Often as new or young writers, we want our heroes to be larger than life. We want them to come in and save the day like a knight on a white horse. But we have to remember that behind every hero is a story of trials, temptation, and perhaps suffering.

A too-perfect hero becomes a piece of cardboard to the reader.

Think of Spiderman. He is a great example of a flawed hero. He’s not really very confident. He’s kind of a weakling at the beginning. A geek. Not what you’d consider hero material. But that’s what brings his hero-self to life as the story progresses and what makes us really, really love this guy.

How about the Count of Monte Cristo, one of my faves? I root for this guy because of all that’s happened to him, all the pain and horrors he’s suffered. But he’s a bitter soul. He’s vengeful. Those are major flaws. He can’t have real victory over all that’s happened and regain the love and peace that once was his until he learns to forgive.

So what makes a hero? Is it that they put themselves in the way of risk or danger for the sake of someone else? Is it that they are leaders? Is it their intelligence and sophistication?

Or is it that they develop these attributes despite, or because of, their hang-ups, unresolved issues, suffering, temptations, and everything else that tends to hold people back?

Exercise:

• Pick your favorite book hero and examine what makes them flawed on the inside and out. In other words, what are their inner and outer obstacles? How do they overcome them to become heroic?

• Take a look at your own character hero. Is he as imperfect as he should be? What angst does he struggle with? What causes him to reel on the inside?

Read, read, read! Reading builds your writing skills in powerful and sometimes subtle ways. You begin to pick up on the rhythm of good writing by expanding your sense of pacing, beats in dialogue, chapter endings or beginnings, and so on. Your vocabulary grows with more powerful verb choices. You discover areas of interest you yourself might like to write about someday. There are hosts of other ways reading can improve your writing, and over time you’ll figure them out.

Then, since you are reading good books, do this: become a book reviewer. Learn the art of writing book reviews. This will not only get you some good, and often free, material for reading, but it will make you really focus on what made the book work — or not.

On my blog, Write Reason, I have a section heading I call my Book Exams. These are books that I review for the casual and discerning reader. Then, strictly for the benefit of writers, I go one step farther by pointing out what writing skills or techniques we can learn from that particular author. Perhaps the author was very good at character development. I tell why. Perhaps they were really, really good at “world building”. I point out how. Maybe they had a simple yet beautiful way of writing prose.

Anyway, if I like a book, doing an “exam” causes me to look closer at the whys. By writing the review, I expand another aspect of my writing ability.

Exercises:

• Visit authors’ web sites and blogs. Many of them, and I do mean MANY, offer the chance to win free books in drawings. I can’t tell you how many books I’ve won through blog drawings. It’s a great way to build your library.

• Make friends with authors. They love to hear from you. New authors, especially, and those from smaller, lesser known publishing houses, are looking for ways to get word of their book out. Many have copies to distribute for review. You, of course, would have to follow through and do the review.

• Start a blog. You can start a blog for free. There are many places – Blogger, WordPress, or others. Or, if you are on Facebook, you can post book reviews in your “notes” section.  Go to your library or grab some books off your shelf, roll up your sleeves, and start writing reviews. After a while, when you’ve written enough of them, and perhaps even developed a small following, more authors or publishers will be willing to send you their books.

• And homeschoolers, your parents might consider letting you write book reviews as part of your language arts program. Wouldn’t that rock?

1. POV slips

Nothing bothers me quite so much as hopping from one person’s head to another in the same scene. Just when I think I’m in Jane’s head, seeing the world through her eyes—bam. The writer jumps to Billy’s head, and that changes everything. Billy thinks differently from Jane about the weather, the people, the emotions—everything really. It’s okay to have multiple points of view when writing in third person, but stick to one person per scene. In my opinion, head-hopping keeps the reader from getting emotionally involved in the scene.

2. Being verbs

When writers pile on the being verbs, they rob their prose of it’s most vibrant element. Let me clarify—just in case someone’s wondering—the verbs I’m talking about. (Am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been.) These static verbs don’t do anything. They just sit there. If you rework your sentences, most of the time you can replace these weak verbs with vivid action words. Simple example: There was an oak tree in the yard. (Weak.) An oak tree shaded the lawn. (Stronger.)

3. Too many adverbs

I remember one story I read that had an –ly adverb in almost every sentence. Everything went sweetly, quickly, softly, and nauseatingly along. Instead of walked swiftly, try rushed, hurried, or scrambled. Go on an –ly hunt and consider every one guilty until you rid your prose of these bland thieves. After you’ve learned to write without them, you may find a time to work one or two necessary ones back into your writing.

4. Labeling with adjectives instead of word painting

Sometimes we label the things we want to describe instead of taking the time to use an artist’s eye to paint them. We write about a “beautiful sunset” or “ugly frog”.  Instead of using the labels of “beautiful” and “ugly”, take the time to observe unique details—even if it’s in your imagination. Maybe the sunset isn’t so beautiful. On a day when everything’s gone wrong for your hero, maybe the sun bleeds it’s orange rays across the sky. Look for the flaw in something beautiful or a redeeming quality in something ugly. You just might come up with a sentence we all wish we’d written!

5. Filtering through the consciousness of a character

This concept might sound hard to understand, but a few examples will clear it up. Avoid phrases such as: he thought, noticed, wondered, realized, noted, considered, realized, etc. Here’s an example: “He noticed a mockingbird entertaining the neighborhood from its perch in a tree.” Remove the filter and move deeper into his point of view. “A mockingbird entertained the neighborhood from its perch in a tree.” If you’ve stayed true to No. 1 above, we’ll know that he noticed it, and we’ll feel more like we’re in his skin.

6. Lack of inner journey character arc

Some stories I’ve read have a great outer journey for the character with a tangible goal and a compelling motivation, but the inner journey of the character is lacking. Jeff Gerke, quthor of How To Find Your Story, goes so far as to say the story is really 75% about the inner journey. Also, know your character’s inner goal and motivation. If you think about it, even all the animated movies have an inner journey. Think about Shrek. We see what’s going on inside him, and that’s why we care about whether or not he succeeds.

7. Episodic writing

In episodic writing, lots of things happen to the hero, but he just goes through his day reacting to everything. Usually in these stories the character’s goal is weak so he doesn’t have anything that he must achieve, or maybe the stakes aren’t high enough. So what if he doesn’t get it? If the character has a strong goal and the stakes are high, he’ll take steps to reach the goal and won’t wait around for something to happen.

8. Lack of motivation for characters

Most of the time your heroes and heroines can do just about anything—as long as they have a strong motivation. If they don’t have a proper motivation for what they do, they will appear too stupid to live. Why does your hero want that? Why will he go to the extreme to get it?

9. Characters who are too perfect

Yuck. I don’t care to spend hours and hours reading about perfect people. As my friend Shelly Dippel says, “They’re too good for earth. Send ‘em on to heaven!” What flaws do your characters have? What lies do they believe? What mistakes do they make? What hot buttons do they have? Do they sometimes mouth-off when they should keep silent? And while we’re at it, give your villains depth by bestowing upon them a couple of good qualities.

10. Going overboard

Sometimes when I teach a new concept, I find that my students get so enthused about it that they go overboard. I teach about metaphors, and the next chapter has so many metaphors that the good ones are hidden among the mediocre ones. Or I teach about using vivid verbs, and the student writes a twisted sentence just to avoid a being verb. Use common sense, and don’t take any of these tips to the extreme!

Exercise:

Go over a scene that you’ve written and see if you can find any of these things that weaken your story. Rewrite!

Last month we talked about every writer having a place to write that helps to put them in a writing frame of mind. But say you’ve already got a place to write. You’ve even got the time to write. Still, maybe, you’ve been making excuses. Maybe you just can’t seem to put your seat on the chair and start putting words down. Or maybe the words just aren’t there.

I have a great idea for a book. I’m going to write it. But I have to admit, even though the idea has been lurking in my mind for two years, I’m having a hard time forming the opening and getting into gear to write it down. In fact, I’m writing just about everything but that book!

But I know that eventually it will happen, and I can help to make it happen, just by doing a few things to get my inspirational juices flowing.

First I’m going to start exploring some books for research. I’ll probably find tons more information than I can or even want to use. But reading about, say — railroads — will spur on some ideas. I just know it will.

Then I’ll start brainstorming some thoughts in a notebook. Most of them I’ll probably chuck later, but it’ll help get things moving forward.

Of course I’ll pray a lot! I’ll ask God to give me some ideas and themes that would be important to include. Whatever else I’m reading or listening to, whether it’s my devotions, a magazine article, a sermon, or whatever, I’ll be keeping myself tuned in to those themes God might be waiting to show me.

I’ll read books like the one I want to write. Not the same stories, of course. Just books written by authors who lean toward my voice and style. Coinciding with that, I’ll read some books about writing. No matter how far you go as a writer, you never stop learning. Reading what other writers say about writing is not only educational, but inspirational as well.

I’ll also journal. I’ll complain. I’ll mope. I’ll put all my twaddle in my journal. I’ll write written prayers there, too.

Ultimately, I’ll put down an opening paragraph, then another and another. I know that even if it stinks, it’ll at least get me moving forward. I can change the beginning later, after my characters and I get to know each other better.

Which reminds me–I’ll sometimes write a journal page in a character’s voice, or I’ll fill out pages telling all about them, their personalities, their likes and dislikes, their dreams and ambitions, their fears — everything.

Those are some of the things I do to get motivated. I don’t always do all of them. It depends on how stuck I am.

Exercise: Find ways to loosen your story. Here are some more techniques to try:

• Take a walk, a bubble bath, a bike ride. Pray and think about the story. Brainstorm with God, if you will. And while you’re at it, talk to yourself too. Convince yourself that you have to do this!
• Jot down all the ideas you have so far, even if they are unclear. Write out a scene that you can see, no matter where it is in the story. It’ll clear some of the mud out of your brain and you’ll start to get excited.
• Talk to someone about your story idea and ask for their ideas. Maybe they’ll inspire you with something.
• Read a story similar to what you like. Imagine how you’d have written it. Copy some pages that you really liked. See if that doesn’t help draw out your “voice”.
• If you’re writing about some other place or period of history than that in which you live, do a little research. It’s amazing the things you’ll discover that will make you say, “Cool!” and will spark your creative energy.
• Set aside a period of time, just one, for maybe an hour or two, that you are going to dedicate to writing. It’s so easy to let other things steal your time. You have to be willing to schedule writing in sometimes. Make a deal with yourself that this particular time or date is non-negotiable.
• Akin to the last technique is to set yourself a word count goal: “I am going to sit here and write until I have 1000 words written, no matter what. Even if they stink.” Don’t walk away and do something else until you’ve reached your goal.

To write a character-driven novel, the writer must understand what makes people, in general, and characters, uniquely, behave as they do.

Before I start a new project, I know my character as I might know a friend. I’ve filled out character questionnaires and studied their personality type. I’ve interviewed them, have visual images of them, and often hear them speaking in my head. No, I’m not crazy because my characters talk to me. I know them well enough to anticipate how a conversation might flow and how they might react in a certain setting or circumstance. I’ve done my research.

Many tools are available to help you create realistic characters.

• We can study books written about developing characters.
• We find help on the Internet and via personality tests. Some authors use the Myers-Briggs personality test to decide how a character might respond. Another psychological formula is the Enneagram of personality. I’m sure you could find others with a web search. These types of tests dig deep into the reactions and actions of people based on their emotional traits. They also help to show how characters will interact with each other.
• Some authors share their tools for character development. I use some of author Kathy Carmichael’s website tools to assist with novel and character development. Colleen Coble handed out lists of character traits and questions for character interviews at a writers’ conference and granted me permission to use them for teaching. I appreciate their assistance.

Dig into the sources you find. Use a wide range of tools to create unforgettable characters and story worlds.

Keep a file folder or create a computer file where you can save forms or articles you’ve found helpful. Bookmark websites you may want to return to. If your computer features My Notebook or OneNote, explore ways to use those features to keep track of research notes.

Whether you write historical, contemporary, or sci-fi, you’ll need to study your characters to make them complex and believable.

Exercise:

• Start a file of information on one or more characters that interest you.
• As you become acquainted with your character, imagine how they would talk. How do their voice, dialect, or speech patterns reveal their personality?
• Select two characters with very different personalities or cultures. In your mind, throw them into the same situation. How do their differences show in their reactions?

One of my books is set in a resort town with an old church and a cozily furnished bed-and-breakfast with a different quilt pattern theme in every room. I combed through Internet sites and magazines for ideas. In my fictional story world, there might be a woodland scene from a photo I took, a fireplace I found on the web, or a kitchen from a magazine. I piece images together to create the world I want the reader to see. This type of research adds depth and details to your setting.

The hero in my current story is a kayaker who works as a river rafting guide. I visited a location where I could take pictures of kayakers and the river rapids then posted my photos on a bulletin board beside my computer. They are a visual reminder as I create the setting of my story. Now, when I write a river scene, I’ll try to repaint those pictures with words.

At times, it may help to interview real people to learn about the times or places they’ve lived or the work they do. Most people are happy to answer your questions. Be sure to thank them and give credit for their assistance when you publish the novel.

Exercise:

• Collect pictures of people from magazines and keep them in a folder or computer file. Use them to decide on hair color, facial shapes, and other distinguishing physical features.
• Keep photos of various places and props—mountains, beaches, woodlands, lakes, seascapes, houses, furniture, or any item that might fit with a writing theme you have in your head.
• Write a scene using pictures from your collection. Place one of the people into one of the locations.
• Use dialogue or actions to show their response to where they are and what they are doing.
• Don’t forget to include other sensory elements (sounds, smells) and emotional clues.