Writing a Book-Character Development

Thorough character development is an extremely important aspect of any short story or novel.  If your reader does not connect with the characters, the plot alone won’t keep them reading.  The reader does not have to like the characters.  In fact, the characters they abhor can be their favorite.  Readers want to understand the characters and relate a little to their predicaments. 

I have done character development two different ways: I let them develop on their own or I map out their entire life history.  I recommend doing a little of both.  When you are first playing with a new character, allow them to show you who they are.  Try not to ‘box them in’ too much.  Remember, you can always edit it later.  After you get a feel for their personality, then you can begin the mapping out process.  For instance, when Cora appeared in my book, I just let her come alive for me.  Once I could literally see her in my mind, I began to shape the parameters of her life: age, physical appearance, schooling, living situation, siblings, hometown, quirks, hobbies, dreams, and weaknesses.  The list actually goes on and on and on.  After thinking thru all the details of her life, I put it down on paper.  I often referred back to the list when writing Book One to ensure that I kept true to her character. 

When developing Grace for Book Two, I added even more to the character list.  I also created one sentence which described her life very succinctly.  This one sentence helps me stayed focused on the integral aspects of who Grace is as a person.  It is almost like a vision statement for an organization.  It took me over an hour to whittle it down to one sentence; however, I highly recommend making the time for this exercise.  Since Grace is my main character, I need to be sure I have her personality in a nice neat package.  Plus, it gave me the chance to spend some real time with Grace.  It was like we were getting to know each other as friends.  You will spend so much time with your characters that they will begin to feel like your friends!  Sometimes I catch myself during the day wondering what they are doing.  Lol.

Writing a Book-Dialog

This post pertains to writing primarily fiction.  All of my writing prior to 47 Destinies invovled narrative.  If you read my book, you will notice that I love to describe a setting (a future blog post).  I can go on and on and on describing a scene.  In fact, I had to cut a lot of that out in my novel because I tended to ramble about the colors, clouds and ocean.  :)  Attempting to write dialog was frightening.  I had never written dialog.  It seemed like an insurmountable task.  So as most ambitious people do, I avoided it completely for awhile.  I allowed myself to feel comfortable again just writing.  It was free flowing.  Anything that came to my mind I wrote about it.  Nothing was off limits.  Once I gained some confidence, I began to experiment with dialog.  After some time, I actually found it to be easier than narrative.  Say what?  I know, I couldn't believe it either.  My main characters love to banter back and forth.  Interesting, so do I.  So, the dialog just flowed right out of me.  After I conquered the fear of simply trying it, I couldn't get enough.

However, even the best writers have a few issues with dialog: the word 'said' and punctuation.  I pulled out my "Little Brown Book" from college and studied all of the punctuation involved in dialog.  I implemented a tried and true method as well.  Even if my punctuation wasn't 100% correct, I made sure it was 100% consistent!  As for 'said', I now have a list of different words for 'said'.  This list has broadened my horizons and added even more flavor to the dialog.

Don't worry too much about all of these small details.  Keep in mind that practice makes perfect.  The beauty of writing is that you can always edit it!