Creating Fictional Characters—Part 1: Characters Are Story People

Several years ago, I taught classes in fiction-writing at a continuing education program for senior citizens. I’ve decided to turn my outlines and notes on these classes into several series about writing fiction.

Fiction writers usually describe themselves as being either character-driven or plot-driven. This is somewhat related to genre—romance novels tend to be more character-driven while action-adventure stories and thrillers are usually more plot-driven. However, characters and plot are both important in all fiction. Plot evolves from character—characters’ responses to situation and events creates the plot, and the actions in the plot must be consistent with the characters. Character-driven stories also have plots; plot-driven stories also have characters. Durant Imboden’s article Character vs. Plot explains more about the relationship between character and plot.

I’m a character-driven writer—I start with characters first then come up with what happens to them. What happens to them—the plot—evolves from the characters. So I’m going to start my fiction series with Creating Fictional Characters.

My friend  Billie Houston, aka Barri Bryan, teaches a class on character development. She says:

 In real life characters are revealed; in fiction characters are created.

In this series, we are going to talk about how to create characters.  As the author, you theoretically have complete control over the characters you create. I say theoretically because many writers have had the experience I’ve had of characters taking over the story and leading the writer rather than vice-versa. However, characters can’t take over until they exist. And they don’t exist until the writer creates them.

So what is a character anyway? In Creating Characters: How to Build Story People, Dwight Swain calls characters story people. They are the people in your story, the people who live the plot.

Phonetically, character begins with care. Main characters must care about something that is important to them, whether it is significant or trivial.

Readers must care about the characters before they care what happens to them. Readers can love the characters, hate them, or be intrigued by them, but they can’t be bored by them.

The author must care about the characters in order to make the readers care.

A character is an artificial construction  given individual and personal qualities by the author—a created personality with actions, attitudes, thoughts, and expressions.

Your fiction will have a main character (or characters) and secondary characters. Main characters must be three-dimensional and dynamic—they change through the story. Secondary characters, depending on their importance in the story and the length of the work, can be dynamic or static and one-dimensional.

Main characters are essential to your story:

• Protagonist—the person the story is about; the one who changes the most; the one who has the most to lose
• Antagonist—villain or opposition to the protagonist
• Other main characters—protagonist’s love interest, partner (Watson to Sherlock Holmes), family

Secondary characters are part of the story but not essential like the main characters:

• Sidekicks, friends, relatives, mentors, work associates
• Minor or background characters—unnamed props like a waitress in the diner

Readers don’t necessarily have to care about the waitress in the diner; they do have to care about the hero and heroine who are facing a crisis in their relationship over dinner.

Other valuable resources for character development:

• Building Fictional Characters: Charlotte Dillon
• Clare Dunkle’s ideas about creating characters
• Creating Unforgettable Characters
• Elements of Writing Fiction – Characters & Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing)
• Fiction Factor: Character Creation
• Kaye Dacus Writing Series (links to series on writing, including several topics related to character development)
• The Writer’s Digest Sourcebook for Building Believable Characters

In the next installment, we’ll discuss how to find and create characters. Ask questions or share your thoughts about character development in comments.

photo credit: combustionchamber

Shadow Forest Authors

Most authors support literacy programs for two major reasons. First, the altruistic reason: illiteracy is a huge problem for the people who can’t read and for society in general.

In the US, according to the Education Portal:

• 50 percent of adults cannot read a book written at an eighth grade level. …
• 3 out of 4 people on welfare can’t read. …
• 3 out of 5 people in an American prison can’t read.
• 85 percent of juvenile offenders have problems reading. …
• Illiteracy costs American taxpayers an estimated $20 billion each year.

Second, the selfish reason: people who are illiterate can’t read our books. We write books to be read, and the illiteracy rate in the US means half the adults in this country will never even have the chance to read our work.

Shadow Forest Authors, the fellowship of authors and supporters for charity, encourages authors to donate their books to literacy organizations. An author can donate a single copy of a title to one of the organizations supported by Shadow Forest Authors (SFA) and be listed on their site as a contributing author. Others who want to support literacy can adopt an author, purchase a copy of the author’s book, and donate it.

I would like to see a wider selection of literacy organizations, and SFA is open to adding more nonprofits. The organization I have supported locally is currently changing its structure or I would have submitted it to SFA. So I chose an organization in another part of the country and sent a couple copies of Dream or Destiny. Most of the organizations listed mystery as a genre they were seeking.

You can join the cause by suggesting other literacy agencies to SFA and by donating one or more books (either your own or those of an author you adopt).

Sizzling Summer Sweepstakes at Books We Love

If you’re an avid reader who enjoys contests, stop by the Books We Love Sizzling Summer Sweepstakes.

Books We Love (BWL) will be giving away one basket of three eBooks and two autographed print books every week for the entire summer from June to September. Every month BWL will give away a SUMMER SURPRIZE BASKET packed full of goodies, and at the end of summer, a drawing will be held from all the preliminary winners for $100.00 CASH.

Besides the great prizes, you’ll find many wonderful authors and fabulous books at Books We Love. I’m one of those authors and Dream or Destiny is one of those books, she said modestly.

My Special Days Dream or Destiny Promotion

I will e-mail you an e-book of Fern’s Fancies, an unpublished contemporary romance novel. It’s quite different from my other books, and I had fun writing it. I hope you have fun reading it. 

In addition to the free e-book, everyone who purchases Dream or Destiny during June  will have a chance to win a virtual gift basket of e-books. The titles of the books, which I either edited or wrote, are listed below.

 

Back cover blurb for Dream or Destiny:  

Marilee Anderson dreams about a murder and wakes to find it really happened. She and David Nichols, the victim’s brother, become the prime suspects. Though they have their secrets and aren’t sure they can trust each other, Marilee and David team up to find the killer.

Does Tess, “the crazy lady,” know anything about the murder or is she just delusional? Does the cheating couple on the victim’s floor have any information about the night of the crime? Why has the abusive father of the victim and her brother suddenly reappeared? What about Barbara’s ex-husband? Will Marilee and David find the killer? Or will they end up in jail—or dead?

You can learn more about Dream or Destiny, read an excerpt, or find out what reviewers say.

 

About Fern’s Fancies:

When Fern Tate sold her interior landscape company to a national corporation, she didn’t expect to have a boss like Pendleton Morgenthal, III. Had she made the biggest mistake of her life?

Pen never allowed a woman—especially a subordinate—to distract him from his fast-track career. What was it about Fern that made her different?

Read an excerpt of Fern’s Fancies.

I wrote this story early in my writing career in response to a call for submissions from a romance publisher for contemporary romance novels that began with a letter or other form of correspondence. I had just sold my interior landscape company and enjoying sharing some humorous incidents that we had encountered in 20 years in the business.

 I submitted part of the manuscript as homework in an online writing class, and the instructor predicted this book would be picked up by a publisher right away. However, when it was rejected by the publisher I targeted it for, I never tried again. Fern’s Fancies is genre romance, a la Harlequin or Silhouette Romance (the “sweet romance” lines).  It’s a light, fun, and sometimes humorous read.

• As Shadows Fall by Grace Anne Schaefer
• The New Day Dawns by Grace Anne Schaefer
• On the Wings of the Wind by Patricia Eytcheson Taylor and the Reverend Doctor James Taylor
• Some Monument to Last by James Doughty
• Spring House by David Bowles
• Stroke of Luck by Yours Truly

You may order from:

• My publisher, GASLight Publishing, LLC
• Amazon.com
• Directly from me

Although I don’t ordinarily sell direct, I want buyers during this promotion to be able to order an autographed copy. Click on the “buy-now” button at the bottom of this post to order through PayPal using your credit card or PayPal account. Price is $12.95 plus shipping ($3.00 US or $10.00 International). Please be sure to indicate the name you would like the autograph inscribed to.

For those of you who have Dream or Destiny on your wish list, now is the perfect time to order it. For those of you who have read and enjoyed the story, you can buy a gift for a friend and keep the free e-book for yourself.

If you order from me, I will e-mail your free e-book at the time I prepare your paperback book for shipping. If you order from Amazon or GASLight, e-mail me your receipt, and I will send Fern’s Fancies by return e-mail.

Happy anniversary and happy birthday to me, and happy reading to you!

Sign autograph to

« Previous Page