✍️ Tandem Services Coaching and Editing: Your characters are boring. Here’s how to fix that.
Empowering you to write the stories of your heart and increasing your impact with a book. Helpful information for your writing career each month In this issue:
Craft: Character BuildingEvery good story begins with a character your reader wants to follow. You can have the most interesting plot, but if we as readers don’t care about your character, we won’t care about what happens to her, no matter how exciting or heartwrenching. So how do you develop compelling characters? The answer to that is longer than one Update article. But it begins with a process of exploration. Check out my book, Eat the Elephant: How to Write (and Finish) Your Book One Bite at a Time, for a deeper dive into this. You need some sort of form or structure to use while you are developing your character. You need to write it down so you have some consistency in your character and you can refer to it while you’re writing. It’s amazing how much you think you’ll remember that you actually forget. So write it down! Scrivener is a great place to keep all of this information. Character chartsThere are a lot out there, just Google them. Character charts can help you figure out what you need to know about your characters. Some are broad, some feel irrelevant. Try a couple until you find one that seems to work for you. Personality TypesI always start here. Then you can move to different information to help you flesh her out even more. But this gives you information on how they like to function in the world, how they make decisions, what kind of structure they like, all of which will tell you what you need to do to make them uncomfortable. Google Myers-Briggs and Enneagrams. You’ll find information, charts, and even tests you can take as your character to figure out what their personality is and how they relate to others and, most importantly, how they function under stress. Character BoardsFor the more visual person, a board (literal or virtual) of your characters’ rooms, clothes, furniture, anything about their world that helps you step into it. Pictures of your characters can help you visualize them. Character InterviewsInterview your character about the things that could come up in your story. Keep asking why. Different styles of interviews can elicit different kinds of information. Is it an interrogation? Therapy session? Job interview? Coffee with a friend? Note body language, nervous habits, speech patterns of your characters. Have one character interview another. The information they relay is likely to be different depending on who is doing the interviewing. Character DiariesIf your character kept a diary or a journal, what would be in it? Give her some journal prompts that relate to the above information you are trying to dig up. How does she respond? Ask “what if?” questions. What does their normal day look like? Character BiographiesWrite a biography of your character. Talk about important years, events, hobbies, family. A twist on this is to write an obituary. What was their family background? Who did they leave behind? What did they accomplish? What were they known for? Making the Hard Stuff EasierThere are a couple of other things you might want to consider while crafting your characters. The first is how your theme will interact with your characters and your plot. Your character’s biggest fear or obstacle to overcome is a clue to what your theme is. Another way to think of it is, what life lesson do they need to learn? Don’t be didactic about it. You don’t have to hit your readers over the head or preach at them. But think about your own life. There are seasons where you learned one lesson or another through various means. Your characters go through the same things. Here’s an example. In my second historical book, The Road Home, where the heroine tries to hide her past, the theme is forgiveness. It fits with what Emily needs to achieve her inner goal. She needs to forgive herself and her grandfather. And she encourages Josh to forgive his drunken father. Until they have both learned that life lesson, they can’t have a successful life together. Quirks and funNow on to the fun stuff. Quirks are good ways to give your characters personality. Odd little habits that make them more realistic. It’s a great way to put your people-watching skills to use. Things like rubbing their fingers together, cleaning their glasses, always wearing sunglasses or a certain necklace/medallion, twirling their hair, picking at their clothes. Or a certain phrase or speech pattern only they use, like malaprops. Or certain rituals or superstitions or routines. Or she’s a fashionista or he has an unusual hair style. Let your creativity play here. Here are some questions to think about that will help you fleshing out your characters.
Never underestimate the power of your creative mind. Let some of these things stew for awhile and see what your brain comes up with. Your characters will have more dimensions than you ever imagined. Usually you’ll find a few surprises and a couple of gems that will get you started on building your novel. One Last ThingThis article is adapted from my book, Eat the Elephant: How to Write (and Finish!) Your Book One Bite at a Time I have a quick-start version called 5 Key Steps to Writing a Novel Your Readers Can’t Put Down that you can grab for free here. It mentions a masterclass, so if you’re interested in that, just reply to this email and I’ll send you the link. If you’re ready to get some help with your writing, you can start here: Learn more about developmental editing Career: Why I DeclineIn this article, my personal agent, Bob Hostetler, shares reasons why he declines certain project. There’s good info here even for indie authors. https://stevelaube.com/why-i-decline/ Career: Your Writing Struggles Might Not Be What You ThinkSometimes what’s blocking your writing isn’t a craft problem; it’s an emotional one. Grief, anger, heartbreak, the aftermath of a major life change… These things don’t stay neatly outside your writing life. They follow you to the page. My friend Amanda Haubein works with people navigating life after divorce, and she’s put together a free 3-Step Guide to Thriving After Divorce that I think is worth your time, especially if you’ve been wondering why you can’t seem to get momentum, even when you genuinely want to write. I love what Amanda does because she focuses on lasting change, not just coping—specifically helping people shed the emotional residue that keeps them stuck. (We’re doing a resource swap because we believe in each other’s work. I hope you find it as valuable as I do.) You can grab it free HERE It’s a quick read, and I’m not sure how long she’s keeping it available. Commerce: Is It Time to Switch Email Service Providers?If you’ve been frustrated with MailChimp or MailerLite lately, you’re not alone. Both have raised their prices while quietly reducing what they offer. And the automation and tagging features that authors actually need have always been clunky on those platforms at best. I made the switch to Kit awhile back, and the difference that’s mattered most to me is how it handles new subscribers. When someone joins my list, they don’t just get a welcome email, they move through a thoughtful onboarding sequence that introduces them to my work, builds trust, and sets expectations. Setting that up in Kit is intuitive in a way that MailChimp never was for me. For authors who are just starting to build a list, Kit gives you room to grow into sophisticated tools without overwhelming you on day one. For those who already have a list and are tired of wrestling with a platform that wasn’t built with writers in mind, it’s worth a serious look. Check out the details and pricing here to see if it might be the right fit for you (affiliate link—costs you nothing extra). Kudos:Editing client Dominique Powell has just released The Letters of John: 1, 2, & 3 John: Abiding in Truth, Discerning Falsehoods. If you’re one of my clients who has won an award, finaled in a contest, achieved bestseller status, has a new release, or hit some sales goals, let me know. I’d love to celebrate your wins with you! Where you can find meI taught at an editor’s conference last week—PENCON—which is why this Update is a week late. I talked about the brain science behind fiction, why story is crucial for our survival. At some point, I’ll record it and share it with you all. I’ve been on a couple of podcasts recently talking about how to turn what you know into a book. 🎙️ The Thoughtful Entrepreneur with Josh Elledge: Proven Strategies for Entrepreneurs to Write a Transformative Book 🎙️ Business Roundtable with Dave Carr: How to Turn Your Expertise into a Book 📺 Tandem Services has a YouTube page! Check it out at YouTube.com/@TandemServices Want personalized writing advice? Share a writing, editing, or publishing hurdle you have faced or a question you have and I will email you an autographed copy of Eat the Elephant: How to Write (and Finish!) Your Book One Bite at a Time and send you a personalized five-minute video. Click here to find out more. Writing quoteTalent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented from the successful is a lot of hard work. — Stephen King Pressing on! Jennifer PS—You should assume any link in this Update is an affiliate link. It costs you nothing more but gives me a few pennies. 🙂 |
