Characters and Characterization: Who are these people?

Characters are the heart and soul of any well crafted story.

There are many people who will disagree with that statement, and they're welcome to... But they're wrong.

Now wait a moment! Don't go away! Let me pile a few more logs on that pyre being built at my feet by explaining where I'm coming from. I mean, I put it pretty definitively up there. How could I possibly make things worse, right?

Trust me. I'm a writer. I can always make things worse.

What about "idea" stories? What about Sci-Fi or Literature stories about a place, or a technology, or some other thing? Those don't have people at their heart! They're about the idea/place/technology/other thing!

GET THE TORCHES!!!!

Wait! You see, characters aren't always people. They're the subjects in the story that the reader relates to. And if the story is well crafted (and sometimes even if it isn't), the characters are what the reader cares about. Whether that character is a cat, a tree, a car, or an asteroid, if the writer has done their job, you'll care about it and it will help immerse you in the story.

But that's an overly complicated way of looking at things, so let's get back to people (if you want, you can consider anthropomorphized things as people from here on out).

Where you fit on the spectrum between plotter or pantser will likely shape how you grow your characters. I fall somewhere in the middle, so my process might be a little muddled. But from one writer to another: You don't have to colour inside the lines. Do whatever works for you.

Some writers like to figure out their characters as they go along, then fix inconsistencies in revision. Some writers like to know every detail about their characters before the first word hits the page, creating detailed character sheets (I use the one in Scrivener to get started).

Whatever your method, I've found it's best to keep track of any changes or major decisions about the character as you go. It stops you from contradicting yourself or giving a character rainbow-coloured eyes (unless they're supposed to have rainbow-coloured eyes...).

Aside from physical description, you should have a number of other important factors sorted out for your characters. How are they going to grow and change through the story?

It's completely fine if you don't have a character all figured out before you write your first draft. But you had best have them nailed down by the time you finish that draft, or revisions aren't going to help.

Motivation
Your character needs goals. Big ones. Small ones. Ones with polka-dots. Every character needs motivations of their own. And not just one. At no point should a character's sole motivation be "help the protagonist". That, my friends, is a cardboard cut-out, not a character.

Ask yourself: What makes your character tick? What do they want? In a revenge plot it can seem pretty simple... Revenge! In a horror plot... Survival! In a murder mystery... To Catch the Killer! In a bee-keeper memoir... Honey!

But is that all? I hope not. It shouldn't be. That isn't enough. See that cardboard cut-out I mentioned before? It's waving. No... don't wave back. It's cardboard...

Let's look at our revenge plot for a brief moment.
Bruce Lonerman's a solitary road warrior. His one true love, Hilda, his 1984 Ford Tempo, was crushed by the villains at BadEvilCorp™ who were jealous of his cherry ride, and he'll stop at nothing until he gets his REVENGE!

Great! We have a primary motivation: Protagonist's true love snatched away and destroyed by the antagonist!

But wait! There's more!
Our hero Bruce has to get to BadEvilCorp™ and it's all the way across town... and he doesn't have Hilda to do it. He needs a ride... Perhaps he can borrow his best friend Beth's Vespa GTS 300?

Ding! That's more motivation. Granted, it's short term, but it's there.

If you want a compelling character, always look for more layers of motivation. What do they want immediately? What do they want generally? What do they want after? What are the little things? What are their ideals that seem too big?

What's stopping them? Conflict is key. Resolution of conflict builds character.

Internal Contradictions
Have you ever met another human being? Ever been one yourself? If not, then this next bit may not make much sense to you.

People contradict themselves. I don't just mean hypocrites, they're just better at doing it more noticeably. We're all FULL of contradictions. They're what make us unpredictable and oh-so-hard to model artificially. Thankfully we writers aren't trying to build a positronic brain (not a real one anyway).

All of your character's internal contradictions don't need to be on the page or highlighted in some way. But you should know that they exist. What should be on the page are the contradictions that define your character.

Back to Bruce.

• He's a solitary sort, but he has a best friend named Beth.
• He also has a cat.
• He hates the rising price of gas, which is something he wouldn't have had to deal with without his love for Hilda. He mildly resented Hilda for her reliance on fossil fuels.
• He feels guilty for his resentment of Hilda.
• His guilt and regret help fuel his thirst for revenge.
• He really enjoys the open air and low cost of Beth's Vespa

And so on (and that's just from what I've written so far). Contradictions are what make a character not be a caricature. No real person is a set of absolutes, your fictional people shouldn't be either.

Something to Hide
We all have secrets. Whether it's something in our past or present. Something about the way we think and deal with the world. A desire we can't express. A conviction we outwardly hold and espouse and inwardly question. The secrets we keep from ourselves because we don't like what they say about us.

We all have something we hide that we think (rightfully or wrongfully) would change where we stand in society were it ever to be known.

Those are the big secrets. We all have them. We're all afraid of them. Your characters should have them too. They can add a layer of motivation and internal contradiction (oooh, more layers).

Then there's the little secrets. The casual lie. The false smile. The discomfort. The small self-contradictions that we're painfully aware of and don't let others see.

Every secret about your characters doesn't need to be earth-shattering (how does one shatter earth? Do you have to flash-freeze it first? Otherwise it sort of just... crumbles...). You don't have to include your own secrets within your characters (that'd be silly). But they do need to have secrets.

The best place you can dig in for a greater understanding of how secrets have an effect on behaviour is within you. Careful and thoughtful self-examination of your secrets and how you react to anything even slightly related, or even unrelated to them is a great place to start.

Our dear character Bruce has secrets.

• He's in love with Beth's Vespa, they've had an on-again off-again thing going for months
• He never took a driver's test
• His real name isn't Bruce Lonerman, it's Bob Smith, but that didn't seem "actiony" enough
• He doesn't own a cat. He's cat-sitting.
• He's really an alien writing an entry on Earth for an interstellar travel guide

Nobody is Perfect
Ok. Except you. No... not you, the person beside you. Yes.

Perfect characters are boring. That's where the terms Mary Sue, and Wish Fulfillment come from. Characters written so perfect or flawless that they can't be real.

Flaws can range from emotional to physical. They can be as little as nail chewing, or as big as being a psychopath who works as a blood spatter expert by day and a vigilante by night. They can be out in the open for the world to see, or a tightly held secret. They can feed ego or insecurity. Flaws add nuance and depth.

Your character could be ambidextrous, but unable to tie their shoes or button their shirt without getting them misaligned at least twice. They could suck at metaphors (or similes). They could be a kleptomaniac, or a compulsive liar, or painfully blunt.

Flaws are what make a character an individual. The best flaws are the ones that run against your character's goals and motivations. Over the course of the story your character can grow and overcome some flaws, but they shouldn't overcome them all, especially if they're a defining flaw.

I won't add any flaws to Bruce at the moment, but you can see how some of the above would shape him into a different person and make him seem less wooden and contrived (OK, maybe dear Bruce isn't the greatest example).

All of the above will add depth to your characters and work together in layers. And if you want to do it right, you have to apply them to all your characters, not just your protagonist. Secondary characters (ones you don't get inside the head of that the protagonist interacts with regularly), and tertiary characters (ones who are big enough to warrant a name and a few lines of speech), all need at least a high pass for motivation.

And all characters, regardless of age, gender, or which side of the story they're on (protagonist vs. antagonist) deserve the same level of effort at adding depth.

Beyond that, your characters should never bend to the plot. Bad books and movies are full of characters who do incredibly stupid an unlikely things in service of the plot. If a character wouldn't do something, don't make them. Fix the story and find another way. It's a painful process, I know, I've been going through it myself with my current project, but it's a necessary exercise.

No one said this writing thing was easy.

Let me know what you think down in the comments!

-Alex

This is the fourth entry in a series of posts about my evolving writing process.

Don't Ever Stop!

So... This little thing called PitchWars happened. It's what triggered this particular post, but it's not what this post is about so I'll cover it very briefly.

It's a contest where writers submit their first ~250 words and a Query to the four mentors of their choice and hope to get selected. In short (because I'm rubbish at being brief) I was selected by the Awefantabulous Renee Ahdieh.

Renee is exactly what I want and more importantly need in a mentor. Her feedback has helped me add layers of depth to CROW'S BLOOD that I knew were missing, I just couldn't see where. I've learned some of my pet phrases, identified some comma issues I have, and so much more, and I've exterminated them with prejudice.

Anyway!

Seven weeks later, our part in PitchWars wrapped on January 22nd as it went to the Agent Round. The first 250 words were posted with a 35 word pitch (here in case you're interested), in hopes of Agents commenting and making requests.

It's those requests that bring me to the point of this post. I had 0 requests. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

Let me tell you a bit about how this little writer's ego works: I'm a brash, cocky, confident bastard. Except when I'm not, which is often. The key is that I try not to let that side show to the world at large too much. The only person who sees that side of me most often (my wife) does a great job of propping me up so I can continue being the confident bastard that I am.

I'd be lying if I said getting zero requests didn't sting. It cut pretty deep. Those are my words! Right there, with that zero looking me in the eye, I could have quit. Packed it all in and reclaimed my TV and video games. I could have given up the dream and driven my wonderful wife insane.

I could have listened to the mean voice in the back of my head that kept whispering "Zero, that's how many people give a damn about your words. That's what they're worth. That's what your worth. Give it up. Go home. Loser!"

I've heard that voice before. That's the voice that comes around any time I put myself out there, whether I'm public speaking, writing, tweeting, or posting on my blog. I don't like that voice. I made the decision long ago not to listen to that voice. That voice is an asshole. The things it says aren't true and are designed to cut us where it hurts the most. That voice is borne of fear.

We all have that voice. The difference between those who go on and those who fold isn't a matter of skill, or worth, or ego. It's a matter of will.

So here's what I have to say, not only to those who didn't get requests in PitchWars, but to those who have ever queried, or submitted, or done anything that brought around that voice:

Don't. Ever. Stop.

Do what you love, whether it's writing, drawing, dancing, singing, building life-size models of X-Wings out of Lego, whatever it is, as long as you love it (and it doesn't hurt anything).

As for PitchWars... Would I do it again? In a heartbeat! I've learned so much, and met so many wonderful, dedicated, and helpful people.

Until next time, I'm going to go write and revise, because that's what I do, and I love doing it.

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me." - The Bene Gesserit

One Third of the Way

I'm well past my due date for checking in. I haven't even blogged in July!

That little progress bar at the right is moving along though. Slowly but surely, and as fast as it can with only an hour or two on most nights.

I've just come back from visiting my father in Winnipeg, which is a truly, uh, flat place. He's lived out there most of my life, doing his thing, which I have to admit is doing a lot of good for a lot of people. I know my kids miss seeing more of him though. I do too.

Winnipeg has one thing I definitely do NOT like: Mosquitoes. Mosquitoes that were likely the cause of any and every mass extinction since they came about. That mosquito in amber in Jurassic Park? Yeah, my money is on IT being the reason dinosaurs were wiped out.

Pterodactyl-mosquitoes aside, we had fun spending time with family and seeing the sights out there.

I've updated the Movie List a few times recently. Between writing and other Real Life™ stuff this year I haven't seen nearly as many movies as I'd have liked. I'm hearing that Pacific Rim is good fun though, so I'm working on seeing that.

On the writing/revising side of things (because, really, that's the point of this blog), things are going relatively well... I think. That's the problem with being a first time writer, and a really good reason to have Critique Partners: You're too close to your own work, and you simply don't know what you're doing wrong!

No! Really! One of the major points of this revision is to give more depth to Flynn, the MC. I know I'm giving some more depth, but is it enough? Can there be too much? I really have no idea...

So I plan to forge onwards until this revision is done, then send it to my Alpha Readers and CP's (and 1 or 2 new sets of eyes) for more feedback. I hope that they won't shun me...

I do know that I've cleaned up some of what my CP's and I found were real pain points plot/story wise. I only hope I haven't opened more in doing so.

As for a deadline? I aim to be done this pass before the end of August, mostly because at the end of September I'll be reaching a year on this book and I think I should be moving faster.

Doing My Homework

I have 3 full critiques back on CROW'S BLOOD, for which I must give heartfelt "Thank you!" to my Epic Critique Partners: Colton Hibbs, Clare Mitchell, and Rachel Russell.

Not only did each of you trudge your way through my last revision, you took the time and effort to provide me with detailed and insightful criticism. Some of it is so obvious now that you've pointed it out that I don't know how I didn't get it right the first time. Your notes will make my work better (if I'm up to the task), and that's awesome!

All of them (and the partial Critique I received from the lovely and talented Kat Ellis) highlighted one pretty major problem: It takes far too long to connect with my main character Flynn (and even longer in some cases to like him at any level). As he's the main POV, that's... awful.

Here's the thing: I know these characters, every one of them. You can ask me a question and I can quickly tell you how each one would answer it. What sort of things they would like and dislike. How they would react under certain circumstances. I can even describe the mannerisms, idioms, and rhythms of their speech. From my main character, down the the smallest side character, (yes, even to the one guard that sucker punches my POV character).

I can't tell you what they had for breakfast (unless it's relevant), but I can get inside their heads if the need arises.  I didn't do this by building out detailed character sheets or writing throw-away scenes with them (though I did that for some more prominent characters).

It's just something I do whenever a new character is created. I put myself in their shoes/boots/socks/sandals and work my way through them. What motivates them. What are their goals in life. It usually comes pretty quickly.

Problem is: It wasn't coming across on the page. So what was wrong?

That's where the homework came in. I've spent the better part of my evenings reading, and doing exercises from a workbook on Deep POV, while it's not perfect, and I don't necessarily agree with everything in there. It's written by a professional who certainly seems to know what they're doing (at least considerably better than I do).

The best part is the exercises. I've read plenty of websites describing and giving examples of how to give good character, and great POV, but none of them went so far as to give relevant exercises in a work-book format. Something about it all just "clicked" (I think).

So I went through that workbook (it's only 60 or so pages), did all the exercises, and took a look at my own Work In Progress. What. A. Mess. I have "tells" everywhere (something I tried desperately to avoid and clean up last pass), narrative separation/distance, and my POV character does indeed seem flat and voiceless (he's NOT like that in my head). I have my work cut out for me to reel this sucker in to a deep POV.

Needless to say, it's going to take a while for me to hit my stride on this revision pass, and I may reach out to some of my CPs earlier on (if they're amenable to looking over some small chunks) to see if I'm on the right track, or ruining what good I had. I've spent most of this evening (my first night back at revising my own work) and have only worked through the first 5 or 6 paragraphs.

Like I said, slow going. But I'm trying to be careful with my new powers, to ensure that I employ them for the forces of good.

As for copy edits, and Canadian (not "British") spelling vs. American spelling, and my blatant and continued misuse of commas... I'll get to them, once I've sorted out my critical character issues.

- Alex

Carefully Stacked and Marked Electrons.

Electronic Data. It rules everything these days. It's our money, our jobs, our entertainment, and our memories.

So much of our lives revolve around little 1's and 0's flitting about on the merry tasks we set them upon.

Well, today, I sent a meaningful and important stack of those 1's and 0's half-way around the world to someone I barely know. I finally finished my critique of a CP's work-in-progress manuscript, and I can only hope I've done it justice.

Here's the thing. I received it on April 7th. I've had it for two and a half months! I had to ask myself: Why did it take so bloody long? We're nearing the half-way point of 2013 and I've consumed 14 other books this year (1 of those is another WIP from a CP), so what was different about this?

Was it a hard read? No, it was quite enjoyable, considerably more enjoyable than what I imagine mine was for them to read. The characters were compelling, the descriptions and setting were simply beautiful, and the spelling and grammar were fantastic (you have no idea how important that is!).

So what was it? In a word: Fear. That's right, I'm a coward.

I hate making other people uncomfortable, and I know that my internal Editor is a complete asshole. I don't ever want to be as hard on other writers as my Editor is on me.

Would they hate me for pointing out how I felt about that sentence? That turn of phrase? That plot point?

Was I putting too many comments? Beating a dead horse? Nit-picking (GUILTY!)?

Was I missing things that I really ought to point out? Things that would help more than what I was catching? Things that actually mattered more than my hang-ups?

And SO much more. I was never an angsty teen. Why was this all coming out now? And over something like this?

I'm a cocky, self assured, smart-ass, bastard. Ask anyone who knows me, they'll jump right on that sucker.

Here's why: This is someone's soul. Yeah, yeah, touchy feely crap. I know! But it's true. Little known fact: Writing isn't easy.

It's a lot of hours pouring everything you have onto a page (that usually consists of those carefully stacked and marked electrons, and not so much dead trees and ink). And what you have when you're done that first round of effort is usually a great big steaming pile of electrons that need to be poked and prodded, and in many cases thrown away and replaced, before you have something you can even let anyone see.

I know how much effort I put into getting CROW'S BLOOD where it is now, and it still has a good ways to go (I have some Character Voice issues with my main POV to sort out, namely, I left too much of it out). Every mark I put on my partner's Word document made me cringe.

So I procrastinated. That's something that's easy, and I can procrastinate with the very best of them! And hey, no one's feelings get hurt by procrastination! Hell, I spent more time with my wife and family avoiding someone else's Word document than I think I spent with them in the entire 3 months while I was writing the first draft of my own.

Well enough of that. I needed to put on my space-marine helmet, and grab my magical sword, and get past the barrier I set for myself. I needed to find that fear and kick it's ass.

Did I mention this is also the first time I've done a full mark-up? I needed to finish it and return it on principle. The first is always the most difficult.

I can only hope I got it right, or that I can vastly improve my skill at writing carefully worded apologies.

- Alex

P.S. I didn't return a mark-up to Colten, my other CP, and dear friend, but we had a really good long talk where I outlined my thoughts and we discussed some of the finer points. I'm looking forward to what he's doing with the story and can't wait to see the next draft.

Once more, with feeling!

Ahem. So, staying in character, I've been neglecting my blog. For a while there I was easily dropping 3 updates a week. It's been nearly a month since my last update.

So a quick (hahaha, no, not really that quick) rundown of what's been so damned important that I haven't had time to even drop a few lines here.

I have a Critique Partner, the wonderful and insightful Colten Hibbs, who was kind and gracious enough to let me into his beautifully realized and deep faerie tale world. I made it my first priority, above even my own writing, to read through his draft, and provide him with meaningful feedback (which I hope I've done). He's now hard at work on his next draft, and based on our discussions, I can't wait to see this next one.

Colten was amazing enough to give me a marked up copy of CROW'S BLOOD with loads of goodies and notes that are improving my writing ten-fold  (I hope).

Going through those notes I cheered (at the parts that were important to me that he just GOT), grimaced (at my own failings and some of the gunk he had to sift through), and had some incredibly awesome revelations. 

I have to share the biggest of those revelations with you.

One of the points that's been brought to me repeatedly was that it takes too long to get attached to the MC (Main Character). Colten highlighted that he didn't begin to feel even remotely attached to (and at points wasn't even sure he liked) the MC until around Chapter 6!

That's a death sentence for a book folks. That's it! It's over! 99% of readers will drop a book considerably faster than a bad habit if they're not engaged and buying in to the MC by the end of Chapter 1. Clever blocking and world building can only get you so far.

New light was shed on this problem (which I had absolutely no idea how to fix, and maybe still don't) when Colten pointed out that I have several Spot POV Chapters, where it's the only Chapter you ever engage with that character, where I manage to do it right. They're engaging and connect you with the character, in that single chapter.

I'd like to say I had a Eureka moment and got to run down the street in little more than a towel, but alas, it's not that simple. But I had somewhere to start! It had been sitting there, right in front of me, for months... Critique Partners bring fresh eyes indeed.

I studied those chapters, making notes and everything. Then I studied them again. Then I studied them again. Ok, so that's how I do it. Fantastic. 

Now why couldn't I do it with my MC?

I, uh, don't know. Except perhaps that I maybe have too much time to spend with my MC?

I spent the first week wrestling with Chapter 1. I wanted to add more insight into the MC without killing the pace (I like the pace I've set). I think I've achieved that, and I've since moved on, all the way up to Chapter 11, making little touches here and there, and giving a little bit more of the MC (also, making him a little more consistent).

My word count is shifting a bit (getting a little longer), but I'll be ruthless in keeping it under 100,000.

Depending on where my other Critique Partners are in their read-throughs, I may ask them to go with this latest draft, or I'll just sit on it until their feedback comes in, and parse theirs too, making any changes I feel warranted.

So that's what I've been up to, and now that I'm back in the swing of the writing side of things, I'll get back to updating my blog a little more often.

- Alex

Revision 2 complete!

This is my first attempt at a novel length work. I've been reasonably good with writing short fiction and stage plays in the past. I'm learning just how different this process can be, especially when it comes to revisions.

The first revision resulted in an entire rewrite of nearly 2/3 of the book. This pass I've just completed probably rewrote another 30%. Entire chapters were scrapped, rebuilt from the ground up, and in some cases moved.

I hope I've cleaned up all the plot holes and character inconsistencies at this point.

The next pass will be targeting passive voice, word choice, and grammar. It should be considerably faster as I've been doing some of that on this pass I've just finished. Still, I'm putting it out there for Critique Partners (my post on CPSeek.com is getting no love so far) to have a go at it with the intent to get fresh writerly eyes on Plot and Character (please! please! please don't look at grammar just yet!).

The novel isn't the only thing that's getting revised either. Thanks to some help from Lauren Spieller and this epic post on her blog, my Query has been getting some love too. Distilling 100,000 words to a single page query has been frightening. I can only hope I've done a better job on the story itself.

Even if this novel never sees the light of day I'm better for it. I've had a lot of fun and learned a great deal along the way that will help with the next one.

What's in a name?

...that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;

- Romeo Montague to Juliet: Romeo & Juliet by Shakespeare

Character names, book names, chapter names, pen names. They're all malleable to one degree or another and there are choices and reasons for all of them. 

I started thinking on the topic tonight because of an article on io9.com about character names that should be banned for all time (of which I have used... none!).

Spiralling into the topic of names was so rough on my overworked brain that it almost derailed my revision session this evening. 

You see, I write under a pen name: Alexander C. Pierce or Alex C. Pierce. It's not my real name, though Alexander and Pierce are my 2 middle names, which, when bookended by my first and last name sounds almost as awesomely pretentious as Benedict Cumberbatch (best name EVER!). I include the C. at this point because a Google Search on Alexander Pierce brings up such a HUGE list of results including convicts, authors of propaganda, and so much more, that I needed a bit of separation from what is apparently a very common name.

I use a pen name for a few reasons, not the least of which is that I have ideas and themes for stories that may be controversial that I don't necessarily want to blow back on my family. Nothing too outrageous, but I'd rather not put other parties at risk. I also have a long standing tendency to NOT use my real name online (outside of work, though Facebook has ruined that to some degree... thanks family and friends!).

But the subject of names goes so much further, as the article on io9 aptly points out character names can play a big part in engaging or putting potential readers off, and they're not exactly easy things to come up with. For a time I used a program called Everchanging Book of Names, which was great for secondary characters if you could figure out how to use it (it's not that hard once you read the instructions). I've come to understand Scrivener itself has a name generator built in, which I haven't used yet as my characters all have names at this point.

I couldn't tell you where half the names of my characters come from, but I haven't received any negative feedback on them yet (though I have heard some interesting thoughts on where I might have cooked some up). I only hope they're not derivative of some other work that's sitting in the back of my skull because I think they're awesome! (the io9 article points out that might be a problem too).

As for chapter names and book names... I'm flexible with those and they tend to change on a fairly regular basis at this point in the process. From what I understand if I go and get published the publisher will have a say in it as well and I'm ok with that.

What are your thoughts on the use of pen names? How do you come up with names for things? Let me know!

- Alex

P.S. Chapter update for my Alpha Readers, I've dropped up to chapter 23 and I'm starting to get feedback from multiple people! Thanks!

Ripples in the Pool

The good news: I'm up to revising Chapter 19 of Book B, Crow's Blood.
The not-as-good news: I'm updating the blog less frequently than I did writing the 0-draft while revising

The last four chapters or so have involved a good deal of rearranging and rewriting, which has considerably slowed my pace and eaten up my revision time, but I think the story is all that much stronger for it.

The little changes from the final outline that I've made while writing the ending and revising the beginning are sending out ripples that meet in the middle of the book. Those ripples are ensuring that I have a lot of clean up to do.

When I look back at the original concept of this story, and the rough and detailed outlines that followed I'm astonished at how much it's changed. All for the sake of trying to write the best story possible. I don't think the "me" that had the original idea would recognize much beyond the setting and the villain (I think villains are a strength of mine).

The main character? Changed entirely while tightening the outline! The main I've written the entire book around used to be the original main's foil in the original outline. That first main is still in the book, but as a secondary character.

The original outline had five major viewpoint characters and six vignette's (single chapters) from minor viewpoints. In reworking the outline I brought it down to one viewpoint and seven vignette viewpoints. My main viewpoint has grown a fair bit stronger as a result, and I've felt less stressed about the vignette viewpoints, which has made writing each of them as a separate character easier.

In simplifying the structure and the various side plots I've given more room for the actual characters to come through, though admittedly I do still have a ways to go on breaking out of the "white room" problem. I'm working to add more description about the characters physical surroundings with each revision pass.

This particular pass is all about plot and making sure that everything works without great big holes.

Now That's a plot hole!

I'm closing every one of those up that I find. As I said earlier, I'm finding a lot more in the middle than I did at the beginning or than I expect to at the end. This is a learning process, so who's to say if I have more sitting near the end waiting to swallow me whole?

Then I'll start letting my Critique Partners have a look at some of it (all if they think it's their thing) and I'll do a pass of line edits (not that I'm not trying to get as much of that done as possible on this pass) while they're building their massive weapons of feedback to destroy my soul. But that's getting ahead of myself, how about I finish the plot pass first?

That's where things sit right now. I'm still plugging away, for anywhere between two and four hours a night, trying not to let too much of that time escape into "the Twitter".

Just add arsenic!

The Real Life™side of things is going well, though I'm building a snuggle debt with my wife and a serious backlog of recorded TV while revising. She takes care of her photography stuff, gaming, and Facebook socializing while I grind, buff, and polish this story so it hopefully has some lustre to it.

She keeps providing me with homemade hot cocoa while I'm writing, so she still loves me, or she's poisoning me slowly and it just tastes really good.

Either way I'll keep drinking the stuff in the great big mildly disturbing Mickey Mouse mug it gets given to me in.

Oh, and I've been introduced to a band called Caravan Palace by Bridget Smith who heard them in a coffee shop and described what she was hearing on Twitter as "jazz-influenced electronica" in a genre that is apparently properly called "Electro-swing". It's not for everyone (including my wife) but I like it.

Acknowledgement Problems

I read a blog post recently stating that Authors should keep their acknowledgements in their books short and concise. It got me thinking (not that I'm in a position to start thinking about an Acknowledgements Page yet but bear with me). I don't know about every other aspiring writer but I have a strong need for good information, external validation, and support. How on earth would I pare down the massive list of everyone who's given me a little (or big) push, or some really key piece of information that inspired or helped me limp through this process called writing?

Let me give you an example of what I mean.

Offline, my main support comes from my lovely wife. She allows me the time to write, which is a pretty big consideration, we have a 3 year old that keeps us busy and a 13 year old in Rep Hockey, so she's sacrificing her alone-time with me. She also props me up when I have my little personal crises and think that I suck and shouldn't bother. All in, it probably helps that my writing keeps me out of her hair and makes me far less grumpy on the whole.

We just passed our 16th anniversary together, as I'm only 33 you can do the math and figure out that we're Highschool sweethearts. I wouldn't have it any other way. She's a light in my life and a strong foundation I can always turn to.

For information, like most, I tend to go online and I devour anything I can find on the subject of writing. I'm like a writing zombie constantly in search of other people's brains. There's a lot of great stuff out there if you look, books, blogs, podcasts, and Twitter people (Tweeple?).

You know what I've found along the way? An awful lot of contradiction with a strong core of consistency. Most of that seems to come from the fact that there are really very few keys to becoming a successful and accomplished writer. The rest of it is a matter of personal style and what works for the individual.

It appears the key points to being a halfway decent and possibly successful writer are as follows (in no particular order after the first):

• Write every day.
• Finish what you start.
• Allow yourself to suck (on the first draft at least).
• Read often (and in the genre you write for).
• Have a story to tell.
• Revise (and revise, and revise, and revise, and revise)!
• Persevere

Other elements such as outlining/architecting vs. pantsing/discovery writing, character vs plot, etc. are all up for debate (on the whole). I myself strongly believe in a combination in both cases. 

I outline my plot and story arcs heavily while allowing both to change drastically if "discovery" strikes or something feels flat. 

When it comes to scenes and characters I have to "write myself" into them, which is most definitely a "discovery writer" thing to do.

Prose, grammar, and spelling are all things to be cleaned and touched up in revision as far as I'm concerned. Yes, I have some inspired moments while writing the first draft, and some of them may even make it into the final manuscript, but I won't know that until I get there.

That's what I've got so far, and it's by no means clean or polished and certainly up for debate. Like everything to do with writing, I'm learning as I go. Without the people that I meet online, or the podcasts and blogs that I follow with their myriad of tips and helpful information I wouldn't be nearly as far along as I am.

It will likely take several more books to streamline and work it out for myself, and that's a good thing, because it lends to my whole solution to the "Acknowledgements" problem: Write and publish enough books to cover everyone. It's going to take at least 20-30 books.

- Grimm

P.S. I was originally going to list and link some of the blogs and Twitter folks that I follow but I've decided against it in this particular post, as many of the tips and information comes from multiple sources and it would just be a mess. Instead I'm looking to add a people/links bar to the already overcrowded right hand bar once I clean some stuff up.

Secondary vs Tertiary Characters and the Princess Bride

I spent what time I had for writing this evening getting out half a scene with a secondary character.  This character will only show up twice in the entire book, but I think she's going to be pretty memorable, and I really like how she's turning out.

That's the thing with secondary characters, they can't be a cardboard cut-outs or props. To me that's a Tertiary character, the type that doesn't have anything to say, or any motivations beyond ,"Hot dogs, get your red-hots." as far as the plot is concerned. There's certainly a place for that sort of character, the stand-in.

But in my not nearly as humble as it should be opinion, secondary characters should be fully realized and if not necessarily memorable, at the very least believable.

Think Miracle Max in The Princess Bride (we'll go with the movie). William Goldman could have easily written a throw away scene of someone performing CPR on Westley after the Pit of Despair, or Billy Crystal could technically have phoned that character in and gotten away with it. It would have made for a much less memorable part in a much less memorable film (or book if you want to discuss the book).

Instead, Goldman opted for a truly memorable secondary character, and not just with Miracle Max, but every secondary character, from the torturer, to the old King are all wonderfully realized (with a good bit of camp, but it fit the story perfectly).

That's how I want my secondary characters to be (albeit with less light-heartedness in this particular book). I want them to be memorable and true to the story, and I really didn't feel that was 100% necessary until I was working on this one.  Of course that means I'll have to pick up some slack on the next pass and figure out exactly which characters fit secondary vs tertiary, but that's what revisions are for.

What are your thoughts on secondary characters? Do you like to flesh out as many as you can or do you leave them as stand-ins/tertiary characters unless they're truly needed?

- Grimm

P.S. Surpassed my #NaNoWriMo/#NaNoFiMo word quote for the second night running. Shouldn't have too much trouble catching up to where I'm supposed to be.

7 words (more or less)

No, not those words.  Besides, Carlin's list is outdated. Now you can say most of them on television.

NaNoWriMo is on the horizon, and I'm getting in good shape for it. 1910 words written tonight.

I finished off a chapter I left off on last night, leaving me a scant 7 words short of 45K.  Oh sure, I could have pushed out 7 more words, but that would have given me a perfectly even number, and that always looks fishy.

All my writing tonight was from a new viewpoint.  It was interesting to get into the head space of a character unlike any of the others I've written in this book.

I suppose that doesn't say much, but seeing as I have a single viewpoint except for the odd vignette chapter it was a good exercise.  I can't give away much more without big massive spoilers.  I've come to understand that you don't spoil best selling books on your blog, it makes people cranky and they let you know in the comments. :P

Exploring new characters is one of the reasons I started writing when I was a kid.   They let me be something, someone that I wasn't, and to go places that were too fantastic or simply too far away to visit for real as a child.  Basically the same reason most people read, watch TV, and play video games.

I was also the geeky know-it-all in school. That bespectacled kid that annoyed other students and eventually teachers once it wasn't "cute" any more (I know, shocking right?).

It's a bit of "chicken vs. egg" when it comes to whether I read a lot and became an ostracized know-it-all from what I'd read, or whether I read so much because I'd been ostracized for being a know-it-all.  Either way, I've loved to read and have been a voracious reader for as long as I can recall.  When I'd read through everything we had as a child and couldn't get my hands on something new to read fast enough I'd write.

I needed to write tonight with some of the car/people trouble I've had this past week coming to a head.  Needless to say I've learned that doing the right thing and being a decent human being doesn't guarantee that you will receive the same in return.  Of course, I'll likely just continue right on doing the right thing and being decent.  It's a fault I suppose, a lapse in my ability to adapt and adjust.

Actually, I'm finding that writing is one of my best escapes of late, it's my peace and quiet (with loud music), and I think it's a healthy hobby.

See, I used to play video games pretty heavily.  MMOs. Primarily World of Warcraft, which I played excessively from Beta (early 2004) to last November (almost 8 years!).

That's when NaNoWriMo and my strong desire to get off my butt and actually DO this writing thing instead of just talking about it and throwing around "big plot ideas" helped me kick the habit.

I still game, I've played through Mass Effect 3 most recently, and Diablo 3 and I'm looking forward to Assassin's Creed 3 (which I will have to wait to play).  I don't think gaming is evil or reprehensible, or unhealthy (when done in moderation, like all things).  I simply don't let it take my writing time.  I'm less grumpy when I write, and tonight that's exactly what I needed.

I want to be a professional, published writer.  Like many other aspiring writers I want to see my name on the jacket of a book in a bookstore, and to know that someone out there actually READS these stories I want to tell.  That takes a lot of work, which I'm more than prepared to put in.

So I leave you, my faithful readers with the best piece of writing advice I've ever heard:

"Don't talk about it; write" - Ray Bradbury

I'm doing my best Ray. Though I am guilty of blogging about it, which technically isn't talking about it, I hope he'll forgive me.

- Grimm

P.S. #HLandS is rocking Round 3 over at Kat Ellis' Blog (YA), Dee's Blog (MG), and Fizzygrrl's Blog (Adult) where some of the submissions have already received Agent Requests!  I'm absolutely loving it and wishing my Draft was in a ready state to participate.

Full Steam Ahead (and Sideways)

I slept poorly last night and it's my own damned fault.

I can't get over how much anxiety I've felt over my word count being so out of line with my goal.  I kept trying to think of solutions and items I could edit out to make the story cleaner and stronger.  Those of you who follow me on Twitter might have seen a tweet by me earlier stating that I'd found a solution and so far it's working.

I'm cutting my book to a single Viewpoint Character.  Not altogether mind you, there will still be a few short stints in other viewpoints, and it's still going to be Third Person Limited.  My target for this book is Young Adult, a category of books where a single viewpoint isn't only a regular occurrence, it's actually the norm.  So that's a big load off my chest.  Of course, it means I have a lot of work to do on this revision as I have a number of scenes where I've switched viewpoints.

What I've done to start is go back to my outline and give myself a budget.  My average chapter length is ~2000 words, some are as much as 3000, a few (the rare exception) are as short as 1000, so that gives me about 50 chapters to work with.

I took the major beats of the story and set them out, then I placed important plot points in between, trying to keep things relatively evenly spaced for pacing and progression.  A few plot points are being juggled, one of the sub-plots is being dropped altogether, and I'm still trying to find ways to work in an important plot thread that primarily followed one of my other characters.  It's not integral to this particular book, so it may get shifted to a second book.

All that said, my word count tonight actually slips back about 3K words, even though I wrote somewhere close to 3000 tonight filling some of the earlier gaps.

The next few nights I'm going to divide my focus, editing one of the earlier chapters to fit the new single viewpoint and tightened plot, and writing out one new chapter to keep the story moving forward.

This approach should help make the next revision pass a little faster, and help bring more depth and clarity to my main viewpoint character and their relationships with those around them as I can no longer rely on those characters to pull their weight.  It should also help me sleep better at night (I hope).

I'll keep you all posted.

- Grimm

Viewpoint Characters and Word Count Worries

First, 40K words on this Revision!  Not bad, 2K words tonight (2093 actually), not a bad little writing stint once my littlest was bathed and in bed.

On the subject of Viewpoint Characters:
First, for those of you not familiar with the term (i.e. the few people who follow this blog because they have the good fortune to know me and bask in my presence regularly, but aren't necessarily writers or of "the craft") a Viewpoint Character is someone inside the story the writer uses to tell the story directly.  They're generally the only people in the story you get inside the head of, the people who give a story its voice and feel.

In the first person perspective, it's the narrator.  In third person limited (which I'm writing this book in) it's a select group of characters.  The VCs are generally the characters you get to know best (if the writer is doing their job), and you either love them or hate them.  If a writer really does their job, you name your children after them.

My book currently has 3 main viewpoint characters, and yesterday, while preparing to have my family over for a late Thanksgiving (for Canada), I had the crazy idea to pare it down to 2 VCs, turning one of them into a secondary character (mostly for Word Count worries).  Looking at my Outline today, that doesn't seem overly feasible at present, there's too much story that's reliant on each of them to get told.

Once I've started fleshing out my second VC by writing out their strand of the plot, maybe I'll revisit it. Or perhaps when I get my first rejection letter that suggests the idea of dropping a VC to strengthen the other two (shouldn't happen!).  We'll see, when the time comes.

My other concern, which is what led me to the thought of possibly cutting out a Viewpoint Character is word count.  Word on the street (and in just about every submission guideline I see) is that first time writers should shoot for their book to be under 100K words.  It's a matter of publishing costs vs. risk on an unknown author and audience.  I get that completely, and it worries me.

As you can see from the word count and the first line of this post, I've just broken 40K words, and I'm not even done my first viewpoint...  If I already had an Agent or an Editor they'd probably point me in the direction of slashing and burning a healthy portion of the story to get in under (or just over) the wire.  Of course, they'd have a good idea of WHAT to cut, and simply put, at the moment I haven't a clue.

So, I'm going to stay the course, finish this Revision/Re-Write and go from there.  Once this draft is done I'll do what I hope is a lighter editing pass and do my own cutting and cleaning.  Then I'll hand it to my Alpha Readers and see what they say, and possibly cut some more (please don't make me add more!).  Then we'll see.

You always hear about writers getting writers block, what about writers that have the opposite problem?

- Grimm

P.S. Hook Line and Sinker's submission windows may be closed, but it's still making for some fascinating reading.  I'm learning a great deal from other people's pitches and the comments that are coming out of them.  You should check it all out on the respective blogs that are involved: Kat Ellis (@el_kat) is covering YA, Fizzygrrl (@fizzygrrl) is covering Adult, and Dee (@writeforapples) is covering MG.

Elevator Pitch and Outline Complete! (again)

Interesting things are afoot!

You may have noticed a new big button at the right hand side of the blog for HLandS, which is a competition for writers and their "Hook".  What I've heard some people refer to as an "Elevator Pitch". In other words, you need to pitch your story in thirty seconds (or sixty words) or less, i.e. the time it takes to ride a few floors on an elevator with that agent or editor you've just stalked for months... er, I mean, that you've run into by some miraculous coincidence!

Well, I've submitted my pitch to be critiqued over at Kat Ellis' Blog, and to be quite frank, I'm nervous as a doormouse under the couch of a crazy cat lady.  It's the first time I've let even a sniff of the actual content of my story past a very small circle of friends and family.  What if it's boring?  What if it's been done before?  What if...

Wait a damnable minute, I'm aspiring to be a writer, and I can't afford to back myself into a corner like that or I'll never get any work done!  Of course it's not boring! I'm writing it! So what if it's been done before?  I'm doing it better, with cooler, more lifelike characters!  And I'll use as many exclamation points in a single paragraph as I please!!!!

Right, got that off my chest.  I'll keep you posted on how it goes.  Oh, right, I guess I should put the pitch here too.  Keep in mind, this is a work in progress (not just the pitch, but the book too). 

Some one's killing Lenmar's most powerful noblewomen.  Flynn, a young and talented thief, is the prime suspect.  He's also the best chance Asher, the Captain of the Queen's guard, has to find the killer.  He just has to convince her. To do that, he needs to pull one last high-stakes job.

It likely needs a lot of work, but seeing as I just threw it together in about twenty minutes after seeing Kat Ellis put the call out on Twitter, it'll give me a good idea of how I'm doing in the sales department of my brain.

I've just wrapped up the Revision 2 Outline changes and finished rebuilding the Third Act.  I'm quite pleased with the results, though we'll see what holes crop up as I actually go about actually writing the book.  I'll be filling those in as I go and cleaning the whole thing up with a third Revision before I'm even remotely satisfied.  Then we'll see.


I should be able to "finish" with the Character arc I'm on now in the next few weeks, then it's on to the next Character and building out their voice.  That should be interesting, seeing as my other two viewpoint characters are women.

Once I start filling in the other Characters things will pick up for the Alpha Readers, as I'll have something a little more cohesive to pass out.

I don't have a word count update for the page at the moment, since that's words written on the book, but I've added another ~3000 words to the outline tonight.  Tomorrow I'll push that word count as much as I can, but I may head out to catch Looper earlier in the evening so it might not be as high as a full-on writing evening, which I admittedly don't get many of.

- Grimm

Coming along nicely, nicely, nicely, whoops!

I've wrapped up a few chapters in the last two nights.  As I closed off this last one I realized that my outline from here on isn't anywhere near as detailed as it was leading up to this point until I get to the finale.  The balance of time between the viewpoint characters is terribly lopsided, and I have a LOT (and I really mean a LOT) of the Third Act to flesh out.

About that.  The Three Act Structure, it's a common theme used in movies and books, and generally iterates between separate levels of story.  In a trilogy, that pinnacle of modern story-telling you end up with a Twelve Act Structure.  Look, it works, follow me on the math here:

Book 1 = 3 Acts.  Book 2 = 3 Acts.  Book 3 = 3 Acts.  Therefore Book 1 + Book 2 + Book 3 = 9 Acts correct?

Now consider that there's a larger structure.  Book 1 = Act 1, Book 2 = Act 2, Book 3 = Act 3.  Those Three Acts added onto the previous Nine gives you a Twelve Act structure.

Alright, now that I'm done boosting word count on my blog with pointless mathematics, here's my take on the Three Act Structure.

Act 1:  The Setup (A New Hope).  This is where you set the overall stage.  You can build characters backgrounds and competence and set the overall story up.  They may even try to resolve the main problem, but they will fail, which leads into...

Act 2: Where Everything Goes to 11 (Empire Strikes Back).  This is where you ramp up the tension and start picking up steam.  Your characters start learning some lessons, picking themselves up off the floor a bit and making some progress only to have it all come crashing down at the end and driving straight into...

Act 3: The Ceiling Comes In (Return of the Jedi).  This is the final Act, the crescendo if you will.  This is where everything goes catastrophically wrong and forces the characters to take the initiative and go beyond.  If your characters have been passive up until this point, this is where the rubber meets the road, and just about any other metaphor you can throw out there for that ultimate last push that wins the day.

To summarize, I think Howard Taylor said it best on Writing Excuses:
Act 1: Chase the heroes up the tree.
Act 2: Throw stones at them.
Act 3: Cut down the tree.

So, I need to flesh out my outline for the Third Act as it was the part most devastated by this revision.  I spent about an hour getting started on that this evening.  My mindmap has enough cross-node links on it at this point that it's starting to resemble a fractal.  I can only hope I'm not tearing any new holes in my plot that I'll have to clean up in the next pass.  I'm sure I'll let you know!

Alpha Readers:  I don't have anything too new for you just yet.  I want to finish this run on the main viewpoint character then I'll make some selections for you all to go over that won't give too much away just yet.  I have a choice scene in mind right now that I think you'll either enjoy or roll your eyes at.

- Grimm

About that Character Building

Yeah, so normally if a scene doesn't have action or something "cool" going on, I find it feels a lot like work to get it done.  That scene I've been working on, the Character scene, would generally fit that bill perfectly.

Somehow it didn't, and I got seriously carried away.  So carried away in fact that it ended up doing TOO much all at once and moved certain relationships further along at far too early a point in the plot.  Not to mention that it ended up six times the average length of a chapter so far O.o

It's supposed to be taboo to edit before you're done writing, but anyone who's followed or read back in this blog will know that I do so regularly (though admittedly far less now than I used to).  Despite that, I got the scissors out and excised some of the character building chapter for re-use later and cleaned up a bit more of it, ensuring that one of the characters would act more in line with where their arc would be at that point.  This writing thing can be hard when you get carried away.

I spent a fair bit of my writing time this evening cleaning up and closing gaps in the outline, fleshing out some of the side story and side characters so they wouldn't feel too flat.  I think that part of it is coming along nicely.  However, I'm trying to keep the number of main viewpoint characters to 3 (because I am most definitely NOT George R. R. Martin) and parts of my outline weren't reflecting that very clearly.  That's been tidied up and will no longer be a problem.

The Word Counter is being kept up to date even on days where I don't update my blog.  I'm still trying to write every day, even if it's just touching up the Outline or squeezing in a few paragraphs or minor thought tangents between meetings at work.

While I'm currently not banging out 2K words a day, I am forever creeping forward.

- Grimm

Dredd

Saw Dredd tonight, so I haven't gotten a whole lot of writing done.  Still working on that character building scene.  I'm trying to make sure it stays clean and fluid while still doing it's job, it may take a few good hard edits to make it right, but it's getting written.

As for Dredd.  Now this is the Judge Dredd movie I've been waiting for!  Not that I was explicitly waiting for a Judge Dredd movie after the Stallone mess, after that I would have been happy if Hollywood never touched the property again.  This Judge Dredd movie?  I'll take a few more thanks!

Karl Urban knows Judge Dredd, you can tell by his delivery of the character and the insistance that he keeps the helmet on throughout.  He plays on Dredd's one note, black and white moral code perfectly.  There is no middle ground, there is no room for negotiations, or plea bargains, or mercy.  There is right, and wrong, and if you're in the wrong, you get served justice.  It was perfectly in line with what the comic book Dredd was when he was at his best.

The movie is gritty, gory, a little melodramatic, and has just the right amount of good cheese (and not of the "groan" Rob Schneider variety either).  No one phoned in a performance, and no one overacted, which was a HUGE problem with the Stallone version.

Best of all, they did what so many said they couldn't: They pulled off the sheer scale of Mega City One.  Every exterior shot brought the point home that this was a sprawling hot mess of an ultra-megalopolis (take that Sim City!).

I would happily pay to see a sequel.

Anyway, tomorrow should be a good writing night.  I've updated my word count with what I did tonight (about 800 words give or take).

- Grimm

Progress Report

This is just a super-quick blog update (I hope).

I'm writing another "Character Building" scene, which are generally very tough for me as they don't tend to feel as "active" as other scenes.  This one however is coming along quite well, so far I'm pretty happy with it.

I've had a few people ask for an actual progress report, or to put up a percentage meter on the site so they'd know how far along I am in this endeavour.  Well, simply put, I can't as  I really don't know how far along I am in the overall scheme of things.

Here's what I can tell you:

I'm on my second revision, which is largely a rewrite to fix some major plot and character issues.  I'm doing it a viewpoint character at a time, of which there are three.  I'm about halfway through the first character.  So, you could say I'm about 1/6th of the way through this revision.  I'm also 100 pages in, you could say it that way too.

What I can put up is a word count bar, and I have, it'll only be representative of the current revision.  I'll try to keep it updated.

That will have to do for now since I can't tell you how many revisions it will take.  Once I've gone through this process and have a better idea of what my process is and how many revisions I take, I'll be able to switch over to the much less informative, but more comforting percentage model.

 - Grimm

Character Building and Real Life

I'm writing in the Third Person Limited format, which means my writing viewpoint is limited to a single person at a time and has selective access to their thoughts and feelings (meaning I can intentionally not reveal certain thoughts, allowing for surprises from viewpoint characters).  One thing I shouldn't leave out is how they feel and react to things, that's one of the strengths of the medium over film, getting inside a character's head.

I draw a lot of my characters actions and reactions from real life, drawing on my own experiences and those of my children, wife, and friends.

For years I've watched people (not peeping, just watching, in public, it's not creepy damn you!).  I like to see how they react to certain things.  It probably explains my off-kilter sense of humour, I get just as much enjoyment out of a person groaning or looking oddly bewildered as I do from a deep belly-laugh.

I think the creative process for characters and their reactions has to go beyond that though, well into the realm of imagination.  I can't have one of my friends or family commit crimes, or kill someone to get a better understanding of my villains (or protagonist, could be the protagonist).  I can't do it myself either, though there are times where I'm sure prison would provide enough of a quiet writing environment that I might actually finish this book.

So I dig into the realm of my imagination, and use my observations of myself and other people as a baseline to measure against.  It'll tell me whether a character feels "real" or not.

As for the creation of the characters themselves?


I create a template for a character in mind-map format.  I describe their physical appearance (male/female, young/old, athletic/...not so athletic, hair/eye colour etc.) and I throw in a paragraph about their personality.

E.g.
This character is emotionally stolid and by the books with a black and white view of right and wrong.  They wouldn't tell a lie to get their own tail out of the fire... and so on, though usually not so blah as that.

It helps to give them a flaw or two as well.  It doesn't have to be something like "colourblind" or "sucks at math" or "has a raging temper".  In the above example the "black and white view of right and wrong" can be a flaw (quite easily) when played right.

After I'm done that character introduction and getting a feel for if they work, I like to have a sense of where they're going through the story, what's their intended path of growth.  Does the character learn to be more or less flexible?  Do they learn to tolerate faults in others?  Do the learn to tolerate faults in themselves? and so on.

I've found one of the best ways to get to know a character is to whip them up, then throw them into a situation to see how they deal with it.  If it's a life or death situation and I find myself cheating so that they live I have one of three options:

1) Let them die (sometimes not preferable).

2) Don't put them in that situation (sometimes not possible).

3) Fix the character so they have a some way of getting out of it that isn't cheating (or just let them die).

Once I'm done with my experimentation, I sometimes have a character that needs a story.  Often through the writing of that story (such as BookB right now) I find the character I start with is a lot more realized and "whole" feeling by the time I finish the first draft.  Which means they may not fit the original character creation or arc, and the character I have coming out at the end of the book couldn't possibly have been the same character that I started writing the book with. 

The solution to that problem?  Revision.

Go back, re-write and revise until I have a full, cohesive character arc, that fits the story, is believable (at least on the emotional level), and that evokes genuine emotion from the reader.

I've yet to achieve a character of that level, as I'm still revising my first full length book (and it's getting longer by the day).  Hopefully when I'm done some of you will be able to hold me to this and let me know if I pulled it off.

- Grimm