Bringing Fictional Characters to Life
One of the presentations at the PSWA conference was on characterization and given by author Michael A. Black. Here are some of the notes I took:
Who are your characters? Do you have a picture of each one? (Some cut pics out of magazines for their characters.) It's important to have a good description and you need to know what each one is like.
Give the physical characteristics early on, before the reader has a chance to form his own mental picture that might be totally different from yours.
You should have a back story for each character--a character sketch. Things like: Name, where he grew up, what was his home like, who were his family members, who is still living and he interacts with, what kind of work does he do? Hobbies? Etc.
Always a good idea to keep a list of characters' names so you don't repeat.
Maintain a character bible including minor characters.
Important to know the motivations of each character: greed, anger, jealousy, revenge, pride, to cover another crime, etc.
And he emphasized the following:
Show, don't tell
And choose the POV character from whom the story will come.
Mike did a wonderful job!
The whole PSWA conference was fantastic. If you've never gone you're missing out. Next year it will be from July 12-15 at the Orleans Hotel in Las Vegas.
Marilyn
If you haven't already, be sure and take a look at my latest Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel, Angel Lost, which I dedicated to Keith Bettinger, one of the members of PSWA. It's available on Kindle and a trade paperback from Amazon and can be ordered from any independent bookstore.
http://fictionforyou.com
Who are your characters? Do you have a picture of each one? (Some cut pics out of magazines for their characters.) It's important to have a good description and you need to know what each one is like.
Give the physical characteristics early on, before the reader has a chance to form his own mental picture that might be totally different from yours.
You should have a back story for each character--a character sketch. Things like: Name, where he grew up, what was his home like, who were his family members, who is still living and he interacts with, what kind of work does he do? Hobbies? Etc.
Always a good idea to keep a list of characters' names so you don't repeat.
Maintain a character bible including minor characters.
Important to know the motivations of each character: greed, anger, jealousy, revenge, pride, to cover another crime, etc.
And he emphasized the following:
Show, don't tell
And choose the POV character from whom the story will come.
Mike did a wonderful job!
The whole PSWA conference was fantastic. If you've never gone you're missing out. Next year it will be from July 12-15 at the Orleans Hotel in Las Vegas.
Marilyn
If you haven't already, be sure and take a look at my latest Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel, Angel Lost, which I dedicated to Keith Bettinger, one of the members of PSWA. It's available on Kindle and a trade paperback from Amazon and can be ordered from any independent bookstore.
http://fictionforyou.com
Comments
Micheal's talk on characterization was wonderful
Marilyn
I'm trying to write first person right now myself. It's a very big challenge.