Your Main Character
Writing a novel can take anywhere from six months to years, depending on the writer and the novel. I've written a genre romance in four months. I've worked on a more complicated women's fiction novel for three years (not continuously but in fits and starts). Recently, I was reviewing the copy edit for my fall Penguin release, and I told my mother I was starting to hate it because I'd been working on it for four years . . . only to fall in love with it again as I was reading (which I hope is a good sign).
My current wip, which I am ready to start submitting, has been floating through my life for over a year. And I still love opening it up and working on it. I care about the characters.
So it got me wondering. Why did you pick your protagonist? If you have to spend a year or more with them, why THAT character? If it's a series (as I am getting ready to work on one), you might spend YEARS with that character. So what draws you to THAT one?
In thinking about my comedy series that I am putting together, I like the main character because she is very smart, funny in a subversive way, wise-cracking. She doesn't panic under pressure. She is loyal. She has the back of her two best friends and they have hers. She can't be intimidated. She's someone I would choose for a friend. For one of those soul friends most of us are lucky to have just a handful of. I would pick her. I like being with her, which is a good thing since I have to channel her in first-person as I write.
So how about you? Why did you choose THAT character for your story?
16 comments:
I usually pick characters that are working through something I am. I mean, it'll be in a totally different context and in a different way, but the core is usually there. Like if I'm trying to work up my courage on something, she'll be working on courage on something else. It makes it write faster, LOL.
When you write series, this is a problem, because you sorta outgrow the series. My pub keeps begging me to write another in my bestselling series, and I CAN'T. I mean, like, I really, really can't.
ROFL... series that is selling best, I mean. LOL.
Natasha:
Interesting . . . I don't know if I have ever written a character going through a parallel thing . . . but I do know they share some traits with me.
I don't know. I'm not sure I can expand on that, although when's that stopped me from trying?
I know that the more complicated and, perhaps, subversive, if I can use that word, the more happy I am to spend time in their company.
And by subversive I mean that they need to butt heads with the powers-that-be in a way that I can cheer for, but that cause them a lot of problems. I know at some level that in real life I'd probably want to strangle them and tell them to try less hard to make waves, but in fiction, that's what I want. Derek does it and in the WIP I'm working on now, Shepherd does it. Maybe that's something I want myself to do more of, less passive-aggressive style, more upfront and in your face. They gotta have some backbone.
From series beginning until now I've been working on it for 10 years. I love my character and still continue to.
Aidan and Kaelin came to me from a time in my life when I looked back at my 20s and realized how fear paralyzed my finding who I am. So I wrote twin guys in their twenties who have to find themselves quickly in order to defeat their demons, literally and figuratively. I'm set to write a four book series over the next couple of years, but I have rough (read: horribly written) versions of each book so I can draw their growth from that. They definitely grow and mature.
Trinidad stems from my sense of constantly leaving footprints in conflicting worlds. (He leaves actual footprints in the book--just realized that symbolism. Ha!) But he is more steadfast than I, through denial and then pure stubbornness. I think I could learn a thing or two from him.
Just like real-life friends, I have to know a character for several years before I can trust him enough to hire him.
Mark:
I find that in all my novels, my characters make the in-your-face choices I hope I would make in the same circumstances.
La:
What a gift! Good for you!!!
Starbucks:
I think we learn from the best of our characters, definitely!
Stephen:
Yeah . . . I sort of settle in with them, too.
Wow, what a great question. I’m working on my first novel, so I haven’t had the experience of working with a lot of characters, only a handful so far. I have to honestly say I did not pick my character, she picked me. My husband & I have a summer house on the river. I heard a story about a lady (whom I’ve never met) who was walking down by the marshes and fell. Apparently, she laid there screaming for hours until someone finally found her. I asked myself a question, what would it mean if you didn’t scream for help? What would that say about a person’s life? And viola, my character popped into my head.
I’ve been figuring out her story and putting it down. Funny thing is….I found out much later that this woman, who I thought fell in the marshes, actually drove her car into the swamp area of our neighborhood. She'd been in her car screaming. Crazy how it all works.
I don't know if I could sustain working with a character who I didn't find interesting. Even the one's I loathe are still interesting. I think you know almost immediately if there's a connection, if not they disappear from the page forever. Truth be told, I think our characters teach us a thing or two about life...we may not use it right then, but somewhere down the road, we just might.
My characters just come to me. This current MC will be the star of a trilogy, so I better like her. :)
I'm going through the first draft now and finding that I really like her. She doesn't always follow the rules and pushes things a bit, but she's funny and really cares about people. I've been laughing out loud!
Lisa:
I've had characters arrive fully formed in my head like that . . . they sort of pick me, too.
melanie:
I always think it's a good sign when I either laugh out loud or make myself cry when writing.
Agreed.
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