 Ever wonder how to know and grow your characters without adding length to your work or tons of time to your schedule? Use a screenwriting technique — try writing off-screen scenes for your characters.While evaluating an early draft of a novel, I found a primary character — the main character's fiancé — lacking definition. Sometimes he was weak, other times overbearing. But the story was solid, as were the other characters. In working with the writer, I briefly considered adding the love interest's point of view, but that would have diluted the thrust of the story — the father-daughter relationship, which was being told through the use of a dual perspective. Since this story called for a separation early on between the main character and her man, the writer crafted scenes for the love interest at crucial plot points, even though those scenes wouldn't make it into the manuscript. This approach took the pressure off the writer to write what she didn't already know, yet when the character appeared, he was solid, still not altogether likeable, but now it's clear why. Exercise: Consider a current story where you're having trouble crafting a fully realized main character. Go to a place in the story just before where he or she appears, and write a scene for that character based on what's happening in his or her life at that moment. Then edit the scene where the character does appear. Notice a difference? For more on how to write hot characters, see this from Writer's Digtest: "How to Craft Compelling Characters." Happy writing! |
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CategoriesAlberto MoraviaAlice Munro, Short Fiction, Character Development Art of Writing Chapter & Voice, Audio Marketing for Writers Chapter Beginnings, Revising Scenes, Settings, Characters Chapter Beginnings, Revising Scenes, Settings, Vivid Characters Characters in novels Creative Nonfiction, Cross-Genre Writing, Film and Writing, Memoir, Multiple Plotlines Creativity Cross-Genre Writing, Illustrations, Children's Book, Writing the Details, Classic Stories Current Events in Fiction Detailed Writing, Dreamstorming, From Where You Dream, Robert Olen Butler Details in fiction Fairfield University Low-Residency MFA Fear and Fiction Writing Imagination and Fiction Inspiration, Writers' Inspiration Jamie Cat Callan, Bonjour Happiness! Janet Burroway Joy Klout, Online Influence Metrics, Social Networking for Writers Knowledge Transfer Long narrative in novels Multiple Viewpoints, Multiple Points of View in Novels Patterns in Long Fiction, Novel Writing and Patterns, E.M. Forster, Aspects of the Novel Plotting a Novel Poetry in Prose Revising Your Writing, Editing, The Best Time to Revise Your Writing Show Versus Tell, Difficult Themes, Writing Strong Scenes Spirituality, Internal Weather, Change for Writers Top Italian Male Authors, Gianni Celati Writers and Freedom Writers Emotional Journey Writing Communities Writing Fiction, a Guide to Narrative Craft |
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