Let your characters live!
No, I’m talking about within the plot of the book. We all know that many of you will be killing off characters that are close and dear to your heart. Alas, it’s one of the prices of great fiction.
Instead, I’m talking about taking your characters and two dimension plot devices and giving them the personality and emotion they need to truly come alive to the reader. And to come alive to the reader, they first have to come alive to you.
There are several ways you can make this happen.
1. Correspond with your characters
That’s right, write them letters. Better than that, have them write you letters back telling you, as their author, how they feel about the decisions you’ve made. Your friends might think you’ve gone off the deep end, but this is a fun and very beneficial exercise to flesh out the personality of your character. This will result in a greater consistency in the character’s defining characteristics.
The main character in my current NaNoWriMo novel, The Beauty of a Grid, is currently mad that I am about to have his cellphone destroyed (it’s necessary that he lose communication). I tried to explain, but he doesn’t think it has to be done. (See, it sounds crazy at the least, but it really gives your characters life!)
2. Keep a character blog
When I was writing my last novel, Six Months in Ipswich (MediaCake Books), I kept a blog for one of the characters I was having a hard time finding a voice for. The character was a student in high school, so her blog talked about the worries and feelings high schoolers have (or those which I remember them having at least) and it really added a nice depth to the character.
3. Make a Facebook or Twitter
This is similar to the suggestion above; make a Facebook or Twitter account for your character and update it regularly during the writing process. This way, when you are writing you will feel you are telling a story of a real person rather than a creation. If you feel the story already exists, independent of you, it will develop organically and be much easier to write.
4. Answer the 101 Questions
Last week I posted about 101 questions that you should be able to answer about your character. Fill out these questions, in first person from the POV of the character for every one of your main characters! It might take some time, but you will, without a doubt, benefit from it.
What are your suggestions for bringing your characters to life? Post them in the comments and I will update this entry with reader suggestions!
