Okay, I’ll be the first to admit it—I’m a character. Or at
least that’s what my mom used to say, but somehow I never took offense. You see,
to me, being a “character” meant you weren’t ho-hum and
boring—but unique, different, quirky.
You know, kinda crazy and kinda fun? The kind of person
people usually remember and one who has a penchant for creating memories people
don’t forget? For instance one of my quirks is that when it comes to games, I am
as competitive and vicious as they get, especially when playing the game of Spoons,
wracking up broken nails, bloody fingers and gouged hands galore. Once I even
snatched the spoon so fast, my chair toppled back into a plate-glass window.
But, you will be happy to know—I got the spoon! Of course the low point of my
Spoons obsession came when I returned from the restroom during a game to
discover my friends had replaced the spoons on the table with butcher knives. Ouch! Trust me—I got the point.
Okay, okay, when it comes to life, being a sore loser or
crazy-nuts competitive may not be the ideal trait or quirk to have, but when
you’re creating characters in a book? Oh, honey—you bet! Because the bottom
line is that quirks, flaws and habits can help humanize your characters and
endear them to your readers, embedding a memory—and hopefully your story—into
the reader’s brain.
I’ll be honest with you—I am not the “Queen of Quirk,” but I
sure do like to give my characters quirks, and here’s why.
QUIRKS CAN ENHANCE
YOUR WRITING AND YOUR CHARACTERS:
1.)
Quirks Make
Characters Interesting and Relatable. Take Mitch Dennehy for example, my
hero from A Passion Redeemed. Mitch
is a gruff, no-nonsense newspaper man whose biggest quirk is he doesn’t mince
words OR use a lot of them in a sentence, which I hope helps him come off as a
lovable grouch such as in this example:
He stared, his
breath shallow and his iron will liquefying into a puddle of metal. He pushed
her back on the bed and descended, his mind focused only on the lips he craved
to taste. Dear Lord, he had to have her.
Soon.
He jerked away,
eyes glazed with desire. “Tomorrow. We get married tomorrow.”
She grinned.
“Perfect.”
He frowned. “Is
City Hall open on Saturdays?”
“I think so.”
He stood. His legs
felt shaky and a nerve twitched in his cheek. Desire or nerves? He wasn’t sure.
He jabbed a finger. “So help me, Charity, after we’re married, no more lies. Do
you hear?”
She nodded.
“Whatever you say, Mitch.”
He exhaled loudly
and headed for the door.
“Mitch?”
“What?”
“I love you.”
“Yeah.” He jerked
the door open.
“Do you love me?”
He turned to give
her a half-lidded gaze, wondering which was stronger—the desire to make love to
her or the desire to put her over his knee. He groaned inwardly. No contest.
“Yeah, unfortunately.”
In Myra Johnson’s One
Imperfect Christmas, the very stressed-out heroine, Natalie, has an
assistant named Deannie who has this uncanny way of sneaking up on her, which
as a very wired individual, I can certainly relate to. When it happens to me, I
usually jump a mile in the air, so I completely emphasize with poor Natalie in
Myra’s clip below:
Clutching the
flyer, Natalie stormed through the shop and slammed open her office door. With
flying fingers she typed the password to open the Moonbeams file. She sucked in
her breath when she saw the star in the window, exactly as it appeared in the
flyer. By some horrible fluke she’d called up the wrong graphic.
“Bummer.”
Deannie’s softly spoken comment startled Natalie half out of her wits.
“Deannie! For
heaven’s sake!” She slapped a hand against her chest and spun around to see the
girl hovering just behind her. “I wish you wouldn’t do that.”
2.)
Quirks
Can Add Humor. As far as I’m concerned, one of the best ways to add humor
to a story is to give a character a quirk such as Seeker bud Audra Harders did
in this clip from a ms. called No Place
Like Home, giving her heroine the quirk of night blindness to add a touch
of humor to this wonderful scene:
“What
are you doing?”
“I’m
pulling off to check out the lodge,” she answered distractedly. The truck
slowed to ease over a bump.
“Why?” Nick gritted his teeth against the
jarring ride. “Can’t you wait a mile?”
“A
mile?”
“The
sign back on the highway said Rest Area, 1
mile. Can’t you wait that long to do your thing?” A deeper bump rocked the truck to the side. “Ow!”
“Sorry,”
Rachel said, not sounding sorry at all. “Actually, my thing is exactly why we’re here. We have to stop for the night.”
He
glanced from her face to her whitened knuckles gripping the steering wheel.
“You’re not sick, are you?”
Her
brows knitted together sharply. “Only of your grump, cowboy.”
“Look,
we’ve been making good time on an empty highway,” he coaxed, trying a different
tactic, one so foreign and rusty, he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to pull it
off. “Another four hours, five max and we’ll be in Casper before you know it.
Now be a good girl, go to the bathroom and let’s get on down the road.”
“Sorry,
big guy,” she said on a sigh. “No can do. I can’t see in the dark. Night
blindness.”
Dusk
was quickly turning to dark as Nick watched the play of emotions across her
face. His stomach sank as he realized she was serious. “Can’t see?” he
parroted. “Not even a little?”
“It’s
a rod-cone thing. Supposedly I’m
missing some of one or the other. Anyway, unless I can feel my way, I don’t do
anything at night.”
Nick
wasn’t sure how to respond to that comment, so he wisely chose silence.
In my upcoming “Heart of San Francisco” series, one of my
editor’s favorite characters was the distinguished elderly and near deaf/blind
butler named Hadley, whose quirk of selective hearing/seeing adds an extra bit
of quirky humor to the story. Especially
when our dear, old boy butts heads with the prickly housekeeper/cook, Rosie Fitzsimmons, as
indicated in the two following clips.
“Hadley!” Rosie
poked her head out the kitchen door. “I need you to snap the peas, lickety
split.”
The butler clicked
his heels. “Yes, miss, tap the bees—honey coming right up.”
“Peas!” Rosie
screamed.
The front door
opened and Hadley stepped through with a newspaper under his arm, distinguished
as always in his crisp white shirt with black tails despite the sprig of
juniper in his hair. A smile played at the corners of Caitlyn’s mouth as she
stared at her beloved butler, his craggy face especially handsome with the
absence of his new glasses. “The paperboy missed again?” she asked loudly
enough for him to hear, plucking the juniper from his silver hair.
“I’m afraid so,
miss,” Hadley said with his usual calm, a smile shadowing lips that never
voiced a complaint. “I do believe the young ruffian relishes the thought of me
rifling through the brush each morning. But I don’t mind. Rather like a trek
through the jungle, if you will.”
She stood on
tiptoe to graze an affectionate kiss to the old butler’s cheek. “Perhaps
because you’ve misplaced your glasses again, Mr. Hadley?”
His eyes actually
sparkled. “At times I find life to be more of an adventure without them, miss,”
he said with an imp of a smile, “especially where Mrs.
FitzSimmons is concerned.”
Caitlyn chuckled.
“I do believe there’s a scamp beneath that regal pose, dear Hadley.”
He smiled. “With
Mrs. Fitz, miss, one finds his pleasure wherever he can.”
3.)
Quirks Can
Humanize or Soften Hard-to-like Characters or Antagonists. One of the
hardest things I’ve ever done was to take a character people loved to hate like
the manipulative vixen sister in the “Daughters of Boston” series, Charity
O’Connor, and use her quirks of manipulation to soften or humanize her. I mean
this was the character that readers actually wrote and asked me to “slap
Charity for them” or wanted to see her “maimed” or “killed” in book 1, A Passion Most Pure. But hopefully those
same quirks of manipulation brought a smile to a reader’s face in the next
book, A Passion Redeemed, when
Charity lies in wait in the back seat of Mitch Dennehy’s car while he's on a
date or when she put cracker crumbs in her eyes to manipulate him with tears. Throughout
the rest of the series, this quirk of manipulation adds humor and softness to
her when she becomes the family matchmaker and schemer such as in this clip
from A Passion Denied:
“You want me to kiss Brady?” Lizzie’s voice was little more than a
squeak.
“Only as a last resort if he doesn’t kiss you. Call it Plan B.”
“But, how …?”
Charity studied her sister, her lips skewed in thought. “Well, it would
certainly help if you could cry. Can you cry on demand?”
Lizzie blinked. “I’ve never tried. But why do I have to cry?”
“Because it weakens their defenses. I suggest you practice in your
room. If you have trouble, try putting something irritating in your eyes like a
cracker crumb or anything like that. Once your eyes begin to water, just think
about how much you love Brady and how awful it would be if he didn’t love you
back. Then, voila! Cry yourself a river.”
4.)
Quirks Can
Add Drama and Mystery. One of the things I remember most about Mr. Darcy in
the latest movie version of Pride and
Prejudice is how he would flex his hand when he was fighting nervousness, a
quirk that neatly showed he was human despite his arrogant air. Or in Tamera Alexander’s
novel, Within My Heart, where the
hero, Rand Brookston, Timber Ridge's physician, purchases huge amounts of lamp
oil and nobody knows why until later in the book, when it reveals a deep secret
and inner failing.
In the following clip from Mary
Connealy’s, Over the Edge, the hero
Seth got married after the war, but because of his injuries, he doesn’t
remember. However, the feel of his wife Callie's
hair is a memory for him, so he likes to touch it and release it from its braid,
which becomes a quirk of his. He keeps doing it and she keeps trying to stop
him. When she finally lets go and allows him to touch her hair, we know she's
learning to trust again such as in this clip:
He had a flash of a memory of her rubbing his back. Or no, maybe
bandaging his back. He was lying on his stomach and he looked back to see her
touching him, leaning over him. He felt her silky hair spilling onto his back.
Loose. Surely a nurse kept her hair tied back. And she smiled. He knew the
moment was a true memory and not some kind of dream. And the way she touched
him, the intimate way she smiled, this had to be after they were married. It
sure better have been, considering where the memory took his thoughts. Oh, he
could well imagine wanting to marry her bad.
5.)
Quirks Can
Humanize our Heroes/Heroines. Tina Radcliffe’s heroine in Oklahoma Reunion, Kait Field, cleans
when she is stressed and she's stressed a lot, a quirk that helps lighten an
otherwise negative habit in a character, making Kait both relatable and
endearing, such as in this excerpt where she and her daughter go to have dinner
at the hero, Ryan Jones' house.
Kait turned and inspected the kitchen in stunned surprise. The entire
room from the granite countertops, white bead board cupboards to the
checkerboard floor tiles gleamed. “What happened? Everything is so, so...”
“What?”
“Clean.”
Ryan shrugged, and shot her a lopsided grin.
“I think you might possibly be cleaner than me.”
“Hey, let’s not get carried away. No one is
cleaner than you, Kait.”
Throughout the
O’Connor saga, Collin McGuire is a drop-dead gorgeous hero who’s lousy at
sports, and his brothers-in-law never let him forget it, which helps humanize
his exalted hero status, as indicated in these two clips from A Hope Undaunted and A Love Surrendered.
With a hint of a smile, Sean scratched the back of his head and closed
his eyes. “As a matter of fact, Collin told me once that the only reason Father
agreed to let him come courting in the first place was because of Mother.
Apparently she convinced him that at one time, he’d been just like Collin.”
A smirk lifted Steven’s brow. “You mean lousy at sports?”
Steven cleared his throat. “For you information, sis, unlike Collin, I
win by skill.” He flicked a stray crumb of pie at his sister.
“Hey—so my wide range of talents doesn’t include Pinochle,” Collin
defended.
“Or basketball, or baseball or chess …” Luke said with a grin.
6.)
Quirks
Can Deepen a Character by Revealing Hurts in a Character’s Life. In MaryLu
Tyndall’s book, Surrender the Dawn, the hero Luke is always rubbing
his earlobe when he feels guilty. Why? According to MaryLu, it’s because he
injured it while trying to rescue his parents from a burning building, an
attempt at which he failed, thus reminding the reader of his painful past and
invoking an empathy with a simple quirk like rubbing his ear.
Or in my novel, A Hope Undaunted, the heroine Katie
O’Connor rubs her elbows when she’s insecure, harkening back to a time in her
past when she was ridiculed by classmates for having psoriasis on her legs,
arms and elbows.
SO … how do I come up with quirks to enhance my novels?
Well, at the end of this blog, you’ll find a list of all the quirks I was able
to find on line and some I thought of myself, so have at it. BUT ... A WORD OF WARNING ABOUT ALL QUIRKS: Quirks are the easiest things to overdo in a book, so PLEASE use them sparingly. For instance in the case of an accent, I tend to avoid accents at all cost because A.) they're difficult to do correctly and convincingly and B.) they can grate on the reader's (and the writer's!) nerves. That's why the ONLY Irish word quirk you hear Patrick O'Connor say in my books is "darlin'," and even that I have to tone down at times to avoid overkill. Same thing with Marcy's glazing her teeth with her tongue—I will literally take out half of these or more in the editing stage. But that warning said, here
are a few easy ways you can brainstorm new and clever quirks to endear your
characters to your readers.
HOW TO COME UP WITH
CREATIVE QUIRKS FOR YOUR CHARACTERS:
1.)
Think about
Self Characteristics. Boy, was this fun—you should try it!! I actually did
it and came up with the following quirks that I personally have, which I may
just give to a character or two! I actually used the first one already—liking
underdone or light pastries and breads because in A Passion Redeemed, Charity always switches her dark roll for Mitch
or Brady’s light ones when they’re not looking.
o
Only eat light or undercooked pastries and
breads
o
Only like to eat blue M&Ms and will NOT eat
brown ones.
o
Always roll or push up the sleeves of blouses
and sweaters
o
Have to write with a black pen, not blue
o
Pick at my eyebrows
o
Wear lipstick/gloss at ALL times … even to bed
o
Half sing songs and hum parts when don’t know
the words, driving my daughter CRAZY!!
o
Must have coffee, ear plugs, lipstick, Kleenex,
mirror, notebook, emory board when writing
o
Hoard Christmas bows
o
Keep one foot out of bed at night when hot
o
Tent my knees when sleeping
o
Save plastic bags, twisty ties and bows
o
Kick my legs when sitting
o
Twist the paper covers that straw come in
o
Doodle flowers and faces when on phone
o
Eat only soft or soggy fries
o
Must have four ketchup, salt & pepper, two
creamers, knife and one strawberry jelly with my Egg McMuffin meals
2.)
Think about
Characteristics of Family Members. My Dad was a bit quirky in that although
he was an eye surgeon of considerable repute and skill, he would do things like
throw string over the telephone wire outside his bedroom window to see which
way the wind was blowing! Also, my mom used to glaze her tongue across her
teeth when she was nervous, so I gave that same trait to Marcy O’Connor in my
O’Connor family series. My hubby went through a phase where he loved Snickers,
so I gave Sean O’Connor an obsession with Snickers bars.
3.) Think about Characteristics of Friends, Classmates,
Coworkers. A friend of mine used to wrinkle her nose like a rabbit out of
nervous habit and another dear friend loved Dr. Pepper so much, she chose “Dr.
Pepper Girl” as her e-mail addy. As a result, my heroine in my next book, A
Love Surrendered, also has an addiction to Dr. Pepper and her friend calls her, "Dr. Pepper Girl."
4.)
Think
about Opposites. In book 2 of the “Heart of San Francisco” series, my
alpha-male hero is a fearless and armed rough-and-tumble Italian police
detective who, like Leroy Jethro Gibbs of NCIS, is not afraid of anybody or
anything. You know the type—rock jaw, perennial shadow of beard and gruff
manner? Well, our hero is railroaded into providing protection for the heroine
whom he perceives as a spoiled socialite, forced to escort her home everyday on
a cable car. The quirk I gave him? He has a fear of throwing up (I actually had
a friend with this quirk, believe it or not) and unfortunately cable cars turn my hero green and sick to his stomach, which I hope will provide moments of humor
as well as humanize our grouchy cop.
5.)
Character
Trait Chart and Personality Components. WOW, I found this fun website
called Inspiration for Writers, Inc.,
of which an author friend of mine, Sandi Rog, is a part. They offer a GREAT
Personality Components Chart here for free that can help you brainstorm quirks
and character traits. For example, I took two of the words in the Personality
Components Chart—“aloof” and “meticulous” and immediately came up with quirks
of two people I know. One of them absolutely HATES to be hugged (aloof), which
if you know me at all, is a real challenge to NOT hug her when I see her! The
other friend is insanely organized, color coding everything with markers and
lists (meticulous), so this chart really helps shake loose the ideas for
character quirks. Here’s the link for a free Character Trait Chart AND
Personality Components Chart, plus you can request free copies of their
writer’s worksheets as well, so check it out!
Finally, here’s the list of quirks I came up, some of which you
may just see in my future books, so beware!! And anyone who leaves a comment
today or mentions new quirks to be added will be entered to win a signed copy
of any of my books including ANY future books. So let’s get “quirky and remember
… quirky characters need love too!
LIST OF QUIRKS:
Accent
Adjusts eyeglasses, tie, belt,
skirt
Allergic
to something
Always cold
Always hot
Athletic
Bad
with names; gets names mixed up
Baseball cap
Bellows
Bites lip
Bites nails
Bossy
Bristles
Butchers words
Can't
stand the sight of blood
Can’t smell
Chews on a pen
Chews sunflower seeds
Chrews gum
Clears Throat
Clucks tongue
Color blind
Constantly plays with a ball
Corrects people
Cracks knuckles
Debates all issues
Doodles
Drama queen
Dramatic/Interesting
scar on (face/part of body)
Unusual mole or birth mark (shaped like....)
Excessively grooms self
Unusual mole or birth mark (shaped like....)
Excessively grooms self
Drinks too much coffee (in honor
of Gibbs)
Drops clothes on floor
Early riser
Feet on desk
Fidgets
Finishes people’s sentences
Flips a coin
Grates lip
Grinds jaw
Gruff/Curt
Grumbles
Grunts
Gut feelings
Habitually late
Hands in pockets
Hates ice in drinks
Hates to lose
Hoarse/gravelly
voice from smoking, shouting, Chews on hair
Honest to a fault
Hums
Hunt-and-peck typist
Impeccable dresser
Interrupts
Intuitive
Issues dares
Klutzy
Lisp on certain words
Loosened tie
Loves animals/kids
Lucky item
Makes bets on everything
Monosyllables
Mooch
Mutters
Neat freak
No
fashion sense
O.C.D.
Pack rat
Pencil over ear
Perfectionist
Pet phrase or word
Phobic/Paranoid
Picks nails
Picks up strays
Pinches bridge of nose
Plays Solitaire
Plays with lobe of ear
Poor handwriting
Poor sense of direction
Pops peanuts
Practical joker
Punctual
Purses lips
Quotes movies/books
Rattles change in pocket
Rolls eyes
Rubs chin,
Rubs temples
Rumpled shirt
Runs hands through his hair
Sarcastic
Scares people
Seven-mile-stare
Shuffles when walks
Sniffs,
Speaks
in rhymes
Squints
Stone-faced
Stutter
Superstitious
Sweats
Talk
about self in third person
Talks softly
Talks to him/herself
Tic in jaw/cheek/temple when angry
Tidies up wherever
Toothpick
Twirls hair,
Vain
Whistles out of tune or same lines
over and over
Winks
Won’t eat anything green
Won’t eat vegetables
