WRITING WHO YOU KNOW
If you interview published authors across all genres, you will be hard pressed to find one who claims his or her characters sprang forth from thin air. More often than not, the fictional players that populate stage, page, cinema and television reflect aspects of the writers’ own personalities, composites of friends and relatives, or are modeled after specific actors, politicians, rock stars, or criminals.
The longstanding advice of “write what you know” translates aptly to “write who you know” and what their actions reveal about their character, strengths and flaws, and motivations. Here's how you can write "who you know" (without them knowing).
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INGREDIENTS FOR THE PERFECT CHARACTER
Character creation can be approached in many different ways, but overall, most great characters come about as a mixture. Like a particularly tasty casserole, a writer grabs a pinch of this and a dash of that during the creation process. So let's look at some of the most common ingredients in our character casserole.
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LETTER FROM EDITOR EILEEN ROBINSON
The importance of character development can not be understated. This episode recounts a letter from Move Books editor Eileen Robinson on how to improve our characters, and thereby improve our connection with our readers.
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GREAT CHARACTERS ARE ALL AROUND
One way to find great characters is to look in the world around you. This seems relatively simple but may actually be harder than it sounds.
Why?
Because the key to creating vivid characters is writing them objectively and letting the reader draw their own conclusions.
What does it mean to be objective when writing about your characters? It doesn’t mean you can’t have reactions to, or opinions about, your subject. It does mean showing the reader what you observed in terms of concrete detail, rather than telling what you thought or felt. Yes, we’re back to our good friend, the “show, don’t tell” rule.
Let's get inspired.
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INTERVIEWING THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR
Leslie Connor is the author of several award-winning books for children, including THE TRUTH AS TOLD BY MASON BUTTLE, the 2019 winner of the ALA Schneider Family Book Award, WAITING FOR NORMAL, also a winner of the ALA Schneider Family Book Award, CRUNCH, MISS BRIDIE CHOSE A SHOVEL, and the young adult novels DEAD ON TOWN LINE and THE THINGS YOU KISS GOODBYE. She lives with her family in Connecticut.
We talk about:
Let a one-on-one mentor help you hone your characters and polish your work so it shines in your submissions to agents and publishers! Get started here!