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Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Importance of Family of Origin for Characters

If you haven't taken my Personality and Plotting Survey, PLEASE DO SO NOW!! (2 minutes, tops.)

Unless you’re writing young adult novels, authors don’t always give a lot of thought to the intricacies of an adult hero or heroine’s family of origin. After all, if she’s already left home when the book starts, what’s the big deal about her mom and dad?

Below are five questions from the family APGAR assessment (acronym explained later) that will measure important concepts about your character’s family of origin. I’ll explain why these concepts are important, even for adult MCs. 

Click here to read the rest of my article for Christian Fiction Online Magazine.

5 comments:

Jessica Nelson said...

I think I read this article of yours before. Interesting info!

Miss Sharp said...

Whether it's explicit or implied, Backstory does make a difference, doesn't it?

Shilpa Mudiganti said...

I think backstory would matter even for non-YA books if they have a strong bearing on the main characters. It would shape them in real characters.

Anonymous said...

Great article. The character template I use asks specifically about the family and childhood. It really helps with building the back story.

Anonymous said...

Great article. The character template I use asks specifically about the family and childhood. It really helps with building the back story.

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Both comments and questions are welcome. I hope you enjoyed your time on the couch today.