A Bit On Characters-- by Naomi

Maybe it's just me, but I love getting emotionally attached to characters.

I love it when I grip the book so hard my knuckles turn white (and then loosen the  grip so the book doesn't get damaged.) and feeling myself get filled with anticipation-- and fear-- for the characters.

And nothing gets rid of that terrible feeling you get after a character you love dies. (at least I haven't found it yet.)

So why do I love it?

To me, it's incredible that a writer can make characters so real to me that I feel their pain. It's not that I feel their physical pain (though I can imagine it) it's that I can really sympathize with their emotional pain.

And emotions is where the key lies to getting characters and readers to connect-- to really connect. (at least I think it is, mind you, I'm still figuring out this writer thing too. :) )

What can you do to make your readers and characters connect? I'm glad you asked!

1. Give me a reason. Why should I care about your character?
Tragic past? Okay, I can sympathize but I need a little bit more...

2. Give them a good attitude. I just confessed (though it's no big secret) that I'm figuring out this writer thing, so I'll go ahead and confess something else too. I'm bad a making characters likable. At least sometimes. In the past I have written an entire novel with a character who was really terrible and unlikable. So. Save yourself trouble later and figure out something to give your characters a good attitude.

"Wait," you may be thinking, "How can I give them a reason to care and give them a good attitude? What if this Terrible Thing happened to you? Would YOU have a good attitude about it?" No, I probably wouldn't, but the good attitude doesn't mean 'always happy'.

Give them a bit of humor, or something where they sympathize with characters in the same boat as them, something-- anything-- that will make them more likable.

3. Make them human. Now you may think I'm going to go against what I just said, but I'm certainly going to try not too...
Sometimes in fiction (in nonfiction too, but I'm talking about fiction...) you have those characters that are so perfect and you're like, "trip down the stairs, sneeze in your boyfriends face, DO SOMETHING THAT ISN'T PERFECT!!!" To which they're reply (with a smile of course) "No one is perfect" and proceed to show you in the Bible.
Seriously, perfect character, just stop.
Give them some flaws.
One of my favorite characters that are mine is flawed. He is a tiny bit lazy, and speaks before his thinks, and comes off a bit harsh sometimes.

And you know what?

He's one of my favorites because he's not perfect.

Unless you have a character that you purposefully made perfect for whatever plot purpose... I'd recommend not doing it. (especially it is your main character.)

So there is a bit on characters... I'm sure I'll do more on this at some point, like  I said before, I love characters. :)

Do you have a love of love triangles?-- by Naomi

I feel like ever since Twilight became big, and then the Hunger Games after that, love triangles have become a big thing. (They may have been a big thing before I just didn't notice...) Anyway, I decided I would do a post on love triangles.

Regardless of whether you hate love triangles with a burning passion or love them to death, like anything, you can do them correctly or incorrectly. (Personally, I don't have a problem with love triangles, as long as they are done right.

Give both of the guys (or girls, I suppose, if it is written from the point of view of a guy) an equal chance.
Please, please, don't make one a completely jerk and the other a complete Prince Charming. They are characters just like every other characters and deserve the same amount of attention. They should have faults AND virtues. No one is completely perfect. Not even your characters.



I think Stephanie Morrill did a very good job with the love triangles in her book. They aren't the focus, but she still did them well enough to give them a personality of their own and let you (and Ellie) choose which one.
(On a side note, these are two of some of my favorite books, I highly recommend them.)

I have read a book, (that I don't want to spread bad publicity for) where it was obvious which guy was the 'Prince Charming', and I guess that can work... in some cases. Like he is trying to trick the girl into trusting him so he pretends to be everything she ever wanted... but then it plays a big part of the plot.

What do you think about love triangles? Do you love them? Have any examples of makes a good one?

Improving your Characters by Naomi

When writing, characters can be interesting. (Obviously when the book is already published they should be interesting, but while actually writing them.)

For the basic main character, at least what I try to do, is
(1) Give them a past
A characters past can be as small as remembering a sunset or as big as the main plot. For at least  two of my more recent stories the past was important. Plus, I think if they have a past it can help launch them into their goal, which leads me to...
(2) Give them a goal. I've wrote (and even read) some stories where the main character didn't have a goal... or at least it I didn't know what the goal was even after finishing the book...
If you don't give your characters a goal, what is the point of the story? What should make the reader keep reading?
The goal doesn't have to be saving the world, but he still needs one...

Last but not least....

(3) A somewhat happy ending.
It's okay if the main guy doesn't get the girl, as long as there is some piece of hope that maybe they'll end up together someday. But don't just kill off a character you've been spending the entire novel getting people to care about just to kill them off.... just because. They need a little bit of happiness...