TECH: Unforgettable Characters

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original posting 5 February 2009

Will you remember me in the morning?

Writer's Digest, February 2006, the column on Fiction Essentials by James Scott Bell, on pages 18 to 19, suggests that you add one or more of these important traits to your lead character to make a hero that everyone will remember. "Grit, Wit, and 'It'"

Bell starts out by reminding us that John Gardner pointed out that memorable characters make memorable novels. So you want to have compelling, interesting characters. Stop and think about it -- when you think about a novel, a really great story, don't you think about the person in the middle? So what makes a character unforgettable?

1. Grit. Courage in the face of challenges, threats, catastrophe. When the going gets tough... and the way that characters show grit is through action. You need to set it up, and then prove it. So early in the story, there need to be some smaller challenges -- and the character can either stand up to these or give in. Then, in the climax, that's when the character really shows true grit. "Be sure to play up your character's inner battle at the time of challenge. This will add a layer of depth to the confrontation. No one except James Bond goes into battle without fear."
2. Wit. Laughing with a character is good. Someone who provides you with sharp insights, often self deprecating. You can show your character making fun of him or herself early in the book. Or perhaps you want to take the edge off of some of the sentimentality? Characters with wit that the reader enjoys are hard to forget.
3. It. Apparently this is an oldie, that means personal magnetism. The kind of person that walks into a room and everyone looks, either in admiration or envy. So how do you build that kind of a character? Bell suggests starting with a visual image -- find the magazine picture that fits your character. Second, take them to an imaginary party. What do the other people at the party do when your character walks in? What do they say? Third, do some foreshadowing. Have a scene early in the story where someone is drawn to the main character.

So that's the suggestions. Add one or more of these characteristics to your character, and see what happens.

Exercise? How about starting with the characters that you remember from your favorite stories. What makes them unforgettable? Is it one of these three characteristics, or is it something else? Whatever it is, think about how it was shown to you in that story. Now borrow that characteristic and that method of exposing it, and translate it into your own work in progress. Think about how your main character might display that characteristic.

And write.

when you wish upon a star . . .

EXERCISE: Gimme a real romance?

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Original Posting 8 February 2009

That was romance?

Sunday, Mitsuko was flipping through the channels and stopped on "Love on Sunday." I'm not quite sure whether this is a continuing series or a special, but we tuned in just in time to see a young man stopping a young woman from jumping off the roof. Yes, she was trying to commit suicide. And he walked her home, and then stopped her from killing herself with a knife. He finally gets her to explain that her last boyfriend died in an accident, so she is trying to kill herself.

Oddly enough, they fall in love. I think I missed a couple of scenes at this point, but . . .

And now the young man discovers that he only has six months to live. Doctor tells him, and he goes into a whole set of flashbacks about the young woman and her attempted suicide, plus several flashforwards about what he wished . . . long life with her, kids, etc. But now . . . what should he do?

And he proceeds to lie to her. First, he continues the relationship, with no hint of the problem.

And then one day . . . she discovers an earring in his bed. Not hers. And proceeds to storm out of the house because of the "other woman" that he has been hiding.

He has faked the whole thing, of course. He bought the earrings just for this purpose.

Flash/cut to the man lying in a hospital bed. The doctor (or nurse?) comes in and asks if there is anything he would like. And . . .

The doctor/nurse wheels him out to the park where they always went on Sunday. Sure enough, his young female friend comes around the pond and sits down, reading a book. And the doctor/nurse says something about "Let's talk to her." He refuses. No, it is enough to see that she is healthy. And then another young man comes out and sits down beside her, handing her a drink, putting his arm around her.

And our hero smiles, happy to see that she has found another man to live her life with.

The doctor/nurse turns him around, and heads back to the hospital. Roll credits.

EEP? That was the end? Even my wife was disgusted. Neither one of us liked that one. I suppose his lying to the woman to give her a better life was supposed to be a "noble sacrifice" but we both thought it was just stupid. No resolution, just a lie?

Okay. Your assignment. Take that basic situation -- boy meets girl, they fall in love, boy finds out he is going to die in the not too distant future -- and then figure out how he, and she, should react. Should he tell her? And then . . .

So the best way to end a relationship is to pretend to have another relationship? Yowks, what fools these writers be.

sometimes stories fizzle