Character Arc - The Shapers

http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Gandalf

Last time we talked a little about Character Arc in general. Today we’re going to look at the various aspects that shape that character arc. I love chatting about characters because they’re the bedrock of your novel, and one of the aspects that makes for a great story is watching these characters grow, change, and (in HEA books) become better/stronger than they were in the beginning of the book.

I posted a picture of Gandalf the Grey because I absolutely love his character - AND Ian McKellen does a superb job of playing him. 

Again, what is a character arc? Well, it's the growth, or decline, of a character overtime. In most of the novels we read, the character arc is a growth from a lesser developed character to a more developed one. 

I’m focusing my discussion on character growth instead of decline, since most books take this perspective.

Just like "real people", characters are shaped by several different aspects of their environment. We can incorporate one main ‘shaper’ into our novels, or use a variety of them. Here are the primary character ‘shapers’.

1.      Circumstances

Lots of novels use circumstances to shape characters. These can be circumstances from the past (which is a big one) or those happening in the story’s present. For example, in my debut novel, The Thorn Bearer, my heroine struggles with a very deep wound from her past (her father’s abuse), but is also faced with countless circumstances in her present (jilted, Lusitania, war). These circumstances have shaped who she has become and also continue to shape her growth.

 

2.      Other people

Both in the past and present, characters are shaped by those people around them. In A Twist of Faith, my heroine, Dee Roseland, has most of her character arc through her relationships with the people in her present life that contradict the distorted relationships she knew from her past. Circumstances influence her some, but the biggest ‘shapers’ in her character arc are the people in her life.

3.      A character’s own self talk

This may sound weird, but it’s powerfully true – not just for our characters but for ourselves. The voice we hear the most, is the one in our heads. Our own. It has an amazing about of influence on our thought patterns, actions, and growth. That’s why what we tell ourselves has such a lasting impact on us – so filling our minds with Scripture is a mighty weapon against the ‘lies’ that many times sneak into our self-talk. The same thing happens to our characters. What lies are they telling themselves that must be changed in order for them to become who they need to be by the end of the story? In my upcoming novel, Just the Way You Are, my heroine does a whole lot of self-talking, and the reader gets to watch how her insecurity-talk changes as she moves through the story. 

4.     

In fiction from those with the Christian world view, characters are shaped by their faith...which can go along with self-talk, but more than that it’s the Holy Spirit within our characters, guiding and shaping them through all three of the previous ‘shapers’. As in our own lives, God the Spirit has a powerful voice to slice through the lies, the influences, and even the misinterpretation of circumstances, to place our thoughts and hearts into right perspective…and this would be true for our characters too :-)

Remember, shapers are purposefully placed tools in the hands of an author. Usually, they’re not halfhazard designs to add a little pizzazz, but strategically placed plot points to deepen a character’s arc. Just as God “works all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose”, as authors, the ‘shapers’ we place in our characters’ lives serve a purpose – a plan.

As a side note: Sometimes the character arcs are very clear for the protagonist, and sometimes the greater character arc happens in different characters than the protagonist, because of the protagonist’s existence. I think Darcy and Lizzie grew a little as characters because of the influence of each other in their lives, right?

So…what are some shapers you’ve noticed in what you’re reading or writing? Do those shapers usually come in the form of people or other things?

Share your thoughts :-)

Character Arc - Part 1 - The Basics

https://www.emaze.com/@AOWWTRTL/Pride-and-Prejudice

Have you ever read a story where the characters clung to you long after you closed the book?

Somehow your thoughts turned a little fuzzy from the whirlwind of emotion, drama, humor, or danger which propelled these characters through a palpable discovery or change which your mind cannot release? Been there?

Oh, I have. It’s a wonderful, and sometimes painful, release for some of the very best stories.

But what are we mourning or celebrating in this fiction-filtered fog?

Usually…it’s characters.

Dynamic characters.

A quick reference in your handy-dandy Webster’s dictionary will tell you that the word dynamic means “marked by usually continuous and productive activity or change” (bolded for emphasis)

This is not to say that all that continuous and productive change is for the greater good, but any memorable character (whether hero or villain) becomes more potent when they’re dynamic.

Dynamic can mean large changes or small ones, but there ARE changes, nonetheless, and they impact not only your character, but usually the characters around them.

Some of the most memorable stories are made up of dynamic characters – and one of the main tools used to create these dynamic characters is the development of the character arc.

I really like how Wikipedia gives a simple definition of character arc: “the transformation or inner journey of a character over the course of a story”

Pretty straight forward, right?

Well… what does ‘transformation’ really mean? Or for that matter, if we go back to the definition of ‘dynamic’, what does ‘productive’ mean?

Both answers might look different based on our character, right? A ‘productive’ change for the Joker is going to probably look different than one for The Dark Knight, right?

Aha, so…here’s the hallmark of a character arc.

It’s PERSONAL!

The best character arcs are those so entwined uniquely and personally with the character’s personality, past, plans, and progress, that the change is logical, believable, and realistic.

So, to write a solid arc, you need a good idea of who your character is…and where you want them to go.

http://earnthis.net/the-top-10-characters-from-avatar-the-last-airbender/

There are three possible directions your character can go with an arc.

1.     He can transform – a move from a weak, nobody to a hero of the known world J Or…Beauty and the Beast (both figuratively and literal change in this one)

Does your character become a whole new person by the end of the story? From dark to light?

Edmund in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Zuko in Avatar the Last Airbender (animated series), George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life. Can you name a few?

2.     He can grow (and arguably the most common in popular fiction). The basic heart of the character doesn’t change/transform, but the character grows from a weaker person, lesser understanding, undecided, etc. In most novels, we read, the character arc is a growth from a lesser developed character to a more developed one due to growth…not necessarily a big change. Lizzie in Pride and Prejudcie really stays the same person, but has grown in her understanding of herself and Mr. Darcy. Peter in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe grows to become a braver, stronger, humbler Peter, but the main component of who Peter is stays the same. Jane from Jane Eyre grows in her understanding of who she is and what she can do as an independent woman, but her core personality doesn’t transform, it grows.

3.     He can fail – the one I don’t like to discuss because I’m a happily-ever-after girl ;-) This is your usual tragedy. Romeo and Juliet. The character goes from an area of strength, knowledge, understanding, and declines throughout the story. Personally, I felt that Henry VIII in the movie/book The Other Bolyen Girl shows this arc brilliantly.

What about YOU?

Next time I’ll talk about what aspects SHAPE a character arc but for now, can you list some books where you’ve seen an example of a certain type of arc? Maybe an example of all three??

Writing Back[words]: Pulling Tight that Saggy Middle

I used to be a pantster. Writing a book would be a real-time discovery. I'd have an idea of the end, I mean, I knew what I wanted to accomplish for the character, but all the in between would be found along the way.

When I wrote like this, I had to write chronologically. If I skipped ahead to write a later scene, it would be as difficult to know my character's thoughts as it is to tell the future. My character was developed as I went.

Over the years though, I've begun to write my synopses first, either for contests, proposals, or just to hash out my story to see if I have something solid to maintain a whole novel.

What I've found is, because I have a general idea of character arc and plot after forming a synopsis, I lose less steam in writing since I can write backward. Generally, the black moment to the "the end" is my closest thing to speed writing. Once I get to this point in a story, the characters have been hashed out, the story is reaching its climax and all I have to do is wrap this baby up. 

Do you ever come up on a scene, and struggle to have the drive to write it? Well, that usually happens for me more toward the sagging middle, but hardly ever from the black moment on. With my current WIP, I skipped about ten chapters and decided to write what I longed to get out--the black moment and "the end". Instead of just fleshing out the bare bones structure and pumping out word count, I discovered that it actually stretches out the story strings and lifts that unwritten sagging middle UP! 

How? 

When I get to the last chapters of a story, I begin to stumble upon character's follow-up thoughts to past experiences (that I hadn't written and are too specific for a synopsis) that benefit a satisfying end. 

Basically, I begin to develop an underlying patchwork of sentimentality, life lessons, and richer character history by finding their impacts on the character at the end. The sagging middle isn't so frightening anymore when I discover the beautiful quilt before the actual work of the stitches.

After a great writing session wrapping up my story, I know sit on the brink of the middle. And I can't wait to jump in. My characters have some great growing pains on the horizon, and I know exactly why they are there and what my characters grow into ahead!

Are you a pantster that does this? Would love to know how! Are you a plotter who likes to skip around and hash out scenes as they come to you? And, what other techniques have you used to tackle the inevitable slump in those middle chapters?

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Angie Dicken is a full-time mom and lives in the Midwest with her Texas Aggie sweetheart. An ACFW member since 2010, she has written six historical novels and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of The Steve Laube Agency. Angie also spends her time designing one-sheets and drinking good coffee with great friends. Check her personal blog at angiedicken.blogspot.com and connect at:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/dicken.angie, 

Twitter: @angiedicken

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/agdicken/

Memorable Characters - The Basics

Over the next few months, I’m going to tackle the heart of good fiction. Characters! Now, I know a lot of you plot-driven writers might disagree, but most of our best fiction is memorable because of the characters who make up the stories.

1.       Lizzie Bennet

2.       Scarlet O’Hara

3.       Atticus Finch

To name a few – are memorable because  of some basic components.

In the coming weeks I’ll go over 9 different traits for compelling characters. Some of the tips will come from Michael Hauge, some I gathered from James Scott Bell, and a few I tagged on myself. But let’s start with an overview of what GOOD characters do for us.

They cause us to C.A.R.E.

In one way or other, we are impacted by them. That's why we remember them. How do well-developed characters do this?

1.       Conflict – Good characters have conflict – and cause conflict in the reader. I can’t recall one character who didn’t have to deal with some sort of conflict to make it to the end of the story. Probably because those types of characters are not memorable. “Nothing” happens to them – therefore “nothing” happens to the reader.

      When a character can cause the reader to feel conflict – then we remember them, good or bad. They do something we don’t expect. They respond in a way that is conflicting to our natures. They cause us to see the world from a different perspective or strengthen our own resolve and choices. Something to leave a mark on our minds as we read– and so we are more likely to remember them.

2.       Arc – This is very important. Memorable characters have an Arc. What does that mean? All great characters grow. Michael Hauge refers to this as a character moving from his identity to his essence. I’ll talk more about this next time, but it basically means that a character goes from not really knowing who they are (showing a certain ‘identity’ to the world) to realizing/accepting their essence (who they are at their core). It's usually part of the internal goal for your character. I can’t wait to talk about how the romantic relationship touches on this element of character development.

3.       Relate – At some point, great characters are relatable. I’m not saying you will have a super power or have to time travel to the Civil War, but what the character cares about, their struggle, their goal, their dreams, their life – will somehow be relatable to the reader. We may not live in Regency England, like Lizzie Bennet, but we can relate to her because she wants a love that is more than what her parents, or even society, expects. I can't travel to Middle Earth, but the strength of friendship, and desire to serve others through sacrifice, makes Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee memorable. We can relate to those things...with or without hairy feet :-)

      Btw, even bad-guys need to have these traits. The BEST bad guys give us a way to relate to them (which causes conflict in us and emotion). They may not have an arc, but they usually have the other three components.

4.       Emotion – Much like conflict, great characters cause us to experience emotions. We read fiction because we want to experience what the characters are experiencing . We want to fall in love as they do, laugh as they do, embark on an adventure, solve a crime, hyperspeed to another galaxy, fight dragons, or destroy the one ring….like the characters. But the journey is remarkable because of the emotions we experience through the characters along the way - and because of those emotions, we remember the characters.

How do you make your readers CARE about your characters? Do you have conflict? Is there a clear arc? Are your characters relatable in some way and do they evoke emotions in your readers? Those are the starting points for developing strong characters.

Next time, I’ll go into a little more detail about ARC and then we’ll begin going through the 9 Character traits for memorable heroes/heroines.

As a teaser, here they are:

C - Complex

H – Heroic/Courageous/Hopeful

A – Able/Adept/Resourceful

R – Raw Wound

A – A bit unpredictable within their predictability

C – Craving/Ache/Yearning

T – True/Noble/Honorable

E – Emotion/Passion/Purpose

R- Redeemable (even if only a little)
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Pepper Basham writes romance peppered with grace and humor. She’s a native of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a mom of five, a speech-language pathologist, and a lover of chocolate. She writes a variety of genres, but enjoys sprinkling her native culture of Appalachia in them all.  She currently resides in Johnson City, TN where she works as a university instructor, searches for unique hats to impress her friends, and plots new ways to annoy her wonderful AlleyCat friends. You can find her on her personal blog, Words Seasoned With Salt¸ or at her group writing blog, The Writers Alley. She is extremely blessed to be represented by 2012 ACFW Agent of the Year, Nicole Resciniti.
 

Shedding Light on the Lie

Have you ever thought of your character as a product of a lie?

I am taking an intense self-character study that guides me in discovering lies I've been told about myself or told myself, throughout my life, and then face the lie, mourn it, and replace it with God's truth. Each step along the way, I can't help but consider how rich the material is for not only myself, but for future character development in my stories. It is as if I am on my own character arc, and trying to develop it more by tracing it backwards to the beginning.

Through this study, I was introduced to the movie, The Kid, starring Bruce Willis. If you've ever watched the movie, you'll know what I am talking about. Forty year old Bruce is visited by his eight year old self, and through the movie he has to discover what lie he was told that has made him the miserable person he is today.

He doesn't know the lie.

He doesn't know that he was ever lied to.

But that's what makes it such a journey. We watch him figure out that there is something (the lie) in his past that brought the eight year old to him, and he needs to back track his life, and figure out what must be sorted to live life to the fullest without his eight year old shadow. Without completely giving the movie away (BEWARE partial-spoiler!), the lie was something he was told by his father as an eight year old. A lie, that he didn't realize changed the course of his life for the worse. He let go of dreams and considered himself differently than if he was never told that lie in the first place.

On Fickr by Itspaulkelly

When our characters believe something about themselves that is based on a lie, it is like searching for a light switch in a pitch-black room that they've never been in before. Through their circumstances, they feel around for a wall--that emotion or event that produced the lie--and then explore it with desperate hands up and down, back and forth as they stumble, until they find the switch that will shed light on the lie.


As writers, it is our responsibility to give them circumstances, people, and opportunities to reach that light switch of self-discovery.

Once that lie is discovered, then the character has no choice but to live the lie and miss out on the opportunity to be greater, or to mourn the lie, and replace it with Truth.

Even though we write fiction, we are writing human nature into our pages. And the best part of Christian fiction, in my opinion, is the thread of a spiritual truth being exposed along the characters' journey. Just like most of the Old Testament shows flawed characters finding God's love in spite of themselves, our characters must also grow from a lie, to find the Ultimate Truth that will set them free at the end.


Do you have any examples from novels or movies, of a great illustration of a lie being replaced by truth in a character's life?

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Angie Dicken first began writing fiction as a creative outlet during the monotonous days of diapers and temper tantrums. She is passionate to impress God's love on women regardless of their background or belief. This desire serves as a catalyst for Angie's fiction, which weaves salvation and grace themes across historical cultures and social boundaries. Angie is an ACFW member and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.

Hello Characters, Please Be Charming

Have you ever looked at your main characters and thought, "If only I could make you more interesting"? I know I have, especially when I'm writing the first draft and still trying to figure out all the quirks of my main characters.

Pepper wrote an amazing post last week on a similar topic after attending Susan May Warren's course at the Blue Ridge Mountains Writers Conference. I loved her idea of interviewing your characters to get to know their deepest thoughts. What a great method to use to discover the lie your characters believe about themselves and how you can use that lie to shape the plot.

So let's say you've taken Pepper and Susie's advice, and you've peeled back those layers your main characters have. What is the next step? How do you convey those deeper levels in the story itself?

This is something I've struggled with in my own writing. My voice tends to be more humorous and lighthearted, so at times I have to really make a conscious effort to step back and add in those deeper elements to really hook the reader's emotions. So, I thought I'd make a list of strategies we can all take to really pull out those layers and convey them in our writing.

1) External structure should mirror your internal character arc. A great DVD set I recently ordered on this topic is The Hero's 2 Journeys by Chris Vogler and Michael Hauge. Try to make sure all your turning points allow us to see a change in your character's internal arc. Really use those turning points to ramp up the characters' emotion as well as the reader's empathy. On the same token, strategically choose turning points that will allow you to do this well. If your character is afraid of heights, put her engagement ring on the top of the Empire State Building. If she wants to be on Dancing with the Stars... well, you get the idea.

2) Be sure your characters' reactions are appropriate. Give your characters something to react to. Think of it this way: would you find a ten foot hole in the middle of the street? Probably not, unless the Creature from the Black Lagoon showed up. You might, however, find a small pothole. Your narrative is the same way. You can give readers little glimpses of that lie your characters believe, but be sure you give them a major moment in the plot before letting them fall into a giant emotional hole.

3) Use secondary characters (in addition to plot points) to generate emotion. Secondary characters are great because they give us a lot more leeway in what we can get away with, both with their personalities and subplots. They can make terrible choices or be hilarious, and these characteristics give us a lot to go off when adding dynamics to our main characters' story lines. So when it comes to secondary characters, be creative in how you develop their interactions with the leading ones. And also be creative in how you allow your main characters to react. Think of the friend who's in a bad relationship, the one who's too obsessed with her job, the one who's flying to Africa to chase a guy.

4) Above all use, follow your heart. Allen Arnold, previous VP of Thomas Nelson and now with Ransomed Heart, always emphasizes this point, and I love the blog he wrote on this topic recently. Though he, of course, uses much less frilly language than "following your heart" because, let's face it, that's kind of a southern belle thing to say. The point is, God has written certain ideas and themes on your heart and into your story. You might not even realize that yet, but they are there-- I promise-- just waiting to get out. These inspirational messages are unique to you, to your calling, and it's very important that you trust God to let that out. Your story matters. Your. Story. Matters. So let your characters show that truth.

On that same note, sometimes it's really easy to hide the deeper layers of our story because we are afraid of rejection. Rejection stings, doesn't it? And after a while, it can be really easy to hide behind all the critiques we've gotten over time. (Side note: surround yourself with people who encourage rather than discourage you when they challenge your writing.) But if we aren't willing to be vulnerable first to our characters and then to our audience, what kind of story do we really have? So be brave and believe in your calling. Some people might not like it or get it. That's okay. It's not their calling. And the only life you're accountable for living, the only story you're responsible for telling, is your own.

I want to hear from you! What are your thoughts? How do you deepen the characters in your writing? Do you have any questions or advice to share?

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Ashley Clark writes romantic comedy with southern grace. She's dreamed of being a writer ever since the thumbprint-cookie-days of library story hour. Ashley has an M.A. in English and enjoys teaching literature courses at her local university. She's an active member of ACFW and runs their newcomer's loop. When she's not writing, Ashley's usually busy rescuing stray animals and finding charming new towns. You can find Ashley on her personal blog, Facebook, and Twitter. She is represented by Karen Solem.

How Setting Can Unlock Deep POV

One of my favorite things about writing is creating word pictures. Actually, the only way I can really delve into a new story, is finding physical objects or environmental anchors to assist in developing my characters on the page. Sometimes it's easy to load too much fluff in description, and now-a-days, the fluff is less and less accepted.
HOWEVER, if you write with a purpose, then description can be key in not only anchoring your character to the setting, but also unlocking deep pov, or the character's internal struggles and thought.

Example from my wip. The setting of this novel is a coal town:

Leanna stared hard at the black dust caked in Jack's nails and shadowed upon his lips while he mumbled a prayer of gibberish. 

Tongue of a fool. Surely God can't hear his tongue.

She sighed and considered a prayer of forgiveness. Whatever effort she had promised herself to muster up and ignore the bitterness only failed by nightfall. 

How appropriate, blackness of night pried open her well of hate, springing forth its miserable leak. Blackness revealed the honest truth. The blackness of the dust in this God-forsaken place; darkness of the shadow that hid whatever love Leanna first felt for the man who hovered over his meager meal, ready to devour the work of her hands after a long day in the blackness of the earth.

When I began this story, the coal town setting brought to mind the black dust. After developing my character's arc, I knew what the setting meant to the heroine. She hated it, it's a place she did not want to be. So blackness in this instance, symbolized void, hate, discontent, suppressed love. The blackness of the dust, the blackness of the night, the blackness of the earth, darkness of the shadow, all these things pull out Leanna's pov for the reader.

Now, blackness could very well mean richness of the earth, wealth of the mining company. If I chose to use the blackness to just explain the setting, the infrastructure of the coal town, then it would not be as strong of a word picture...because it only indirectly anchors the character to setting, and it doesn't have the deeper intention to pull out her inner thoughts.

Have you taken a journey through your setting, grabbing items or characteristics along the way?

Mold them, weave them, discover their unique ability to bear your character's soul to your reader.
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Angie Dicken first began writing fiction as a creative outlet during the monotonous days of diapers and temper tantrums. She is passionate to impress God's love on women regardless of their background or belief. This desire serves as a catalyst for Angie's fiction, which weaves salvation and grace themes across cultures. She is an ACFW member and CEO of a family of six.

Tangled: The Boxed-In Effect

Earlier this year, our very own Pepper dissected the plot of the movie Tangled. If you missed it, you can rewind here.

I just now got around to watching the movie last weekend. I know, I know, I'm way behind the times. But wow, what a movie! I can see why Pepper was inspired to post about it, because it inspired a post from me too.

As I watched this movie, one particular theme shouted at me from the screen--the concept of being boxed in. This theme came out in three primary ways.

The Initial Condition of Rapunzel

The whole premise of the movie is that Rapunzel is a lost princess who was stolen from the castle as a baby. She's being raised by the woman who stole her and she now lives in a tall tower, which she's ordered to never leave. Her life revolves around being boxed in--both physically and emotionally.

Relationships and the Can't-Trust-Anyone Dilemma

As the plot unfolds, she and handsome thief Flynn Rider join forces. But they face opposition from not only one direction, but ALL directions:

Rapunzel's "mother". Flynn's old cronies whom he cheated and who now have it out for him. The king's men who are chasing Flynn for his thievery. The crazy horse who later becomes an ally.

The viewer has all these opponents scrolling through the back of their minds as they watch. At any given moment, we wonder when one of these adversaries will make things interesting.

Flynn and Rapunzel truly are on their own. No one can be trusted. They're boxed in relationally.

Physical Danger--A Literal Representation of Their Internal Struggle

The boxed-in concept is well established in the viewer's mind. So to hone it even further, the writers of the movie provide physical action that represents the internal struggles of our beloved characters.

Flynn running from a crazed horse and getting stuck in Rapunzel's tower. Rapunzel and Flynn being trapped in a cave as it fills with water. Flynn escaping prison with the king's horses trapping him from both sides. These are just a few of the many examples of being boxed-in physically.

Bravo to the writers of Tangled for creating this boxed-in effect throughout the movie...on all levels. I was swept away in it and when the movie ended, I wondered how it could be done so fast.

So what does this mean for our novels?

The power of theme can't be underestimated. Think about the internal struggle your main characters face. Then build conflict and challenges that grow organically from it. Provide physical representations of the internal struggle, and you'll have a breathtaking combo.

How much does the theme of a book or movie stay with you afterwards? Can you think of other examples that use this type of effect?

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Sarah Forgrave is a stay-at-home writer-mom who feels blessed to pursue her calling and passion. She writes contemporary romance for the inspirational market and is a regular contributor to the webzine Ungrind.

To learn more about Sarah, visit her personal blog at:
http://www.sarahforgrave.com/blog

Self-Editing Checklist: Characterization (Plus a Giveaway!)

Plot vs. character. Character vs. plot. The debate could give writers a headache the size of War and Peace. Lucky for all of us, I'm not going to jump in that pool.

Regardless of your approach, the content in this post assumes you've done some characterization. It might be character interviews or charts or talking to your characters while you drive your son to preschool (which I've never, ever done...*grin*).

In case you haven't figured it out yet, Point #8 in my self-editing checklist is Characterization. (For the previous 7 points, click here.) Here are some things to consider as you analyze your characters in each scene.

a) When introducing new characters, are you info-dumping every detail upfront, or are you letting their character be revealed through action and dialogue as the story plays out? This includes backstory. Are you spelling out their family history before we know who they are?

Think of it in terms of real life. If I meet you at the park while my kids are climbing the jungle gym, I'm not going to tell you about my childhood, starting with the birth canal. I'll start by talking about my current life, my kids, and my potty training battles if I see that your kid is in Pull-ups too. Then if the friendship progresses beyond an acquaintance, we'll add another layer, and so on.

Get the reader interested in your character's current struggle, and they'll be dying to peel the layers at a later point (preferably after Page 50 or even 100).

b) Does each of my characters leave a dominant first impression? Have I made them distinct enough to differentiate them in the reader's mind? This might include different strengths, weaknesses, appearances, speech, mannerisms, and attitudes. (For an expansion on this topic, check out this overview of characterization.)

c) Will readers be able to relate to my characters? Are they too perfect? Too flawed? Too cliched? Seek to find a balance between imperfections and likeability. This is a very tricky skill to learn (and it's one I'm still learning!). One book I highly recommend is Writing for Emotional Impact by Karl Iglesias.

If you're in the early stages of characterization, or if you're stuck with a difficult character, there's an amazing resource available. My critique partner, Jeannie Campbell (aka, The Character Therapist), is launching her new website TODAY! She's a licensed therapist who provides tailored diagnoses and evaluations of fictional characters, and she has awesome tools on her site.

In fact, she's offering her Writer's Guide to Creating Rich Back Stories as a giveaway to one lucky commenter! The winner will be announced in our weekend edition. Be sure to check out her site! (And no, I'm not just saying that because I think she's nice and super-cool.) :)

Your homework for the next two weeks, should you choose to accept it: Read the article I referenced and analyze your scenes for how your characters are being portrayed. If you've found trouble spots or just need ideas to move forward, check out The Character Therapist, as well as the book I mentioned above.

How do you usually develop your characters? Do you err on the side of making them too perfect or too flawed? What are your favorite characterization resources?

* Headache photo by Nutdanai Apikhomboonwaroot / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
** Onion photo by Carlos Porto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Self-Editing Checklist: Consistency (Plus a Dynamite Giveaway!)

No, I'm not giving away dynamite...That might get me arrested. But I am offering a fabulous giveaway for people who want to propel their writing to a dynamite level. Curious? Keep reading. :)

Remember that self-editing checklist I've talked about in my previous posts? We're moving on to Point #3 this week. I call this one Consistency. (For points 1 & 2, click here.)

Under consistency, consider the following items for each of your scenes.

a) Have you left any dangling subplots or story lines? If so, is it intentional or do you need to fill in the gaps? In my last post, you may have gathered that I'm a spreadsheet nerd. So how do you suppose I track my subplots? That's right...in a spreadsheet. :) Whether you're a plotter or a pantser, I highly recommend you keep track of your scenes somehow, whether it's in Excel or on index cards.

In Excel, I create a column called Plot/Subplots. In my latest book, I have the primary plot of the romance between my main characters Brogan and Ivy, but I also have subplots of Ivy's troubled relationship with her dad, her struggle to get out of debt, and her job for her ex-boyfriend, to name a few. Next to each scene, I indicate which plot/subplots are addressed. It's not foolproof, but it does help me recognize if I've ignored the debt subplot for 20 straight chapters.

Resources: Camy Tang talks about subplot threads in this Story Sensei post.

b) Does the character's emotional or spiritual arc flow? Does your character hate her father in one scene and then give him a big old hug in the next? If so, there'd better be a reason. Jerking the reader up and down with willy-nilly character emotions will just unsettle them. Make sure the emotional arc picks up where it left off in the previous scene and move it forward from there.

Resources: For a quick hit on emotional arcs, check out this article. If you want to take your character's emotional arc (and your writing) to the next level, I highly recommend Margie Lawson's AMAZING course, Empowering Character Emotions. In case you didn't sign up after Casey's post last week, you can buy Margie's lecture packets (over 280 pages!) for only $22. It's seriously the steal of the century when you consider the AMAZING (yes, I used that word twice in one paragraph) things you'll learn.

Your homework for the next two weeks, should you choose to accept it: Read the articles I've referenced. And if you're ready to learn like crazy, buy Margie Lawson's lecture packet and gobble it up like your Thanksgiving turkey. Then analyze your scenes for consistency.

But wait! (Do you feel like you're watching an infomercial yet?) Remember that dynamite giveaway I mentioned? For one lucky commenter, I'm offering the choice of any one of Margie's lecture packets! The winner will be announced in our weekend edition.

Do you keep track of your plots and subplots? If so, how? How closely do you pay attention to the character arc?

*Rock climbing photo by Bill Longshaw / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
** Curve photo by Filomena Scalise / FreeDigitalPhotos.net