I used to be very protective of my characters.
Like a good mommy or daddy, I did not want anything bad to
happen to them.
So I wrote stories that were full of the threat, the
possibility of bad things for my characters to cope with but nothing much
happened emotionally or physically for that matter.
And that means-- I am sad to say-- I wrote some bad
stories. Lots of them. I will most likely have to write many more
bad stories before I can even approach writing a good story.
Characters become memorable because we care about them, and
we care about them because they are part of a story-- a story that has unfolded
in such a way that we are led to care about them. Circular, but true.
In other words, characters have troubles. In real life troubles often create
change. Big troubles create big changes
in our lives and attitudes. Inside and
out. So we tend to care about characters in trouble. Maybe that's because human beings find themselves in so much trouble so much of the time.
People have troubles, so they relate to characters. Memorable characters have memorable troubles. Big troubles that are
interesting. They might even be quiet troubles.
If you create a list of characters that are the most
memorable-- well,
go ahead, I'll wait...
Got it? Good. Take a look at your list.
I'm willing to bet that the fictional folks that made the cut got into all sorts of trouble. Back in the English department we called the kind of trouble that characters get into conflict. Conflict can come from a variety of sources. The source of conflict may be other people, nature, society-- you get the idea.
Much of what we think of in terms of characterization is actually how throughout the unfolding of story characters cope with and respond to the sources of conflict in their fictional lives. Often the sort of conflict that readers relate to with the most gut-punch power is the sort of thing that we recognize from life experience.
go ahead, I'll wait...
Got it? Good. Take a look at your list.
I'm willing to bet that the fictional folks that made the cut got into all sorts of trouble. Back in the English department we called the kind of trouble that characters get into conflict. Conflict can come from a variety of sources. The source of conflict may be other people, nature, society-- you get the idea.
Much of what we think of in terms of characterization is actually how throughout the unfolding of story characters cope with and respond to the sources of conflict in their fictional lives. Often the sort of conflict that readers relate to with the most gut-punch power is the sort of thing that we recognize from life experience.
Today I read a post about a friend that had a routine flight turn
into one adventure after another. This is the sort of thing many travelers can relate to (and many travelers pass the time reading). The
flight did not crash, but the turbulence was scary. The people on the plane
displayed their experience of horror with varied and specific reactions. The situation turned from incredibly scary to
comic as the flight landed--safely-- at a very busy airport and the passengers were evacuated off the plane and detoured to a bus full of even more colorful and eccentric characters and more
transportational-yet-transformational discomfort.
How did the people cope? How might they deal with the experience? They may talk (dialogue) they may think about it in babbling thoughts (interior monologue, stream-of-consciousness), they may grab on to a neighbor for support, they may run screaming down the aisle... they may save a baby--whatever they do, we the readers will learn something about them, about what makes their fictional human heart tick.
Certainly our friend may have behaved heroically, as major story-driving characters often do. When faced with challenges and chaos and pressure, we learn. Readers tend to empathize with characters that get involved one way or another and have to act in the face of obstacles, complications, and conflict.
If she transformed the adventure into fiction, she would turn the events into the troubles for characters that shared the adventure while her fictional surrogate had to cope with it all and perhaps learn something about herself or life along the way.
Then she would have a heck of a story.
I hope she turns it into fiction. But even if she doesn't, the actual nonfictional experience was a memorable tale of survival to be shared with friends for years to come.
How did the people cope? How might they deal with the experience? They may talk (dialogue) they may think about it in babbling thoughts (interior monologue, stream-of-consciousness), they may grab on to a neighbor for support, they may run screaming down the aisle... they may save a baby--whatever they do, we the readers will learn something about them, about what makes their fictional human heart tick.
Certainly our friend may have behaved heroically, as major story-driving characters often do. When faced with challenges and chaos and pressure, we learn. Readers tend to empathize with characters that get involved one way or another and have to act in the face of obstacles, complications, and conflict.
If she transformed the adventure into fiction, she would turn the events into the troubles for characters that shared the adventure while her fictional surrogate had to cope with it all and perhaps learn something about herself or life along the way.
Then she would have a heck of a story.
I hope she turns it into fiction. But even if she doesn't, the actual nonfictional experience was a memorable tale of survival to be shared with friends for years to come.
And that is pretty cool too.
Oh--were you looking for 101 memorable characters?
They were on the plane and the bus.
Go ahead and make them up. Create a handful of interesting details about them and weave those details into dialogue and narrative action. Next thing you know you will have a bunch of characters...
I'm wondering how your main character will deal with it.
I'm wondering how your main character will deal with it.
Have fun and keep writing!
