I finished watching my recording of the season finale of How to Get Away with Murder and I felt conflicted. I enjoyed the twists and turns. I have since the beginning, but I have been losing interest in the series. After the finale, I was leaning towards not watching it again. On the other hand, I do enjoy those twists and turns. I thought about the shows I usually record. They are crime dramas with a hero or heroine. The good guys go after the bad guys and win. I was left wondering whether or not a show needs a hero?
Romance writers and readers are used to having a hero and a happy ending. We leave our books or television with a sense that good overcame evil and all is right with the world.
Then I remembered Breaking Bad. I believe the character development was superb. We watched the nice guy, a teacher, turn bad for good reasons. Eventually, he had to admit he reached a point where he enjoyed being bad because he was good at it. But even when he was bad, he still protected Jesse and his family, including his brother-in-law, who worked for the DEA.
I get the impression that Annalise on How to Get Away with Murder would throw anyone under the bus if it fit into her scheme to win. I feel sorry for the character she had affair with. He seems to be a nice guy who has suffered the most from knowing her. The students who work for her have been dragged to the dark side as well. I feel sorry for them, but that isn't enough to keep me watching. I need a hero on this show. It is a popular series, so I am sure many people do not agree with me. We are all entitled to our own opinion.
Showing posts with label character development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label character development. Show all posts
Sunday, March 1, 2015
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Bring Your Characters to Life
Arizona's own Laurie Schnebly Campbell can help bring your character to life.
What kind of dialogue makes your characters real? What kind of description works best for your voice? No two writers will use the same techniques for these key elements, but having new tools to choose from can make writing description and dialogue easier as well as more fun…not only for you, but for your readers as well. For each technique, this session will use examples from books by the conference’s best-known guests.
Laurie Schnebly Campbell combines her background in counseling with writing novels like the one that beat out Nora Roberts for “Best Special Edition Of The Year.” Her latest book is a how-to on creating characters, and she’s taught writers online and in person from L.A. to London and New Zealand to New York…recently presenting her 100th live workshop to an RWA group. Besides teaching, she enjoys writing for an advertising agency, narrating for Talking Books, and vacationing with her husband and son in Sedona, the red-rock town named for her great-grandmother. “People ask how I find time to do all that,” Laurie says, “and I tell them it’s easy: I never clean my house!”
Laurie will be speaking at the Desert Dreams Writer's Conference April 27-29, 2012
Registration closes March 31st. Don't miss this opportunity!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
5 must-haves for memorable characters
Coming up with a story idea is very easy for me. In fact, I have three notebooks and hundreds of scraps of paper with ideas for books. Many of which will never be written. Why?
I don't have the characters to bring the idea to life.
Yet.
But I live in hope that when one book ends, the universe and my personal story fairy will provide me with more characters for the next book.
Which leads me to the obvious question: How do I know which characters go with which story idea? I've come up with five character must haves for me to actually start writing the book:
1.) I have to like the characters (villians exempt, of course). Writing a book of 100K words can take six months to a year. That's a long time to spend with an imaginary someone you don't like.
2.) The character's goal has to be something in keeping with their natural tendencies. This is what's usualy referred to as motivation. I have to believe that despite the odds the character has a chance to achieve their goal--even if they don't think they can. I really love underdog characters.
3.) The characters inner conflict has to raise the stakes for the plot. For example, in my current book, one of my heroes needs to fix problems, solve things (his self-worth is dependant on what he can do for others)--he's a man of action. Yet he's facing the Plague (yes that plague) and his gun is useless, but he keeps trying and ends up making things worse.
4.) They need to have habits that reflect their weaknesses and strengths. Someone who craves order will constantly be arranging things, thiers or someone else's, especially as events spin further and further out of their control. Bonus: This will also help the reader identify the characters faster if the book is written in multiple POVs.
5.) The character's voice inside my head has to be unique. What they say MUST reflect who they are. This applies to both internal and external dialogue. My cyborg soldier from The Syn-En Solution would say, "put a magnet in your circuits" or think, must be an organic thing. Where as my human heroine would keep calling the cyborgs people. In short, a soldier would not think like a housewife, nor a doctor like a lawyer, and men don't think like women, etc.
Obviously, there's a lot more that goes into creating believeable characters but these five points are always my jumping off point. And once I have them, I can write the story they tell me (no plotting needed).
What about you? What are your character must haves?
I don't have the characters to bring the idea to life.
Yet.
But I live in hope that when one book ends, the universe and my personal story fairy will provide me with more characters for the next book.
Which leads me to the obvious question: How do I know which characters go with which story idea? I've come up with five character must haves for me to actually start writing the book:
1.) I have to like the characters (villians exempt, of course). Writing a book of 100K words can take six months to a year. That's a long time to spend with an imaginary someone you don't like.
2.) The character's goal has to be something in keeping with their natural tendencies. This is what's usualy referred to as motivation. I have to believe that despite the odds the character has a chance to achieve their goal--even if they don't think they can. I really love underdog characters.
3.) The characters inner conflict has to raise the stakes for the plot. For example, in my current book, one of my heroes needs to fix problems, solve things (his self-worth is dependant on what he can do for others)--he's a man of action. Yet he's facing the Plague (yes that plague) and his gun is useless, but he keeps trying and ends up making things worse.
4.) They need to have habits that reflect their weaknesses and strengths. Someone who craves order will constantly be arranging things, thiers or someone else's, especially as events spin further and further out of their control. Bonus: This will also help the reader identify the characters faster if the book is written in multiple POVs.
5.) The character's voice inside my head has to be unique. What they say MUST reflect who they are. This applies to both internal and external dialogue. My cyborg soldier from The Syn-En Solution would say, "put a magnet in your circuits" or think, must be an organic thing. Where as my human heroine would keep calling the cyborgs people. In short, a soldier would not think like a housewife, nor a doctor like a lawyer, and men don't think like women, etc.
Obviously, there's a lot more that goes into creating believeable characters but these five points are always my jumping off point. And once I have them, I can write the story they tell me (no plotting needed).
What about you? What are your character must haves?
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