Write the Character You Love

One of my dreams as an author is to create a beloved character. My own Anne Shirley or Nancy Drew. A Sara Crewe or Laura Ingalls.

My all-time favorite story character is Anne Shirley. One summer when I was eight years old, bored and sitting on a yellow plastic deck chair by the pool, my mom came out of the house and handed me a copy of Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. The cover didn’t look very interesting and the print was tiny. Besides those faults, there were a lot of big words I didn’t know. But my mom insisted I would like it. I started to read, skipping over all the big words. Unfortunately you don’t meet Anne until chapter two and I almost didn’t make it that far. When I finally met her I immediately loved her.

Anne is impulsive, quick-witted, and intensely loyal. She LIVES life and awakens the joy of living in those around her.

She is a larger-than-life character. Donald Maass in “Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook” spends two chapters talking about making your characters larger-than-life.

He says on p.35: “Larger-than-life characters powerfully attract us. Why? They are surprising, vital, and alive. They do not let life slip by. Every moment counts. Every day has meaning.”

He suggests randomly finding a spot in your manuscript and heightening what your character says or does. He calls it turning up the volume.

Trying to figure out what I think makes a good character, I did a quick analysis of my favorites and looked for similarities.

If you are up for an assignment try this one:

1. Write down your favorite story characters—first ones that come to your mind.

2. Write down everything you remember about them.

3. Analyze what you wrote down. Are their any similarities? (My guess is that there are.)

4. Now compare these quality traits with your characters. Are your characters like your favorites? Are there ways you can add favorite character traits to your characters? (Do it in scenes, like Jordan talked about in her post on Tuesday.)

To take it further, analyze some scenes where your favorite characters show these traits and see how the author carries it off. Then look at your own manuscript and analyze your characters in the same way. Where can you turn up the volume to write characters that you love?