AUTHENTIC CHARACTERS

Authentic characters are key to engaging, accessible stories. I firmly believe in creating compelling characters. So much so, I even created a Teachable course about it. But sometimes authentic characters can carry a story in new and unplanned directions. Not that that’s a bad thing, just that it can create challenges, especially if you are a writer who has worked hard to plot out the story ahead of time.

Sometimes, the writing chugs along like a well-oiled airship and sometimes it clanks and stutters like a rusty steam engine. And then there are those other times, when the writing isn’t the challenge, but the turbulence of life and the business of books take over and challenge me to navigate my way through the choppy air while trying not to look down.

This is when discipline and good time management skills truly come into play. A large measure of proactive planning doesn’t hurt, either.

Writing may seem very solitary at times, but to do it well takes support from a cadre of supporters.

I’m lucky to have a lot of great people in my corner, including fabulous fans, who cheer me on and look forward anxiously for the next book. I am thankful to all my writing supporters, who help me soar and carry me forward even when I feel like things are flagging.

That said, there are times when I feel the pressure to deliver on a level that will satisfy the reader, leave my beta readers with nothing to say (As if!), or wow my editor. It’s important to have readers in mind when we prepare to send a book out into the world.

Yes, I need to please myself, but I am also very aware of why I write. I write to connect. I write to offer an experience. I write, ultimately, for my readers.

AUTHENTIC CHARACTERS COME ALIVE ON THE PAGE

But, sometimes, I need to put all of that aside, because I also need to let my characters live and breathe on the page, to be who they are authentically. When I try to force them to do things they wouldn’t, or to be someone other than who they have become, it never works out for me.

AUTHENTIC CHARACTERS CAN TAKE THE LEAD

Sometimes, I have to let them lead.

There are those who will read that last sentence and think, “They’re your characters. You get to decide who they are and what they do.” And that’s true to some extent, but I have also found that, at some point, my characters become more than what I set out to make them. They become fully formed persons in my mind. They live in my conscious and subconscious brain like real people. So, rather than telling them what to do when things happen in the story, I have to ask, “What would they do?”

Sometimes, I just have to let them lead and follow after them like a journalist, writing what happens as it unfolds. That, for me, is part of the creative flow. It can be surprising and even frustrating when they do or say something unexpected, creating a need for rethinking plot points I had planned, but it can also be exciting to follow along and see what happens.

It’s not that I don’t have a plan for what I think will happen in my novels and stories as I write, but that I am open to remapping that plan when something unexpected is revealed. That’s what keeps things interesting for me. And, based on reader feedback, it makes for more authentic characters, as well.