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Literary Lights

Priscilla Fagan

Part II The Elements of Fiction - Character

People. That’s what it’s all about. We read to touch other people. To identify with other people. To compare ourselves with other people. To laugh at other people. To see, to hear, to feel other people. Gary Provost
 
A writer needs to know his or her characters. To know your characters means more than just knowing what they look like. Your main characters have to be credible. The reader must believe that your characters would and could act in a certain way.
 
Chris Keane tells us, Too many writers just don’t know their characters, and so they have characters acting in ways that are incredible to the reader.
 
F. Scott Fitzgerald said, Character is plot, plot is character. Confused? Perhaps less confusing is . . . credible plots emerge from credible characters having credible motivations. Gary Provost
 
Characters should be three dimensional. Your main characters should be complex and possess those all important conflicting traits. Flat characters are usually stereotypical, in other words, predictable with very few traits. These characters may show up in your story, as a walk-on might show up in a movie. But a flat main character will not be memorable, endearing, or someone you love to hate. Ernest Hemingway stated, When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people, not characters. A character is a caricature.
 
Try writing a biographical sketch of your main characters. Know your character inside and out. What makes him/her tick? Physical appearance, personality, motivation and conflicting traits all add up to a well-rounded character with a past, present, and future.
 
I’ll wrap this month's element of fiction up with a quote from W. Somerset Maugham, You can never know enough about your characters.
 
Priscilla, the eternal optimist