Side-Kicks: Making Supporting Characters Memorable

Whenever I ask someone about their book or their work in progress, their face lights up. They give me a strong snap-shot of the world they created, the major conflicts and, of course, a detailed description of the protagonist. It isn’t until I read their book that I discover their often-delightful, supporting characters.

I’ve always felt bad for supporting characters. They don’t get the love and attention they deserve. Like Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter series, or Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth Bennet’s best friend in Pride and Prejudice - each one is complex and interesting, but when push comes to shove, no one’s going to pay money to dress up like them for Halloween.

Creating interesting side-kicks for our protagonists is an art form in of itself. We pour time and energy into perfecting our protagonists, but without their friends, acquaintances and, let’s face it, frenemies, we can’t see all their complexities. Each supporting character brings out a new side of our protagonist, making their personalities rich and multifaceted.

In the interest of disclosure, I have an easier time developing supporting characters than I have crafting protagonists. I start by thinking of the traits my protagonist lacks. For example, in my current work in progress, my main character needs to work on her empathy. The solution? Creating a side-kick who desperately needs the patience and understanding of others. My protagonist lacks confidence, so I created a love interest who demands it of her. Even in real life, we gravitate to those who possess talents and traits which we lack. Why should our characters be any different?

By having each supporting character embody one strong personality point, I help bring out the strengths and weaknesses in my main character. Technically, these types of characters are called foils (think of Shakespeare’s incredible pairing of the passive lover, Romeo, and the intense fighter, Mercutio). By developing multiple foils, you not only allow readers to have a clear understanding of your supporting characters, but you also make your protagonist come alive.

A protagonist alone doesn’t make a story. Give some extra love to their side-kicks and watch them shine.

Bethany Masone Harar is an author, teacher, and blogger, who does her best to turn reluctant readers into voracious, book-reading nerds. Check out her blog here.

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2 comments author, Characters, developing characters, foil, novel, protagonists, side-kicks, story, supporting characters, work in progress, writing

Entering Your Story

I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I don’t believe in writer’s block. There’s no doubt in my mind. It exists. But for me, true blocks are few and far between. They happen when I’m too tired or stressed.  Sometimes they happen when I’m sick.

Other times, when I can’t write, it isn’t really a block. It’s more like a corner that I’ve written myself into when I tried to force something in my story.  Or I didn’t pay attention half a page ago when something wasn’t working right. I know that I should be writing but nothing is happening so I have to figure out what I’ve done wrong and fix it.

But most often, I just haven’t gotten into my story space. My mind is stuck in the world I live in and hasn’t ventured into the world of my story, article or memoir. I’ve got that problem right now because I had to put two projects aside to work on something I was being paid to write. I’ve been away for too long and my story world is no longer as familiar as it once was. I need to figure out how to get it back. I need to find the door that will let me inside.

Sometimes the fix is as easy as reacquainting myself with the story.  I can do this by taking the time to read what I’ve written so far. I can probably use this technique with the novel because I’ve drafted a few chapters. This particular method works less well if I’m still outlining something or it isn’t very far along.

If food or music plays a big role in the story, eating that food or listening to the music can be a way back inside. In the care of my novel, I can also go online and listen to music.  Two of my characters are fiddle players. Not violin. Fiddle. I even know what their respective instruments look like.

Then there’s the voice of my characters.  It is the voice of the rural Ozarks. It is close to the voice of Daniel Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone. If I read his book, I hear echoes of my own characters, enough to put me back on their trail. But there are also physical locations I can visit.  If I have a weekend, I can to the lake in southern Missouri where my husband likes to fish.  The people who live in the area sound like my character and her family. 

If I only have an afternoon, I can visit the log cabin my father-in-law is restoring. It gave rise to one of the settings in my book so climbing the stairs to the attic will be like entering my character’s bedroom. I can also visit her kitchen.

Writer’s block?  Not this time.  I just need to find my way back inside my story. The door into every story is unique to that particular work. Take the time to identify what it is for your story and it will help you reenter your story world whether you’ve been away for a day, a week or even longer.

--SueBE

To find out more about Sue Bradford Edwards writing, visit her blog, One Writer's Journey.  Sue is also the instructor for Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults. The next session begins June 12th. 

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7 comments preparing to write, story, story world, Sue Bradford Edwards, world of story, writer's block, writing habit

The Surefire Hook: The Unexpected

Picture this scene from a few weeks ago: It is late evening, slightly overcast with the teeniest of breeze in the air. I have just opened the screen door of my second-floor deck and my miniature dachshund, Libby, has bounced down the flight of stairs till she reaches the bottom, whereupon Libby takes off across the yard and begins to bark and growl.

In the duskiness, I peer over the stairs and a deer—not a sweet little doe, mind you, a BIG deer, is jauntily walking across the yard toward Libby. At which point, Libby hightails it back to the safety of the stairs (but continues to bark). I stand there, open-mouthed and gaping. I mean, this is a full-grown deer in the middle of my fenced-in back yard. And when I say fence, I am talking about a six foot tall fence. I glance at the gate and it’s closed tight. The deer and I lock eyeballs across the expanse of the yard and I say out loud, “How did you get in my yard?”

The deer bolts and very gracefully leaps over my six-foot fence.

Oh, okay. That’s how.

Anyway, it’s not unusual for me to see deer in the green belt behind my house. There’s a river that runs through the green belt and there are all kinds of interesting wildlife back there. But up until a few weeks ago, the wildlife, with perhaps the exception of owls, hawks, turtles, and snakes, stayed on the other side of the fence. It was completely unexpected, that deer in the middle of my backyard, and I had to call my youngest son to report this phenomenon. (He went to Berry College and deer are pretty much all over the campus so he was not as surprised as I was to find that a deer had jumped the fence. “That’s what deer do,” he said. But still, he admitted that a deer in the Hall backyard was semi-bizarre.)

I tell you all this to make a simple point about story: The unexpected is what makes this a good story, and why I had to call my son, and why I may have called all the other Junior Halls and various and sundry neighbors. You see, a deer behind the fence is pretty typical, even in a suburban neighborhood like mine. But a deer in the middle of a fenced-in backyard, well, that definitely grabbed my attention.

So the next time that you are stumped as to why your short story’s not selling or your book is mired down in the middle and no agents are biting or the article you pitched hasn’t been awarded a contract, consider whether you’ve written something predictable or something unexpected.

Make your reader stop for a moment to think, “I did not see that coming.”

Sort of like a deer in the middle of a fenced-in backyard.


~Cathy C. Hall
(Deer image courtesy of Pixabay. The deer in my backyard was MUCH bigger.)

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12 comments Cathy C. Hall, hooking your readers, story, writing advice

Turning An Agent's Chair

I love The Voice, that TV program where people sing and try to get a coach/mentor’s chair to turn for them. And last time I watched, I had this epic thought. Wouldn’t it be cool if writers had something like that? We could read the first two minutes or so of a manuscript and try to make famous agents in our genre turn a chair for us.

That epic thought was immediately followed by a sobering thought. Oh, yeah. We do have that. It’s called a query.

If you’ve gone down the agent stream, sending out queries by the boatload, then you know how difficult it is to get an agent to pick you. But maybe we spend more time on the query and not enough on the manuscript. All you really need is to get an agent to read the first 250 words of your manuscript and pause long enough to think, “There is promise here. I want to read more.”

So what turns an agent’s chair?


Voice

Yeah, I know. Pretty obvious, right? But I’m not talking about simply a good voice. After all, plenty of singers have good voices and nobody turns. But a unique voice? A voice that gives an audience something they’ve never heard before? That’s golden.

It’s the same with writing. Plenty of writing is good. But a voice that grabs a reader and won’t let go? Something unusual and desperately authentic? That’s the kind of voice in a manuscript that will stop an agent in his or her tracks. Plot problems can be fixed; a forgettable voice with a great plot will ultimately be a forgettable story.

It’s not easy to master voice. That’s why you need to write, and write, and write some more. Feedback and critique are critical. But let’s assume that at last, you have the voice down. Now the Battle Rounds are coming and you need to step up your game to stand out in the crowd of great writers. You need story.


Story


Yeah, I know. I did it again. But if it’s so obvious, why do we keep making the mistake of offering the same old, same old? On The Voice, a coach will often say to a singer, “You have to make it your own.” Someone’s chosen a great song, a classic song, but if the singer performs it the same way it’s already been sung, where’s the thrill in that? Writers must do the same.

Mystery, romance, adventure, they all have a basic plot. The trick for you, the writer, is to take a story and make it your own. You have to give an agent—and readers—something that’s both familiar and yet different. Your story must surprise the reader, go somewhere unexpected. If your writing is following a well-worn path, there’s no thrill. And no agent interest. So read, read, and read still more. Knowing what’s out there will keep you from telling the same old story.


Whether you’re a singer or a writer, it all comes down to voice and story. It really is that simple.

And that hard.

~Cathy C. Hall

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8 comments Agents, Cathy C. Hall, query letters, story, The Voice, voice

Jerry Waxler Launches his blog tour for Memoir Revolution

& giveaway contest!

Memoir Revolution: A Social Shift that Uses Your Story to Heal, Connect, and Inspire is Jerry Waxler’s beautifully written memoir, integrated with his deep and abiding knowledge and passion for story. In the 1960s, Jerry Waxler, along with millions of his peers, attempted to find truth by rebelling against everything. After a lifetime of learning about himself and the world, he now finds himself in the middle of another social revolution. In the twenty-first century, increasing numbers of us are searching for truth by finding our stories. In Memoir Revolution, Waxler shows how memoirs link us to the ancient, pervasive system of thought called The Story. By translating our lives into this form, we reveal the meaning and purpose that eludes us when we view ourselves through the lens of memory. And when we share these stories, we create mutual understanding, as well. By exploring the cultural roots of this literary trend, based on an extensive list of memoirs and other book, Waxler makes the Memoir Revolution seem like an inevitable answer to questions about our psychological, social and spiritual well-being.

Paperback: 190Pages
Publisher: Neuralcoach Press; 1 edition (April 9, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0977189538
ISBN-13: 978-0977189533

Twitter hashtag: #MRevolutionWaxler

Memoir Revolution: A Social Shift that Uses Your Story to Heal, Connect, and Inspire is available as an e-book and paperback at Amazon.

Book Giveaway Contest:
To win a copy of Memoir Revolution please enter using the Rafflecopter form at the bottom of this post. The giveaway contest closes this Friday, November 7th at 12:00 AM EST. We will announce the winner the same day in the Rafflecopter widget. Good luck!

About the Author:
Jerry Waxler teaches memoir writing at Northampton Community College, Bethlehem, PA, online, and around the country. His Memory Writers Network blog offers hundreds of essays, reviews, and interviews about reading and writing memoirs. He is on the board of the Philadelphia Writer's Conference and National Association of Memoir Writers and holds a BA in Physics and an MS in Counseling Psychology.

Blog: http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/

Website: http://www.jerrywaxler.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/jerrywaxler

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jerrywaxler

-----Interview by Crystal J. Otto

WOW: Jerry, we've had quite a few interesting conversations and you've given me advice as well as helping other authors. We've gotten to know one another quite well while setting up your tour (and prior to that while working together on other book tours), so let me ask you this: What single piece of advice stands out as being most influential in your writing career?

Jerry: Hmm. Great question. Writing advice has influenced me throughout my journey to become a writer, it’s hard to identify the best. One piece that jumps to mind was offered by bestselling author Jonathan Maberry who told me I need to put more of myself in my writing. The reason that suggestion had such a far-reaching impact on me was that until then I always tried to hide. When I tried to follow his advice, I had to come out from behind the curtain and show myself to my readers. I credit this piece of advice with starting me on the road toward writing a memoir.

WOW: That's a big deal considering the source as well as the lesson - awesome! What advice would your current self offer to your previous self?

Jerry: Wow. You’re good. That question touches on the very essence of the Memoir Revolution. Memoirs celebrate the process of growing wiser, because by the end of every memoir, we’ve learned some things we wouldn’t have known at the beginning.

So if I was to look back, I would say to my younger self, “Every step you take toward the direction of your dreams adds up over time.”

Now that you’ve got me thinking about advice across time, I’m trying to imagine what advice my future self might give to my current self. I think it might be along the same lines. My future self would say to my present self, “Stay the course. You are doing great. Keep going.”

WOW: I'm good? Considering your reputation in this business, I'm blushing! As long as we are being open and honest, care to share your thoughts on writers groups or book clubs?

Jerry: I love writing groups. They transform writing from a solo to a social activity. As a writing teacher I have the privilege of participating in lots of writing classes, and I witness over and over how students are lifted by the experience of writing in the company of others.

I also am a big fan of critique groups. Whether online or in person, these groups offer an important source of feedback. When I first joined a critique group, my main goal was to get feedback for my own writing. After a while, I realized another benefit. By critiquing other writers, my own editing skills were getting faster and sharper.

WOW: I can see the value of critique groups, but they can be scary too. What about the rejection factor? How do you deal with rejection or a negative review?

Jerry: I hate rejection! It makes me feel small and worthless. To help me cope with those feelings, I studied self-help for years. Based on my research into the emotional challenges of being a writer, I wrote my other book, How to Become a Heroic Writer [link: http://amzn.to/1utWkpO ] In it, I describe self-soothing and confidence-boosting techniques to help writers reduce their fear of judgmental readers, and instead to reach out lovingly toward an admiring audience.

Techniques include things like deep breathing. Also, based on my therapy training, I talk myself through stressful moments. For example, I say to myself “They are entitled to their opinion, but I’m going to stay centered by keeping in mind all the people who love my work.”

WOW: I find your writing as well as your answers to these questions to be absolutely intriguing! You said on your blog "stories light the way through the complexities of life" - Could you say more about this?

Jerry: When you watch a movie or read a novel, the lessons only apply to people in the author’s fictional world. But when you read memoirs or try to write your own, you cross over from the fictional world into the real one. By seeing real life portrayed in memoirs, you can learn lessons and inspire hope. For example, the protagonists in memoirs strive relentlessly to achieve some goal. By surviving grief, or overcoming difficulties, they become heroes. In so many real world stories, the compassion of supportive people makes the difference between failure and survival. By thinking about the experience in life stories, you can solve problems, recover from grief, visualize the future, and make sense of other cultures.

WOW: You wrote a whole book about why you love the Memoir Revolution - could you pick one or two top reasons that would help WOW readers understand why this exploration has meant so much to you?

Jerry: My impulse is to list dozens of reasons and go into detail on each one. Let me think how to boil it down. Simply put, memoirs have helped me understand myself better and at the same time helped me understand other people. After studying many memoirs and teaching classes, I realized that an ever-growing number of other writers are experiencing the same benefits. I feel like we’ve all been invited to a huge party. I’m excited every day to wake up and participate in this party.

WOW: Jerry, you brought up the topics of movies early, but what television shows do you watch?

Jerry: In previous years, my wife and I watched eight seasons of Project Runway. This year, we finished our second season of The Voice and our first season of So You Think You Can Dance. The thing all these shows have in common is that they are about people striving to achieve creative excellence. Each participant pours every morsel of their energy into doing a great job in order to please the viewer or listener.

I love memoir writers for the same reason. Every person who attempts to turn life into a story aspires to learn the techniques and strategies to ensure that the story is well told. I love to watch and participate in that mass movement in which tens of thousands of people are on a mad dash to please, entertain, and inform each other.

WOW: This entire experience (and this interview) has been most enlightening and I'm sure readers can't wait to hear more from you as your WOW! tour continues. Thank you Jerry!

----------Blog Tour Dates

Monday, November 3 (today!) @ The Muffin
Stop by for an interview and book giveaway!
http://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com/

Tuesday, November 4 @ Create Write Now
Jerry Waxler stops at Mari McCarthy's Create Write Now to tell us a little bit about Switching From Journal Writing to Memoir Writing and tells more about his own story - Memoir Revolution.
http://www.createwritenow.com/journal-writing-blog

Wednesday, November 5 @ Choices
Join author and blogger Madeline Sharples as she reviews Jerry Waxler's book Memoir Revolution. Find out what a memoir author thinks of this intriguing book that is part guide and part memoir! Jerry will also delight reader with a guest post Comparing the Benefits of Journal Writing and Memoir Writing.
http://madelinesharples.com

Friday, November 7 @ All Things Audry
Join Jerry Waxler and Audry Fryer and find out why Jerry called his latest book Memoir Revolution and register for the giveaway to win your own copy of this fascinating book!
http://allthingsaudry.blogspot.com/

Monday, November 10 @ Lauren Scharhag
Join Jerry Waxler as he writes a guest post about the "Types of Memoirs" for Lauren Scharhag's blog today! Find out more about Jerry, memoirs, and his book Memoir Revolution!
http://laurenscharhag.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, November 11 @ Vera’s Version
Join Jerry Waxler as a guest blogger as he chats about "Twenty years in choir and the power of habits" at Vera's Version and find out more about Memoir Revolution and what Jerry has to say about writing your own memoir!
http://verasversion.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, November 12 @ Sherrey Meyer
Read Jerry Waxler's entertaining and insightful guest post as he visits with fellow author Sherrey Meyer. Sherrey asks the loaded question: "Your bio says you studied counseling psychology. How does that relate to memoir writing?" There will also be one copy of Jerry's book Memoir Revolution available for giveaway as part of this blog stop. Pop over today and don't miss a moment!
http://sherreymeyer.com/blog/

Thursday, November 13 @ Katherine Hajer
Tune in today as Katherine Hajer reviews Memoir Revolution by Jerry Waxler. See what she thinks about this interesting book!
http://www.katherine-hajer.com/

Friday, November 14 @ Romance Junkies
Join Jerry Waxler as he stops at Romance Junkies for an insightful interview about himself and his unique book Memoir Revolution.
http://www.romancejunkies.com/rjblog/

Monday, November 17 @ CMash Reads
Jerry Waxler visits CMash Reads and shares his thoughts on turning his lawn into a story while also providing some insight into his popular book Memoir Revolution.
http://cmashlovestoread.com/

Wednesday, November 19 @ Bring On Lemons
Join Crystal Otto as she shares her review of Jerry Waxler's Memoir Revolution and offers readers an opportunity to win their own copy!
http://bringonlemons.blogspot.com/

Thursday, November 20 @ National Association Memoir Writers

Learn how have “memoir tribes” inspired and supported the notion of the Memoir Revolution.
http://namw.org/

Friday, November 21 @ Lisa Haselton
Join Lisa Haselton as she interviews the knowledgeable and interesting Jerry Waxler about his memoir writing book Memoir Revolution. Jerry has graciously provided an ebook copy for one lucky giveaway winner. This is a blog stop you won't want to miss!
http://lisahaseltonsreviewsandinterviews.blogspot.com/

Monday, November 24 @ One Sister's Journey (Lisa M. Buske)
Today we hear from Lisa M Buske as she reviews the educational and enlightening Memoir Revolution by Jerry Waxler. Lisa will also be offering a giveaway to one lucky reader!
http://lisambuske.com/blog.html

Keep up with blog stops and giveaways in real time by following us on Twitter @WOWBlogTour.

Get Involved! If you have a website or blog and would like to host one of our touring authors or schedule a tour of your own, please email us at blogtour@wow-womenonwriting.com.

*****BOOK GIVEAWAY*****

Enter to win a copy of Memoir Revolution: A Social Shift that Uses Your Story to Heal, Connect, and Inspire by Jerry Waxler! Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below. We will announce the winner in the Rafflecopter widget this Friday, November 7th!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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3 comments blog tour, jerry waxler, memoir, memoir revolution, psychology, social and literary shift, story

How to Use Fiction Techniques when Writing Nonfiction

Whatever you write, you have to grab your reader’s attention and pull them into your writing. One of the best ways for nonfiction writers to do this is to use fiction techniques—story, character and dialogue.

Yes, you’ll still be writing nonfiction because the facts are still the facts. You can’t alter them. You can’t make anything up. You simply focus on the ones that fit in the piece you are writing.

That’s what Jane Yolen did when she wrote Lost Boy: The Story of the Man Who Created Peter Pan. She didn’t include fact upon fact about Barrie’s novels, his messy divorce or many of his famous friends. These facts didn’t fit the story she was telling.

Instead, she included his brother’s death and his friendship with the Llewellyn Davies family. Why? Lost Boy tells the story of the man who created Peter Pan. The sorrows of his own childhood and the fun he had with the Llewelleyn Davies family played a part in the development of the play so they were part of this particular story about Barrie.

Great stories are peopled by fascinating characters. When you write nonfiction, these characters just happen to be real. Introducing readers to nonfiction characters means introducing them to the character that fits into the story you have chosen to tell.

When readers meet Theodore Roosevelt in Judith St. George’s You’re on Your Way, Teddy Roosevelt, they aren’t meeting a robust Rough Rider. This isn’t the President of the United States. They meet a sickly boy in the midst of a night time asthma attack. A book worm. A science nerd. A would-be museum curator.

They meet this particular Roosevelt because his childhood health problems and having to deal with bullies led him to develop a fitness regime. This, in turn, helped him overcome bullies and physical illness and become Roosevelt, Rough Rider and President.

One of the best ways for readers to get to know a character is through that person’s own words. In nonfiction, this dialogue just happens to be true. It is made up of documented quotes found in interviews, public addresses, letters or journals, but finding them is worth the effort.

When Susanna Reich wrote Jose! Born to Dance, she could have told readers how Limon was feeling—at one point he was despondent over his inability to draw like the masters, at another he was elated when audiences responded to his dance.

But she didn’t. Instead Reich lets Limon speak for himself.

“New York is a cemetery. A jungle of stone.” You can feel the despair in his words.

“That night I tasted undreamed-of exaltation, humility, and triumph.” Strong words. Strong emotions. And part of the reason they are so effective is that they are his words.

Story. Character. Dialogue. They bring your work to life and hook your readers from beginning to end even if they are reading nonfiction.

–SueBE

In addition to writing her own nonfiction, SueBE is teaching the upcoming WOW! course Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults.

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2 comments character, children's nonfiction, dialogue, fiction techniques, story, writing nonfiction

Understanding and Clarity

Photo | Nickton via Flickr

During a recent lunch with a friend, she mentioned how she had to fire a client. As a writing professional, she offers her clients one revision in the price of her services. When she gave him his draft, he added information that hadn't been in the original brief she had received and he asked her to revise the additional information within the document.

From my friend's perspective, the client hadn't adequately explained the subject. While the back and forth was slightly more complicated than that, she boiled it down to: If you can't explain a process so others can understand it, then you probably don't really know the process.

This really translates to writing about a subject that may not be your strong suit.

Lately my writing and editing clients have required me to conduct a lot more research than I ordinarily have to do. (Think astrophysics to my breezy features of interesting local business leaders.) Some of the assignments turned out to be more difficult than others. In at least one case, the writing was made more difficult because I 't read about the subject but couldn't then explain what I'd read to my husband, for example.

The writing was difficult because I didn't really know the material. If you can't explain it, then how much do you really understand about what you are talking about?

In later assignments, I fell back on a way to research and write that I've found works well for me. I

• read the research, 
• take notes and 
• then let it settle in my mind. 

Once I've stepped away from the research, I can see it more clearly and, yes, even understand the process or information much better. During that "quiet time" of 24 to 48 hours, an idea might come to me about the subject and I'll jot it down. But I won't return to the research until I sit down to start writing again.

The clarity of the writing comes from your understanding of the subject. Now, to get ready to understand some turkey!

Elizabeth King Humphrey is a writer and editor living in coastal North Carolina. One of the things she is most thankful for this Thanksgiving is all the wonderful readers of WOW! Thank you for your readership and comments. Have a super holiday.

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3 comments clarity, Elizabeth King Humphrey, story, writing process

Journaling My Way to Voice and Story

Recently I blogged about Mari McCarthy’s e-book Start Journaling and Change Your Life in 7 Days. Since then, I’ve used my journal to focus on my audience before I write. Who are they? How are they different from me? What are they going to demand from this piece? How might  this differ from my expectations?

While that works for shorter nonfiction projects, I’ve been writing a longer piece of teen fiction, sending my editor an outline and then a draft. I’d journaled about audience for the outline. When it came time to write the story, I focused on what the story is all about – my characters.

I needed to do this because, based on my outline, my editor found my protagonist unsympathetic. She gave me tips on how to change this, but I had trouble starting the story. Nothing sounded right. I had to find my character’s voice while writing the story in 3rd person. I turned to my journal.

When I sat down to journal that morning, I asked what my character would have to say about being called unsympathetic. I decided to let him speak for himself and write the journal entry in his first person POV. Let’s just say that this particular teen had plenty to say, starting with the fact that he didn’t ask for anyone’s sympathy. He hadn’t created the story problem, but everyone expected him to fix it. We should shut up and let him do it his way. He was freaked out and scared and we weren’t helping.

As the author, I knew most of this. Laying it down in his own words helped me find his voice and get into the story. Soon I had a rough draft, but his brother, the antagonist, was flat.

His story had to come through as well. Sure, he was messing up his younger brother’s life, but it isn’t something he planned to do. He hates needing help from his baby brother. He hates what has happened to him. He’s angry. Who catches the brunt of this anger? His brother. Deal with it.

Again, these were things I knew, but in journaling for him I found the character’s voice. His dialogue tightened to the point of being tense, terse and rude – nothing that would keep him up at night.

If you’re having problems nailing a piece of fiction, journal.

• Write from the point of view of your protagonist.  Why is his story important?  What does he most want you to know?
• Write from the POV of your antagonist. Remember, almost no one is a villain in their own mind. What’s his story? How does he feel about being the bad guy?
• As the story progresses, journal about problem scenes. Why are your characters apprehensive about these scenes? What secrets are they holding back?

Let your characters do the talking and you may be surprised at what they have to say.

–SueBE


Author Sue Bradford Edwards blogs at One Writer's Journey.

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Leave a Comment character, journaling, story, voice