Last week, I spoke of different approaches in writing, both in "blank paging" vs. "outlining" as well as how much details of the characters the author allows the reader to decide on. But let me pose a question here - is "blank paging" more of structuring the story through the characters, what they believe, what they're struggling with, and how they respond?
One thing that's true is sometimes the characters can be mutinous when you're writing. Maybe they don't want to say the words your putting in their mouth or they'd do things something different. I've heard authors mention that happen.
Mark White in a contribution to Spiderman and Philosophy: The Web of Inquiry, he mentions the "One More Day" storyline where Aunt May is dying, and Peter Parker (aka Spiderman) makes a deal with Mephisto (Marvel's counterpart to The Devil) that she will live on the condition that history is rewritten and Parker's marriage to Mary Jane Watson never existed.
White mentions that story-line didn't sit well with the fans, and for good reason. Who in their right mind would suppose Peter Parker would make a deal with the devil? That's completely out of character for him!
Last week, I mentioned that mystery writers tend to be outliners. But that's not how I wrote my mystery. I did have a schedule of events that formed the skeleton of the plot, but I had no idea until halfway through the writing who the murderer was. And then it hit me.
One reason? I had a detailed sheet for each character. It helps me remember details such as how many children they have and their ages. But I also found that the more detail I gave to the character, the more they help you write the plot.
I know, I know. I sound like an expert when I'm not a published author yet. But I'll tell you what I'm putting my characters through for my next story so I have more rounded characters. I'll leave out what you'd expect (e.g. appearance, marital status and history, favorite foods and sports).
- Myers-Briggs Personality Test. This was not an original idea - I attended a writer's conference several years ago where the teacher mentioned this to determine which of 16 personalities each character has. Why not?
- T-Shirts, Bumper Stickers, Refrigerator Magnets, and the Like. That idea came to me when I noticed a couple of T-shirts people wore and what it revealed about the people. In fact, years ago I wrote a blog on it titled "Ye Shall Know Them By Their T-Shirts" - I put a link to it. Jill Williamson has a character in her Mission League series who has an awesome T-shirt collection.
- Term papers, Seminars, and Items They've Written. Many of my characters from my mystery are published authors. Papers they wrote and workshops they attended will tell you about their interests and areas where they have some expertise.
- "The World's Smallest Political Quiz." This is a ten question quiz which determines not only how they fit on the conservative/liberal continuum, but if they are more Libertarian or Statist. If you want to see that test, you can click here.
If the characters are Christian, I have a couple more tests for them to take.
- A Spiritual Gifts Questionaire. I'm not sure which one I'd use, but the point is if they're a Christian, they'll have a Spiritual Gift, and that might affect their approach to life as well. In the previously mentioned series, Jill Williamson had the spiritual gifts of the characters show up in the plot.
- The Spiritual Temperment Test in Sacred Pathways by Gary Thomas. The author lists nine spiritual temperments. My characters will have these as well.
Sounds like a lot of work, doesn't it? But of course, I don't have to include all the information for each character in the book.
Are there any characters in a story you've read that stand out, and would character charts be a key in their standing out?
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