Under My Skin

A regular reader of this blog wrote to me offline talking about connecting with your own characters. You know, if you read the comments of some of the last few posts, it seems everyone knows you have to have heart in your books. But how?

I know for me, writing my new work-in-progress, I ACHE for some of my characters' situations. I get her. I get him. I see each of them fumbling toward the other in the dark of their situations. I get them and they are under my skin in every way. But what if you don't fell that?

It's easy to write a character sketch. List some traits . . . where raised, what parents are like, where they went to school, and so on. But it's the difference, I suppose, between receiving a dossier on someone that details EVERYTHING about them . . . and being BEST FRIENDS with someone in which you know most things, but they are so much a part of you that you INTUIT some of the rest. You ache for their pains, you cheer for their triumphs. You love them.

How do you make the leap from dry dossier to heart?

For me, I pick the most tragic moment in that character's life and find my compassion for them. Maybe it's the Buddhist in me, but I learn more about people in their suffering than I do in their joy. Who is crushed by pain? Who rises from the ashes to walk with grace? Who becomes bitter? I get down to it. Who are they on this journey?

So that's my technique. But there must be a hundred others. How do you connect with your characters? Is it easy? Do you sometimes find yourself drifting from the heart of your book?

Share . . . .

Peace,
E