What Color is Your (Character's) Aura?

Sonya's post about auras reminded me of a book I read once called What Color is Your Aura? The book, which I'm pretty sure I still have around here somewhere, is mostly one huge quiz.

It's an interesting book, even if you don't believe in auras. It's really a book to help you understand your personality.

As an author, I enjoy books like that. Not just for their insight into me, but also for insight into my characters.

Yes, I know I can make my characters do whatever I want them to. But even in the realm of paranormal fiction, I believe the character has to be "realistic." A werewolf must be part human, part wolf. An invisible man must deal with the issue of clothing. At some point a ghost must realize he or she is dead.

Characters must fit the story. If the character isn't believable, the story won't hold up. Therefore, I like those personality quizzes so I have a great idea of how my characters would act in a given situation. (I also look up their Sun and Moon signs for an astrological look into their personalities.)

If you can't tell, I enjoy the character driven stories. In my mind, nothing is as interesting as people and why they do whatever they do. Finding out what color their aura is, what their moon sign is, and even which Michael Jackson dance step they are most like is important to me.

So, what are your favorite personality quizzes? I'd love to know!

Blessings!

Nichole

Who knows what evil lurks....

I have a confession to make. I really enjoy writing the bad guys.

I do. There's something about them that is just plain fun to write.

Okay, so I don't get really graphic with the evil in my stories. I don't normally watch horror flicks, and don't often read uber-violent thrillers. My entertainment choices are more character driven than plot driven.

Maybe that's why I like being able to write about the bad guys. Someone once told me that every person is the hero of his or her own story. Very few people are pure good or pure evil.

The best heros in any story are the flawed ones. Take Harry Potter, for example. No matter what you think of the story, it's the obstacles Harry faces that make Harry a believable character. Who wouldn't feel for a kid with such a rotten family life? And Dumbledore? His knowledge and willingness to help those less fortunate make him just awesome.

Even Professor Snape is a great character. He hates Harry. He hates Harry's father. But he loves Harry's mother. And Snape does help Harry when necessary.

It's not just fictional characters who have these multi-demensions. Arguably one of the most evil men in history, Adolf Hitler didn't drink, didn't smoke, and was a vegetarian. Interesting.

As I write, I keep Harry and Hitler in my mind. Not only does my hero have to be flawed, but my anti-hero can't be all evil, either. It's as important to me who did it as why they did it. The reason someone committed the crime in my mysteries has to make sense....at least to the evil-doer.

Maybe that's why I enjoy writing about the bad guys. It gives me another perspective on the same story.

Blessings!

Nichole

Character origins

Once or twice I've been asked about the origins of my characters, and if they're based on people I know in real life. The answer is mostly no, with a little bit of yes.

Sometimes I feel a bit like Dr. Frankenstein when I first start to put together a new character. Some little something about Person X will capture my attention and make it's way into a character. Some attribute or quality that's either endearing or irksome. A funny story from Person Y's bad day at work, and maybe there's a Person Z with a quirky habit. The character won't be based on any of these various people, but I think  taking little pieces from real life can help keep characters grounded and make them more believable.

When it comes to a character's appearance, I have a strict policy of never basing a character on a person I know in real life. To be honest, it gets confusing to me if I start to put a "real life" face on a character. What happens if that character starts acting like the real person, instead of remaining a fictional character? If a character takes on too many attributes and qualities of someone who might by chance read the story, that get could awkward fast. To avoid this, in addition to the Frankenstein method I have a folder saved on my laptop labeled "central casting." That's where I save various pictures I come across online of people that could be used as potential "models" for character appearance. Here's some examples: for a character that's something of a bohemian type, unconventional and even a bit otherworldly, just the right picture of Johnny Depp might be perfect. A picture of Christian Bale would be good for a dark, intense, and brooding character. I've got several pictures of Henry Cavill saved if I ever decide I want to write werewolf smut, er, paranormal romance. That central casting folder comes in handy, plus it's fun.

This covers only how I start out a new character. Friends who play role playing games have suggested I use character sheets that have you fill out all sorts of details and minutiae to get to know them better. I've tried it but it's never worked for me.  I don't really get to know a character fully until I get deep into the writing. They will reveal themselves to me, and frequently surprise me. They'll whisper secrets to me, secrets that sometimes don't even make it onto the page. It's a strange, organic process that I don't fully understand. Getting to know a new character can be frustrating when it seems like I can't figure out how to coax them into talking to me. But then once they do, it can really kick a story into overdrive and send it into new and exciting places. More than once I've liked a character so much that I wished I did know someone like them in real life.*

Do you have a particular method of creating characters? Do they arrive in your head fully formed, or do you have to get to know them over the course of writing the story?

*This remark is not at all  in reference to any possible Henry Cavill werewolf smut, I swear. 

Getting to know a character

I'm trying to get started on a new novel and the going is a bit rocky. Actually, very rocky. I've always been more of a pantser than a plotter but since I was having so much trouble I thought I would try outlining a plot for a change. To start off with I tried using the snowflake method but it requires you to know a whole lot more about your story than I do at this point. Next I tried asking Google about novel outlining methods, but didn't find anything that helped me. Then I realized I was going about this all wrong and started over. I don't need an outline for a plot. Well, I do, but first I need something else - I need to know who my main character is. Since I currently write paranormal fiction I decided to try a tarot card reading to see what I could discover about him. Then I remembered I can't read tarot cards for crap and just flipped through the cards and my handy Tarot For Idjits book. Since the story involves a man embarking on a new phase in his life and the beginning of an adventure, The Fool seemed a likely card. As I sat and stared at this depiction of an oblivious person - who frankly always looks a little high to me, I mean, really, what's in that bag? - who is about to walk right off a cliff into who knows what, I began to wonder if the card was a more accurate depiction of my character, or of me. So I threw my hands in the air, put the cards back in their box, and went back to the first form of magic I ever believed in - music. Fair or not, nothing tells me quicker or more succinctly who a person is than finding out what kind of music they listen to. Same goes with the characters I create. I don't know why I didn't  try this method first. Chalk it up to nerves, maybe. I've been putting a lot of pressure on myself concerning this new project and that never helps. Finally I went through my music and I think I've found him. That is, found what he listens to. Admittedly, that doesn't give me much to work with in the grand scheme of trying to write a novel, but it tells me something about who my main character is, a little about how he thinks and how he'll move through the world I'm attempting to create. Every writer has different methods for getting to know their characters. This one has usually worked for me pretty well so I'm hopeful it will help kick-start these opening scenes I'm working on. I'd be curious to know what methods other writers use.

I like her, I like her not

We've heard it said before, an author puts some of himself/herself into each character. I can't imagine that is more true then with the main character.

I like my main character, Cerri. She's a little sarcastic and highly independent. She enjoys her family and tries to make sense of the things going on around her. She has a strong sense of right and wrong, but doesn't care to be told what to do.

To those who know me, those characteristics may sound fairly familiar.

In Cerri, however, they are helpful and positive traits. In me, they can be annoying and sometimes negative. Or at least that's how I see them.

There's a lot of me in my main character. I hope she's a nicer, more understand, less stressed individual than I am, but she's there. Or I'm there. Something like that.

Does she get on my nerves? A little. When Cerri is being snippy, I know where she gets it. I think, at least in my case, my main character takes the best of me and tries to make it better.

Blessings!

Nichole

A day at McJob: There’s more to living than the life of a secret, undercover agent

Picture yourself here: You’re in a bookshop, you see a new urban fantasy or paranormal mystery on the shelf and you pick it up to read the blurb. Your intrepid protagonist is, surprise, surprise… An FBI agent, a private investigator, an investigative journalist, a police detective… Need I go on? Part of my work as a fiction editor involves reading submissions, many of them falling within the paranormal and fantasy genres. Many of the authors’ protagonists are, surprise, surprise, FBI agents, private investigators… Get my point? We have a theme going here, no doubt popularised on telly with programmes such as Dexter, Blood Ties and more, where the popular avenger-of-dastardly deeds gets some sort of twisted, dark or supernatural spin. Often the writer offers his or her audience an endemic lack of understanding of how their country’s legal system works.

Don’t get me wrong, if I’m in the mood to just relax, I’ll watch or read something with a cop or PI as a lead, and I’ll suspend disbelief when I notice plot holes large enough to drive a London bus through. Hell, even lawyers can sometimes do some good and provide an interesting perspective. But really, it’s so done. To death. Why can’t a school teacher or a graphic designer also solve a mystery or become a hero? Surely their unique perspective will lend a different angle than the oft-seen, hard-bitten cop. I’ve lost track of how many crime-busting vampires, werewolves or (insert supernatural creatures of your choice here) I’ve encountered in my quest to escape from reality.

What I’m saying, as authors, is we need to break away and find something a little different. Write what you know. I’ll happily write about artists, musicians, witches, journalists, riding school instructors, veterinarians, tattoo artists, graphic designers, magazine editors, body piercers, bookshop owners or professional gardeners… These are folk I know. These are folk I regularly interact with and have a basic understanding of what they do in order to make ends meet. Because I know their world, I can breathe life into characters who follow these professions, convincingly.

I prefer reading and writing about characters who have real-life worries about not meeting rent or deadlines, and who also have larger problems to overcome, which threaten not only their livelihood, but their lives. How many times have you read a novel where characters dash about with seemingly endless quantities of cash and property? This is not Anne Rice’s Mayfair witches, dah-ling. This is the real world.

Having financial woes or some sort of trouble at work just adds to the building up of tension, making your character more believable. How does Joe Soap the plumber unblock drains, keep his wife in lacy underwear and save the world from the Lovecraftian horror lurking in the city’s sewers? Sometimes an unusual profession will place your character in a unique position to identify a potential threat no one else would notice. Be creative. Have fun, and keep it real, and turn the existing tropes on their heads.

As an afterthought, if you’re still possessed by a yen to write about a police officer, conduct a lot more research than watching a few episodes of the latest flavour of cop show. How about dropping by your local police station and chatting to some of the officers in charge? You’d be surprised how friendly (not to mention helpful) a police officer having a quiet day can be if approached with sincerity. If you can, ask to be given a tour of the station. Find out how police procedure in your area is executed. If your setting is not local, see how much information you can dredge up about where you intend to set your story. Then, dig deep within yourself to find ways to make this tale stand head and shoulders above the rest. Better yet, find out if a real private investigator will allow you to shadow them for a week or so. There’s nothing like a bit of experience to add that touchstone of reality to your story.

Breathe...

Have you ever read a book where it seems as though the characters are someone you've met before? Do you feel like you know there life history, or should? Some writers have a talent for making their characters breathe, but how do they do it? Is it the deep point of view we hear so much about? Their emotional and physical encounters with each other? Their past? Their growth through the novel? Or is it simply an innate ability on the author's part, a talent that can't be taught? Maybe its a little bit of all of those things.

Nothing ruins a book more for me than flat characters. If I can't see, hear, and feel them and their emotions, how will they imprint the story in my mind?

I give my hero/heroine pasts and so much conflict it scares even me. Inner thoughts (innerds as one of my editors calls it) are a great way to see inside the character's mind.
On another note, I got the cover for Earth Enchanted in yesterday. It's a smidge racy so I won't post it up, but if you'd like to see it. http://www.lyricalpress.com/brynna_curry
Beth (who is going back to refinishing the dining room hardwood and laying down tile. yip. eee.)

Fictional characters need to be real, too!

I've probably mentioned this before, but I'll do it again. My "training" is as a journalist. That's what I went to college for. It's what I did the first seven years of my "working" life. It's what I knew I was supposed to study.

And now I use that training to write fiction.

That may sound odd to some. Journalists are supposed to be impartial and objective. They are supposed to only report and let the readers make up their own minds. (Notice, I did say supposed to. I won't pretend to think that actually happens all the time. But that's how the trade is supposed to work.) On the other hand, some people may believe my journalistic training has only prepared me to write fiction.

Either way, my training has helped me breath life into my characters. Part of my training was done by the military — yes, I'm a DINFOS trained killer. So for years the government paid me to write about missions and aircraft. I quickly learned those are boring. It's the people who accomplish the missions and the people who fly and maintain that aircraft who are interesting. One of my instructors used to say "people like to read about people."

So my characters have to be real. Sometimes they're based on people I know. Often my characters are a mix of two or three people. My good guys aren't perfect and my bad guys have some redeeming qualities. (Hey, another writer once told me "the bad guys are the heros of their own stories.")

No one wants to look at a two-dimensional picture — one where there is no depth or contrast. The same is true for works of literature. Our characters must have depth and contrast and feelings and passions or else they don't work.

I'm curious, though. Who are your favorite fictional characters and why? Let me know!

Blessings!

Nichole

P.S. Welcome Nerine and Melissa!

A little bit of history, a little bit of mystery

For you writers out there, how well do you know your characters before you write them?

For you readers, how much of the character's past do you really want to know?

I get the idea that authors need to know their characters.  Unfortunately, I have a tendency to want to share all that I know!  So how much history do readers want?  Do you want to know what makes my antagonist do what he or she does?  What makes them into murderers and such?  Or is it enough to know why my protagonist feels the need to help bring the killer to justice?

To be honest, I don't always know what motivates my characters.  Maybe that's why I want to share the things I do know.  As a writer, it's enough for me to know what makes my antagonist act at the moment.  As a reader, I am usually OK with that, as well.  I want to know how and why the crime was  committed, but I don't necessarily need to know everything that led the "perp" to that moment.

Its almost like a balancing on a tightrope, this fine line between what to give a reader and what I need to know as the author.  Give the reader enough information to care -- to show that even the "bad guy" isn't all bad, and the "good guy" has some issues to work out -- but not so much information that the story lags.  

And I know most of it before I start.  Maybe its because I write mysteries, but I feel like I need to at least know who the antagonist is before I write the first words of the story.  I couldn't imagine having my characters decide they needed to change their past on me!  YIKES!

But I do want to know.  Do you, as a reader, want to know their whole pasts?  Or just enough to make the story flow?  

Blessings!

Nichole

Religion as a Character Trait

Apologies for the delayed post. Thanksgiving day got away from me!

When I came up with the idea for UNCOVERING AMETHYST, I knew my main character was shaped by her upbringing. In fact, her strengths and her flaws can all be traced to being raised by witches.

Her motivation, her fears, even her family's tragedies are tied into the beliefs and customs of their theology, which is Celtic pagan. She, however, isn't sure what she believes.

Not only does weaving religion into a story allow for interesting plot points, but it provides conflict and offers insight into the characters.

Do they agree on their beliefs? If not, what conflicts arise because of that?

My protagonist, Stacy Justice, vehemently protests that she is a witch, yet she subconsciously gravitates toward that path because it's what she's been taught. This internal struggle lends the character another dimension, and because spirituality is something we all wrestle with from time to time, it's very relatable to the reader.

Outwardly, this tug-of-war also causes conflict between the characters. Stacy's grandmother, Birdie, wants her granddaughter to accept her path and her gifts, yet Stacy refuses. This prompts Birdie to make a series of choices that force Stacy into situations she wouldn't necessarily choose.

And a plot is born.

Religion can also be used as a setting or backdrop, as in THE DaVINCI CODE. The entire story is wrapped around a specific theory regarding Jesus and the conspiracy to cover it up. Powerful stuff.

My stories each revolve around a specific holiday. Samhain, for UNCOVERING AMETHYST, Imbolc, for OPAL FIRE, and Beltane for BLOODSTONE.

Whatever your studies and beliefs, theology can play an important role in your writing. Use all that you have.

Barb