Tag Archives: Creating Characters

Story Characters We Have Seen Too Often

Storytelling, , ,

Story Characters We Have Seen Too Often.  I once made a wish that I would never be bored. When life turns chaotic, I sometimes think better of that wish. But, most of the time, boredom is something very few of us enjoy. Especially not your readers. Especially not boredom with your story characters.

A Character who is More a Type than a Person can Put Your Reader to Sleep. We have read him too many times. Her behavior is too easily predictable. They are monotonous to the max. Imagine how true that is for an editor or agent, confronting submission after submission, brain deadened by hackneyed characters at every turn.

The Spark of Your Story is Snuffed Out by such Functionaries. A cliché does even worse. The crusty, but benign older gentleman. The doddering, but foxy grand dame. The good-hearted prostitute. The down-at-the-heels detective with a bitter edge. Feel free to add more dullards to the list.

These are Types, Known Mainly for a Pair of Characteristics. They inevitably behave according to this two-dimensional signature. They possess limited life and no real emotional depth. Any appendage that comes with them, a  bothersome pet or broken-down car or endless peeve, is a functionary also, adding nothing of substance to the forward movement of your story.

The Usual Purpose of these Characters is to Impact the Hero in Some Limited Way. Beyond that, they have no meaningful significance. This limited role does not justify their presence, if you mean your story to have substance. The last thing you want to create is a narrative populated by stick figures who essentially have no real clue why they are there. Worse still, your reader has no clue either.

Your Purpose is to Give Each Character, however Minor, a Soul. He lives in your reader’s consciousness beyond his few scenes in your story. You may portray only brief moments of her life, but they are real moments. He is not on of those Story Characters We Have Seen Too Often. She enriches your story and deepens the complications surrounding your hero.

As the Storyteller, You must Know  Each Character Well. Even the minor character. You must feel her as a living, breathing being. Then, borrow a slice of that breathing life to insert into your story. Do so at a juncture where this character encounters the conflicted circumstances of your hero and affects those circumstances in an important way.

Here are a Couple of Characters who Accomplish None of That. First, meet Lucy the airhead. Worse than out-of-date in today’s take-charge woman world, she is constructed of cardboard. She is too often overly sexy in a wide-eyed, ingenuous way. She blunders into catastrophe and stays there until she is rescued, usually by a man. Like I said, out-of-date.

Another Character in Need of Update is Cal the Commitmentphobe. We have definitely seen too much of this guy, especially in romance and women’s fiction. His character signature is that he refuses to get into a meaningful relationship, no matter what. He has been burned in the past, blah, blah, blah. He loves his freedom, blah, blah, blah. Cal is a cliché.

I Suspect You Know What is Lacking in these Characters. And also lacking in others like them. Their behavior has no depth. Their motivations are commonplace and shallow. They are familiar because we have unfortunately encountered them before in way too many stories. Once again, feel free to add your own cliche examples to the list.

Police Your Work for their Possible Presence. Choose to improve these story slackers or eject them. For example, with some re-thinking, Cal could become a three-dimensional man. Lucy, however, may be beyond reclamation. Let her rest in peace on the rejection pile. Make certain your story isn’t languishing, by way of boredom, beside her, among Story Characters We Have Seen Too Often.

Alice Orr – https://www.aliceorrbooks.com.

ASK ALICE Your Crucial Questions. What are you most eager to know – in your writing work and in your writer’s life? Ask your question in the Comments section at the end of this post.

Alice has published 16 novels, 3 novellas and a memoir so far. She wrote her nonfiction book No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells as a gift to the writers’ community she loves. Her  novel – A Wrong Way Home – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 1 – is a free gift for you HERE.

A Wrong Way Home

Praise for A Wrong Way Home: “The story twists and turns masterfully into danger and romance.” “I highly recommend this page-turner which is romance and suspense at its best.” “The writing is exquisite.”

Look for all of Alice’s books HERE.

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Vanquish the Cartoonish Story Villain

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Vanquish the Cartoonish Story Villain. A strong villain character is crucial to a strong story. He gives your reader someone to hate which involves her emotionally in your story. She cares what happens to this character. She wants him to fail and that keeps the pages turning.

A Strong Villain Character Gives Your Story Hero Someone to Struggle Against. Their struggle sends the beating heart of your story into turmoil. Your villain, and the trouble he causes for your hero, make your story intense and dramatic. Their conflict has the power to electrify your narrative.

With so Much Story Weight to Carry, Your Villain Must be Formidable. Otherwise, your intelligent, active, resourceful hero will defeat him easily. Your story will be over too soon. When your hero-villain struggle is resolved, reader interest fades, and your narrative is finished.

Kickstart Your Hero-Villain Struggle – then Make that Struggle More Perilous. Introduce your hero’s trouble early, preferably on page one. Before too long, heighten the suspense by revealing your villain’s identity – but only to your readers. Show us how dangerous he is.

An Evil Force is on a Collision Course with Your Hero. You have made us care about your hero. We identify with her. She does not share our knowledge about her adversary. She knows she’s in serious trouble, perhaps mortal danger. But she does not know the source of that danger.

Your Hero may be Acquainted with her Adversary. She may even trust him. We long to scream out a warning as she unwittingly exposes herself to peril. The story hook digs deeper into us with every page. Meanwhile, we must be equally and realistically terrified by the villain’s motivations.

A Wise Storyteller Avoids The-Devil-Made-Him-Do-It Villains. This character type is a psychopath or sociopath. His sick psyche forces him to do wrong and create chaos. Like a rabid dog, he has no choice but to run a destructive path. As a storyteller, you have no choice but to Vanquish the Cartoonish Story Villain.

He is Scary but his Motivation Lacks Complexity. His predictable character provides no fascinating depths for your writerly imagination to explore. Plus, we have seen him too often. There are far too many like him in the real world, and in the world of novels too.

The Number of Human Monsters in Real Life Encourages Writers to Portray Them. But this villain is fictionally boring. We’ve read his story so often it has become hackneyed and repetitious. Any twist on his twistedness must be truly sensational to stand out among such a huge crowd. Very few do.

He Has No True Choice but to Behave as He Does. No thrilling investigation nor confession of his nuanced motives can credibly occur. He is mentally ill. He does evil because he is insane. That is the essence of him, which renders him two-dimensional and diminishes his story to cartoonishness.

What distinguishes a Truly Intriguing Villain from a Two-Dimensional Cartoon? The difference is that we understand, on a mentally engaging level, the reasons for this  person’s twisted behavior. We do not have to sympathize with him. We only need to comprehend him, and we do.

As Storyteller you must Conjure the Origin of this Character’s Twistedness. What concrete experiences led him to his evil actions? You must make these experiences believable. The more credible his motivations are, the more credible your villain character will be. And the more terrifying he is as well.

You Must Present this Character Objectively. Your storyteller role is not to judge or condemn your villain character. Your role is to give him resonant, three-dimensional life on the page. You must allow your reader to know him from the inside out. Which means you must tell your villain character’s story as he would tell it.

Here is the Secret to Imagining Yourself into a Twisted Character’s Soul. Every villain is the hero of his own story. He is convinced his actions are justified. In the world as he perceives it, he is doing what needs to be done. His motivations are clear, strong and believable. His motivations are also warped.

The Specifics of that Warp are Yours to Discover. Think as your villain thinks. Go deep into his darkness until he is illuminated to you. The result is the opposite of cartoonish. He lives on your pages with chilling authenticity. Your reader longs to turn away but cannot. What could be a more riveting story hook than that? Vanquish the Cartoonish Story Villain.

Alice Orr – https://www.aliceorrbooks.com.

ASK ALICE Your Crucial Questions. What are you most eager to know in your writing work and in your writer’s life? Email aliceorrbooks@gmail.com. Or add a comment question to this post.

Alice has published 16 novels, 3 novellas and a memoir so far. She wrote her nonfiction book No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells as a gift to the writers’ community. Her latest novel – A Time of Fear & Loving – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 5 – is available HERE.

A Time of Fear & Loving

Praise for A Time of Fear & Loving: “Alice Orr is the queen of ramped-up stakes and page-turning suspense.” “Warning. Don’t read before bed. You won’t want to sleep.” “The tension in this novel is through the roof.” “I never want an Alice Orr book to end.” “The best one yet!”

Look for all of Alice’s books HERE.

https://www.facebook.com/aliceorrwriter
http://twitter.com/AliceOrrBooks/
http://goodreads.com/aliceorr/
http://pinterest.com/aliceorrwriter/

It Takes Two to Tangle Your Story

Storytelling, ,

It Takes Two to Tangle Your Story. This is true in real life and in fiction writing. Here’s the difference. In real life, we try to avoid tangles, difficulties, and conflicts. In fiction writing, the more struggle you conjure up, the stronger your story will be.

Your Main Character – Your Hero – Must Have Someone to Tangle With. This someone may be a pesky sidekick or a possible romantic partner or a probable enemy. Whatever their relationship, this other character exists, mainly, to intensify your hero’s story.

This Character Gives Your Hero Someone to Talk With. Your main character’s internal thoughts move into external dialog. Internal monologue often reads as static and slows the pace of your story. Dialogue looks more active on the page and usually reads as more active also.

This Dialogue Must Be Highly Interesting. You make this dialogue highly interesting by creating complex, fascinating contenders to match your complex, fascinating hero. These more secondary characters possess opinions and attitudes different from those of your main character.

Differences Create Story Conflict. Which varies in intensity depending on the relationship. An enemy may even pose a threat to your hero’s life. By contrast, lovers and sidekicks debate your hero, irritate her, openly conflict with her. The clash is heated, but seldom flares into violence.

The Conflicts Between Mutually Caring Characters are Often Only Variations in Attitude. But they force your hero to articulate her feelings and beliefs. This helps your reader know her better and empathize with her. Empathy is critical to hooking your reader into your story. Reader connects with Hero. Yet again – It Takes Two to Tangle Your Story.

Caring Characters may Differ Intrinsically from Your Hero. The lover or sidekick may have something major to learn in life, an internal struggle that might not be resolved in this story. Unlike your hero who ideally learns and grows in some important aspect of her life.

Contrast these Characters Extrinsically Too. Family and culture, life experience, social and economic status. Differences in circumstance provide potential fireworks in relationships, which may be sexual or not. Fireworks ignite reader interest, which serves your storytelling purpose.

In Fiction Too Much Harmony is Boring. In real life we want everyone to get along. In make-believe, your characters may like, or even love, each other. But if they get along too well for too long, the story drags, falls flat, and you lose reader interest. Make them struggle with each other.

Create Struggle Between Your Caring Characters – But the Struggle Must be Real. Strong stories require powerful drama. You, as author, must know what qualifies as legitimate drama. Character banter, however clever, lacks the power to be strong storytelling on its own.

Real Problems Between Characters Create Real Conflict. The bigger their problem grows, the more intensely the conflict escalates. Plunge your characters into hot water in the form of relationship trouble and turn up the temperature. Trouble is at the heart of strong storytelling.

Give Your Hero Strength to Stand Up for Herself and Others. She refuses to be passive. She acts on what she believes to be right, no matter how much trouble and conflict she may encounter. Consider including a romantic interest to intensify that trouble and conflict. Remember – It Takes Two to Tangle Your Story.

Give Her a Romantic Partner Strong Enough and Good Enough to be Worthy of Her. A relationship of equals has huge potential for dramatic tension. Power, drama, and intensity ignite your story of tangled relationships. Go ahead. Set fire to the page.

Alice Orr – https://www.aliceorrbooks.com.

ASK ALICE Your Crucial Questions. What are you most eager to know – in your writing work and in your writer’s life? Email aliceorrbooks@gmail.com. Or add a comment question to this post.

Alice has published 16 novels, 3 novellas and a memoir so far. She wrote her nonfiction book No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells as a gift to the writers’ community. Her latest novel – A Time of Fear & Loving – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 5 – is available HERE.

A Time of Fear & Loving

Praise for A Time of Fear & Loving: “Alice Orr is the queen of ramped-up stakes and page-turning suspense.” “Warning. Don’t read before bed. You won’t want to sleep.” “The tension in this novel is through the roof.” “I never want an Alice Orr book to end.” “The best one yet!”

Look for all of Alice’s books HERE.

https://www.facebook.com/aliceorrwriter
http://twitter.com/AliceOrrBooks/
http://goodreads.com/aliceorr/
http://pinterest.com/aliceorrwriter/