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People are multi dimensional, and so should a character in a story
be... but that's hard to do when the writer only has a small 'section'
of a character's life with which to work. So how do you write
believable characters, who have a past and a future beyond the novel,
and have that full range of character development show in only the
pages in your book?
When writing a story, you want to have
believable characters - characters who seem whole and have full lives
outside of the story you are writing. The best way to do this, is for
you, as the author, to know your character inside and out. You need to know the little things: - What does he like to eat for breakfast?
- What's his favorite color?
- Is he a night owl or an early riser?
- Where was he born?
- How old is he?
- Did he grow up with both of his parents, just one - or neither?
Now,
here's the tricky part. Your reader doesn't need to know all this. In
fact, if you tried to give your reader all this information, your book
probably wouldn't be all that great, because it would really just end
up being the life story of one character. So why do you need to know this information if you aren't going to put it in the book? Because... We
begin to draw conclusions about how people will act and why they act
the way they do based on the information we have about them. With
real people in our lives, we do this all the time, whether we are aware
of it or not. When we interact with someone, we often have a picture in
our mind about how that person is going to relate back to us. We know,
from past experience and knowledge about that person, exactly what to
expect when we do interact. With a character in a novel you are
writing, though, you don't have that past experience and knowledge.
Since characters aren't real people, meaning they can't gain life
experiences that authors don't give to them, it becomes your job, as
the author, to give the character those life experiences. So
sit down and interview your characters. I'm serious! Talk to them, ask
them questions, and listen to their answers. Don't try to 'guess' for
them what they would do - ask them and let them lead you to the
answers. Make your character a whole person, not just someone on the
page that will further your plot. Most novelists know that, when in the
flow, characters tend to have a mind of their own. When the author lets
the novel go and lets the characters play out the plot for them, the
writing becomes much more believable. When you know your
characters inside and out - then when the plot twists, you will find
yourself writing and saying, "wait a minute, Joe wouldn't do that...
that's not how he is..." and you'll catch yourself if you start to
write out of character. Only when you know your characters that
well can you write from their perspectives and make a character that
will be believable to your reader. We all have a past - our past helps
determine who we are and makes up the core of all our experiences and
character - and THAT is why we do the things we do now in this present
time. Our characters in our novels, unfortunately, do not have a past -
and therefore, you, and the author, have to give them one... whether
you write it in your story or not. Their lives simply cannot begin and
end only on the pages of your book. A good writer who has
believable characters, ones with which the reader can truly relate,
even when they tie up all the loose ends of a story, will leave the
reader with that vague feeling of wondering.... "Humm, I wonder what
ever becomes of Joe?"
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