One of the hardest things for a writer is creating characters who are more than cardboard cutouts or cliches. So, how do you breathe life into a character? Got me hanging, I'm still trying to figure that out for myself, but Jim C. Hines has a very interesting essay up on his blog that addresses this question.
The title, Strong Women Characters, is a bit misleading because the information Mr. Hines gives can apply to any character, male or female, that you're writing. As I read through the essay, I was doing a checklist in my head about the story I sent out a couple days ago. I think I passed! http://jimhines.livejournal.com/496348.html
Mr. Hine's essay was spawned by this essay http://www.overthinkingit.com/2008/08/18/why-strong-female-characters-are-bad-for-women/ which has some wonderful insights into writing strong well-rounded female characters.
So, how do you make your characters come alive on the page?
3 comments:
I try to put a real person behind and into most of my characters.
A bit challenging, but does make for very interesting writing.
Basing it on someone real would give a writer a lot to work with, G. You'd just have to be careful nobody recognizes themselves ;-)
Tess Gerritsen had an essay over at Murderati this last week about using food and how a character eats to show who your character is. Other writers use brand names for clothing or furniture, the kind of house they live in.
I guess there's all kinds of ways to bring your character to life without even realizing it.
True, but that's half the fun of doing it. :D
The other half is making sure it doesn't sound too far fetched in the process.
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