Creating Compelling Characters

February 14, 2002

HOST WRTR Cynth: ***Welcome to... Heart & Soul...
HOST WRTR Cynth: Tonight's special guest is....Gail Martin!
HOST WRTR Cynth: Welcome Gail!!!
GailGMartin: Thanks!
HOST WRTR Cynth: She has graciously agreed to address...
HOST WRTR Cynth: Characterization!
HOST WRTR Cynth: ***Again, welcome Gail Martin!  Would you like to begin by sharing about yourself for us? ga
GailGMartin: Sure and thanks.
GailGMartin: I have been blessed to have sold 18 novels or novellas in less
than 4 years.
GailGMartin: I feel extremely blessed.
HOST WRTR Cynth: <And talented>
GailGMartin: I write for Steeple Hill Love Inspired, Barbour publishing, and
Silhouette Romance - traditional and sweet stories. This January I had my first romantic suspense on the stands. It's doing very well - A LOVE FOR SAFEKEEPING. I received great reviews - 4-1/2 from RT and that or higher
from most other reviewers.  I'm thrilled. 
HOST WRTR Cynth: Congrats!
GailGMartin: Thanks so much.
GailGMartin: Now, down to business. We can all write the most exciting wonderful story but without compelling believable characters it will not be a success.
GailGMartin: Characterization is one of the most complex parts of writing a
story because how do you create these people.  What should you do to make the
GailGMartin: stick people in your mind take on flesh and blood.  Each writer
has their own way of doing this - so tonight I'd like to share a few ideas with you - and then open it to questions.
GailGMartin: I will answer Cynical Pants - if she'd like.
Cynical pants: I have seen a lot of books on the market about characterization.  Have you ever read any of them?  If so, do you recommend any in particular?
GailGMartin: I've read so many books - and each one has something helpful,
but . . .
Cynical pants: By the way, sorry if I interrupted,  AOL bumped me in the
beginning.  GA
GailGMartin: I think that characterization is something we need to work out
for ourselves by realizing our needs.  Listen to others' ideas and then dig into your "guts" and find those real people who live there.
GailGMartin: I'll go ahead and share some thoughts. Many people use different techniques to create characters.  We all know about interviews, reading Dixon's GMC, creating character sketches, using photographs, and psychological tests. All of these work to a degree.  I do find photographs of catalogue models and use them to look at as I write.  I've never used the psychological tests but I know there are some on the internet and you can answer the questions as if you are your character. This works well and is interesting.
GailGMartin: Where I begin is in my heart. First our story determines some elements of our character - age, sex, and occupation.
GailGMartin: But what makes the reader care about your characters?
It's what's going on inside and what's going on outside. How they think and behave. To create characters I begin first with backstory. I don't use it all in my novel - but I know my character from childhood. We must look at roots, heredity, experiences of the characters to know who they are.  Think of your own lives.  What made you who are today?
GailGMartin: To understand our present and future, we must look at the
past. So I create a past for my characters. Talking about what effects us -  we need to give some thought to character traits.
GailGMartin: A Writers Guide to Character Traits by Linda N. Edelstein PHD is a good book.  It explains the effect of birth order, family types - such as closed families and open families, a child's position in a dysfunctional family and life crises (turns of events) that mold people. I come from a counseling background - I'm licensed and did this for years - so I have a good background in psychology - but you all have commonsense and
you see what affects people and how different people deal with crises.
Go into your heads and hearts when creating characters and pull things from your own experiences.
GailGMartin: Once I have backstory, then I add other elements. I keep track of this on a character outline. I have one up on my web site.  Go to www.gailmartin.com and look under Frequently Asked Questions #8, I think. Maybe 7 - I have a hyperlink that will allow you to actually copy the page. This gives you a place to keep track of things about your characters hair, eyes, dimples, etc. but even more things about them  Their deepest fear, their greatest dream, their deepest need, etc.   I keep this handy as I write to make sure that I'm keeping true to my character.
GailGMartin: Next - you must give your characters flaws.  No one is
perfect.... except me - I tell my husband. <g>  Flaws are ways to create conflicts and make characters real and interesting.  Flaws also make them vulnerable and frightened. It's what motivates your characters as well as their goal.
GailGMartin: After that give your characters real emotions. Think about emotions.  They are not simple, but complex. They are a blend of feelings and each person reacts differently to the stimulus that creates them.
GailGMartin: And last but not least - give your character secrets.  Secrets that cause them pain, shame, guilt, sorrow. This is what they struggle to keep hidden and usually the thing that keeps them from their goal. Now - I have 5 other elements to talk about.  But I'd like to open this to questions for a few minutes. ga.
HOST WRTR Cynth: Questions?
HOST WRTR JanetE: ?
HOST WRTR Cynth: ga, Janet
HOST WRTR JanetE: Gail, that's excellent about your web page...
GailGMartin: Thanks. I have so much on my site to help new writers.
HOST WRTR JanetE: I had never heard of the psychological questions on the
internet.  Do you know how to find that site?
GailGMartin: Janet, I have a few links in my favorite places - but they're
on my other name so I can't get to them now.  Write to me at martinga@aol.com and I'll send links.
JanetE: And how long in preparation of characterization until you know your characters and begin the book? ga thanks
GailGMartin: My stories begin in my head long before they are on paper - so
I live with these people a long time. Once I begin to develop the story - I also begin to work on backstory.  This is the key to good characterization.  It makes characters real.
GailGMartin: How do we put flesh on these bone people - with what elements? First, we have description and appearance, next mannerisms/tags.
then we have action/behavior, then thoughts and introspection and
finally dialogue.  All of these elements are ways we tell our readers about our characters -and ways we can really bring our people to life.
GailGMartin: Let's look at description.  First it should be more than telling
eye & hair color. We need to get into what type of person we have and we can do that by how they dress and look. If they're prim, uptight, casual, eccentric, belligerent, obnoxious, unorthodox. We should use our descriptions to enhance characterization.
GailGMartin: Here's a description from a character who'll appear in my June
Steeple Hill LOVING TREASURES.  Its the first in a series.  The character is
the heroine's mother-in-law.  You can tell the kind of woman she is from
these few lines.
GailGMartin: ***When she first met her mother-in-law, Jemma had blinked in
amazement at the older woman's reddish, flyaway hair and her eccentric costume - - zebra-striped spandex pants with a black gauze peasant blouse. But Jemma soon learned that Claire's heart was as lavish and generous as her flamboyant clothing.
GailGMartin: I hope you can see this woman in your mind's eye.
GailGMartin: In an unpublished novel (hoping to be published <g>) another
character says this - *** Touching the collar of her bright violet satin blouse
and pressing the flouncy ruffle away from her chin, Morgan peered at her own print skirt in multihues of purples and pink.  Maybe she needed to add another business suit to her wardrobe.
GailGMartin: You get the feeling here of Morgan - a woman who loves ruffles. But listen to the hero's response early in the story.
GailGMartin: ***Reaching the table, Morgan's bracelet appeared to be the lesser problem, Hunter stared in disbelief. How could he eat lunch with Buffo
the Clown. He gaped at her wild cascade of bright red hair and the huge
purple clown ruffle around her neck.  Straight simple lines, quiet elegance,
that's what he could handle, but she was an eternal adventure.
GailGMartin: Naturally we see a little humor here. <g>
GailGMartin: I hope you all know about tags.  These are the little
idiosyncrasies that people do - such as pacing, rubbing their eyes, massaging
their temple, biting a lower lip, cracking knuckles, etc.  These come in very
handy to help the reader identify emotion of the character.  When she
bites her lip, the reader knows she's upset, when he paces the reader knows he's impatient. These can be very useful to the writer in helping to create unique
characters.
GailGMartin: In my Silhouette Romance, the hero always tucked his fingers in his back pocket. The heroine a nitpicking business woman always watched the way his jeans hugged his rear.   This should be the conflict of her desire not to fall in love.
GailGMartin: Any questions now - I have 3 more elements but I'd like to give
you a chance. ga.
HOST WRTR Cynth: You're on a roll, Gail!
HOST WRTR JanetE: ?
HOST WRTR Cynth: ga, Janet
HOST WRTR JanetE: Gail, do you find yourself going back and layering in some of these things as you write the book? ga
GailGMartin: I pretty much write a book as I go.  I do lots of editing as I
write. I know some people do a rough draft never stopping but not me.
What works for me is to write a chapter or two and then go back and edit.
Then I continued.  The next day I'll go back and reread, adding things and taking away. By the time the novel is finished, it's almost ready to go.
I do another full read through when I'm finished - and then it goes to my proofreader- - my husband - who's great!
GailGMartin: Sometimes I do think of an aspect or realize I've dropped a tag
for example. I might forget that so and so twirls her hair on her finger -
so I go back and find those spots where I'll add a couple of twirls - if she does it when she's intrigued for example. ga
GailGMartin: The next element is action/reaction. This is fairly clear - how we act and react to people must fit the kind of person we are. Some people stop speaking when they're angry. Some slam things and scream.
GailGMartin: But we must be consistent - and make sure that our character
responds the same way unless they have grown and changed and you've shown that in your story. But besides that - you should remember that certain occupations creates certain kinds of people.  An accountant. will scrutinize a bill at a grocery story or at a restaurant. An engineer will want to graph and chart his life - he's slow at making decisions because he wants to think through every aspect.
GailGMartin: These things are important to remember when creating a character and giving that character a certain occupation.  My character in HER SECRET LONGING - the woman who's the uptight business woman - is always straightening rugs and making things neat.  This fits her character and makes her real.
GailGMartin: My hero in A LOVE FOR SAFEKEEPING is a police officer.  He's very careful where his back is in a room - and his stance is always ready to move. Part of his job.
GailGMartin: Next - thoughts and introspection. This is the place to share many things with your reader.  Not only to react to the hero and other characters, but to share the characters attitudes, beliefs, values, fears, insecurities, etc. and also to hint at the secrets I mentioned earlier or to share them with the reader - but not with the hero or heroine. This is a great technique to keep the reader interested.
GailGMartin: Finally dialogue is so important.  Through it we learn about a
person's education, geographical  area, personality, etc. Remember that in dialogue we subtext - meaning we have hidden meanings below what we say.  We do as real people so make sure that sometimes what you say has a double meaning.  Also we talk in pieces and we cut each other off in conversation.  We answer people before they ask the question. The difficulty with a novel - is we can't hear the tone of voice - so we must  do a good job at getting our undertone meanings across to the reader.
GailGMartin: I have lots of examples but I think maybe you'd like to talk or
ask questions.  Do all of you use these techniques? Are there any things you hadn't thought about that will help you? ga
HOST WRTR JanetE: !
HOST WRTR Cynth: ga, Janet
GailGMartin: We have a quiet group tonight.  I think I scared them.
HOST WRTR Cynth: No, you are very thorough
HOST WRTR JanetE: Motivation.  It's hard to explain, for me anyway, but
could you tell us how you show that in a character? ga
GailGMartin: Sure.  Each character has a goal - a dream - something they want badly.  It's that "why" do they want it that is motivation.  Let's say a person wants success in your story.  They will do anything to want it. Why?
What is there in their past or what need do they have that makes this so important. Why will they give up friends and lovers - maybe honesty and justice to be successful.  We just look into their past.  Did they feel cheated as a kid? Did parents show more attention to one child over another?
Did he grow up being called a loser? Did his grandfather beg him on his death bed to make the business a success - to fulfill this dream?  These are all things that motivate us.  This is part of backstory. Does this make sense? ga
HOST WRTR JanetE: yes.
HOST WRTR Cynth: ***Excellent information, Gail!
GailGMartin: thanks -  Plotting is important, good pacing, etc. in a novel,
but without compelling and real life characters a story goes flat. It's worth taking the time to build a good strong backstory. Please remember that you don't have to give it all in the story.  You don't have to go over details, but a little reference in the internal monologue will help the reader understand why this is so important. ga
HOST WRTR Cynth: ***You've put some real elements into putting characters together.
Ruth Sil: thanks:-)
GailGMartin: Don't forget to check out my web page for the character outline.
HOST WRTR Cynth: ga, Rlb
Rlbweb: I especially liked what you said about a person's job causing them to act a certain way
HOST WRTR JanetE: can you give us the url again please?
GailGMartin: Wanda is that you?
Rlbweb: yes, it's me, Gail
GailGMartin: Hi.  Glad that helped.  I think that's something we forget about.
GailGMartin: yes - my web site is www.gailmartin.com
GailGMartin: Very easy. <g>
GailGMartin: I have tons of things there - workshop logs, writing tips, and
FAQs. All related to writing and writers.
Ruth Sil: Gail, this has been an outstanding chat.
GailGMartin: I feel that is so important for a published writer to help others.  Thanks so much Ruth.
HOST WRTR Cynth: ***Thank you Gail Martin for being our guest tonight.  You've been very helpful.
GailGMartin: If you want those psych test links - email me at martinga@aol.com
GailGMartin: Thanks Janet.
HOST WRTR Cynth: ***Great insight and direction to go.
GailGMartin: Thanks so much.
HOST WRTR JanetE: thanks Gail!
GailGMartin: You're so welcome.
GailGMartin: Good night.
HOST WRTR Cynth: ***This has been Heart & Soul Workshop...