Make Your Characters Work for You, Part 2, a Post by R. Clint Peters

As I reported earlier in the week, I discovered a blog called Writers’ Village (at http://www.writers-village.org).  As the website states, it is a place dedicated to “Helping new writers to achieve publishing success.”

When I subscribed to the blog, I was given the opportunity to receive writing tips.  The first installment of those tips were covered in Make Your Characters Work For You, Part 1, a Post by R. Clint Peters, which was loosely based on Use ‘character signatures’ to make minor characters memorable (part 1).

I recently received installment #2, which will be covered in this post.

When I received installment #1, I immediately went to the novel I am presently working on, and started looking for ways to give my minor characters some depth.

In my novel, the main character is being held captive but we have no names for the captors.  I took a facial description of the leader of the group, a scar, and let the hero decide to call him Scarface.

Here are the results:

The obvious leader had never been referred to by a name, but because of the scar running from his right ear to the corner of his mouth, Ryce designated him to be “Scarface”.  

Let’s look at what Writer’s Village has contributed to the lesson for today.

In my present book, I introduced a villain with a scar, as shown above.

A little later, I added a character with an annoying behavior. 

The lookout Ryce had designated as Mr Excitement bounced into the room.  “They are coming back from the lab.  I saw them in the parking lot.  They stole a Hummer.  I have always wanted to ride in a Hummer.  Can I ride in the front seat of the Hummer?  Can I, please.  Can I?”

You might actually know someone like that.  I certainly do.

The next character trait that Writers’ Village suggests is a smell.   

‘A cloud of Chanel 5 floated before her.’ When the character re-appears, her presence might be foreshadowed: ‘I could smell Chanel 5’.

Other traits might include a setting.   You can consistently bring a character ‘out of the shadows’, or have sunlight always reflecting from their gold-rimmed glasses.  Be carefully in using sunlight at midnight.

Caution: Don’t create stereotypes of characters.  

As you create character signatures, refrain from creating character names based on the character signature.  Do not have John Shadow constantly stepping from the shadows.

What do you do when you create character signatures ascribed to your villains that originate from real names and circumstances?

WritersVillage suggests two solutions:

1.   Portray your most odious characters as Suffering, Complex and Misunderstood victims of circumstance. Not only might this take the edge off any imputation of malice in your alleged defamation, it is also – in these post-Freudian days – good novelistic practice.

Even Hannibal Lecter was a decent fellow in his youth, the author tells us. He went mad only after witnessing an unspeakable atrocity. Without that explanation – and saddled with the name of Hannibal – he might not have been either believable or terrifying.

2.  If your conscience demands that you vilify a real celebrity  eg. Bill Gates (oh, but must you, really?), make it clear in the story that your villain can not possibly be Mr Gates. How? Have the villain appear on a conference platform alongside the real Mr Gates, who is agreed by everyone to be a very nice fellow. Obviously, they cannot be one and the same person.

The previous installment of Writers’ Village sent me off on a hunt to create character signatures for my characters.  Now, I have even more signatures to hunt for.  What shall we discover in the next installment?

#BestPracticesforWriting #RClintPeters