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Friday, June 4, 2010

Characters

One of the things I learned in New Orleans is how our characters drive our stories.  How the character's arc corresponds with the story arc.  It took me a bit to grasp but when I did...WOW!!! 

Here's the thing, if we don't know our characters, what drives them, why they do the things they do, we can't tell their story properly. 

Now, the novel I took to New Orleans to work on is more plot than character driven however, I still have a lot of character issues that add depth to the story when  properly revealed.

So, today my challenge for you is to get to know your MC.  What is his/her greatest fear?  What event caused that fear?  How can you use that fear to deepen your story?

Today, I'm working on my fantasy novel which is definitely more character driven.  What I've realized is I don't know her very well.  So, I'm going to be delving into her childhood, her fears and asking questions she may not like to answer.:-)

2 comments:

Cheryl said...

Great post, Jean. For Amelia, her worst fear is being left alone. Her parents have both died and she has been sent to live with her spinister aunt, who only took her in because Uncle Simon refused (jerk).

When she discovers that her aunt plans to send her to Wheaton Female Seminary, she's sure this is Aunt Martha's way of getting rid of her for good.

Cheryl

WEKM said...

My MC's greatest fear is loosing who he is. As he has been slipped into an alternate reality version of himself, it is a very real fear that is driving some very bad choices.