In a character driven novel, the writer must learn what makes the character act a certain way. By the time I start a novel, I know my character as I might [...]]]> Many of my posts this year focused on character development. In this lesson, I want to touch on research.

Get to “know” your characters through research…

In a character driven novel, the writer must learn what makes the character act a certain way. By the time I start a novel, I know my character as I might know a friend. I’ve interviewed them, filled out character question forms, studied their personality type, 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.

We can study books written about developing characters. We find help on the Internet, in other novels, 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.

If someone passes on a form or you look something up on a website, print a copy, or bookmark it on your computer. You might use it many times. I use some of author Kathy Carmichael’s website tools to assist with novel and character development. She gave me permission to pass along parts of her information as I wrote these lessons. Colleen Coble handed out lists of character traits and questions for character interviews at a writers’ conference. She granted me permission to use them for teaching. I appreciate their assistance. There are many tools available. Dig into the sources you find. Use a wide range of tools to create unforgettable characters and story worlds.

Research can also help you create realistic settings…

Sci-fi and historical stories have different worlds, but even contemporary stories come alive when the setting is vivid. You’ll need to plan and research for accuracy. Create a method of storing ideas, pictures, or information about that world and its people.

Pictures help me learn about my characters and about their story world. In my current work, the hero is a kayaker and a river rafting guide. I visited a location where I could take pictures of kayakers and the river rapids. Now, when I write a river scene, I’ll try to reproduce those pictures via words. I post the pictures on a bulletin board beside my computer so I have a visual reminder as I create a story and location.

In a previous book, I needed pictures of the town, a church, furniture inside a big house, and a quilt pattern for each bed. I combed through Internet sites and magazines for ideas. In this 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 them together to create the world I want the reader to see. This type of research adds depth and details to your location and your characters.

At times, it may help to interview real people if we need to learn about their profession or some place we want to include. This can especially be true in historical novels or in some field where you have little experience. Most people are happy to answer your questions. Be sure to thank them and give credit for their assistance when you publish the novel.

• Collect pictures of people from magazines and keep them in a folder. Use them to decide on hair color, facial shapes, voices, and the personality of your character.
• Keep photos of various places and things—mountains, beaches, woodlands, lakes, seascapes, houses, furniture, or any item that might fit with a writing theme you have in your head.

Exercise: Write a scene using a picture of a location. Show your character’s emotions in that place using what you’ve learned about showing vs. telling. Are they happy, sad, afraid, etc.? Use dialogue or show their thoughts about where they are or what they’re doing. Is the place peaceful, noisy, frightening, isolated, challenging, etc.?

…And don’t forget to visit the contest site and get started on your entry!

Imagine life without [...]]]> . . . Or Don’t Know!

When I was a teenager starting to pursue my writing passion, I was constantly bombarded with the adage: write what you know. I found this a little bit frustrating, to say the least. After all, I was about fourteen. What did I know? Very little, I’ll tell you.

Imagine life without Google. When I was starting out, there was no quick way to find out the stuff I didn’t know. I couldn’t type in the computer, “When were hand-pumps invented?” Good grief, computers? Only NASA had those things, and they took up an entire room! The World Wide Web hasn’t been around very long, but it sure has changed the way we find information.

But, still, I was told to write what I had knowledge of. I didn’t travel the world – I still don’t. I hadn’t been in any serious relationships. I knew that my youth would be smiled at when it came to big, worldly topics. What I did know was high school and camping and riding my bike and swimming in the creek by my house. My world was as small as Tom Sawyer’s.

So how was I supposed to write what I knew? How are you supposed to do that?

First of all, take a look at the small things, rather than the big ones. You don’t know first-hand about marriage and raising children or living in a 3^rd world nation – all that stuff. But you do know about some of the things that I knew about. Take those little life experiences and let them live and breathe in your writing.

If, like me, you ride your bike a lot or swim in creeks, then let your character do those things. Whatever kind of story you’re telling, let your small life experiences unfold in the story.

She couldn’t take it anymore. She flew out of the house and yanked her bike out of the garage, knocking over her brother’s fishing pole with the wheel. She didn’t care. She didn’t even stop to pick it up. She got on and pushed the pedals hard until the wobbling tire straightened out and the gravel crunching under the wheels sounded like a soft roar as she pedaled down the road.

I knew then, and I still remember years and years later, what it felt like to be mad, to take off on my bike, to try to put distance between myself and home, to hear those wheels spinning on rocks or pavement.

There are so many similar things you know that you maybe don’t think about. I write a lot of stuff set in forests. Some of it is historical. As a kid, I learned what it’s like to walk for long distances in wild country, to hunt, to gut out a deer, to breathe in the scent of wild flowers and pine pitch.

Those small experiences will make your stories come to life with real power.

NOW – about that other part – what you DON’T know.

People who write historical stories have never gone back in time and ridden on a wagon train. I pretty much doubt that science fiction writers have been abducted by aliens and gotten to travel in space ships either. They don’t know what they’re writing about. Not really. But still they write about these things with such passion and insight, we believe they really know what they’re talking about. It seems like only a person who’s experienced some of these things can be writing about them.

That’s where research comes into play combined with those little things we do know. Writers sometimes have to write about things they don’t know. But they have to really research them. Writers who don’t like to read will never really become excellent in their craft. So, read, read, READ! Read the kind of stories you like to write, but read other kinds of stories too. Read biographies. Read about science. Read histories.

I never really liked history until after I graduated from high school. Names and dates bored me. But then I started reading more historical fiction. In those stories, history suddenly came alive and mattered to me! Now I like to study history because I care about it.

Read that stuff. You’ll get great ideas there.

Sometimes writers can only imagine the nuances of the experiences and places they don’t know. I mean, think of J.R.R. Tolkien writing about life as a hobbit or even as a cave troll in Middle Earth! But when they add into the mix the things they do know, the unknown suddenly sprouts wings and takes off in fantastic ways!

Exercises:

Grab your journal and start writing down a list of the things you know about – your life experiences. Describe how you felt, what it was like, what you saw or smelled. Go ahead. Do it now.

You’ve gone hiking in the Rocky Mountains? Neat; lots of senses involved with that one. Write it down. You’ve walked through a huge motel and forgot how to find your room, or you got lost in the Mall of America? That would be kind of scary. You live on a farm – or in a major city? Some people have no idea what one or the other of those is like! Your brother just went on his first date? I bet that was funny to watch. Your family heats the house with firewood? That’s a lot of work. You just painted your bedroom? That’s a great skill, but paint makes you light-headed, doesn’t it? You went to summer camp? I bet there was some drama there.

Now take some of those experiences you’ve written down and think of how you can incorporate those experiences, or at least the feelings and senses of them, into your stories.

And as for the things you don’t know, go the library. Really explore your school books. Ask your world-traveling friends on Facebook. Google.

If you’ve finished Lesson 1 and discovered the goal, motivation and conflict for your story, you need to think about the setting.  The setting plays an important role in the story since it anchors the reader in a time and place and provides a foundation.

Several items [...]]]> Planning Your Story’s Setting

The Importance of Your Story World

If you’ve finished Lesson 1 and discovered the goal, motivation and conflict for your story, you need to think about the setting.  The setting plays an important role in the story since it anchors the reader in a time and place and provides a foundation.

Several items factor in here: time, place, climate, and even weather. Let’s take a quick look at each.

You must choose a time period for your story. Will it be a historical, contemporary or even futuristic? Here’s where you can have fun. Imagine the basic conflict you thought about in Lesson 1 and try placing it in different time periods. Would a change enhance the conflict or motivation?  For instance, what if you placed the character who wanted to find her long lost mother you thought about for a contemporary novel in the middle of the Civil War instead? Maybe the setting itself would add conflict to your story. When considering time, don’t forget to think about the time of day. Could the scene you have in mind be more vivid if it happened at night?

Think also of the place where your story will take place. Is it in the United States? Is it a rural or urban setting? What buildings are present? Some settings such as deserts or wilderness areas are so hostile they become the antagonist in the story.

The climate and weather also play a role. A thunderstorm at the wrong time can add to your character’s obstacles to overcome. Plan around the seasons too. Would that chase scene be even worse on snowy roads?

Exercises: Answer these questions about your setting

• What details about the setting will your character notice that others might miss?
• How might the hero’s sidekick feel differently about this place?
• What problems already exist in this story world?
• What makes this place risky?
• What strong nouns and verbs can you list to show the setting and mood?
• How will you bring out the five senses in this setting?