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Friday, July 18, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Characterization
To Horoscope or Not to Horoscope, that is the question…
Many writers use different methods to ‘discover’ their characters. Some say the character jumps fully formed into their mind, begging for their story to be told. Others say they spend days, if not weeks, rounding out their characters long before they start writing. Unfortunately, for me, I have to confess I’m still straddling the fence.
I’m new to writing romance, although I have been a reader for years, and to tell you the truth – characterization is HARD (for me). Every action, every word, every ‘breath’ a character takes has to be true to their, well - their character!
For me, the hardest part of writing a good story is giving my characters enough depth. And in order to do so, we have to know our characters – like we know our sister or our best friend from high school. We have to have that level of understanding. We have to be able to throw the proverbial kitchen sink at them and know which way they’ll duck (if they duck at all, as in the case with a few of my friends).
I’ve read books on the hero/heroine archetypes, trying to discover which hero/heroines would actually fall in love and if they are appropriate for my plot. So I had my archetypes, I had my chart for external and internal conflict – I should be able to characterize – right? WRONG! No matter how real those characters were in my head, I still had trouble really understanding them.
Know what I decided to do: give them a birthday. That’s right. I meticulously went through the archetypes and tried to ‘match’ them to a horoscope. I looked at the similarities in personalities between the archetypes and the birth signs. Once I did this, I went back through each archetype/horoscope pair and matched them with people I actually knew that had that birthday! This gave me instant insight into my characters. Suddenly I knew how they would react in a situation because I could compare my characters to real-life people who I knew.
It was liberating. It was fun. It also sucked. Sadly, our characters (whom we love like our children) can’t be perfect – just like the people we know in our every day lives. Because of this, I could see my characters flaws and emotional hurdles. Yes, readers like to read about suffering, but for writers – it kills us. Although I loved knowing who my characters were, I also hated knowing they had flaws.
But flaws, not fairytales, are what make great fiction – right?
So just an example of my comparisons (these are my own interpretations which help me to develop characters):
Heroine Archetype: The BOSS*
Birth Signs: Virgo, Aquarius, Capricorn, and Leo
Characteristics of the BOSS: loss at personal relationships, confident, dynamic, competitive, blunt, workaholic, arrogant, aloof, intolerant, short-tempered, self-assured, highly organized, achiever, demanding and challenging leaders, realists, make quick decisions.
Possible Occupations: chef, prosecutor, Madam, surgeon, queen, editor
Now, take Aquarius for example: Aquarians are generally intelligent, unorthodox and inventive, although they often appear to be eerily detached and personally uninvolved (i.e. loss at personal relationships). Champion the highest principles, while at the same time an independent thinker. Stubborn, resistant to imposed change, rebel when confronted with unreasonable authoritarian demands, skeptical, lover of science.
Possible Occupations: science, engineering, international finance, writing
This personality type reminds me of myself (Capricorn) and my mother (Aquarius). Although I think people in our every day lives are not this ‘cardboard cutout’, it gives me a place to start. Once a writer understands characterization, then you can begin to layer the archetypes and experiment with evolving characteristics.
If you have trouble with characterization – give this a try! It might be your “ah-ha” moment, like it was mine! Thanks for reading, and come back for next week’s blog about ‘Setting the Scene’.
* If you are unfamiliar with the archetypes, try “The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes & Heroines Sixteen Master Archetypes” by: Tami D. Cowden, Caro LaFever, and Sue Viders.
Oh – and don’t forget about my contest – which ends THIS FRIDAY – July 18th! All you have to do is leave me a comment to have your name thrown in for a Barnes and Noble Gift Card drawing!
Many writers use different methods to ‘discover’ their characters. Some say the character jumps fully formed into their mind, begging for their story to be told. Others say they spend days, if not weeks, rounding out their characters long before they start writing. Unfortunately, for me, I have to confess I’m still straddling the fence.
I’m new to writing romance, although I have been a reader for years, and to tell you the truth – characterization is HARD (for me). Every action, every word, every ‘breath’ a character takes has to be true to their, well - their character!
For me, the hardest part of writing a good story is giving my characters enough depth. And in order to do so, we have to know our characters – like we know our sister or our best friend from high school. We have to have that level of understanding. We have to be able to throw the proverbial kitchen sink at them and know which way they’ll duck (if they duck at all, as in the case with a few of my friends).
I’ve read books on the hero/heroine archetypes, trying to discover which hero/heroines would actually fall in love and if they are appropriate for my plot. So I had my archetypes, I had my chart for external and internal conflict – I should be able to characterize – right? WRONG! No matter how real those characters were in my head, I still had trouble really understanding them.
Know what I decided to do: give them a birthday. That’s right. I meticulously went through the archetypes and tried to ‘match’ them to a horoscope. I looked at the similarities in personalities between the archetypes and the birth signs. Once I did this, I went back through each archetype/horoscope pair and matched them with people I actually knew that had that birthday! This gave me instant insight into my characters. Suddenly I knew how they would react in a situation because I could compare my characters to real-life people who I knew.
It was liberating. It was fun. It also sucked. Sadly, our characters (whom we love like our children) can’t be perfect – just like the people we know in our every day lives. Because of this, I could see my characters flaws and emotional hurdles. Yes, readers like to read about suffering, but for writers – it kills us. Although I loved knowing who my characters were, I also hated knowing they had flaws.
But flaws, not fairytales, are what make great fiction – right?
So just an example of my comparisons (these are my own interpretations which help me to develop characters):
Heroine Archetype: The BOSS*
Birth Signs: Virgo, Aquarius, Capricorn, and Leo
Characteristics of the BOSS: loss at personal relationships, confident, dynamic, competitive, blunt, workaholic, arrogant, aloof, intolerant, short-tempered, self-assured, highly organized, achiever, demanding and challenging leaders, realists, make quick decisions.
Possible Occupations: chef, prosecutor, Madam, surgeon, queen, editor
Now, take Aquarius for example: Aquarians are generally intelligent, unorthodox and inventive, although they often appear to be eerily detached and personally uninvolved (i.e. loss at personal relationships). Champion the highest principles, while at the same time an independent thinker. Stubborn, resistant to imposed change, rebel when confronted with unreasonable authoritarian demands, skeptical, lover of science.
Possible Occupations: science, engineering, international finance, writing
This personality type reminds me of myself (Capricorn) and my mother (Aquarius). Although I think people in our every day lives are not this ‘cardboard cutout’, it gives me a place to start. Once a writer understands characterization, then you can begin to layer the archetypes and experiment with evolving characteristics.
If you have trouble with characterization – give this a try! It might be your “ah-ha” moment, like it was mine! Thanks for reading, and come back for next week’s blog about ‘Setting the Scene’.
* If you are unfamiliar with the archetypes, try “The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes & Heroines Sixteen Master Archetypes” by: Tami D. Cowden, Caro LaFever, and Sue Viders.
Oh – and don’t forget about my contest – which ends THIS FRIDAY – July 18th! All you have to do is leave me a comment to have your name thrown in for a Barnes and Noble Gift Card drawing!
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