finding the heart of the story:
As a novelist, I have to be both mother and master of my imagination. Story structure is what both of those roles rely upon—structure nurtures, protects, rules and drives the raw imagination. Months into working on Willow, the other characters began to want to have voice in different ways that the original epistolary form would not have allowed. Although I was confident in the characters, I had to also have confidence in my ability to tap into my imagination and structure it so that the soft, intangible electric energy of the original idea or the heart of the story (what Turkish author Orhan Pamuk calls “the secret center” of the novel) are bolstered and illuminated. Structure is always what I go back to when I’m feeling panic or insecurity.
(from
Wonder Woman's Invisible Jet of Creativity by Tonya Hegamin on 3/28/14)
-- Posted by Susan Sipal
One of the first lessons a creative writer learns covers GMC: Goal, Motivation, Conflict. Without a viable GMC combination, it's impossible to create characters that leap off the page and burn themselves into your heart, so GMC is at the core of every memorable work of fiction. Not only does each major character have their own GMC, but ideally, each relates to the major theme and they all come together to govern the characters' actions in the climax.
- (G)oal. What the character wants and strives for to move the story forward. It must be difficult to achieve and come with its own inherent challenges and obstacles, and each choice and character change through the novel must make it harder or easier to attain that goal.
- (M)otivation. The logical, believable reason or reasons the character wants that goal more than anything else in the world and is willing to work toward it instead of giving up when the going gets tough.
- (C)onflict. The seemingly impossible obstacle or obstacles that will keep the character from attaining the goal until she has proven herself worthy through struggle and hard choices--and the way you keep your readers turning pages.
Ideally, GMC is both internal (emotional) and external (physical) for every character, which provides them with depth and believability. More ideally, the internal and external GMCs will oppose each other. And most ideally, the GMCs for your critical characters are also in opposition. Those last two steps ensure that your novel not only contains conflict, but natural tension on every page. But bear in mind that natural does not equate to realistic. To create tension, conflict in a novel must be magnified, just as characters must be larger than life.
Tension, according to literary agent and author Donald Maass, is what makes
a novel breakout, what makes it sell. He explains it like this:
All of this comes down to opposition of one type or another:
- The character's external goal conflicts with her internal goal.
- Circumstances put two of her external goals in conflict with each other so she must choose between them.
- Another character she loves wants something that conflicts with her own goal.
- Attaining one suddenly changes circumstances and makes achieving the other impossible.
- Achieving one would have an impact on others her conscience would not allow.
The options for creating opposition are nearly infinite, but they must arise naturally from the GMC to be believable and truly compelling, and there must be an equally compelling reason why those circumstances occur. Similarly, the reader must understand and believe the reason why opposing characters are thrown together and kept together in a situation of conflict. Externally, their characteristics and goals must be interwoven into the novel's plot so they physically can't evade the conflict that is thrown at them. Internally, their motivation must make it impossible to give up.
To set up this kind of situation, as with anything in your manuscript, it helps to start with a macro view. Debra Dixon provided a simple chart in her excellent book, "
GMC: Goals, Motivation, and Conflict."
By:
Sondra Santos LaBrie,
on 8/12/2009
Blog:
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We arrived in Detroit on Sunday evening, approaching the young man with the GM binder with a wave and a smile. We kept waving, obnoxiously, trying to get his attention and then he stepped to the side and looked behind him, assuming we were trying to flag down someone else.
Finally, Sugar pointed at him and said, "GM. We're waving at you!" He still didn't quite get it until we both stopped in front of him saying we were there for the Product & Technology event.
"Oh he said. I can usually see them coming." We laughed, wondering what was really going through his head as he watched two thirty-something women heading his way, one with a tattoo (and obnoxious sunburn), the other wish a nose-piercing.
He escorted us to the baggage claim area where he explained that another young man, Jordan, would be driving us back to our hotel. Once we found our luggage, we stepped out into the 90 degree heat and waited on the curb for the Chevy Malibu to pull up.
Jordan was a spunky guy with long hair and right away, he won us over when he handed us water bottles and offered us candy or gum. Of course, we were hoping for a real dinner, like the one we had missed at the Heritage Center, but he assured us that we could take advantage of the room service at our hotel once we finally got there.
Sugar sat in the back as we started telling our driver about how startled the other GM rep was (I think his name was Kurt) when we introduced ourselves. Jordan laughed and proceeded to listen to us as we started to ask where Greektown was and how far away the Joe Louis Arena was from our hotel.
Before he knew what was going on, Sugar pulled out her video camera to show him the footage we taped at the Del Mar Racetrack the previous day and as he drove, he watched the three minute video as I tried to disappear in my seat.
Jordan liked us (he told us as much later into the drive) because he made a detour and took us past Greektown and then back towards Comerica Park, Hockeytown, the Fox Theatre, Ford Field, and made an extra special trip so we could stop and take a picture (which turned out really blurry) of the Joe Louis Arena.
We drove past Joe Louis' arm and saw the skyline of Canada across the lake as somehow our conversation turned to his Mexican girlfriend (very passionate), drinking (he totally would've bought us drinks if he weren't on the clock) and cougars (he made a point of letting us know that he thinks older women are hot).
By the time we got to the hotel (over an hour later), it was late and we were both very hungry. Sugar was anxious to see her daughter so we both headed up to our rooms and enjoyed a quiet meal before bed.
The next day, the true adventure began as we hopped onto the bus after breakfast which too us over to the GM Technical Center. There, we were provided with stickers to cover up the cameras on our phones and were given specific instructions not to touch the vehicles unless we were told otherwise (some were clay models although they looked real).
Bob Lutz, Vice Chair of New Product Development, spoke first and he was very funny as he talked about his reverse retirement, wanting to continue to work for The New GM, thinking that with all of the excitement over the "rebuilding of our image and changing perceptions," the real fun could begin.
Lutz went on to speak about the changes that we can expect from The New GM and how his goal is to "be a privately owned company as quickly as possible." It was clear from his speech that his vision for the company, moving forward, is one that he's excited to be a part of and as a consumer, I'm anxious to watch it all unfold.
After he spoke, we split up into three groups (green, red & blue) dispersing to the many different design galleries within the building, one for each of the four brands that GM is working on reinventing (Buick, Cadillac, GMC, and Chevy). It was in the Buick gallery that we met and spoke with North American VP of Buick-Pontiac-GMC, Susan Docherty, about the Ebay partnership that has just begun in the state of California.
The bus ride to the Milford Proving Grounds took about an hour, so we were very eager to finally arrived at the 4,000 acre facility. GM CEO and President Fritz Henderson spoke to us very briefly before letting us all loose to test drive the vehicles that had been introduced to us throughout the day.
I was able to speak to him on a more personal level later that afternoon on the blacktop so I used that as my opportunity to share the story of our roadtrip in the Chevy Equinox just a few weeks back and to thank him for the chance to learn more about The New GM and to be a part of the growth and future of this company.
LOVE how you broke this down. I think this is so useful to map out and see how the goals of the protag and antags should clash to give greater depth to the conflict!
Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse
This sums it up perfectly! Sometimes it's much harder outside of a graph though! Great post.
What a great post. I love how you used the example and the chart.
What a great post and I love the graphic organizer! GMC...I love it!
Wow! Awesome post, Martina!!!
Now I want to read your Cinderella story from the stepmother's POV. ; )
I love how you broke this down. I'm so going to make sure I do this for my wip.
Oh, charts, be still my heart! I love having things laid out neatly for me.
The way you've set them up I'd prefer the stepmother's story but, really, neither! :P
I'm a Beauty and the Beast girl.
I still haven't found a copy of GMC to read and I really REALLY need to. :/
WOW. I can't love those charts more. Amazing Idea! Thanks so much!
I'm such a visual learner, the tables worked really well to get your point across. Loved it.
Someone told me about eh GMC book, but I couldn't remember the author or find it. Now I can- yeah!1 Great post : )
As usual, AWESOME post. Love how you break everything down into logical pieces. :D
Whoa, what a great service you've done for us with the info' in this post. Thank YOU!
I am SO copying this info in a Word document. Thanks, gals! Such basic stuff, and yet...sometimes easy to overlook while in the heat of writing.
Oh yes, ps, I'd actually still rather read/write about Cinderella's motivations and story rather than the stepmother's!! I think readers like to identify with a main character who is the underdog, who has a romantic goal, etc. A mean and caustic MC is harder to identify with or read about. Though I suppose you could make the stepmother more identifiable if written right.
Thanks, everyone for the kindness! Ara--I'd love to write this story, but I've got four stacked up ahead of it. Don't know how I'd do it for YA either. Oh, well. Carol, you're right. An unsympathetic mc is harder to write, but you have to make her sympathetic. I love a challenge, and that's one of the reasons I was drawn to her as I started doing her GMC.I can see glimpses of the vulnerability and devotion to her kids that could make it work.
Martina
What an awesome post! One for the bookmark. Thanks so much (and glad you're home safe and sound from your wild vacation)
Fantastic! I really like the GMC!
I'm not sure I missed this post yesterday (especially since it was emailed to me), but WOW! This is great!!!!!
I knew it, but thanks for the reminder. Perfect timing, too. :D
*runs off to analyze her outline*
What about the Prince's GMC? :)
This is a very simple and very powerful way of defining both characters and plot. Thanks!