Character Creation

Looking over those last few blog posts I relive my frustration at not being able to start a piece of writing or keep it going. My husband has been great at pushing me past it--with his help I have figured out motivations for characters, and feasible (and possibly interesting) story line. I've actually progressed far enough that the end of this first book is in sight; the climactic final battle is on the horizon. Huzzah!

A few months ago we entered the D&D realm with another couple we are friends with. We put our kids to bed, and then play for three or four hours (while praying they stay asleep). Not only is this great for using your imagination, creating characters to play for a campaign got me thinking about the characters in my writing. When I create a character for D&D, it's just another person with a sword or spells to throw at bad guys. That is, until I give them character. I created a dragonborn fighter for one campaign, and I was remotely excited about his abilities, but it wasn't until I selected a life-changing event for him to have endured in his past that I sort of... connected with him as a character. I began to relate to him, cheer for him, and want him to succeed. When I created a gnome druid, I didn't really love her until I developed this quirky, playful, spunky attitude for her. And not only do I love her, but my companions love her as well.

I applied this to one of my side characters in my story, just to see what would happen. I had sort of figured out a past for him, where he came from, but never solidified it. (Worse, it had developed as I was writing, so his past at the beginning of the story was different than near the end!) He was just a stock character, a friend of my main character. But then I thought about his past relationships, decided who his parents were, and where his loyalty to my main char came from. Suddenly he was elevated. I admired him more because his selflessness had a reason behind it, not just because it was a good quality to have. I did it again with a second side character. He was supposed to be funny, dropping horrible jokes, nimble and light-hearted. I considered his past. Who was his family? Where were they now? What is something tragic had happened to them, and he felt eternal guilt from that? Suddenly his personality became a facade, a way to cope with his past. Suddenly he was elevated. I wanted him to find true happiness.

I want to go back and do this with every character in my story now, but my husband is pushing me to just finish the work first. He has a point, because otherwise it might never get completed--the story that starts again but never stops. But I'm still excited to create characters that hopefully readers will love and care about.

Now I just need to figure out how to get myself to write more consistently, instead of in great herculean efforts once a quarter...