More on Characters

As a rule, I'm not a fan of those character study things. But I am a fan of having at least a vague idea of what you're going to be writing before you start writing. 

Note, I said VAGUE. 
My characters seem to develop as I write.
Other writers may know it all before they put pen to paper. I say, whatever works.

Thoughts?

My Highlights buddy Rosi Hollinbeck has a really good blog. She finds super stuff to share. And she just shared THIS, via Kathy Temean, a kind of fun way to look at/for a new character.

There are 90 questions. 
I figure if I dream up ten of them, I'm good...

1. Any negative forces around your character?
2. Does your character have anyone to confide in?
3. Is your character afraid of anyone? Or anything?
4. What is his/ her biggest fear?
5. Would you say your character is selfish?
6. What annoys him?
7. Is she a bully?
8. What makes him laugh?
9. How old is your character?
10. What does your character look like?

Freedom Summer: 50 Years Later

This week, I've been thinking about the anniversary of FREEDOM SUMMER. My personal journey through the year-long commemoration began last February in Como, Mississippi, where I was part of a remarkable event that brought together former Freedom Workers, many of whom were still residents of Panola County.

There are a lot of fabulous resources out there.

Like this, part of  Miami University's CELEBRATING FREEDOM, year-long commemoration of the summer.


(where I'll be on Thursday! Check out the times and places HERE!)

My fictional character, Laura Lampert, began her journey into GLORY BE with my memory of sitting in the Bolivar County library in Cleveland, MS. My friend and inspiration, LePoint Smith, introduced us. We talked just that one time. And at first, she was a shadow character in my book, there for no discernible reason except to talk to Glory about her love of reading Nancy Drew books.

My critique group and others thought she needed beefing up. 
I'm glad I took that advice.
I believe one of the most powerful scenes in my book is when Glory shows her around the park and the courthouse. All added in later revisions.
 
Now I get a lot of questions about her from kids.
1. What does it mean when you say that she talks like that Walter Cronkite on TV?
2. Why does she dress so differently?
3. Will she and Glory always be friends?

A minor character can add so many layers to a story. Middle-grade and young adult historical fiction, in my very humble opinion, lives or dies on layers.

Do you have a supporting character who needs beefing up? If you're writing historical fiction, can the role she plays be significant to the times?

Creating Characters

 Advice on making a character more likeable:

They are kind when it counts.  Not always, and maybe not mostly, but when it is important, the hero will do something kind.  If nothing else he will adopt a dog, a common fictional device to salvage otherwise irredeemable heroes, which is called the Adopt A Dog Technique.

(Maybe that's what I need for my new manuscript-to-be. The ole' Adopt a Dog Technique...)

From a template to Write Your Novel:
http://www.authormagazine.org/articles/thayer_james_2009_12_16.htm



If you're contemplating characters, try this post I wrote a while back:
http://ascattergood.blogspot.com/2012/08/characters-we-love-to-hate.html
 

Can you tell I've been thinking about CHARACTERS a lot? 
Can't wait to share my inspiration for Glory, Jesslyn, Robbie, Miss Bloom, et al, at the COMO LIBRARY tomorrow!
 

Bye, bye, Character...

I've done it often. Said goodbye to a character who wasn't carrying his weight. Given the ax to someone who was the same as somebody else.

I could read every word Laurie Halse Anderson writes about writing (not to mention quite a few of her fiction words).

Click for her thoughts on the subject:

http://madwomanintheforest.com/revision-tip-19/

Here's a bit of what she advises:

1. List all the characters. 
2. Define – using only a few words – that character’s relationship to the main character. Examples: comic foil, trusted friend, villain, complication, love interest. 
3. If (like me) you have two or more characters that serve the same purpose, get out a magnifying glass and sharpen your scythe. Is it possible to have one of the characters take over scenes from the others? 

In my past book lives, I've said goodbye to a boy named Zach and an aunt named June (or maybe it was May. My critique group laughingly called her Aunt May June because we never could remember. That right there tells you something about how interestingly she was written).

Possibly a lot of my characters have left the building. And have long been forgotten.

Have you had the nerve to chop a character right out of your story? Scary, no?
But totally worth it in the end!

Write Revise on!

 

Real People

I like the writing advice that recommends having a real person in your view when creating a fictional one. Often I've pictured someone who might look like a character I'm fleshing out. Height, hair color, shape of his nose.Yes, I change the name, but often need the picture.

If I'm having a hard time imagining my character doing things that seem extraordinary? I remember a real-life person who could well have done that and Bingo! A Character emerges.

That's what happened with Gloriana June Hemphill, my protagonist in GLORY BE.

No, she is not me at 11. She's not my sister, or any of the 60s-era little girls I knew. We may have had glimmerings of Glory's personality. A tiny bit of rebellion inside us.

But we looked more like this. Goodie TwoShoes Choirgirls...
Than 60s activist.

 Every time my inner critic shouted No young white girl would have been that outspoken in 1964 Mississippi. Certainly no 11-year-old girl! -- I remembered one who would have been.

That little girl lived a few years later. She didn't live in Mississippi. But I know there were brave, spunky, outspoken girls-- even in the Deep South in the early 60s. And if Sarah had lived then, she would have been just like Glory. No matter what the year.

My more modern-day role model was a friend of my daughter's in Baltimore. We lived in a neighborhood of mostly-manicured, very green lawns. I bet Sarah wasn't even eleven when she decided she'd had enough of the strong chemicals some of our neighbors used on their grass. The little signs everybody posted cautioning Dogs and People to stay off the recently-sprayed grass offended her.

Her sign read:
"This lawn is safe for birds and other creatures."  Or maybe it was DOGS and other creatures. I think there was a stick-ish figure of a bird illustrating her sign. If you agreed to do away with the harsh fertilizers, you got one for your lawn. Quite a few of these hand-lettered signs attached to a Popsicle stick were planted around our neighborhood. That was just the beginning of her activism.

So when I needed someone in my head as a model for my own girl character, Sarah came to mind. No, she didn't look a thing like "my" Glory. But she acted quite a bit like I hope Glory would have behaved,  a decade later. Or even in 1964.

I'd love to know if others visualize characters as people they know while writing.
Do you combine personalities?
Use a real photograph?
Any great tips out there?

PS Today is Sarah's real birthday- Not July 4th, but pretty close to a holiday!
Happy birthday and thanks for the inspiration.   

Meet Your Characters: Refrigerator Doors

Remember all those Getting to Know Your Characters exercises. Fact Sheets.
What did he eat for breakfast?
What's her favorite color? Music? Relative?

I mostly hate doing that.

One question I sometimes think about is what's in your character's fridge? Bacon? Organic food? Leftovers from Whole Foods.

But here's another thing I'm pondering: What's on your character's fridge?

(Unless your character has a stainless steel refrigerator. That may just ruin my theory of getting to know people from the interesting things posted on refrigerators.)

My own always had pictures of my kids, my pets, emergency phone numbers, quotes and funny pictures.
What do you think? Can you learn about a character from a refrigerator door?
One I recently visited was filled with emergency numbers, pictures, all the usual. But it also told me another thing or two:

She collects these great Snoopy comics.

For sure, she's dog lover.






And a character begins to take shape.





(Note to friend: Don't worry. You are not becoming a character in my novel.☺)