AH! Day number three and we are stopping on the what I think can be the most important part of ANY book...
THE CHARACTERS.
And I'm not just talking about the main characters, peeps. I'm talking about the secondary ones, too.
Main characters, obviously, are the most important. They are the ones who drive the story. They are the ones who have to grow, change, develop (during that build we discussed yesterday!).
An example for romance would be the heroine being afraid to love because of a broken heart (pretty cliche...but don't most girls feel like this??). During the story, she goes through motions that change her mind. Normally the motions come at the hand of the hero. Awww. Some can come at the hand of other things, too.
An example in a uh...YA...yeah, a YA would be the uber-popular but snobby girl who grows to realize that the world doesn't just revolve around her. (Teenager girls...what can you do with them?) This change normally comes at the hand of various scenarios and other characters.
So, your main characters also have to have depth. Three dimensions. People need to like them (even if they are a pain in the butt!). People need to relate to them, root for them, people must want to see them reach their goals at the end of the book. You do this by making them people. Not cardboard cutouts. You make them individuals...putting the reader in their mind and making them feel what the characters feel. Make them know what the characters know. Make the characters JUMP off the page! Give them quirks, give them problems, give them cute little habits, or annoying ones they need to break. Give them a mountain to climb or a problem to solve. And do it with class (or attitude...depending on your character).
Now, those secondary characters. Because I'm such a romance freak, I'm not super crazy about secondary characters. I like the story to be about the H/H and I like to have TONS of page time devoted to them and the building of their relationship.
I don't mind a secondary character or two that adds comic relief, a little insight, or someone who knows the characters better than we do (that makes the story feel more real). But I'm not fond of secondary characters that you find in most other types of books. Think action, suspense, etc. The reason might surprise you: I'm not the kind of person that can keep track of ten people in a story. It's not a bad thing, mind you, to have so many characters. And in a lot of YA (romance included), romantic suspense, and paranormal, there are generally a handful (or more) of secondary characters. Contemporary romance can have them, too, but I prefer the story that has less than five all together. If I could get away with just the H/H and not bore the reader to death, I would do it. ;-)
So the characters hold everything together. They are the ones that tell the story and move it forward. They are the ones we have to fall in love with. They are the build. The foundation, the walls, and roof. Without them, you've got nothing. Together with the plot, they can take over the world. :-)
Can any of you think of a story where you loved the characters? Hated them? Thought there were too many characters? Not enough characters? Come on...I know you've got something.
~JD
THE CHARACTERS.
And I'm not just talking about the main characters, peeps. I'm talking about the secondary ones, too.
Main characters, obviously, are the most important. They are the ones who drive the story. They are the ones who have to grow, change, develop (during that build we discussed yesterday!).
An example for romance would be the heroine being afraid to love because of a broken heart (pretty cliche...but don't most girls feel like this??). During the story, she goes through motions that change her mind. Normally the motions come at the hand of the hero. Awww. Some can come at the hand of other things, too.
An example in a uh...YA...yeah, a YA would be the uber-popular but snobby girl who grows to realize that the world doesn't just revolve around her. (Teenager girls...what can you do with them?) This change normally comes at the hand of various scenarios and other characters.
So, your main characters also have to have depth. Three dimensions. People need to like them (even if they are a pain in the butt!). People need to relate to them, root for them, people must want to see them reach their goals at the end of the book. You do this by making them people. Not cardboard cutouts. You make them individuals...putting the reader in their mind and making them feel what the characters feel. Make them know what the characters know. Make the characters JUMP off the page! Give them quirks, give them problems, give them cute little habits, or annoying ones they need to break. Give them a mountain to climb or a problem to solve. And do it with class (or attitude...depending on your character).
Now, those secondary characters. Because I'm such a romance freak, I'm not super crazy about secondary characters. I like the story to be about the H/H and I like to have TONS of page time devoted to them and the building of their relationship.
I don't mind a secondary character or two that adds comic relief, a little insight, or someone who knows the characters better than we do (that makes the story feel more real). But I'm not fond of secondary characters that you find in most other types of books. Think action, suspense, etc. The reason might surprise you: I'm not the kind of person that can keep track of ten people in a story. It's not a bad thing, mind you, to have so many characters. And in a lot of YA (romance included), romantic suspense, and paranormal, there are generally a handful (or more) of secondary characters. Contemporary romance can have them, too, but I prefer the story that has less than five all together. If I could get away with just the H/H and not bore the reader to death, I would do it. ;-)
So the characters hold everything together. They are the ones that tell the story and move it forward. They are the ones we have to fall in love with. They are the build. The foundation, the walls, and roof. Without them, you've got nothing. Together with the plot, they can take over the world. :-)
Can any of you think of a story where you loved the characters? Hated them? Thought there were too many characters? Not enough characters? Come on...I know you've got something.
~JD
4 comments:
I can't think of any particular book right now, but I don't like too many characters either. Especially when they have similar names. The author may be able to keep them straight. But me? I have to go back and re-read just to remember who's who.
I remember with Girl with the Dragon Tattoo thinking - yes but what happened to the detective!?! It was like he was for me a pivotal character at the beginning of the book then he sort of faded at the end and I was like - so what was the point of him?!?! LOL!
LOVED your book cover, JD!! Yay!! Take care
x
Too many characters makes the story hard to follow.
A main character who is a pain? That sounds familiar...
I had WAY to many characters in my first ever novel (if you can call it that - it's hidden way deep down in my computer now). I couldn't keep track of them. And when the AUTHOR can't keep track of the characters, something is definitely amiss. :)
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