We’ve talked about how to get into a character’s head here before, and it seems most of us discover our characters along the way, but the perennial question came up recently on one of my writers’ email loops. I especially liked the breadth of the following answer by member John Ferguson, reprinted here with his permission (with video and formatting, including emphasis, added).

Call me weird, but I collect things like this. Here’s some of the ideas I’ve collected:

Write a day in their life

This is kinda like [a previously posted] journal idea, but it doesn’t have to be first person. I like starting by describing their name on a nametag. Then zoom out and describe their clothes and their physical characteristics. Then zoom out and describe where they are and why. Who else is there? What do they think about these people? Etc. At some point they leave and go home. Why do they leave? How do they travel? How far do they travel? What do they drive/ride? What do they do in the car? Do they listen to music? Do they sing? Do they get angry? Describe their home. They listen to their voice mail or check their email. What messages do they have? Who are they from? How do they feel about them? Then they go to bed. Describe their nighttime rituals if any. What do they dream about?

Define their possessions

Start writing about the things they own, the things they treasure, the things they want to own and or the things they used to own or the things they would never-in-a-million-years get caught dead with. And why.

Describe their surroundings

This is similar to defining their possessions only in this case you describe where they work and live. Describe their office/desk, kitchen, bedroom, garage, yard, etc.

Write a biography

Pretend you are a biographer and write a story from the person’s life. Pick something the character finds important. You can also do this like a journalist writing an article. In this case, YOU get to pick the topic—a topic that will be interesting to a general audience.

Interview them

Someone already mentioned that they go online and find character questions and interview the character. Another fun thing you can do is to have one of your characters interview the other. Then you can begin to see the relationships between the characters as well. Some of my characters will answer one way if a parent or teacher interviews them and a different way if their best friend (or a romantic interest) interviews them.

Brainstorming

Sit down and type everything you know about the character. When you feel the “flow” has gotten slow, set a timer for 10-15 minutes and keep going, writing anything that pops into your head until the timer goes off. It is sometimes surprising what you come up with once the “well is dry.” After you are done brainstorming, go back and delete all the stuff that doesn’t make sense.

Pictures

Go through magazines or look online for pictures. What does the character look like? Who do they wish they looked like? What do they drive? Where do they live? What do they wear? Where would they like to go on vacation? If you are doing this online, copy the picture into Word and then write a short piece about why the character resonates with that picture.

Real people

Try to think of real people the character reminds you of and see if there is anything in that real person’s personality that you can “borrow” for this character. Make sure to use traits from several different people so the original sources aren’t obvious, especially if you are working on a villain. (Unless it’s me, I’d love to be a villain in your book.)

Bio sheets

There are hundreds of character sheets online. Pick one. Fill it out. This is different than the Interview mentioned above because in an interview you are answering in the character’s voice and point of view. In the bio sheet you are answering as the novelist with an omniscient point of view.

There are some variations on each of the themes, but the ideas I’ve gathered fit into one of these. I would be interested if anyone has found other ideas.

For me, creating a character is a bit different each time, but I get the most mileage out of the first option.

What do you think? Have you tried any of these methods? What are your favorites?

About the author

John A. Ferguson loves to write and is endlessly fascinated by the different ways writers approach the craft.

By Margie Lawson

Note from Jordan: Margie was the instructor of the class the best writing class I’ve ever taken, so I’m very excited she’s with us today!

Note: Margie is participating in Brenda Novak’s Diabetes Auction, including:

• A WRITE AT SEA CRUISE
• A FLYING GETAWAY
• An IMMERSION MASTER CLASS

Check out the end of the post to learn more. Also, she runs a cartoon Dare Devil Dachshund Contest on her web site. You could win one hour of her Deep Editing brain. More info at www.MargieLawson.com.

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A HUGE THANK YOU to Jordan for inviting me to be her guest today!

Winning Back Story: Not an Oxymoron

By Margie Lawson

You can write back story that makes me smile.

You can write back story that earns the coveted Margie margin note, NYT.

You can write back story that boosts your novel onto bestseller lists.

Or you can write back story that invites me to skim.

Are you in?

What is back story? It’s history. It’s the events that led up to your story before the story opens. Often, motivation for your POV character’s decisions and actions are in the back story.

Sometimes back story is stagnant. Flat. Boring. Readers lose interest in the book and put it down.

AACK! You want to write an unputdownable novel.

The best way to include the absolutely required back story and keep your novel fast-paced, is to sprinkle it in your story. With my EDITS System, back story will jump out at you in big puddles of YELLOW. Too much back story grinds your story to a halt. CLICHÉ ALERT!

BIGGER CLICHÉ ALERT: Too much back story grinds your story to a screeching halt.

When you review a scene, analyze the back story. Ask yourself if the reader needs to have that information now. Or – if they need that information.

Managing back story is tricky. Writers always think the reader needs all the history the writer created in his/her mind. Not true. The reader only needs what they need to buy the story.

This fact is usually disappointing to the writer. They want to share every amazingly cool detail they created.

One rule of thumb for managing back story (cliché alert) is to withhold back story until after chapter three. Those writers hypothesize that by then, your reader is hooked on your story and will tolerate some chunks of back story. Some authors hold off back story in the first few chapters then start feeding the readers chunks of back story. Sometimes pages of back story.

Not my favorite plan.

Some authors dump info-dumps in Chapters 1, 2 and/or 3.

Not my favorite plan either.

Mark Sullivan (mystery/suspense/thriller writer) has a great plan for back story management. Here’s his plan—which happens to be my first choice.

He suggests writing down what you think the reader needs to know. Write several pages of back story. Not to be used in your book, but for your own benefit.

Grab a red pen – and go through your back story points and circle what the reader absolutely has to know. What they absolutely need to know. Let go of things that you thought were important but don’t need to include. Just because you think it is interesting doesn’t mean the reader ABSOLUTELY NEEDS TO KNOW IT.

Next, take those points you circled, that the reader absolutely needs to know, and picture them etched on a sheet of glass. Got it?

You’re imagining those points imprinted on a rectangle of glass. Imagine carrying that sheet of glass to a brick patio. Imagine standing on a brick patio, holding that sheet of glass.

YOU KNOW WHAT’S COMING!

Drop that sheet of glass.

Watch it shatter.

Imagine picking up one narrow shard of glass at a time – and slipping each sliver of back story in your first 100 pages. Repeat. You insert one sliver of back story in those first 100 pages, one piece of back story at a time.

Slip shards of back story in dialogue or share it in a quick interactive way. You’ve got the first 100 pages of your book to fit in each sliver of back story.

No info-dumps.

You’ll be so good at slipping in back story that you’ll have a smooth fast-paced read.

When I heard Mark Sullivan share this visual, it resonated with me. Great visual. Great plan.

You may believe your genre or story or style need more back story as set up. Okay. You may be right. AND – I bet you can share the back story in a compelling way. Let’s dive into some examples of what works. I used the first example in my April newsletter. It’s so well written, I’m including it here.

Example: From THE WOODS, by Harlan Coben. Prologue, first page, third paragraph:

I have never seen my father cry before—not when his own father died, not when my mother ran off and left us, not even when he first heard about my sister, Camille.

Analysis: What did Coben accomplish, and how?

He slipped back story into anaphora. He gave the reader four hits of powerful back story in one sentence. Four hits of powerful back story in thirty-three words.

Read it out loud this time:

I have never seen my father cry before—not when his own father died, not when my mother ran off and left us, not even when he first head about my sister, Camille.

Strong cadence. Informative. Fast-paced. Intriguing. Enticing. No chunk of back story the reader is tempted to skim. Plus – that one sentence introduces story questions. Why is his father crying? Why did his mother run off and leave them? What happened to his sister, Camille?

Example: From STOP ME, by Brenda Novak, Chapter 1:

But Jasmine’s thoughts were so focused on what was in her lap, she couldn’t even raise her hand. She’d made that bracelet as a gift for her little sister. She remembered Kimberly’s delight when she’d unwrapped it on her eighth birthday, her last birthday before the tall man with the beard entered their house in Cleveland one sunny afternoon and took her away.

Analysis:
Look at that smooth passage. In just three sentences, Brenda Novak covered a lot of back story. She showed how seeing her sister’s bracelet impacted Jasmine. She tapped emotion by sharing that the POV character made the bracelet for her little sister. She shows her sister’s joy. She slips in her sister’s age, the city, and that her sister was kidnapped.

The cadence is strong. The words rive the reader through the paragraph.

Example: DIVORCED, DESPERATE, AND DECEIVED, Christie Craig, Chapter 1, page 3:

“Did he bring her with him when he picked up Tommy?” Sue asked.

Kathy wished she could pretend she didn’t understand the question. Wished she’d never told them that Tom had married TOW, “The Other Woman.” But during the last Jack Daniel’s night—at which, quite unfairly, neither Sue nor Lacy could imbibe—Kathy had accidentally spilled her guts. Or at least she’d spilled a bit of them. The big secrets were still in the bag. And they could stay bagged. It would take more than a couple shots of Jack for her to hang out her dirty laundry. Even to her two closest friends.

Analysis:
Christie Craig shares her humor and her talent in this fast-paced addictive romance. This passage is a light read that carries a big hit of mysterious back story. Kathy has secrets, big secrets, that she won’t divulge to her two best friends.

Hmm – makes you want to read more. Right?

When an author finesses back story, it draws you in. Keeps the story moving. Makes the read more compelling.

When an author chunks back story, it stops the action. Stops the story. It may tempt the reader to skim. And when someone is skimming, they’re not engaged in the scene. They’re no longer hooked.

Remember my opening lines?

You can write back story that makes me smile.

You can write back story that earns the coveted Margie margin note, NYT.

You can write back story that boosts your novel onto bestseller lists.

Analyze your writing. Deep edit your scenes. Make your back story carry style and power. Make your back story boost your writing onto a best seller list!

It’s your turn now! Chime in. Share your thoughts on managing back story.

FYI: My next on-line course, DEEP EDITING: The EDITS System, Rhetorical Devices, and More, is offered in MAY. You can read descriptions of my courses (and Lecture Packets) and access links to register for my on-line courses from the home page of my web site. www.MargieLawson.com

If an on-line course does not fit your schedule, Lecture Packets ($22) are available through Paypal from my web site.

PLEASE KEEP READING!

BRENDA NOVAK’S DIABETES AUCTION!

NYT Bestseller, Brenda Novak, donates an amazing chunk of her life to fundraising for diabetes research. She selflessly gives months of her energy, creativity, and what would have been writing time, family time, self-time to her DIABETES AUCTION.

For writers – it’s a warm-your-heart win-win. Bid on one of the hundreds of items, support diabetes research, and you may win an experience that changes your life.

If you’re not familiar with this auction — it’s a gold mine for writers!

My husband and I love to support the Diabetes Auction. With over 1000 donations, if I don’t mention our donations . . . you might miss them.

Yikes – a Missed Opportunity!

Margie’s Donations:

1. A set of six Lecture Packets

2. A 50 page Triple Pass Deep Edit Critique

3. Registration for a Write At Sea Master Class by Margie Lawson on Deep Editing Power, April, 2011. Donation by Margie Lawson and Julia Hunter.

4. A FLYING GETAWAY FOR TWO

You select the destination – any place within 600 nautical miles from Denver.

A weekend, you and a friend, plus my pilot-husband flying our four-seater plane, me, a night in a hotel, and a two-hour deep editing consult. The consult is on the ground, not while we’re flying. )

5. Registration for an IMMERSION MASTER CLASS session!

A $450 value . . .

The three-day Immersion Master Class sessions are designed as a personalized, hone-your-manuscript experience focusing on deep editing. The sessions are held in Margie’s log home at the top of a mountain west of Denver. Participants will concentrate on transforming their manuscript into a page-turner. The winner may attend a session in the fall of 2010 (depending on availability), or one of the four sessions offered in 2011.

THE DIABETES AUCTION runs from MAY 1ST to MAY 31ST.

Thank you. I appreciate your time.

All the Best…………….Margie

www.MargieLawson.com

About the author
Margie Lawson—psychotherapist, writer, and international presenter—developed innovative editing systems and deep editing techniques for used by writers, from newbies to NYT Bestsellers. She teaches writers how to edit for psychological power, how to hook the reader viscerally, how to create a page-turner.

Thousands of writers have learned Margie’s psychologically-based deep editing material. In the last five years, she presented over fifty full day Master Classes for writers in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. For more information on lecture packets, on-line courses, master classes, and the 3-day Immersion Master Class sessions offered in her Colorado mountain-top home, visit: www.MargieLawson.com.

by M. Deane

There is one more element to writing with a story with all five senses—style. Years ago, I discovered this hidden element when I took a second job as a dog trainer. My mentor insisted I read books about how humans learn so I could have a better understanding of how to reach our students. What I found out was fascinating—there are three very distinct learning styles.

First, there is the visual learner. Most people are visual learners; these people think in pictures, love lectures where there are diagrams and slides, and usually sit towards the front so they can get an unobstructed view.

Next up is the auditory learner. These are the people who learn through hearing; they like to read aloud or listen to books on tape, and often have to talk through things to grasp a concept.

The last is the kinaesthetic (or tactile) learner. These are the people who learn through touch and movement; they take a hands-on approach to understand what they are learning, and can usually be found fidgeting or doodling during lectures and meetings.

What does this have to do with writing?

Well, there is a two-fold answer to that. Most writers tend to describe things in their own learning style. This can be both a strength—and a weakness. I am a kinaesthetic learner, so I love to throw in action and tactile words. I have no problem describing a couple getting up in the morning, having a conversation while they go through the mundane tasks of brushing their teeth and getting dressed and making the bed. On the other hand, I generally fail to describe visual and auditory cues, such as facial expressions and sounds. I learned this lesson the hard way when I finished a book and then realized I had never once described the color of the truck the main character drove!

The second part of the answer is that writers generally create characters who all share the same learning style. Once I discovered learning styles, I realized that this is another way I can break out of my own viewpoint, and create more depth. Perhaps I am writing a story where I will be exploring the same scene from several points of view. One subtle way to make those viewpoints distinct is to give the characters in the scene distinct learning styles. Perhaps one character walks in, looks around with his hands in his pockets, and immediately notices the unusual burn marks on the wall. The other character, though, puts on gloves and kneels, and begins to examine the remains in the middle of the room.

What is your learning style? Do you think there might be an element missing in your writing because you lean towards your learning style?

Learn more about learning styles

About the author
M. Deane started writing the minute her first grade teacher pressed a pencil in her hands. She currently lives in Central Texas, and works in the IT field. Poetry is her true love, but her muse keeps insisting on making strange forays into fiction. She keeps an online journal, including some writing samples, at http://calamitycrow.dreamwidth.org/.

Photo by djneight

by Samantha Clark

I love going to writing conferences. There’s something so inspiring about sitting in a large of group of people who all share your same passion. No matter whether it’s a big conference or small, both have their advantages.

My first writing conference was a biggie. Back in 2007, I was living in Los Angeles and attended the big summer conference for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators there. Three days of information, inspiration, fun, jokes, motivation and creativity. I sat in the big and small gatherings and soaked up everything I could, every word from the speakers as well as the every ounce of excitement in the air. By the end of the conference, I was hooked. It was like drinking a giant Slurpee cup of creativity, and I wanted more.

Since then, I’ve moved away from Los Angeles, but my love of conferences has continued. In my current home near Houston, I’ve found wonderful single-day conferences that give me just as much as that big summer conference, with the added benefit of a more intimate setting. At these smaller conferences, there’s much easier access to the speakers. Generally, at the summer conference, the attendance is so huge, the speakers are swarmed after every appearance. But smaller events are much more relaxed. Our annual Houston SCBWI conference holds a dinner where attendees can chat with the invited speakers over fajitas. What better way is there to get to know someone?

From conferences, you obviously get access to the information the speakers provide, which could be anything from an editor telling you what they’re looking for to an agent giving query letter writing tips. But there are lots of other benefits:

• Friends. Writing is solitary, and conferences give us an opportunity to get together with other people like us.
• Writing help. As well as the writing tips speakers often give, conferences usually offer critiques with professionals, including agents, editors and published authors. These usually require additional payment, but they can be worth.
• Contacts. Conferences are a chance to meet agents and editors you might work with later. Writers have made connections with editors at conferences and later sold them a book or been asked to write on assignment.
• Inspiration. Every writer has bouts of doubt and times when our creativity pool dries up. Going to conferences is like getting a shot of inspiration in the arm. This is a business of passionate people, and that passion brims over to attendees at conferences. Without fail, even if I haven’t heard anything new at a conference (which is rare), I’ve always left feeling energized, and that was worth the price of entry.

How do you prepare for a conference?

1. First, research the conferences in your area. The SCBWI website has a list of the group’s events, but you can find others with an Internet search. Research the speakers and make sure they’re people you’d like to hear. There’s no point going to a conference focusing only on picture books if you write novels.
2. Once you know which conferences you want to attend – and can afford – register early. If you plan to get a critique, registering early means you’re more likely to get the person you want. Also, many smaller conferences sell out, so registering early secures your space.



3. A few days before the conference, research the speakers again. The conference will have their basic bio, but look around on the Internet for interviews and read their blog, if they have one. Jot down some notes in the notebook you’re planning to take. This way, when you see them speak, you’ll have a better idea of who they are.
4. If there are any speakers you would like to talk to, perhaps to ask a question or just compliment them on one of the books they’ve worked on that you’ve read, seek out this person in a nice, polite way (i.e. not in the bathroom, not while they’re eating unless you happen to be sitting at their table, and not interrupting their conversation). If they’re talking to another attendee, stand by and wait your turn. Once you have their attention, introduce yourself, tell them what you love about their work, ask them your question, then thank them and say goodbye. Keep it short, sweet and professional. In my experience, speakers are more than happy to talk to attendees as long as it’s on a professional level.

Going to conferences can be a very rewarding way to boost your writing life. Take advantage of the conferences offered in your area, and when you get home, your brain will be begging you to start writing.

Samantha Clark writes middle-grade fiction and blogs about writing, children’s books and writing conferences at DayByDayWriter.wordpress.com. You can subscribe to DayByDayWriter to read more.

Photo credits: SCBWI conference—Rita Crayon Huang; click—Jordan McCollum

by L. Jagi Lamplighter

My favorite book on how to write is Writing the Breakout Novel, by Donald Maass. Before encountering it, I was a non-believer. Writing books did nothing for me. Most seemed to be filled with an endless list of what not to do.

But something impelled me pick this book up . . . and everything changed!

Donald Maass is a top New York agent. He reads hundreds of manuscripts a year, maybe thousands. One day—perhaps dazed by the endless mountain of manuscripts he had to scale to reach his desk every day—he began thinking about the phenomena of the breakout novel.

A breakout novel is not the same thing as a bestseller. A bestseller is a book that sells enough to make it onto the New York Times Bestseller’s list. A breakout novel is a novel that sells far more than anticipated. It might be a bestseller, or it might just be a book that was expected to sell five thousand that sold twenty thousand.

The significant thing about breakout novels, however, is that most of them do not get a lot of time or money put into promotion. Which makes sense. No one expected them to do well. But it means that their popularity came almost entirely from word of mouth.

And that is the ultimate compliment a book can have—that it sold well just because people who liked it told other people.

Maass’s question, as he looked nervously up at the tower of papers tottering over his desk, was this: Is the success of these breakout novels due to chance? Or were they actually better than other books?

So, he went out and bought himself one hundred recent breakout novels, and he read them.

And, guess what? They were better!

Which led him to another question: What made them better? What did these books have that so many of the manuscripts piled in the mountain looming over his desk lacked?

This search led to his book, Writing the Breakout Novel. Its success led to him teaching a workshop. He wrote up many of his exercises into a second book, the Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook. (He has since published a third related work called: The Fire in Fiction.)

In his work, Maass identifies what these books do that make them different: engrossing story, enchanting characters, enthralling pacing, enduring themes. Then, for each point, he shows how they do it. Giving examples and exercises that help the writer bring out similar strengths in their own work.

He identifies particular techniques for raising the stakes, for heightening emotions, for bringing characters to life. He also discusses the importance of them and identifies the two themes that resonate most with readers.

Reading his work entirely changed my fiction.

Nearly all of Maass’s work is useful and insightful. Of all Maass’s exercises, however, my favorite is the one on page 64. (This is the villain’s version, but is just as useful for protagonists. I picked it because it is concise—having all the character exercises together in one place.) In it, he urges the writer to note the main quality and goal of their character. Then, to chose an opposite quality and goal. (I find that ‘contrasting’ or ‘opposing’ often works better than opposite.) Then, write a scene in which the character demonstrates the opposing quality or reveals the contrasting goal.

This simple exercise can raise a character to a whole new level, catapulting one-dimensional characters into two-dimensions, and two-dimensional characters in to well-rounded three-dimensional ones.

How does this work?

In art, contrast and shading is what gives an object the appearance of three-dimensions. In writing, it is the same thing. Real life is a jumble of conflicts. We want to save money and buy that new vacuum. We want to move to the location of our dreams and stay near family. We want to admire our cake and eat it, too. These internal struggles are always with us, tormenting and compelling us.

When characters have similar struggles, we innately recognize it as like life, the same way that our eye is fooled by a little dark paint into believing that the shaded side of the bowl of fruit is farther away from us than the brighter side, because it reminds our eye of real shadows on real red glass bowls.

This is only one exercise of many that really brings one’s fiction alive. Another favorite is to take a moment and to pull it out of time, pausing to remind the reader how the past (last year, last month, ten minutes ago) is different from the present—how the character has changed in the intervening time. It is a wonderful trick for heightening the emotional impact of a scene and for drawing out the implications of your characters experience.

These examples are only two of many, many excellent points. His book can be used like a practical reference manual. Stuck? Not sure what your scene needs next? Open the Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook and flip through it until one of the techniques included leaps out at you, sweeping away your writer’s block.

So, as I mentioned, Writing the Breakout Novel is a book that helps the writer know what to do, instead of just what not to do. I found it so useful, I went and took his workshop in person, which was also very helpful.

Armed with Maass’s insights, I entirely revamped my novel and finally made the long-dreamed-of jump from the looming, teetering submission pile to the shelves of my local bookstore. You can, too!

About the author
L. Jagi Lamplighter is the author of the Prospero’s Daughter series, beginning with Prospero Lost. Her short stories have been featured in several science fiction, horror and fantasy anthologies. She also enjoys romance and anime. She blogs at Visions of Arhyalon.