Written by: admin on January 2, 2012 @ 1:31 pm
Happy New Year, NextGenners! We are going to start 2012 off right with a challenge and a lesson from Roseanna White. Are you ready?
Roseanna Sez…
Aristotle, in his treatises on theater, opines that when it comes to plot vs. character, plot is the master—that you can put any person into a situation, but it’s the situation that makes a story.
I never much cared for Aristotle. 
In my opinion, it’s the man or woman that makes a story—their reactions to said situations that determine what tone and outcome the story will have. It’s whether they’re a hero or an anti-hero. Whether they are optimist or pessimist, full of hope or full of fear. Whether they act or wait to be acted upon.
There are stories that are best described as plot-driven—the ones that are all action, all about those situations and circumstances. Others are character-driven—where the action itself could be at a standstill, but we’re still biting our nails over the internal conflict. I readily admit that both forms have their place, and neither is better.
But here’s the thing—even in a plot-driven story, your characters need to shine. They need to grab hold of the reader and make them invested. Make them want to come out on top, make them feel like they their share problems. Because no matter how interesting the action, if I can’t stand the protagonist, you can bet your buttons I’m setting the book aside. In life we have to deal with plenty of people we don’t like—most of us aren’t willing to do the same in fiction.
Now, that’s not to say your characters can’t be flawed, or that they all have to be lovable the whole time. In my latest release, Love Finds You in Annapolis, Maryland, my hero starts out, quite simply, as a self-centered jerk. But his changes through the story, alongside my heroine’s, are what move the plot forward—and since readers love Lark, they’re willing to keep reading to see what happens with Emerson.
Another great example is from a WhiteFire book, Dance of the Dandelion by Dina Sleiman. The heroine, Dandelion, makes some wrong choices. She’s selfish in many ways and blind in others—much like us. But Dandelion has a heart that yearns for things we yearn for, is driven by fear that we can understand, and just wants to help her village see that change can be good—though no one will listen. All admirable qualities that make us cheer for her rather than just growl at her in those moments when she’s being blind or selfish.
And as important as those admirable, relatable qualities are, you also have to make sure your characters have flaws. A perfect character isn’t just annoying, she’s usually dull. If she never makes mistakes, she can’t get into—and out of—trouble. If she never loses her temper or neglects something important or indulges in a snarky comment that she really shouldn’t say, then she’ll come off as two-dimensional. Flat. Booooooorrrrrrring.
The process of developing characters is going to be different for each writer. Some think of the story itself first, then flesh out their characters as they go. Others get a germ of an idea that relies almost entirely upon the people within it, then have to figure out the plot. Either way you work (or perhaps you combine the two!) the important thing is to make sure that you end up with a character who makes the reader react.
Make me mad, make me laugh, make me cheer—make me care.
Now it’s your turn. Show me that you’ve got character, baby. Give me a 50 word summary of your book that focuses on your main character, and show me why they make it worth my time. Don’t just sell me on the action of your book—sell me on the person who’ll be going through it.
You have a week to submit your blurbs to me—and you’ll want to, because the top 3 will be getting an invitation to submit a proposal to WhiteFire Publishing! (www.WhiteFire-Publishing.com) Which of course means you should know what we’re looking for in a proposal, or else submit your blurb with the specification that it’s not in the hopes of a proposal-request, just for feedback—which everyone will get!
In the meantime, let’s talk characters. What are your struggles with characterization—or on the flipside, what do you love most about it? Is it your strong suit or your stumbling block?
Tags: characters, Roseanna White, White Fire Publishing
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Hey, all! Shoulda put this in there, but to submit your blurbs, just send them to roseanna@roseannawhite.com !
Jordan asks…
Can the 50 word blurb focus on a subplot rather than the main plot? My character’s emotions come out more in the main subplot than the “true plot”, which is focused on what happens externally in her culture.
Jordan
Link to Roseanna’s answer to Jordan’s question…
http://nextgenwriters.com/2011/12/21/announcing-januarys-event-hosted-by-roseanna-white-of-white-fire-publishing/
Hi, Jordan! I just answered this on the intro post, but to make sure you see it (and for anyone else wondering), you can focus it on anything, so long as it’s focused on the character–it can be backstory, subplot, plot, just a character sketch . . . whatever works best to bring that character to life!
Thanks
In case anyone’s looking for an example of a blurb focusing on character rather than plot, here’s something I’m tossing together in about a minute for a vague idea I had.
FOCUS ON PLOT:
Prohibition may grip the country, but the demand for alcohol hasn’t wavered–and while some are willing to settle for bathtub gin, some still demand the Real McCoy . . . brought to them by one of the most famous rum-runners in the world, from the Caribbean to New York. But the authorities are out to stop these operations, and the mob behind them, at any cost . . . even if it requires utilizing the most bumbling detective in their ranks. Can she pull off this assignment, or will they can her for good?
FOCUS ON CHARACTER:
Carolina is the bane of the Pinkertons, and for the life of her, she doesn’t know why. When Scott was alive, they were more than just a married couple, they were a successful detective team. But now disaster seems to follow her wherever she goes. She knows the McCoy case is her last chance to prove herself–and praise the Lord above, it’s right up her alley. All she needs is a boat–courtesy of her dear ol’ dad–and an opportunity.
Although it would have been nice had her boss mentioned that the rum-runners double as pirates . . .
~*~
If you notice, I focus more on what sets Carolina apart–her bumbling, disaster-prone nature, the fact that she feels comfortable around boats–than Prohibition/the Pinkertons/the McCoy operation. It captures her characterization and voice more than the plot. Both are apt descriptions of the story, but what I want from you guys is something more like the second.
So are these “blurbs” supposed to be written in first person or third…or does it matter? I would usually head to first person, but I can change…
Doesn’t matter, Maggie. =)
Also, can we submit for the proposal if our book isn’t done? I’m in the process of writing it, but it’s not near to being finished. Lately all I’ve been working on is my main character’s traits, along with her “side kick.”
Sure, you can submit! If you don’t think you’re to the point that you’d want to submit a proposal if invited, though, just specify that it’s for feedback only.
Ok, thanks.
This post is really helping me in that I am writing a trilogy of novelettes. The major common denominator is my main character. She as to learn to deal with different people as well as normal things like high school – college- getting married.
Alyson, these are great issues–things we ALL have to deal with at some point or another. How we do so is what really defines us, isn’t it? So it definitely makes sense that the same goes for your character!
My biggest trouble in characterization is men. Especially young men. In my current WIP one of the guys seems to have MPD. He acts differently in envy scene! Any tips?
Jordan
Jordan, do you have any guys in your life you could ask about a character’s reaction? I often say to my husband, “So if I were to do this, what would you do or say?” Okay, so I used to do that–these days I just let him mark any I get wrong when he reads it.
Obviously every person is different, be they male or female, but there are some generalizations that can help with guys. They focus more on the physical. The focus more on logic. They focus more on fixing things. Men are more prone to the concrete, where women are more prone to the abstract.
We also have different thought processes. Women think in a multi-layered, multi-tasking sort of way, jumping back and forth from one thought to another. Men are more linear in their thinking and follow point A to point B to point C. Hence why we sometimes have trouble following each other, LOL.
I actually love writing men, so I could probably go on, LOL, if you have any more specific questions!
This particular guy is not my MC’s love interest, but he’s close to her and just a few years older. He sees himself as having a protective brotherly role. Do you have any ideas of how I should show his relationship with her?
Jordan
You’re making me think, here, Jordan.
Let’s see. What kind of role is he playing in the plotline? Is he there to be the solid support, the go-to friend? Is there a love interest who misunderstands their relationship?
You have a lot of different choices. He could treat her like one of the guys and be baffled when she does something typically girly. He could be aware of her girlishness and want to protect her from the guys out there who would recognize it as a potential love interest. He could look at her as a kid. I think for any of these, a big thing is that no matter what she’s going through, what she’s thinking, HE’s going to be thinking first and foremost about keeping her safe, helping her out, what he can DO to fulfill his role in her life–where she may be thinking of things other than his actual actions and what they mean.
Wanna give me some background so I can have more to go on?
Well, he kind of still sees her as a kid, until she gets pregnant and he gets blamed. It’s complicated…
If you’re willing to help me go deeper on this, can I email you? I don’t want to take advantage of you, so please say no if you can’t spend the time!
Jordan
I’m also working on a guy who seems to be struggling. He also plays the mentor role, but will probably get killed in the end. He’s just been reunited with his twin sister after twelve years of being apart…anyway, he’s having a hard time filling the mentor role, because he’s always crazy, and wants to have fun…any ideas?
Maggie, I think the struggle itself could be an interesting way to develop him–that in general it’s just not something he thinks about (the mentoring), but that when it slaps him in the face, he steps up. Depending on how you want him to come off, that could either be really charming (if he’s this fun-loving, free-wheeling guy who then settles just long enough to offer some advice or give a hug before he’s off again) or really frustrating (if he always acts like he can’t be bothered and takes on the role begrudgingly). Either way, it can make for a great character!
This could possibly have a really obvious answer, but… where do I send in my blurby thing? Thanks!
Well someone (ahem–me) forgot to include that in the post, Emii, LOL. Just send it to roseanna at roseannawhite dot com.
Oooh exciting! I recently started a romance novel, yes me who if you askanyone they would never call me romantic, the other day so I could write while researching for my next novel I’m super serious on! I’ve really grown to love my character so I think I’ll do her
Though I’m having trouble developing how she’d feel and say based on her traumatic past. :3
That can be a real challenge, Morgan! People respond to trauma different ways, especially if it’s been a while since it happened. You get to figure out if she’s stoic or emotional, scared or defiant . . . should be a fun exploration for you!
Are we aloud to submit more then one character? I have so many that I love, that are different, and I can’t chose just one. I’m wanting feedback on one and …. well feedback plus the offer on the other xD Is there a limit to how many times we submit characters?
Oh and another thing: The example blurb you posted was around 100 words. Is my blurb limited to 50 words or can I go over that? Is there an absolute limit?
I was just trying to hurry on my example blurbs so didn’t do a word count. Try to keep it as near 50 as possible, but if it comes in at 57, I won’t disqualify you or anything.
And hmm, I hadn’t thought about multiple entries for the same work. Most of the time a book has one real MAIN character, two, maybe three primary characters, and any number of secondary and tertiary characters. There are exceptions, but it’s usually for given genres. If you happen to write in one these, then I’ll let you submit up to three–send them in together so I know they’re for the same work.
Before you do that, though, do consider whether you really have that many MAIN characters–most of the time, if we look really hard, we’ll find that our story belongs mostly to one. That’s the one I want to hear about. =)
Yes ma’am, but I’m also writing other books. What I meant was, can I submit them too? I’m currently writing 3 books, and I have fully written out plot summaries, character bio’s and everything for about 10 other books.
Can I submit a 68 word summery?
Gotcha! Yes, you can submit for multiple books–mention in your email that they’re separate stories then. =)
See if you can keep the word count under 60. I know it can be tough, but look for punchier words to take the place of a couple, or single words that can replace phrases. (Says the woman who’s quick blurb was 100 words, I know, LOL. Never claimed *I* was good at brevity)
I love this idea, because it’s definitely got what I love in it.
I love my characters!
Now…as for /choosing/ a character…I actually have fifty-five separate books going right now…so…choice will be hard!
After some thought, I’ll conclude that I’ll tell about the heroine from one of my lesser books: “Heartbeat”. The character’s name is Lioness.
Lioness:
The first word that would probably spring to mind would be “tough”. Then would come “fiery”, “streetwise”, and “passionate”.
Lioness is a character rather like myself. She’s independent, feisty, and very, very tough.
Lioness has been through a lot, living on the streets of New York. Her younger sister died on the aforementioned streets, and so Lioness has taught herself to become numb.
Lioness’s nature is sly and sneaky. She has a passionate, bold side to her, too, though…if you get on her bad side in a hurry, you’ll probably end up with a black eye.
But Lioness can be compassionate, too, as is proven by the fact that, when others are not looking, she gives her own food to other street rats.
Lioness, in five adjectives, is:
Bold, sly, tough, passionate, and (secretly) compassionate.
As before asked, might I submit other characters as well? I actually have a different character I’d really like to do as well.
Thanks for this! This is really cool.
Wow, Lioness sounds cool! Now for the technical submission, could you boil that down to 50 words and email it to me at roseanna at roseannawhite dot com?
If you’d like to submit another character blurb for another book as well, go ahead!
Dear, dear…I’m rather silly, aren’t I?
I completely forgot that I needed to send the summary specifically to you.
However, after some consideration…I’ve actually chosen a different character to do! (The character I’ve now chosen is my most complex character.)
This whole thing is absolutely amazing. Thank you so much for setting it up!
Oh…and one other thing. Is there a specific date when the results will be announced? Thanks! This is really exciting!
Shellie and I haven’t talked about that yet, LOL, but depending on how many entries we get, I’m guessing it’ll take me a week to get the feedback from my judges and make my pick on the top 3–so probably round about 1/16.
I have the perfect character for this, but I don’t have time to do a blurb at the moment. Just commenting to subscribe to comments so I can remember to do this.
You have a week, so hopefully you find the time, Varon! I look forward to hearing more from you. =)
Hopefully, yes. It’ll only be for feedback though, I have nothing anywhere near the proposal stage.
Thanks.
I have a book in the second draft stage. It’s nowhere near finished, and the first draft isn’t so great; I wrote it for NaNoWriMo. If, in my blurb e-mail, I say it’s in the process, I’m serious about it, and I’m going to finish it, could I still get a proposal invitation–and send in the proposal in a couple of months? I’m really excited about this and will still do it just for the feedback if I can’t, but I’d hate to lose this great opportunity to bad timing…
Thanks!
That would be fine, Skye!
That’s the same thing with me, it’s not close to being finished, but I concentrate on it and I’m consistently working on it.
Also, a question: Should we reveal our whole story or “leave you hanging”?
Thanks!
Well, in something this short the standard is to intrigue, which not only doesn’t require telling the ending, it really doesn’t even require getting into any major plot points. So whatever you think works best for your character.
I saw the link to this blog on Go Teen Writers and I think I’m hooked already. I do have a problem, I have three characters with alternating POV’s. Should I pick one? All three? Write three blurbs? Write about the antagonist or what?? Each girl (including the antagonist) has a very strong personality, back story and other things?
Any ideas??
I’d say for this exercise, try to pick just one of the characters to represent your story, preferably the one who is your primary protagonist. I’ve yet to write a book with only one POV, but they all still have one character who stands just a bit in front of the others when it comes to balance–if I were writing this, that’s who I’d write about, my heroine, even though my heroes get nearly-equal billing in the book. Any help at all?
My favorite part about reading/writing stories are the characters, so I’m really looking forward to this!
My question is similar to Skyes…
My WIP I’m currently working on is not finished, but my I am almost done with the 1st draft. Is that still in this case, not enough to really have a request/proposal and I should just ask for feedback?
Now I do think I need to be truthful here and say that most of my 1st draft is written by hand(I know, I know, but I’m getting my computer in the next week!) so it’s gonna take a little bit of time to have it all on the computer, so it might be a long shot anyway. But, regardless, I’d love some feedback anyway on my MC, so this will be a fruitful exercise regardless.
I look at it this way–when I got to a conference and request a manuscript, the author might send it the next day . . . or they might send it six months later. Decide for yourself when you feel it might be ready, and if that’s near enough to warrant seeking a request. We editors are patient bunches, so it’s more your decision–whether you feel ready–than mine. =)
Where do we send our Character summery?
Hi Eli,
Send them to Roseanna at: roseanna(at)roseannawhite(dot)com
Good Luck!