Monday, February 7, 2022

5 Steps to Creating Characters--Step One

 

 


Excerpt -- Opening scene in

The Elements of Love, quick character sketches

They were running away from the threat of misery, pain, degradation. 

And running straight toward danger, deadly danger.

Margaret Stiles chose danger.

What’s more, she chose it for her daughters and prayed without ceasing that she’d chosen right.

            Even worse, the girls had to face that danger alone. Going back by herself was the only way to be sure the girls made their escape.

In silence, she and her three daughters slipped into the night.

She waited until they were far enough from the house no wandering servant, absently looking out the window in the night, could see.

            Then she lagged behind her rushing daughters, her beloved, precious girls. Clouds scuttled across the sky. The dew-damp grass around the house ended in a dense forest. As soon as the forest swallowed them up, she stumbled and fell. Well, truth was, she stopped running, sat down and cried out in pain. Softly. She most certainly didn’t want Edgar to hear, though he drank enough, he usually slept heavily.

            Laura whirled around and rushed back, Jillian a step behind. Michelle brought up the rear.

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Laura, her sweet, compassionate child. The blue-eyed blonde who was a fine-boned, feminine version of her father, Liam Stiles. Laura, who knew how to blow things up.

Jillian, the one with the oddly mathematical mind who made theories work. She’d been educated to build trestles across vast gorges, and build railroad tracks into the heart of a mountain. A fiery green-eyed red-head, a throw-back to her papa’s Irish grandmother.

Michelle the leader, the calm one who took charge of the sweet Laura and the fiery Jillian, and they mostly let her. Michelle the mechanical engineer who saw all the details and made everything and everyone work together. And in her spare time, she worked with machines, mechanisms to help the girl’s future project excel. She already had two patents with plans for a dozen more, if she could just get the ideas in her head to become reality. Michelle was the oldest, the brunette with the shining blue eyes who looked most like her mama.

            “Mama what happened?” Laura dropped to her knees on Margaret’s right.

I spent a while trying to figure out how to talk about characters. Putting into words something that’s just inherently hard to put into words.

Characters need to be three dimensional. And it’s hard for me to really explain what brings them to life.

These are my five steps. The first is the simplest.

1.       Make a character likeable by making someone like them

2.      Character arcs

3.      Give them quirks

4.      My main character types

5.      Avoid backstory dumps

This month I’m talking about step one

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Make a character likeable by making someone like them.
This is possibly the single best piece of advice I ever got as a beginning writer. It’s a simple sentence but when you‘re doing it, it really affects your writing. Often, we want a character at the beginning of the book who has problems, who is resistant to love, who is immature or angry or in some way needs to change her life. Something she has to change about herself. This is at the heart of the character arc. But to make a character difficult we can risk making her (or him) unlikeable and that’s going to be a book no one continues reading. Who wants a main character they don’t like?

So the act of making someone like them, changes the way your write your character. Jerks don’t have good friends, or at least their friends are also jerks. They don’t hug their old, worn-out teddy bear. They don’t have a faithful dog. If you give them a loyal friend, you have to write a character who is responding to that friend in a likeable way. Make a character likeable by making someone like them is a simple statement that really makes you change your character.



The Element of Love

Coming March 2

She mixed danger, desperation, and deception together. Love was not the expected outcome.

With their sharp engineering minds, Laura Stiles and her two sisters have been able to deal with their mother's unfortunate choice in husband until they discovered his plans to marry each of them off to his lecherous friends. Now they must run away--far and fast--to find better matches to legally claim their portion of their father's lumber dynasty and seize control from their stepfather.

During their escape, Laura befriends a mission group heading to serve the poor in California. She quickly volunteers herself and her sisters to join their efforts. Despite the settlement being in miserable condition, the sisters are excited by the opportunity to put their skills to good use. Laura also sees potential in Caleb, the mission's parson, to help with gaining her inheritance. But when secrets buried in Caleb's past and in the land around them come to light, it'll take all the smarts the sisters have to keep trouble at bay.

http://www.maryconnealy.com



 

39 comments:

  1. OH MY STARS!!!! I am so excited about these books, this series! Mary... You are stinkin' brilliant and this sounds beyond amazing. I think you've actually gotten smarter and cooler as you've gone on. I can't wait to read these!!!!!

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    1. I just re-read the opening of The Element of Love and I LOVED IT! It really made me FEEL! Always my goal. To make the reader feel

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  2. Splendid post, Mary, and what we all need to keep in our toolboxes. I'm reworking my WIP with this is mind. I started it focused on plot, in part because it's a period I haven't written about (GOSH I MISS THE OLD WEST) and I didn't want to miss any steps. But the first draft came out kind of paint-by-numbery, so I know what my job is now.
    Looking forward to your new series,
    KB

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    1. Kaybee those multiple passes through the book always make it better. The best writing is rewriting.

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  3. What a wonderful post. Thanks for sharing how you make characters likable. Oh my but I cant wait to read this series. Thank you for putting so much thought and hard work into making these books of yours. A true artist.
    quilting dash lady at comcast dot net

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    1. Hi Lori. This one is a first for me in some ways. California setting. A lumber baron instead of a wealthy rancher. But there are cowboys coming in it. I promise.

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  4. Oh, I can't wait to read this series! Mary, we so often overthink things, trying so hard to make something work that we miss the mark, but what you said here makes so much sense. Great post from a wise woman. Thank you.

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    1. It's remarkable how it changes your writing. Just to have a friend interact with your heroine, your heroine needs to be friendly. Be likeable. It really changes everything.

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  5. Hi Mary, your new books sounds exciting! Can't wait to read them. About creating characters, for me it is hard to not dump their backstory where it doesn't need to be dumped! I can't wait for you to delve into the other 4 steps teaching us how to create characters.

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    1. Karen backstory dumps are so tricky. Because we NEED that information. The characters backstory affects every decision they make, every word they speak. Their relationships and how they handle them. So you NEED IT! But to just dump it straight out is a story killer. It just grinds the forward motion of the story to a halt. That's coming!

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    2. Mary, I need to study backstory more. But, I'm plugging along. Can't wait for more of your goodness!

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    3. Thanks, Karen. Backstory is so fun. That's it's real trick because we need it and we want to tell the reader about it. HOW to do it is just a huge difference between a book that flows along and one that's clunky.

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  6. These are great tips Mary! And gosh....I can't wait to read this new series 😍

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    1. Hi Jessica. Thanks. I'm excited for it. All three books releasing in one year!

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  7. Loving the first book in this series and looking forward to the rest. These characters are ones to remember!

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    1. Betti, you got it? A netgalley thing? I didn't know if those were out yet.

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  8. I am LOVING the Element of Love. Mary's characters are always so great and the lines they say and the things they think, love it!!

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    1. Ack! Another one who's read it. YAY! You know I've never done NetGalley. I should figure that out!

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  9. Excellent advice! There's a reason why each series appears on my Must Read list.

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    1. This is a really fun one. These three heroines are just so fun to create and I hope everyone is big time rooting for the to triumph over the trouble life had sent their way.

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  10. Mary, you are a master at creating characters--lovable, quirky, engaging, dastardly! You can do them all! I always know I'm in for a treat when I pick up one of your books, and I'm so ready for your new series! Hugs, sweet lady, and thanks for the tips!(Even though I'm not a writer, I love seeing your thought processes and what you go through to give us readers a great story!)

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    1. Aw, Winnie, thank you. You're all being so SWEET!!! It's so encouraging!

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  11. I look forward to all your posts on this topic, Mary. I also look forward to reading this series.

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    1. Let's see if I know what I'm talking about, Sandy. :)

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  12. Great post, Mary!

    You're wonderful at creating fun, likeable, and memorable characters. I'm looking forward to the rest of the posts in this series!

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  13. Congratulations! I enjoy reading your posts.

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    1. Lucy, if you are anyone has their own thoughts on creating characters, hit me with them. I can always learn!!!

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  14. I think I already like these characters and am looking forward to reading the books.

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    1. Pam, Thank you. The series is going to come fast! So I hope that's okay for everyone.

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  15. I wasn't available yesterday to jump in on the conversation, but I just wanted to let you know that I, too, Mary, am eagerly anticipating these books and looking forward to what you have to teach us about character. Thank you for sharing what you know! I just love the cooperative spirit at Seekerville!

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    1. Thanks, Terri. I'm really excited for this one!!!

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  16. Thanks for this insight into creating characters. So simple, but so effective. You create some of the best and I look forward to this series of books--as well as more in your upcoming posts.

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    1. Glynis, thank you so much. I'm glad you like my quirky characters. I am trying to put into words how I create them but I'm not sure it's really helpful. :)

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  17. Thanks for sharing your great tips, and thanks in advance for these three books. ALL in ONE YEAR! I won't get anything done, but I'll sure have fun!!

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    1. Hi Connie. Yes, Bethany House is letting me do three books this year. It's about the exact pace I write. Before I was always doing a novella or getting into trouble with my spare time! :D

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  18. This is a great tip. And, ooh, these new characters and their stories sound so good!

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    1. Thanks, Amy. It works. This family of genius women are nothing but fun;

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