Characters are People Too - Part I
Loving People
People! Gotta love ‘em! That is, you gotta love people if you are going to be an authentic voice in fiction writing. I would go so far as to say you must be fascinated with people in order to write believable novels.
After all, people is (are) what fiction is all about, right?
• It’s people going places, doing things, talking, acting, getting into trouble, and getting out again.
• It’s people loving, and hating, and hurting, and healing.
• People being good, people being bad, people being very bad.
• People understanding (and misunderstanding) other people.
• There are silly people, serious people, staid people, nutty people, loud people, quiet people.
• People who are always up; people who are always down in the dumps.
• People who are such fun to be around; and people you want to run away from.
Where Are the Characters?
Where, you might ask, are all these characters hanging out? Where will you find them? And how will you transfer them onto your written page?
Up With People!
In the late 1960s there was a group of clean-cut kids in a group called “Up with People!” The chorus to their theme song seems to fit right here:
Up, up with people! You meet ‘em wherever you go!
Up, up with people! They're the best kind of folks we know
If more people were for people
All people everywhere
There'd be a lot less people to worry about
And a lot more people who'd care.
[If you have an insatiable curiosity to hear the catchy tune, you can enjoy it right HERE]
People are the best kind of folks you know! As a novelist you can become a people connoisseur. You will enjoy watching people, listening (closely) to people, studying people, and collecting people. Your notebook will be close at hand. Who knows when your next star may enter at stage left? You must be prepared.
Negative Characteristics
Think about the person you most dislike in the world. That person who, no matter what happens, he or she just rubs you the wrong way. What exactly is it that you do not like? If you’re not sure, take the time to find out. Articulate. Make a list. Why do those attributes bother you?
And now take those same characteristics, study them closely and, as an exercise, attempt to create a character using those characteristics (or something similar). It’s as important to understand negative characteristics as it is to understand the positive ones. (A writer never wastes anything—not even a potential antagonist!)
Creating characters is sheer fun--and incredibly hard work. But if you truly want to excel in novel-writing / story-writing, you will revel in it!
Look for my next blog post where we'll continue with Characters are People Too - Part II!
Meanwhile, keep on writing...
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creativity is the spice of life! imagination and creation are the essence of happiness! carry on!
I guess that's why I'm so goshdarned happy, @empiracoinllc!! :^)
OMG! First of all, @divineinyang needs to see this.
OK! Back to the post.
You know, while reading, I was like, "Did this person know me before writing this?" The last time I felt this way was the first time I read about temperaments and I was amazed how the theory perfectly described me.
I'm personally a watcher. Folks say I'm weird cos I tend to stare and take alotta mental notes. For the record, I'm a poet...lemme rephrase that. I'm the poet that's scared of writing a story. First time I tried it, trust me, it was more poetic than prose-like and @divineinyang commented and said I have this "unapologetic entanglement" with poetry which I'll have to sacrifice so I'd write a good story. True, it kinda felt discouraging (for a first try) but then, I guess I was happy he pointed out that I'm addicted to poetry (he's the first to say that tho)
So, ever since, I've been following your recommendations (I just discovered), but only for poems alone. I'm too scared to write a story cos I'm half sure it'll be filled with more poetic than literal devices. I'll try tho...but I'm not too sure I'll excel at it as much as I do with poetry.
Appreciate your input @godwine! Perhaps you need to read THIS POST. It's all about pushing through fear, and all about keeping on writing and writing and writing. What if you discovered that you could actually write a pretty good story? But how will you ever know if you're not willing to pay the price to learn? Keep on keeping on!
I'll take a look at the post and I'll take your advice. When I do post, I hope you won't mind a mention.
Would love that mention! Thanks!