Making Characters Multi-Dimensional

I read an incredible article this week, courtesy of my Writer's Digest newsletter and author Steven James (The Pawn, The Rook, The Knight, The Bishop, and most recently, The Queen). I'd like to summarize it below, but for those who want the full monty, click here. His article is psychology sound...and since I personally think James' suspense books are amazing, we could all stand to read his suggestions of how to raise our characters above status quo.

James references acting instructor Keith Johnstone, who talks about the importance of dominance and submission, and finding a balance for your characters. James calls this tip: VARIABLE STATUS IS THE KEY TO DIMENSIONALITY. 

In every social situation, one person will have or attempt to have dominance. Novelists have to show this shift through dialogue, posture, pauses, communication patterns, body language, inner dialogue, and action. James goes on to give examples of various status ques, such as lack of eye contact indicating submissiveness and stillness and control indicating dominance.

Status can vary according to three things: relationship (parent over a child), position (boss over an employee), and situation (anytime a character is out of his or her element, they would be in a more submissive state). Still, a person has choices within these categories, such a child manipulating a parent and therefore having dominance over them.

The key to working status in your favor is to never let the character maintain the same status in every situation. It's just not realistic. In real life, there are relationships that we absolutely have dominion over, and then there are those we don't, such as a business man who exudes confidence in the board room but can't hold a candle to his Goth teen. James mentions that even Superman had his Kryptonite to overcome...so too do our heroes and heroines need a weakness or weak area that challenges them and throws in sharp contrast the areas that they excel.

James goes on to say that WORD CHOICE DETERMINES CHARACTERIZATION. We wouldn't want our hard work to go to green by choosing one wrong word to describe our character's action or manner of speech. The best way to explain this is to simply copy/paste his example below:

1. Adrian drew the blade across Sylvia’s arm. She shrieked and begged him to stop. 2. Adrian drew the blade across Sylvia’s arm. She clenched her teeth, refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry. In the first example, Sylvia’s uncontrolled reaction lowers her status beneath that of her assailant. In the second, however, her resolve raises her status above that of Adrian, who has evidently failed to intimidate her. Rather than appearing victimized, she has become heroic. Your protagonist must never act in a way that lowers her status below that of the antagonist.

That last line is the gold nugget takeaway, so I hope you had your mining hats on today! There was more to the article, so I encourage you to read the whole thing, but these two points struck home with me.

Q4U: What are some of your favorite ways to show dominance for a character? Do you have them make a particular gesture, make their speech measured and controlled?

Character Clinic: April Herring

Today, I've got Katrina's character April on my couch. April resides in a fantasy. She's 18 and has been deaf since birth. She's a professional diball player (like soccer, but where the ball is moved around by magic instead of feet). She never really learned how to speak properly, always signing at home or using text-to-speech, so she's frustrated and embarrassed at not being understood sometimes, especially since she left home to pursue her diball career. She wants to connect with someone outside her family, and her diball partner Travis just might be that person, but he likes to dive into things without thinking, and it drives careful April crazy.

Katrina wants to know: Any suggestions on ways that Travis could help push April out of her comfort zone that don't depend on the fact that he can hear and she can't? Also, I know she's not going to get better overnight, so what would be considered reasonable progress?

April -

It's understandable that someone with a hearing disability--and subsequent speaking challenge--would shy away from conversations. It's great that you can connect with Travis through sign (your comfort zone), and hopefully you'll experience some acceptance through him that might make you less self-conscious of your speech. People have a way of doing that to us. They imbibe us with confidence that we might lack were it not for our relationship with them.

I think it would be interesting to see what would happen when both you and Travis were taken out of your comfort zones (say, the diball arena, for sure) and were forced to rely on each other. So then, it wouldn't be all about Travis pushing you out of your comfort zone and falling into that literary cliche. Now, as to what the two of you could do, perhaps bringing in a subplot would help.

Ask yourself, What's the one thing that you'd never do? Donald Maass says we need to work that into our novels, to make our characters true to life, layered. So once you answer that question, you'll have a great start on where Travis and you can go.

I'm reminded of The King's Speech, with Colin Firth. He had a horrible stutter, and it took his speech therapist thinking outside the box and having the king read a portion of a book with extremely loud music playing in his ears for the king to be pushed to the next level--to an understanding that he does have it in him. Even though you can't hear, it's a similar disability in that you need something to play loudly in your ears/mind--loud enough to drown out the fact that you can't hear and have trouble speaking...something to make those facts about you less important, make them slip into the background and not define who you are.

You're improvement, your confidence, will gradually come. There are going to be moments when you're not going to want to speak (probably to someone new, or to someone you think is important), but your experiences through the book will help you face these hurdles. Some people never get over the fear of public speaking, but they manage it--and their anxiety--and it's realistic. They don't get cured, per se, but that's the goal of therapy...to help make life's problems manageable, not necessarily to go away.

Hope you've enjoyed your time on the couch, April. If you want to go deeper, you know where to find me.

Character Clinic: Taggert

Today, I've got 20-year-old Taggert on the couch, the brain child of author Angela. Taggert flirts with danger and can be reckless, something he enjoys and that makes him feel free. He used to be the personal messenger for Prince Zven, carrying orders all over the kingdom that he later learns sentenced many innocent people to death in villages while at the same time putting the blame on pirates. Taggert is helping Jocelyn, the prince's betrothed, run away, and he's developed feelings for her. 

Angela wants to know: How will Taggert react--given his personality--when he finds out that his thrill-seeking behavior has endangered everyone he cares about? What is a reasonable response and subsequent actions?

Taggert -

You like to skirt the wild side of things, that much is certain. It's an interesting conundrum, given that your greatest fear is that you'll hurt someone without meaning to. It's a little baffling to read that and then have you write that "danger is good for the soul."

I'd have to ask you whether each and every time you face a danger--get an adrenaline rush--are you going back to how you felt when you dove off that cliff when your mother was chasing you? Do you relive that? Or are you simply focused on the rush of endorphins in your body, how it makes you feel physically to buck convention and rules?

The answer to that question will actually tell you a lot about yourself and what your mental state might be if when you get someone else hurt because of your recklessness. The big difference between how you'll feel at that moment and how you felt when you realized that the letters you were delivering were putting people to death will be the personal involvement factor.

You yourself didn't put those people to death, and there is a mental way of removing yourself from the outcome due to that fact. But if you chose a reckless behavior that ends up harming someone else--even if you yourself got harmed in the process, as well, you'll be racked with guilt.

Guilt affects everyone differently, but you'll probably react one or two ways: 1) you'll forsake your reckless behavior and try to make restitution with those you've harmed or 2) you'll figure yourself beyond forgiveness and engage in ever reckless behavior, ultimately to your own destruction, emotionally or physically. Sounds pretty dramatic, but that about sums it up. Your author will know which will be more likely to be your response.

Hope you've enjoyed your time on the couch today. If you want to go deeper, you know where to find me.

What is Your Character Willing to Die For?

I'm finishing up my series on getting to know your main characters better at Seriously Write today. So far, I've covered three questions that you need to ask your MCs, including:

1) What is your greatest fear?

2) What is your biggest accomplishment?

3) What is your biggest regret?

So far, these questions have all been taken from my character intake form found here. But today's question is NOT found there (you'll find out why)...and yet, it's still important:

Question 4: What concept or principle would you be willing to die for?

The basis of this question stems from Dr. Stanley Williams book, The Moral Premise. Characters usually aren’t motivated to action by trivial thoughts and feelings. They, like real human beings, have core values that ultimately influence what they do, say, and think.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Fair fun

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Jeannie

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Weekend Funnies

Free Range

Friday Free Association

The word is........

MORALS.

First commenter free associates with the above word. Second commenter takes the first commenter's word and free associates, and so on.

Remember -- FIRST thing that comes to mind. GO!!