Dynamic Characters: How to Create Personalities That Keep Readers Captivated by Kress, Nancy published by Writer's Digest Books (2001)
Language: English
Pages: 0
ISBN: B00EKYDMAM
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Punctual? Patient? Persistent? Show us, through how he handles work duties. GIVE HIM A JOB THAT FITS THE NOVEL’S SOCIAL CIRCUMSTANCES I recall a recent, let-it-be-nameless romance in which a woman was supposedly paying the rent on a New York penthouse apartment and supporting two kids on her salary as an art-gallery assistant. She also dressed superbly and sent a lot of roses. People familiar with artgallery salaries and New York prices howled with derisive laughter. If you need your character
miss. Look hard at the specifics of her job, and they will suggest all kinds of plot developments. Or take another exotic example: that wax museum costumer (I’m fond of this job). What does a costumer do? Research into authentic period costumes, including acquiring actual old buttons, fabric, shawls, dresses. This could send her poking around attics, warehouses, estate sales. Perhaps she’s a real wheeler-dealer who tries to always get there early to make a presale deal with whomever it takes to
visual descriptions. So does one about baseball—the topic itself is physical. If, however, you have a detached or alienated character and want an ambience to match, go through and delete nearly all the description. Is the story improved? If not, you can always put it back in. LEAVING OUT DIALOGUE The opposite approach is to concentrate on description (as well as on exposition and characters’ thoughts) and to use dialogue sparingly. Pulitzer Prize winner John Cheever often does this. When he does
PEOPLE MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN HE/SHE IS? PEOPLE LESS SUCCESSFUL? 149 DYNAMIC CHARACTERS BOSS? UNDERLINGS AT WORK? COMPETITORS AT WORK? THE LOCAL POLICE? THE IRS? ANYONE WHO CHALLENGES HIM/HER? ANYONE WHO ANGERS HIM/HER? ANYONE WHO HELPS HIM/HER? ANYONE WHO ASKS FOR HELP? PART 4 Everybody Gets Twenty-Four Hours: How Does He/She Spend a Typical Day? WAKING UP WHO ELSE IS SLEEPING IN THE SAME BED? WHAT TIME DOES HE/SHE WAKE UP? WHAT WAKES HIM/HER UP—ALARM? DOG? WIFE? IS HE/SHE CHEERFUL IN THE
actually two possibilities. You could write the story in the first person or in the third person. If you choose first person, you record the story in your narrator’s words, through her eyes. You gain intimate opportunities for the narrator to editorialize on her views of the action. If you choose third person, you situate your camera outside both narrator and protagonist. You gain increased license to describe character and action from the outside, in your POV. To get a feel for the difference,