Bringing
Your Characters to Life
If you’re an
author, you hope to create memorable characters who will help your story come
alive and captivate your readers. Most
authors get to know their characters inside and out before they even begin a
book, but how do they reveal their characters to the reader so that the reader
understands the character too?
First, we
learn about characters through their speech.
What do you learn about Fred Emerson in this excerpt from A New Dream?
“Who
brought you home?” demanded her father, Fred Emerson. “Where’s your car?”
“Alternator
failure. It’s in the parking lot at work. The new manager, Matt McCallum,
brought me home.” Violet hugged her mother Beth and her sister Jessie who both
had a big pile of beans in front of them.
“You
could have called me,” her father insisted.
Violet
hung her purse on the coat rack near the door. “I knew you were busy with the
garden stuff, Daddy. He offered, and I didn’t see any reason to turn him down.”
Fred
snapped a bean with more vigor than necessary. “McCallum acted like a gentleman,
I hope. Some of those pro-ball players don’t behave too well.”
Violet
frowned. “He was a perfect gentleman, Daddy.”
“Good.”
Fred tossed a handful of beans into a dishpan.
“He’d better continue to be. I won’t tolerate anybody messing with my
daughters. I don’t know what the world’s coming to these days.”
Right off the bat we know that Fred is an
old-fashioned, maybe overly protective father.
We also learn about characters from their
appearance. What do you learn about my
bad girl Stacey? She’s also from A New
Dream.
Her
style hadn’t changed much since she ran out on him. She still dressed to attract
attention, and judging from the expression on several nearby male faces, she
hadn’t lost her touch. She was wearing a short skirt, knee boots, and a sweater
that was probably half a size too small. She looked as chic, expensive, and
sexy as she ever had, but the sultry, come-hither look he’d always loved didn’t do much for him
now.
So, Stacey’s an extrovert,
sexy, likes men, and probably uses her looks to get what she wants. We also learn that when the going got tough,
Stacey ran out on my hero.
A character’s private
thoughts also tell us what he/she is like.
What do you find out about my New Dream hero Matt McCallum? Matt was a pro-football player who lost his
career when he lost a leg in an accident.
He
had worked like a dog on that leg, but he still limped, and it felt like knives
stabbed him with every step he took. His career was over, and he had lost almost
everything he had loved and valued. Yeah, he felt drained.
Nevertheless,
he always kept such dark thought to himself. God forbid he should invite
anyone’s pity! He’d rather be dead first.
We
see that Matt is depressed over the changes in his life. We also see that he’s a proud man who doesn’t
want anyone’s pity.
We
also learn about characters from the way others see him and react to him. In this excerpt, my New Dream hero told my
heroine that he won’t leave her porch until she talks to him even though the
weather is icy and bitter cold.
Dinnertime
came and went, and Matt still sat on the porch.
“I’m going to take him something to eat,” Beth declared. “He has to be
starving.”
Violet
guessed her mother was right. Matt had once told her that the effort of walking
with a prosthesis burned additional calories, but the picture of Stacey etched
in her brain hardened her heart. “He isn’t your problem, Mother. Leave him
alone.”
Nerves
on edge, Violet started to cry, and when she did Beth tackled Fred. “Fred
Emerson, you do something right now! I’m not having it on my conscience if that
young man freezes to death on my front porch, especially since I believe he’s
telling the truth.”
“Mother!
I thought you were on my side!”
Fred
pounced on her statement like a cat on a catnip mouse. “I knew it! You’ve always liked him.”
“Well,
you do something, and I mean now!”
Don’t you think it says a
lot about Matt’s character that my heroine’s mother believes he’s innocent of
betraying her with another woman?
A character’s actions will
reveal a lot about them too. What do you
think this excerpt says about Matt?
Matt
patted old Mrs. Watson on the arm. “I’m sorry for the confusion, ma’am.”
Bristling
with indignation, the woman nodded her head.
“See to it that it doesn’t happen again.”
As
she stalked away, the red-faced
cashier blurted out. “I wasn’t wrong.”
“I
know it, but she’s old. Make a note of the amount, and I’ll put it in the
register.” He winked at the cashier who no longer looked upset.
He
smiled when he turned around and saw Sam Dickson watching him. “Coffee in my
office?”
“Well,
we aren’t going to drink it in the produce section are we?” Sam quipped.
If you're interested in A New Dream, you can get it at http://www.amazon.com/Rest-Thy-Head-Elaine-Cantrell-ebook/dp/B00NTAXTOC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1439259054&sr=8-1&keywords=rest+thy+head
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