Career Choice as a Characterization Tool

Last fall, the delightfully smart and funny Danica Favorite made a comment on an author's loop and I pounced on it! I thought, this isn't an opinion... it's a blog post for Seekerville! So after I begged, cajoled and promised to always respect her love for chickens, she agreed to hang out with us today and talk about how authors can use a career choice to deepen their conflict/personality/setting. So without further adieux, I'm turning this over to Danica... with a fresh pot of coffee and a delightfully warm, cinnamony French Toast bake!

When you’re looking at a character and deciding what career to give him or her, you can’t arbitrarily assign a job to that character. Everything a character does is a reflection of who they are as a person and the total of the life events that shape them. Including career choice. An example: my father-in-law is one of the most brilliant men you’ll ever meet. I asked him one day why he didn’t become an engineer. He told me that he always wanted to be an engineer, but he didn’t think he was smart enough for college, so he became a mechanic instead. He has a good life, and enjoyed being a mechanic, but I’ve always wondered what amazing thing he would have invented had he had enough confidence to become an engineer.

Another example: A friend of mine is a manager at fast food place. Why does she work at a fast food place when she’s a smart, capable woman who could do a thousand other things?  In her case, it’s because the franchise owner is a family friend who lets her make schedules for herself that allow her to work only during school hours so she can be there for her kids. Not a lot of jobs let you do that. She is a wonderful, confident woman who values being there for her kids more than she values having an exciting career. She is willing to go to work at 3 a.m., mop the floors, scrub the toilets, and get everything ready for the day. She goes home to take her kids to school, drops them off, and returns to work, doing a job that most people make fun of. But she’s always got a smile on her face, and she’s happy to be there. Yet we all know the people who resent that they have to work at a fast food place, and when you walk up to the counter, you know it.

Think about how this impacts the kind of character you’re writing. What is the self-esteem of someone who is doing a job they hate but feel like they aren’t smart enough to follow their passion? How would that low self-esteem impact how the character interacts with others in the story? How would someone who thought he wasn’t smart enough for college interact with a genius? How would a fast food worker who was grateful for the perfect job to be there for her family interact with customers differently from someone who couldn’t get a better job?

When you dig deeper into a character’s career choices, you learn things that can help you understand more about your character. Sometimes we don’t go deep enough in asking the questions, and in doing so, we miss out on potentially important character clues that can add depth to a story. Think about the examples above and how having that information about a character could add new layers and potential to your story.

In my current release, For the Sake of the Children, my hero is willing to take whatever job he can get if it means supporting his daughter. Though his job isn’t a big part of the story, it tells a lot about the kind of man he is. Silas has a lot of reasons why taking the job he’s offered may not be the best idea, the biggest being it puts him in close proximity to the woman whose heart he broke years ago. But he does it because it is the best option for providing for his daughter.

In my other current release, The Scent of Romance, part of the Romance Grows in Arcadia Valley collection, my characters’ jobs are vital to the story. The heroine helps run her grandmother’s farm and is doing her best to keep it intact. Why? Because the farm represents safety and security to her, but more importantly, it is her passion. Contrast that with the hero, who is representing the company that wants to turn the farm into a golf course resort. Why is this job so important to him? Because he believes it is his chance to win his father’s approval.

For these characters, the jobs they have point to something deeper in who they are as people. I could have just made my hero a lawyer because that’s what I needed in my story, and a lot of writers are willing to settle for that. But when you go deeper and understand why he is a lawyer (he thought it would win his father’s approval), then you know more about him and can have him interact in more meaningful ways. Now the conflict isn’t just about doing a job, but about making his dad love him.  What do we as readers care more about? A man who wants another successful contract under his belt? Or a man who is still that little boy who wants his daddy to love him? 

Do you see how knowing a character’s reason for having a job, even if it isn’t a huge part of the story, can deepen the characterization? It’s tempting to make a character have a particular career because you’re filling out a form or giving them something to do, or you think it isn’t vital to the story. But you’re missing out on some great details that can make your story even better.

Your turn: What is your hero or heroine’s occupation? Do you know why he or she chose that job? Are there additional details about that job you can use to help your readers understand or relate to your character? 

If you’re not writing a book, I’d love to hear examples from books you’ve read or movies you’ve watched where a character’s job gave you more insight into the character.

And writer or reader, Danica has graciously offered a copy of "For the Sake of the Children" to one most fortunate commenter! Join in the conversation about careers, characters, choices and how they connect with you the writer... or the author!

About the author:

A self-professed crazy chicken lady, Danica Favorite loves the adventure of living a creative life. She and her family recently moved in to their dream home in the mountains above Denver, Colorado.  Danica loves to explore the depths of human nature and follow people on the journey to happily ever after. Though the journey is often bumpy, those bumps are what refine imperfect characters as they live the life God created them for. Oops, that just spoiled the ending of all of Danica’s stories. Then again, getting there is all the fun.

You can connect with Danica at the following places:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Danica-Favorite/e/B00KRP0IFU

Website: http://www.danicafavorite.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/danicafavorite
Instagram: https://instagram.com/danicafavorite/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DanicaFavoriteAuthor  

About Danica’s Releases:

For the Sake of the Children:
The Nanny Agreement 
Widower Silas Jones needs a mother for his daughter, and marriage could help his former sweetheart repair her tattered reputation. Yet he can't blame Rose Stone when she refuses a marriage of convenience after he once broke her heart, marrying another woman to save his family's farm. He's blessed Rose agrees to be his nanny. If only she'd look at him again with the warmth she shows little Milly… 
Rose's tarnished past hasn't quelled her spirit. She's building a good life in Colorado with her infant son—and the glimmer of a future with Silas. But when his in-laws try to claim Milly, Rose must decide if the makeshift family she and Silas have forged can reopen her heart to love.

The Scent of Romance:

A high-powered lawyer must convince a woman determined to protect her family’s legacy to sell the family farm to his father’s development company, but finds his heart leading him away from everything he’s spent his life trying to accomplish.

Welcome guest Danica Favorite

What I learned since I left the island...

www.danicafavorite.com

So many people think that getting published means that so much in your life will change. Honestly, what I've learned is how little things change. Here are a few things people think will change (and doesn't).

·         Recognition as a published author: Even when you get the “unpublished” sticker off your forehead, there's always going to be someone who doesn't think you're a real writer- either because you write X genre or because you haven't published X number of books or you aren't making X amount of money. 

·         The money: Okay, I will admit that I got an advance, and it wasn't shabby. It also isn't going to buy me a vacation home in the mountains. But, easy come, easy go, as they say. I no sooner put the money from my advance in the bank than my dog got diabetes (not fun vet bills), my kid got nominated to go on a very expensive school trip, and a whole lot of other little things popped up to suck the money right out. Don't get me wrong, I am so grateful for the money and grateful that we were able to take care of the situations that sprung up. But we still live in the same house, have the same lifestyle, and that's okay.

·         The writing: I've had so many people tell me that it gets easier when you're published. I don't know what kool-aid they were drinking, but I've found it not to be true. For me, it is exactly the same. I'm plugging along on my next book, hoping my editor will like it, and hoping that if she gets back to me with the word that she doesn't like it, it's in time to fix it.

·         The wait: Many people also think that the wait changes once you become published. It's funny, because I know a number of published authors who have been waiting to hear back on their submissions for their option books as the unpublished authors.

So what does this all mean for the people still on the island?  I think you have to take a step back from your expectations of what's going to change in your life and realize that the nature of the publishing business is exactly what you've been witnessing all along. Here are a few pieces of advice to combat the temptation to think everything is going to change:

·         Accept that no matter where you are in the publishing journey, whether on the island or off, YOU ARE A REAL WRITER. Other people's definitions don't matter.

·         Be grateful for whatever money comes your way, but be realistic in thinking that it's not going to change your life overnight. (Unless you get a million dollar book deal, and in that case, I'd love to know how it's done!) Don't plan your financial future based on a book deal that may or may not come your way.

·         Remember that a contract isn't a ticket to continued publishing success. Always strive to grow as a writer, and no matter what, keep writing. Especially if you're waiting.

·         The worst thing you can do is stop writing or slow your pace while waiting. So many of my friends sent partials and then stopped writing because they wanted to know what the editor thought of the partial before writing more, and then couldn't deliver when asked for a full. We've all heard the adage that you can't edit a blank page. Spend the waiting time finishing the current project or working on the next one so that you have something to offer when the editor wants more.

Now it's your turn: If you're still on the island, what do you think or hope will change by leaving the island? And for those who've left the island, what did you think would change that didn't?


Danica's debut book for Love Inspired Historicals, set to release late 2014 or early 2015:

Joseph Stone comes to the mining town of Leadville, Colorado to find his missing father and bring him home to support their impoverished family. Instead, he finds an illegitimate sister he didn't know existed and clues that his father may have been murdered over a hidden silver mine. The sole hope for keeping his siblings out of an orphanage is to find the mine- before his father's killer does.

An area in Leadville representative of where the mining camp would have been. Of course, in the book, there would have been far fewer trees because the wood was needed for support beams for the mines as well as for construction, heating, etc.

Annabelle Lassiter is worn out from working in her father's ministry to aid struggling miners. She doesn't believe their work is doing any good in a lawless town full of people interested only in getting rich quick. All she wants is to leave Leadville to create a new life for herself, away from the pain of working amidst so much tragedy. At her father's urging, she reluctantly sets out to help what she believes is just one more miner in a sea of thousands.

My family and I took the Leadville train, very similar to what my heroine would have been taking out of Leadville at the end of the book.

As Annabelle and Joseph work together to care for his younger sister while trying to find the mine, they learn to look past the preconceived notions they had of each other to see something deeper. But even as they consider the risks to their hearts by becoming involved, the greater risk may be to their lives.

Because my book takes place in Leadville during the silver mining boom, and a lost silver mine plays such an important role in my book, I'm giving away a vial of Colorado silver.

Leave a comment to be included in the drawing!!

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For more birthday details check here.

Hi Everyone, Audra here!

Can you believe it's time for ANOTHER Seekerville birthday party? There's a great month ahead -- we're just getting started! In addition to Danica's generous giveaway of real-live, honest-to-goodness silver (!!), leave a comment for more giveaway drawings --  TWO $10 Amazon gift cards.

Join us each day for fun in the sun and valuable conversation!!