On Characters

I’ve been thinking a lot about characters lately, those I love in literature and my own, and asking myself how I can improve my characterization process. When writing new stories, I always work backward: the characters come first, just ideas, snapshots, and I add meat and backstory, scars and mental triggers, and then the story grows on them like some kind of plot fungus or something. This process is pretty organic and very hard for me to nail down – explaining ideas, even in my own mind, seems to take some of the fun out of them – but in the interest of growing as a writer, I want to try and better understand my thought process.

While I work on Lightning and Breaking, I’m thinking ahead to my next story. Borderline obsession with a song has generated two new characters who I’m growing quite fond of, and when I tentatively shared them with my mom (because you don’t just throw ideas at just anyone) a look came across her face that told me, “you don’t usually write about that sort of thing.” And I don’t, but that’s why it’s really appealing to me.

I think every author puts a piece – even just a tiny little piece – of him- or herself in each character: it’s how we relate to them as humans, after all, how we get inside their heads. But because my characters are not replicas of me, it enables me to explore desires, hopes, beliefs and mindsets I may never get to experience: it’s a little mental vacation. As a reader, I don’t have to be just like the protagonist in order to identify with or like him or her. But this character has to be inherently human in his or her vulnerabilities. They have to be relatable. Their logic has to be just that: logical, and their emotions have to make sense. Even if the character is not anyone I’d want to meet in real life, I have to believe that, yes, this isn’t a trope or piece of cardboard, but a real person, ready to climb out of the pages.

I appreciate this same level of reality between characters. I love romances that go beyond surface attraction. Whether it’s weird and complex, weighs on the poor characters, or built on strong friendship, I like to feel that I’ve read about a worthwhile pairing. Romps can be fun, but romps don’t inspire me and don’t encourage me to shove a book in someone’s hands and demand she read it.

It might be fun to write up some character analysis posts. Okay, no “might” about it. I’ll have to think on it.