Melissa Keir-Small Town Romance Author
  • Welcome
  • Blog
  • Melissa's Books
  • Missy's Children's Books
  • Contact me
  • Privacy Notice
  • Welcome
  • Blog
  • Melissa's Books
  • Missy's Children's Books
  • Contact me
  • Privacy Notice
Search

Melissa's Musings

Constructing Realistic, Flawed Characters with Holley Trent

5/11/2012

 
Thank you Holley for visiting with me today.  I'm excited about your blog.  I always love learning ways to improve my writing. I can't wait to apply some of the techniques you talk about.
Picture
Thanks, Melissa, for letting me visit today! I wanted to talk about how I decide what my characters look like. Characterization is a big deal for me because I want readers to bond with my casts and I know that
requires that I try my hardest to make them realistic, yet entertaining.

When I have a general idea for a story, I know what kinds of personalities need to be in the cast, but I don't necessarily have a mental image of what the leads should look like. Actually, I get a bit stymied by that occasionally. It's hard to have your story play out like a movie in your brain when your characters are amorphous blobs.

I've started doing a bit of an exercise to overcome my casting problems. I think about the traits my characters have and then think about stereotypes -- what sort of people would have those traits? Basically, I'm working opposite of the way the brain wants to. Instead of looking at a teacher and making assumptions about the way she behaves, I work in reverse to ensure my character is absolutely
unique.

Here's an example from The Spirit of Things - my May 3 release from Rebel Ink Press. The heroine, Nikki, is a bit of a snot. She's a former professional dancer and has a socialite mother. Her father is Native American. She has an advanced degree and is fairly ambitious. Considering all that, I thought about people I've known who've had those qualities and manufactured a single person by combining all of them
. She ended up with long black hair marred by a gray streak which she dyes because of vanity. Her green eyes stand out in stark contrast to her olive skin and dark hair. She's petite and has an hourglass figure beneath her workout clothes. She's generally very carefully dressed and she cares what other people are
wearing, too.

Now, if I'd done it the other way around--decided what the character looked like first and then built a personality around it--I would have probably ended up with a bubbly teacher cliché, or worse--a character who looks exactly the same way as another character in a different story of mine. Now, don't get me wrong--sometimes stereotyping is an excellent
tool when you're TRYING to create comic relief. Beth, the bodacious blonde in the sequel to TSoT (and also the sidekick in my story "Impersonating Dad") is an absolute stereotype.

I think some people think we writers have a bunch of hats on our desks and that we pull slips of paper out of each telling us what the hero/heroine's hair color, eye color and profession will be each time we start a new story -- basically, that any character we put in the story is interchangeable. Maybe that's true for some prolific writers, but me? I try to be conscious that my characters have features that are worth remarking on and that their profession or hobbies are integral to the story. Why bother mentioning them otherwise?

For the spin-off I working on, the hero is a guy named Jerry who is the resident tech geek. Okay, stereotype: what does a gamer guy who hacks computers recreationally look like?

Now, remember - he's a romance novel hero. He's got to be shaggable.

Take a guess! I'll let you know if you're close. 
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Spirit of Things (blurb)
Nikki Stacy is a middle school math and science teacher. To make ends  meet she advises her school's rag-tag cheerleading squad for the extra  paycheck supplement. When the squad's antics lead to a girl's injury,  Nikki butts heads with squad dad Charlie. Frustrated, Nikki seeks a job  that will really make her happy, but Charlie won't let her move on  without tidying up the loose ends she left behind.

 
Visit Holley online at holleytrent.com/blog, on twitter by following @holleytrent and like her on Facebook at facebook.com/writerholleytrent. The Spirit of Things is now available at Bookstrand, Kindle eBooks, Barnes and Noble (Nook), and All Romance eBooks.

Melissa link
5/13/2012 02:17:16 am

Thank you Holley for stopping by! Believable characters are so very important. I like mine to be the people you would meet in your own neighborhood and want to be friends with. :) Thank you for sharing your wisdom with me!

Holley Trent link
5/15/2012 05:18:16 am

I'm definitely guilty of creating characters I'd want to watch television with. They'd probably talk back to the screen, though. :-\


Comments are closed.

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Melissa Keir

    Gator Girl Extraordinaire

    RSS Feed



    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011

Proudly powered by Romance
Melissa Keir-Author

Photos used under Creative Commons from emilyonasunday, imagesbyk2 Photography, Beverly & Pack, thisreidwrites, jDevaun, Ken Wilcox., jan_krutisch, wiesiek_kr, ginnerobot, Tim RT, erasergirl, wheatfieldbrown, fivehanks, Ⅿeagan, theilr, symphony of love, Abhishek Singh Bailoo, Max Braun, Daniel Leininger, EliJerma, sean_reay, DafneCholet, Pablo Tocagni, kevin dooley, CarbonNYC, Loren Javier, marco monetti, shannonkringen, Peter Werkman (www.peterwerkman.nl), tekkbabe, Aditya Rakhman, MilitaryHealth, almarWho, raganmd, snowkei, wuestenigel, Amal Hathaway, augustineisnotmyname, digitizedchaos, photologue_np, -stamina-, Jessica_Branstetter, I woz ere, Erháld, Tostie14, kdinuraj, feline_dacat, RobBixbyPhotography, glaciernps, aussiegall, Pink Sherbet Photography, Poul-Werner, Loren Javier, Diamond Farah, AForestFrolic, williamcho, shannonkringen, gagilas, ben.fitzgerald, Tony Fischer Photography, rufusowliebat, emilianohorcada, George Deputee, LadyDragonflyCC - >;< - Spring in Michigan!, brick red, citymaus, Emery Co Photo, midiman, Thragor, jdegrazia, dane brian, sibikos, nan palmero, r.nial.bradshaw, US Army Africa, bambe1964
  • Welcome
  • Blog
  • Melissa's Books
  • Missy's Children's Books
  • Contact me
  • Privacy Notice