Talking To Your Characters

[Jacqueline McGuyer]

Recently, Randy Ingermanson sent out his Monthly Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine. Here is an Excerpt:

When I speak on how to write fiction, I tell my
students "I can prove I'm the center of the
universe."

Then I spin around in one spot and . . . the entire
universe revolves around ME.

Oddly enough, however, when YOU spin around in one
spot, you reach the absurd conclusion that the universe
revolves around YOU.

Each of your characters believes the universe revolves
around them--that the novel they are inside is their
story.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE is the story of Lizzie Bennett. The
entire story focuses on her.

But Mr. Darcy doesn't know that. He thinks it's HIS
story. He can't imagine why Lizzie doesn't understand
what a noble sacrifice he's making in offering marriage
to someone so inferior in social station.

And that pesky Mr. Collins insists on thinking that
it's HIS story. He's a hero, after all, coming to
choose a marriage partner from the very girls who will
be turned out of their estate because he stands to
inherit their home when their father dies. By marrying
one of the Bennett girls, he'll do the family an
everlasting service, and how COULD they be so dull as
to not see that???

Mrs. Bennett, naturally, sees herself as the center of
this story. She's the one who must ensure the futures
of her daughters by making sure they marry well, since
they have not a penny of their own. She is tireless in
pursuit of suitable suitors, despite the unbearable
agony it creates for her "nerves."

As for Mr. Wickham, he thinks he's the hero of the
story. He's been treated ill by Darcy, for no good
reason. Wickham is just a good red-blooded boy who
likes to have a bit of fun. He has thousands of friends
who see his good points. Darcy is just a wretched stick
in the mud who stops at nothing to force Wickham into
poverty.

The list goes on and on.

Bratty sister Lydia, OF COURSE, knows that she's the
very heart and soul of the story, since it's all about
her.

Mr. Bingley, if he thinks about it at all, must surely
be aware that this story is his and his alone--after
all, it all starts when he takes a lease on Netherfield
Hall.

Lady Catherine knows that this is her story--she's the
highest ranking person in the tale; her daughter has
been promised to Darcy since infancy; only a conniving
and ambitious woman like Elizabeth Bennett would stand
in the way of The Way Things Must Be.

Take any character in the story. Each one's behavior
springs from his or her belief that "This is MY story."

QUESTION: Do you talk to your characters? Do you actually see them in your mind's eye? Do you ever interview your characters in order to know them better?

How do you make your characters believe the world belongs to him/her--
keep him/her from becoming a cardbord character?

Jacki

[Louise Bohmer]

Do you talk to your characters? Do you actually see them in your mind's eye? Do you ever interview your characters in order to know them better?

How do you make your characters believe the world belongs to him/her--
keep him/her from becoming a cardbord character?

I talk to my characters. Sometimes, even when I am not writing their particular story. I use my mind's eye, so to speak, to get to know them better. And I enjoy talking to them, to be honest. One of them however, always seems to think it's his story. *sighs* He's the one that likes to talk to me even when I am not writing about him.

But, I have to agree, and I LOVE the Pride and Prejudice analogy used in the article here. (I truly couldn't stand Ms. Bennett. Always felt for poor Mr. Bennett, being married to an annoying woman like that). Each character needs to "feel important". Or why are they there? Even in a fictional world, every character needs a logical reason for being there.

If I get stuck in my novel or a tale, I sit back and I will shut my eyes and envision the characters within the scene I am working on and I will ask them, "What am I not seeing that you are trying to tell me here?" It often works like a sort of daydreaming kind of brainstorming I suppose, and I let the character tell me the story I am missing in that section.

[T L Trevaskis]

My characters spring to life, full-bodied, like Athena (and good wine); I usually find a character before a story. They come complete with particular names, looks, and pasts--and agendas. I very frequently don't realize a character's agenda until well into the story, when all of a sudden something they say or do flicks that old light switch. It's possible for me at times to tweak a bit of their action (maybe help them make a decision they're having trouble with), but it is absolutely impossible for me to alter so much as their names or the color of their hair.

As to their place in the world, well, theirs is usually more established than mine is. As I mentioned on another thread, the anithero of my first novel taught me how to swear in a way I'd never done before. So they not only rule their own world, they influence mine as well.

Ok, I have now established the fact that I'm insane. I don't mind, though--as long as the books keep coming. :)

[Julie Ann Shapiro]

Yes, I talk to them and they talk back! Sometimes when I don't know what the bleep to do with them I ask for their help.

[Marta Stephens]

I absolutely talk to my characters and have interviewed them. Sam Harper ( my protag) wanted his own blog, can you imagine? So we compromised. I allowed him to write my home page and his own bio on my website. I'm amazed at the things I didn't know about him. In more than one occassion, Sam and I had to have a heart to heart talk about how he planned to capture the villan and solve the case. He's actually a very reasonable person.

Yeah, he and his buddies are very real. :)