 Drama: May 30, 2012 Issue [#5054] |
  Drama
This week: How to Make Characters Jump off the Page Edited by: Joy  
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"If you will practice being fictional for a while, you will understand that fictional characters are sometimes more real than people with bodies and heartbeats."
Richard Bach
"On every heroic journey faith is challenged."
Peggy Tabor Millin
"When you can't create you can work."
Henry Miller
"Plot springs from character... I've always sort of believed that these people inside me- these characters- know who they are and what they're about and what happens, and they need me to help get it down on paper because they don't type."
Anne Lamott
Hello, I am Joy , this week's drama editor. Continuing with characters, our discussion in this issue is on creating unforgettable ones that jump off the page to impress agents, editors, and readers .
Note: In the editorial, I refer to third person singular as he, to also mean the female gender, because I don't like to use they or he/she. |
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Welcome to the Drama newsletter
You might have heard someone say about an author, "His characters jump off the page," or better yet, an editor might have praised you for making a certain character jump off the page. This is because characters make the story. They are the driving force, and when they "jump off the page," they grip the editors and readers and do not let go.
Looking back at fiction already in existence, who can forget the characters F. Scott Fitzgerald, Charles Dickens or Anne Rice created, or the movie screen's Scarlett O'Hara of Gone with the Wind, Hannibal Lecter of Silence of the Lambs, Rick Blaine of Casablanca, or Don Vito Corleone of Godfather? All these characters and many others like them are not just characters; they are titans to stay in memory forever.
Surely, many ways exist to create characters. A character chart is one way of doing it. Another way could be basing your characters on people you know. Methods like these may or may not create unforgettable characters. Physical attributes or description of what the character looks like and what his backstory has been is not enough either. Instead, a character's attitude, emotion, goals, actions, and reactions are what make him important to the story. Even then, more is needed. Readers should be able to identify or even empathize with the character in question and look up to him as if he were a Roman god.
Characters that jump off the page have these attributes in common:
 Charisma or magnetism:
This is what makes a character lovable and what makes him evoke empathy in the readers. It means the character has to touch the reader emotionally deep down inside, and the reader has to be able to see something of himself, something human, in the character.
Attitude:
Captivating characters look at the world in a way uniquely their own. They also have a very specific voice and point of view that no other character in the same story can imitate, such as Megan McCafferty's Jessica Darling in the series Sloppy Firsts, Second Helpings, Charmed Thirds, Fourth Comings, and Perfect Fifths.
Integrity:
Call it nobility if you will, for this is when a character acts to high ideals or very specific personal beliefs whether he is conscious of what he is doing or not, or whether his ideals are acceptable by others or not. Remember Hannibal Lecter? Remember how he rose above his monstrosity to help Clarice Sterling?
Character Flaws:
To seem real, a character has to have flaws, major or minor, to rub against other characters to enhance the conflict in the story. Flaws make your character human even if your actual character is Apollo or Zeus.
Strength of Will:
Readers respect and bond with characters who act consciously with free will toward the result of the story. Strength of will may not be present or it may be hidden in the beginning of the story, but usually somewhere in the midpoint, it may start showing itself, gradually becoming more and more powerful toward the end.
Courage:
At least sometime in the story when faced with challenges and threats, a spectacular character needs to show courage. He has to be gutsy and willing to fight to death if necessary. Case in point, at the end of The Tale of Two Cities by Dickens, Sydney Carton knowingly goes to the guillotine instead of his look-alike Charles Darnay, so the woman he loves can be happy with Darnay.
Unpredictability:
Unpredictable behavior often comes to surface under stress, inner conflict, or excitement. Even in real life, people may act out of character at the most unexpected moment. Anne Rice's vampire Lestat is impulsive and shocking at times, then philosophical and righteous at other times. This unpredictability is what makes him a unique and fascinating character. A character, however, need not be a Lestat. He might choose to act surprisingly at a crucial point once or twice when under stress.
Note: If you are going to make your character act unpredictably, first establish his regular mode of behavior.That is, don't make him act unpredictably right at the beginning of the story, so the readers don't mix his true personality with his unpredictability.
May the characters you create turn out to be distinct, colorful, and fascinating so they "jump off the page" for agents and editors.
Until next time...  |
 Enjoy!
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Your Drama Newsletter Editors: NickiD89  Fyn  Joy
Thank you for reading our newsletters and for supplying the editors with feedback and encouragement.
This Issue's Tip:
In real life dialogue, people do not repeat each other's names constantly, especially when it is two people talking to each other; therefore, in your stories, do not derail your characters by having them address each other without a good reason.
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 Reading Recommendation: A book with drama
If you have a recommendation, a few words on a book or a product review, send it to me or to this newsletter. I'll highlight it here.
by Maryann  reviewing eyestar~*  's book
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Feedback for "The Wilderness inside Your Characters"
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Mara ♣ McBain 
Thank you for including ~A.J. Lyle~ 's product review of CLUB JUSTICE in your Drama NL! 
My pleasure, Mara.
Both the book and the review were extraordinarily good. At least, that is my humble opinion.
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fragmented
This was a really good article. Definitely hadn't looked at internal conflict from such an interesting perspective before. Well written, and I will enjoy putting these tips to work. Thanks Joy!
Thanks for the feedback, Fragmented.
Glad you liked the editorial.
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Adriana Noir
Well said, Joy! When it comes to reading it's always been "Give me great characterization, or give me death!" for me. I just can't get into a story where I don't feel something for its characters, and exploring their "wilderness" is a great way to start!
Thanks, Adriana.
No wonder, sometimes they call the "wilderness" the dark night of the soul. Someone going through something terrible or confusing always evokes empathy in us.
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Lillie
"Take it all" [13+]
Please consider this for a newsletter! I would love it if people could see it! Thank you
Done, and you're welcome.
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BIG BAD WOLF Feeling Thankful 
"Zena's Interview" [18+]
Life can be a headache.
It sure can be.
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Apoorva
"Behind My Mask" [13+]
What I really want to know, is if I would be able to publish this after I finish it, as long as I delete it off of the site... And I love the newsletter!
Thank you for the compliment,  and I don't promise I am correct on this, but yes, I think you should be able to publish anything as long as you make your item for registered authors (or up), here in WdC, because you are asking for peer reviews. If you set it up as "Make Public, Allow Everyone" that could be another story. It all depends on the publication to which you are sending your work. Some accept it, others do not.
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