In the beginning - there were characters

Audra here.

Much like Tina and a number of our friends who left comments Tuesday on Putting Your Baby To Bed, I too am in the beginning stages of a new WIP. Over the years, and I promise not to hash over those, I’ve reviewed all sorts of methods in developing plot, character, conflict…you know, the whole enchilada.

Deb Dixon’s, GMC; Alicia Rasley’s, The Story Within; Dwight Swain, Techniques of the Selling Writer and -- I don’t have room to go into all the excellent how-to methods available. All of these approaches tickled my mind, made me think. Still, no one method spoke to me until the 2006 ACFW conference.

Susan May Warren gave a Continuing Education Session on How to Get Your Groove. I wasn’t able to attend those sessions and had no idea how powerful her process was until I purchased the CDs of the conference and downloaded both disks to my MP3 player to catch up on what I had missed. I stumbled on to her workshops one evening as I walked the dog.

Oh. My. Goodness.

She spoke my language.

Pictorially. Emotionally. Simply.

Susan May Warren had the unique ability to make me look at my books as real places with real people living under extraordinary circumstances. AND, she went on to explain how she created her worlds.

Okay, enough of a promo. If you have a copy of the 2006 Conference, make sure you listen to her sessions. If not, order it.

Apparently her workshop was so successful, Susan and Rachel Hauck published this series in their own how-to book, From the Inside Out. They go over the entire process of mapping out a book, highlighting the pitfalls so common, yet so difficult to understand.

Right now, I’m reviewing the development of characters for my next book. They spend a good amount of time on characters -- good thing!! Even though I have a general idea about each one, I’m combing through Inside Out and making a list of emotions and circumstances that shaped my characters long before they realized they’d be featured in a series : )

Here are just a few questions I’m researching about each character:

1. Who am I? … or, Identity: How do I define myself?
2. At all Costs? … or Purpose: What is my noble cause in life?
3. Let Me do it! … or Competence: What am I good at? What do I rely on when I am overwhelmed?
4. Teddy Bear – Security: Where do I go for safety? What do I do when life is falling apart?
5. Zone – Belonging: Where do I fit in God’s world? Where do I believe I belong?

These questions make me think. Hard. I found I needed to develop so much more of my character than the skeletal outline to effect my plot and make it plausible. By the time I’m done talking to them about their fears and insecurities, I've come to think of my characters as friends. I know how they’ll handle situations.

And, I understand why they think they way they do.

I can’t emphasis enough the difference this method has made in my writing. There are plot driven books and there are character driven books. For my satisfactory Happily Ever After ending, I prefer a character in charge of the adventure.

If you haven’t visited My Book Therapy, I urge you to do so. Informative and friendly this blog will help you understand the building blocks of story.

Story. A really good story. Isn’t that what we’re all striving to write?

And to encourage you along your way, I will be giving away a copy of From The Inside Out. Leave a comment and your email address and you will be counted in the drawing to be announced in the Weekend Edition!!

Happy Writing, all!!

-audra