Have you ever?
Have you ever picked up a book only to put it down after reading just a few chapters? Or, having finished a book, have you felt completely unsatisfied, as if the book failed you in some way? Someone told me once that probably the main reason we delve into a work of fiction is to escape. What I’ve found is that, while a book can be filled with exotic settings or fast-paced action, it can still feel “flat” to me. When I put some thought into it, I realized that the main reason the book felt “flat” to me was because I didn’t care about the main characters. I felt no sense of empathy for them. I found no reason to cheer them on. I didn’t like or dislike them. I simply didn’t care about them – or what happened to them. In short, I felt nothing. Surely, I can’t be the only one whose had this experience.
Which One Are You?
I’ve said before that, until the last two years or so I was what’s known as a “pantser” versus a “plotter” This simply means that my preferred method of writing was to just sit down and write, letting the story go where it wanted to. Okay, so deciding on just what type of writer I thought I am seemed hard enough. But there was another question out there in the writer’s world that I had given little thought to: am I a plot-first or a character-first novelist? (insert the “a heavy sigh escaped her lips unnoticed” here)
Does it Really Matter?
I had to spend some time creating character sketches for my main characters during my MFA program. This included using some personality tests and other materials. It was fun, but in all honesty, I didn’t think much about the whole process. Here’s a quick look at what I had when I sat down to write Light of Grace:
-I had my story idea, which was 100% inspired by the song, “Tell Your Heart to Beat Again” by Danny Gokey.
– I had my plot outline. I used the three-act structure for this and it worked pretty well.
-and I knew where I wanted my main character to be at the end, and that an encounter with Grace Wilkes would help get her to that place. What else did I need, right?
When I received the following feedback from a contest judge I’d entered the novel in, I felt quite a sense of accomplishment:
“This book is exemplary in character appeal (or interest) and development. All main characters (including antagonists) are unique and fully fleshed out with compelling, layered motivations and traits. Secondary characters are unique and have a meaningful purpose.”
Judge, 32nd Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards
I’m convinced now that it was only by the grace of God that my character development came together as well as it did.
Food for Thought
I’m now in the process of writing my second novel, “More than Promises.” While I don’t really consider it a sequel to Light of Grace, it does navigate through the life of Lilly Wilkes, the daughter of the two main characters in my previous book. I sat down with an idea inspired by a song – “Broken Together” by Casting Crowns, a very rough plot outline (and I mean rough), and the general idea of how I want the story to end – where I want my main character to be when I write those last words. Sounds familiar, right?
I’m going to say here that the Lord was watching me and He knew that I was likely to wander off track with this one, so He arranged for one of my reference books to practically jump off the shelf into my hands one day. I dropped the book on the table next to my computer, figuring I’d look through it eventually. Well…when “eventually” came, the book just “happened” to fall open to Chapter 10, which is entitled “Create Interesting Characters Who Don’t All Sound Like You” (Gerke 46). Okay – I did a quick reality check and determined that my characters didn’t all sound like me. I mean, just the fact that Sara Jacobs (main character in Light of Grace) was a confident, highly skilled heart surgeon made her different enough from me. She had goals and was living the life of her dreams (again…not like me). All was well.
I proceeded to analyze Lilly Wilkes and could also see that she didn’t sound like me. But, as I scanned the next page of the above-mentioned book, I read this eye-opening couple of sentences: “In a plot-first novelist’s book, the characters almost always sound the same, act the same, and seem the same. They have different attitudes or goals, but it’s more like the same person just being mad, jealous, conniving, or whatever” (Gerke 47). I couldn’t help but wonder if, while Lilly Wilkes doesn’t sound like me, does she sound like her mother – was she the same character just with different goals?
Ask Yourself
Like I said – Mr. Gerke’s words have really made me think about character development and just how important it is. With that in mind, I thought that it might be helpful to my fellow writers if we explored character development together through a short series of blog posts. I don’t consider myself an expert on the subject, so I’ll be referring to a few of the resources I think will be most helpful to all of us writers. Perhaps the best place to start is by asking yourself, “Do all of my characters sound the same (or like me)? I’d love to hear how you go about developing characters the reader loves to love (or loves to hate), so if you’ve got any suggestions, please feel free to share them!
Gerke, Jeff. the art and craft of writing Christian Fiction. F+W Media Inc. 2014
