Character Essentials: "Hooking the Reader through Character Building, Part 4" with S. Alex Martin

S. Alex Martin is an author of young adult soft science-fiction, a blogger of writing tips and tricks, and a rising college senior in Pittsburgh. He's written and self-published three hard sci-fi books since 2004, and is finishing the fourth draft of "Embassy," the novel he hopes will become his debut in traditional publishing. You can follow him on his website, Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook.



Hey everyone, welcome to my last post in this series. Hope you enjoyed Brian's post last week!

Today's post is a bit shorter because I'm going back to college tomorrow, so I've been packing and shopping--all while finishing the fourth draft of my novel, Embassy. Yeah. I've been rushing around all week.

Anyway, I want to look at two specific ways to show how to develop characters: involvement their world, and how they deal with events.

#1. INVOLVEMENT IN THEIR WORLD.

Characters need roles. When the story opens, readers want to know who the characters are. What do they do? What events have shaped them? If you show your characters place in society, the reader will better understand what journey the character is going on and why they are going on it.

This is why it's so crucial to understand character back stories. Some people like to list hobbies and education and favorite foods and colors, etc, before they begin writing the story. Other people (like me) let the characters shape themselves as they write.

Here are examples of a character's  involvement  in different novels:

Robert Langdon is a professor of religious symbology at Harvard University, and is called upon to investigate religious-related happenings in the Vatican and other cities. ("Angels and Demons," by Dan Brown)

Hazel Lancaster is a cancer child who must cope with death, and falls in love with a boy who lost his leg to cancer. ("The Fault in Our Stars," by John Green)

Beatrice Prior is a sixteen year old girl who lives in a world divided into five factions, and the day has come for her to make a choice: stay with her family, or join a new faction. ("Divergent," by Veronica Roth)

You can see how these characters are involved in a world that directly relates to the story. Use that to shape your characters, and then present events that will progress the characters' changes.

#2. DEALING WITH EVENTS.

Characters need to react to their worlds. This means  there need to be events that force the characters to make decisions--and sometimes they won't make the right ones. When necessary, complicate their lives. Make bad things happen. Make good things happen. But let your characters show their true selves in the choices they make, and maybe show how they change through the story.

We'll see three major ways characters act in their worlds: some will be active and seek out challenges. Others will be passive and let things progress as they are. Still, others will be reactive and make choices only as events happen.

Let's take the examples I used above and show how the characters react to the events in their stories. Keep in mind some stories have a mix of the three ways characters act:

ACTIVE: Robert Langdon must track down and stop an Illuminati plot to attack the Catholic Church after the death of the Pope. He must ACT and figure out where the Illuminati will strike, how they'll strike, and do so before the antimatter bomb destroys the Vatican and kills millions of people. (Angels and Demons)

PASSIVE: Hazel Lancaster can't really do much for her condition. She goes to support group, thinks about death a lot, and pretty much lives knowing she will die one day. When she meets Augustus Waters, they both have their jokes and travel together using his "Wish." But their reality always looms over them. (The Fault in Our Stars)

REACTIVE: Beatrice Prior joins a new faction and must react to her world and circumstances. Fights, fear tests, and a dark plot are ever-present. All of this is thrown at her and she must adapt to the situations. (Divergent)

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Well, that's my last post in this series! Brian will be back next week with the final installment of "Hooking the Reader through Character Building."

Have questions? Need clarification? Comment below and I'll reply!

Until next time,
S. Alex Martin

Character Essentials: "Hooking the Reader through Character Building, Part Two" with S. Alex Martin

S. Alex Martin is an author of young adult soft science-fiction, a blogger of writing tips and tricks, and a rising college senior in Pittsburgh. He's written and self-published three hard sci-fi books since 2004, and is finishing the fourth draft of "Embassy," the novel he hopes will become his debut in traditional publishing. You can follow him on his website, Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook.



Hello everyone! This is my first post as a YAWA admin and my first post in the series Brian and I are co-hosting: Hooking the Reader through Character Building.

You'll find that one of the hardest parts in the writing process is character development. The story only happens if the characters matter and fit into their unique roles. If you can toss around the characters and still have the same story, stop. Because you have a BIG problem.

Characters should feel like people. The real, living and breathing people who make life interesting (because clearly there are other kinds). Today I'm going to show you how to develop characters without whom the story can't go on.


#1. GIVE EVERY CHARACTER A GOAL.

And I mean EVERY character. If someone comes into the story and doesn't leave for a while, they need something to do. Don't just put them in because it's convenient, or because you think you need to hype up the pace. Those are just bad excuses that leave similarly-bad tastes in your readers' mouths.

Your main character needs a goal. State that as early in the story as possible. What journey are we--the reader--about to embark on? Will this journey take us to places we've never dreamed of? Will we meet people who amaze or scare us? Or are we gonna trudge around in our boots, stuck in the mud half the time, listening to an old beggar who just annoys us?

Hopefully we get the former, 'cause I don't have the time--or the money, for that matter--to hang out with some old guy in a robe. Unless he's Obi-Wan Kenobi. Then we'll see.

Also think of your minor characters. Yes, they'll have roles. But don't make them cookie-cutter images of every cliche out there. Make them unique individuals who have lives, live those lives, and are AFFECTED by those lives. Sure, the best friend seems happy around the main character, but at his house he gets into heated argues with his parents, which leads to his rebellious behavior and ultimate arrest. Something like that.

If you can create a complicated character whose life doesn't revolve around the main character, you're doing you book--and your credibility--justice.


#2. DEVELOP CHARACTER RELATIONSHIPS.

*sigh* No, I don't mean a love triangle. Throw it in there if you want--don't let me stop you--but please, please try to have something other than a whiny girl who can't decide between two guys. There's a reason why people are tired of seeing love triangles. Oftentimes those conflicts are the whole plot of the story and leave little room for anything realistic (in the story's world, that is) to happen.

Anyway, developing character relationships. When readers meet a new character, the first thing they ask is: "Why are you important?" Make characters matter. Don't throw them in there for a convenient conversation. That just cheats the reader of their time and dignity.

Characters should influence the main character. Guide them, teach them, make them angry, make them giddy, make them rethink a value. Something. Even if it's just being a friend when the main character is lonely. Develop relationships like you would in real life. Build emotional resonance--whether positive or negative--and stay consistent and realistic.


#3. LET CHARACTERS GROW.

A reader wants to see the characters react to their world and change. You probably wouldn't read a story about a guy who just, you know, *shrug of the shoulders*, was just there. They want to read about characters that CHANGE. The girl who loses her best friend in an accident she caused and has to learn to live with those thoughts. The guy who finds an abandoned dog and ends up creating a shelter. In many science-fiction worlds, the story will be about someone who discovers they are part of a larger plot and must learn how to fight off the baddies.

However the story goes, let events and other characters shape your main character. Let other characters react and change, too. Characters should almost always be different at the end of the story than they were in the beginning. The only exception I've ever seen is Flowers for Algernon. Even in that story, Charlie changes during his surgery, but succumbs to the mental relapse that returns him to his original state.

You are not the same person you were a year ago. I sure am not. I've had my own experiences that changed me. If your characters change throughout the story, your readers will bond in a good way.


#4. USE WORDS THAT CONVEY DEGREES OF EMOTION.

When your characters interact, how well do they get along? Are they nervous? Angry? Shy? Giddy with laughter? At each others' throats? Kissing?

Readers follow the main character, and as I stated above, the first thing we ask when we meet other characters is, "Why are you important?" The second question readers will ask is, "Do I like you or do I hate you?" This shouldn't be too hard of a question to answer. Conveying it, however, is a totally different story.

For example, we can go out and say, "Jill hated Bobby and wanted to slap him."

Alright. Cool. Jill doesn't like Bobby. So? Slap him in the face, I don't care.

Here is something important, and I will not repeat this: MAKE THE READER CARE. I cannot stress that enough. If your reader doesn't care about the characters or the action, you're going to have a hard time as a writer. Instead, take the sentence above and consider saying this:

"Jill remembered all the times Bobby had pulled her hair and spilled her milk on the lunch table. And how she caught him cheating on his girlfriend with Amy. It all boiled up inside her, but she couldn't do anything except glare at him. If only she could smack some sense into that boy's head..."

Do you feel it now? We have reasons to dislike Bobby and reasons to admire Jill. It's a much more powerful paragraph with all sorts of depth and emotion packed inside. The point is to provide emotional attachment to the characters. Do that, and your readers will thank you for giving them a fulfilling experience!

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Well that's my first take on this subject I'll have another post coming in two weeks! Brian's gonna take the reins next Friday.

What are your thoughts? Comments or questions? Post below and we'll shoot you an answer!