Fiction in Baby-Bites ~ Three: Part 1

Do You Know Those Characters?

When I began my second novel, I didn't really know the characters. I knew about them--something of what they looked like and how they related to one another, that sort of thing--but they weren't quite real to me. If your characters aren't real to you, they won't be to your readers, either.

I hear you. "But they're people I made up," you say. Yes, but they must have--are you ready for a really big word?--verisimilitude. That just means they must be very similar to real life.

When you write, you're creating a world peopled by your characters. You don't want them to be one-dimensional.   They won't seem real if they're all bad, all good, always funny, always sad or mad or . . .  anything. People aren't like that. You're not. Neither are your readers, so your characters shouldn't be, either. A character who is all anything is called flat. We want our characters to be rounded, or mufti-dimensional. 

Figure 2

Here a Quirk, There a Quirk

You can breathe life into your characters by adding one or two idiosyncrasies, little quirks, habits, or pet words they use. Leah, the main character in one of my novels, doesn't curse, of course, but when she's frustrated, she says, "Oh, snap!"

Notice your friends. What little habits do they have? What word or phrase keeps popping up? Caution! These quirky tidbits should be used sparsely. Too many will jerk the reader out of your story because s/he'll pay too much attention to the quirk.

Figure 3

Picture This!

I'm a visual person. Yes, I can visualize in my mind what a character looks like, but I find it helpful to go on the internet and search for faces. It makes me feel as though I'm casting for a movie of my story. That's fun! Pinterest.com is a handy tool for that. I, like a lot of my writer friends collect pictures of people, places, clothing, etc., that fit a book we're writing. Most of the pictures in this post are of my characters. Figure 5 is Leah. Figure 4 is her friend Trevor. Figure 6 is the man who shoots Leah in the leg. What do your characters look like? It helps to know.

Talking to the Invisible

Another way to get well acquainted with your characters is to interview them. Crazy, I know, but it works. Come up with a list of questions for your main characters. Most of the time, you'll know the answers in advance, but sometimes they surprise you. For example, I interviewed Trevor. His dad died heroically while serving in Iraq. Okay. I knew that. But Trevor knew more details. His dad had thrown himself on a grenade to save the lives of his soldiers. In a valiant act that reminded me of Jesus, Who died in my place on the Cross, Trevor's father had willingly given his own life for others. I hadn't known that. In my interview with Leah, I found out why she is angry with God. All of that sounds a little crazy to people who aren't writers, but character interviews are a common tool we use.

Blogger is acting a little weird today by not letting me type or place photos where I want to, so I'm cutting this post short. Check back in a few days, and I'll post an interview I did with a character. It will give you an idea of what I'm talking about. 

Write on!

Because of Jesus,

Miz Sharon

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Fiction in Baby-Bites~ONE

Hook 'em! Hook 'em good!

Your BFF loves your story idea. Your dad's convinced you're a literary protégé. Grandma's boring her friends at the senior center with stories of your prowess with a pen. You have a plot. You know what's going to happen in the story--kinda, sorta. Now it's time to put that golden pen to the paper (or, more likely, those pink little fingertips to the pc keyboard) and write.

Where to begin. That's the real question. Some smart aleck might say, "At the beginning." That's not the best answer, Mr. Aleck. The beginning can be really boring, full of back-story explanation and description. You can work that in bit by bit later on, but first  hook that reader. Make 'em care. Propel them to read on.

One way to get the job done
 is to plunk them down smack-dab in the middle of the action. (The fancy, writerly term for that is in medias res. That means "in the middle of things. It's Latin.) In other words, something important already has happened. Something so big, the life of the main character (MC) will never be the same.

"How do I write something like that?" you ask. I heard you. Check out first lines and first paragraphs of good books, books that have won awards, books that you really like.

Consider these:

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Now, that one's from my all-time favorite author: God, a.k.a. Yahweh, etc. Doesn't that line just grab you by the throat? It's simple, easy to understand, and to the point. It makes readers ask, "Then what?" He goes on to tell the then what. The Book is hundreds of pages long, but it's so captivating that we have to read on. What big thing happens? Everything is created by the Book's MC, and nothing will ever be...nothing again.

Here's another:

"Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away from London during the war because of the air-raids." In medias res. The world's at war. The children are in danger from air-borne bombs, and they have to leave all they've ever known, all that's familiar. 

And another:

"That morning, after he discovered the tiger, Rob went and stood under the Kentucky Star Motel sign and waited for the school bus just like it was any other day." We guess that Rob is the MC, and though the line is delivered in a mundane way, a boy's discovering a tiger somewhere near a school bus stop is extraordinary. So then what happens? As a reader, that line hooked me--hooked me good. The book lived up to the promise delivered in that first line. BTW, the author's work has won many awards. 

And:

"'Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents,' grumbled Jo, lying on the rug." What has happened? We don't know yet, except that this Jo is facing a giftless Christmas. (Can she ever endure such horror?)

Finally: 

"My name is India Opal Buloni, and last summer my daddy, the preacher, sent me to the store for a box of macaroni-and-cheese, some white rice, and two tomatoes and I came back with a dog." Is there a big change in the MC's life? Oh, yeah! Will anything ever be the same? Probably not. Is it a good hook line? Uh-huh. Good enough to entice some film producers to turn the award-winning book into one of my favorite movies. Do you know what it is?

It's your turn. 

• Check out the hook lines of some of your favorite books. Choose the three you like the best, click "Comments," and tell us all.
• You know the first Book I've mentioned above is the Bible. The others are from what books? If you think you know, click "Comments," and show how brilliant you are.

Read on! Write on!
Because of Christ,
Miz Sharon

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