Building Characters - Overview of the Inner Journey

I'm continuing the discussion on building believable characters, using Jeff Gerke's book  Plot vs. Character. In the last post, I stated there are five major phases to a character's inner journey: the Initial Condition, the Inciting Event, Escalation, the Moment of Truth, and the Final State. Today I'm going to give a basic overview of this journey before digging deeper into each phase.

"The Knot is the thing that is wrong with your character," Gerke says. It's her flaw, the habitual sin she struggles with, the unhealthy lifestyle she lives. It's harmful to her and to those around her. At some point in your story, she must have the opportunity to change. 

Your character may or may not be aware of this knot, this problem, right away, but they must come to awareness of it at some point. But even when she's aware of it, she wants to continue living with it and keep everything the same. She wants to stay in the abusive relationship she's in. She wants to ignore her dreams/goals. She can't/won't stand up for herself. Despite the pain of the status quo, it beats trying to change her life. But you, being the writer and therefore God, don't give her that option. You make it harder for her to ignore the foolishness of her choices. You give her examples of what life COULD be like, if only she'd change. Then you squeeze her (that's step 3, Escalation).

You want her to get to the point where she will chose. She must have a Moment of Truth. She will recognize the harm she's doing to herself and others and she'll see how things could be different. She'll stand at this crossroads and see her alternatives. Then she'll either chose the better path (happy ending) or continue in the status quo (unhappy ending).

Your entire story should point to that Moment of Truth. It's the purpose of the story. It's what the reader really, really wants. "Everything else is just the vehicle to drive her to that penultimate moment," Gerke says. After the character makes her choice, she moves into the Final State, and the story ends.

The last bit of this chapter is worded so wonderfully, I don't want to paraphrase. So here's what Gerke says:

"People don't like to change. It's so much easier to stay as we are, even if it's hurting us... in fiction, as in life, people resist change. Right up until the moment when it hurts too much. People dislike change, but they dislike unacceptable pain and consequences even more... Your job as story god over this pathetic, synthetic human you've created is to bring the pain. You have to dislodge her from her comfortable dysfunction like a pebble you have to remove from a block of mud. The crowbar you use is pain. You have to make it more painful to stay the same than it is to contemplate some manner of character revision."

That's the Inner Journey in a nutshell. In the next post, I'll explain the Knot more fully.

-Sonja

Building Characters - Inner Journey

I'm four months (or more) into this series on building believable characters, using Jeff Gerke's book  Plot vs. Character. It would be wrong to give you everything he says in the book--if you want to know it all, buy the book. It's worth it. But that being the case, I'm going to skip a bunch of pages in the book and move into Chapter 4, where Jeff discusses the inner journey.

Jeff begins the chapter with this: "The best fiction is about a character who changes in some significant way." This bit of advise isn't new--I've read it in nearly every writing book I've ever read. Call it a character arch, a flaw, or the hero's journey, it's all the same thing, and it's necessary because readers love to see a character transform. Hopefully for the better, but any transformation will hold reader interest. Your protagonist will turn away from something that's harmful, or turn toward something helpful. He'll conquer a fear, or learn to put others first, or marry for love instead of money, or cut back work hours to spend time with family. He'll become a better person by the end of the story.

Side Note: not every story needs a character who changes. Indiana Jones is who he is, and his stories are wonderful because of the action, not the protagonist. It's the same with James Bond, Forrest Gump, and WALL-E. These characters can be agents of change for other characters, but they don't go through a transformation. If you're writing this type of book, you won't need an inner journey. 

For those who do need an inner journey, begin by looking at the protagonist you've made. She's got a core personality, temperament, background, love language, family, etc. Now you can work on the deeper stuff. 

There are five major phases of a character's inner journey:

1. Initial Condition (including the "knot")

2. Inciting Event

3. Escalation

4. Moment of Truth

5. Final State

I'll look at these phases more in-depth in the following posts. Stay tuned.

-Sonja

Building Characters - IT

I've been dishing out wisdom from Jeff Gerke's book  Plot vs. Character, but today I'd like to add something from James Scott Bell's book Revision & Self-Editing. Today's discussion is on likability, or what Bell calls "it."

Jeff says, "If your book doesn't have a likable hero, your book is dead. End of discussion." Even if your hero is an anti-hero (like Butch Cassidy, who was a thief and an outlaw), he's got to be likable. If you begin your novel with a protagonist who is so despicable, so depraved that the reader can't stand the guy, the reader won't continue reading. That equals a dead book. Even if your scoundrel is heading for a major transformation, it won't matter. If you lose the reader in chapter 2, she won't be around to watch the glorious transition in chapter 19. You don't want a perfect protagonist, either. 

Absolute perfection (in anyone other than Jesus Christ) is boring and unrealistic. No reader will stick around to find out what happens next. 

The protagonist MUST be likable - or at least comprehensible. So how do you make a realist character that's both flawed and likable? James Scott Bell has the answer: A great protagonist has Grit, Wit, and It.

Grit

The protagonist can't be a wimp, just taking everything that everybody dishes out. He's got to do something. He's got to move forward. He's got to have grit. "Grit is guts in action," says Bell. The protagonist can't give up, can't take too long to react, can't sit around and think without reacting or doing something. Go through your novel and add some fight to your character. Think Clint Eastwood.

Wit

The protagonist who has a sense of humor is always likable. Even if they're getting whiny, a little self-deprecation will smooth the edges. Give your protagonist the ability to laugh at himself and the reader will warm to him instantly. Wit can also enliven negative characters. Bell uses Hannibal Lector as an example. He's absolutely disgusting, but who didn't find humor in his lines about a census taker's liver and some fava beans?

It

"It" is personal magnetism, sex appeal, a quality that invites admiration or envy from others. When someone walks into a room and draws attention from everyone, that's "it." Putting "it" into your character can be difficult, especially if you have a weakness for telling. Show the protagonist being charming, attracting attention, at the center of attention. Think of Scarlet O'Hara at the beginning of the novel (or movie).  

Find something likable about your protagonist and show it early in the novel. You'll hook the reader.

-Sonja

Analyzing Eve Dallas

I've been working on the character building theme for several months now and decided it's time to take a quick break. But I don't want to go too far off-topic. I've decided to use this post to analyze a character from another novel. She is Eve Dallas, the protagonist from JD Robb's fabulous In Death series. 

**spoiler alert** If you haven't read the series but plan on doing so, do not read this post, as it will reveal too many secrets that Robb doles out over the course of the series.

JD Robb (aka Nora Roberts) created a magnificent character for the In Death series. It's a cop procedural set in 2058 in New York City. Eve Dallas is a Lieutenant in the Homicide Division, and utterly driven to bring justice to anyone within her sphere of influence. As with all great characters, Eve has a unique personality, a backstory, and a character flaw that she must work through.

From the Myers-Briggs temperance types, Eve would be an ISTJ (introvert, sensing, thinking, judging), or The Inspector. She re-energizes with alone time, preferring her small apartment to a night-club when it's time to unwind. That's the introvert part of her. She's not shy, though. She has no problem speaking to witnesses, suspects, or other cops. When dealing with incoming information, she relies on her senses: what she can see, hear, touch, taste, and smell She's concerned with what is current and real. She remembers facts and details. For decision making, Eve is tough-minded, objective, and logical. She's got to be impersonal when working on cases, because if she gets too close, she might lose her objectivity and fail. She desires order in her life, and likes things settled and organized. A murder board is one of her best tools for solving hard cases. To-do lists, forward momentum, and deadlines bring out the best in Eve. She always finishes her work before she plays (which is seldom).

Eve is driven to succeed, to "stand up" for the victim. Her demeanor is tough. She fears no one. She's been trained in hand-to-hand combat and can handle her department issued service weapon, so she's not afraid to walk into criminal-infested alleys to go after the guy she needs to interview. She keeps her body in top physical shape because her body is yet another tool to help her find justice, and it would be foolish to get fat and not be able to chase perps. In her personal life, she's practical to an extreme. Her clothing is functional but not flashy or fashionable. Her apartment is no-frills but secure. Her vehicle is department issue and a beater that even the street punks wouldn't try to steal. Her personal relationships are few, but she's extremely loyal to these individuals and cherishes her time with them.

Her backstory is awesome and scary and completely logical, considering her career choice. She was born to a drug-addicted mother who didn't want a child and a scam-artist father who wanted to use his daughter to make prostitution money. The mom took off shortly after giving birth. To get his daughter "ready" for her future career, her father abused her verbally, physically, and sexually. By the age of eight, the child feared everyone in authority, especially her father. One night, cold and hungry, Eve found a small piece of moldy cheese. She got a knife, cut off the mold, and ate the cheese. Her father came in and attacked her for eating without permission. He broke her arm, beat her bloody, then attempted to rape her. She grabbed that small knife and stabbed him to death. Then she walked several miles through the dark streets of Dallas, TX, where a policeman found her early the next morning. She refused to speak to anyone, so they gave her the name Eve Dallas. (She later learned that she'd never been given a name - her father called her "little girl"). She was shuffled from foster home to foster home until she reached legal age and attended the police academy.

With a backstory like this, it's no wonder the adult Eve Dallas has such a zeal for justice and a deep desire to stand for the victim. She has several inner flaws, but they come out one at a time throughout the series. The first is an extreme form of isolationism. Eve gets up early every morning, works until late in the evening, then collapses when she's too exhausted to continue. She has only one close friend: Captain Feeney, the man who trained her to be a great cop. He's a father figure to her, but she doesn't let him get too close. He doesn't know everything about her past, just enough to understand why she makes such a great cop. Eve doesn't let anyone get close to her. When finally forced to deal with this inner flaw, Eve allows herself to be vulnerable and opens up to another human. Another flaw she deals with is her past. She'd repressed most of what happened, and when book 1 opens, Eve remembers very little of her childhood. She has debilitating nightmares that bring some of it back, but she fights to keep these memories repressed. Over the course of the series, more and more of her past comes back to her and she's got to deal with what was done to her and the fact that she killed her father. 

With a character as realistic and sympathetic as Eve Dallas, it's no wonder that the In Death series is wildly popular. To date, there are 35 novels, 8 short stories, and no end in sight for this spectacular series. That's just my biased opinion, of course.

-Sonja

Building Characters - Disasters

Jeff Gerke's book  Plot vs. Character contains tons of excellent information about building believable characters. Today, it's time to send your character through the wringer.

Every character needs to have a history that includes hardships, perils, life events that he's survived: the major influences that have shaped his character into something beyond the 16 base personalities outlined at the beginning of this series. They don't necessary have to be traumatic, but they should be big enough to make an impact.

Think about his home life. Was it a broken home? Did his parent bicker and bribe and beat each other for his attention? Extrapolate from that event, through the character's childhood, and figure out how they shaped him. How would a character with this temperament and love language react to this situation? How would it impact his self-image and career choice?

Maybe his parents stayed together, but a sibling died when your character was young. Or what if he was born in a military family and every two years got yanked away from his friends? What if an act of God (hurricane, tornado, tsunami, volcano) traumatized his family? What if she's constantly trying to please Dad, but he's not proud of anything she ever accomplished? 

As you play with possible major life events, think of positive things that could have had negative effects. Maybe his parents won the lottery, but dealing with new-found wealth can be traumatic for some people. Maybe she was a child star in Hollywood--you all know where that one can go. 

Gerke offers this example from his novel, Operation: Firebrand. Rachel is a Mossad agent. As a little girl, she was in a Tel Aviv hotel with her father when a terrorist detonated a bomb. Rachel stayed with her father's dead body, surrounded by other dead people, for hours before someone found her. This event forever altered her life. Her innocence was gone. Her convictions that people are basically good were eradicated. Her father and the feeling of always being protected were gone. Rachel's adulthood was shaped by this event. She seeks protector-type males. She champions children's causes. She joined a counter-intelligence agency. 

In my latest book, Cassandra's Curse, Cassie was stalked by an ex-boyfriend when she was in high school. The stalking ended when he crashed his pick-up into Cassie's car and they were both severely injured. Now she experiences seizures, so she can't drive--she has to rely on others to ferry her around. She's terrified of strangers, particularly men. She's driven to control every aspect of her world. If that stalking incident hadn't happened, Cassie would have matured into a different woman altogether.

Now think about your character. Do you want him to behave in certain ways for the purposes of your story? Consider what major life event could have impacted him in such a way that he'd naturally tend to do those things. Or maybe she's spoiled and soft, so that when something major happens to her, she has no resources.

In my story, I had the ending in mind when I made up Cassie's trauma. The ending of the book takes place in a city 60 miles north of Cassie's home town. Getting Cassie to that scene was too easy - she drives up and arrives on time. So I brainstormed: how do I make it harder for Cassie to get to the end locale? Take away her vehicle. Better yet, take away her ability to drive. Then I dug deeper. What else could make this journey difficult for her? I made her agoraphobic - she hates to leave her neighborhood. She's afraid of strangers. She's afraid of new places and new things. Based on where I needed my character to be at the end of the story, I built her a background that suited her temperament, made logical sense, and added extra tension to the ending of the story.

Gerke suggests a brainstorming session. Come up with at least a dozen things that might have happened to your character in his past. Follow each one through to figure out how it would impact his character now that he's mature. Then choose the one or two that make it especially difficult for your character to achieve his goals, conquer his obstacles, and survive the journey.

-Sonja

Building Characters - Current Status

I'm dishing out some of the wisdom found in Jeff Gerke's book  Plot vs. Character regarding building believable characters. I've discussed temperament, physical and natural attributes, love language, and passion. Now I'll move on to current status.

Where is your character at when the story begins? Married? Divorced? Kids? Wealthy? Successful? Overachiever or underachiever? What is his life situation right now?

Next, is your character happy with the current state of affairs? Given her temperament and upbringing and zealousness, is this where she thought she'd be at this point in her life? If not, what is she lacking and how will she get it? What are her current goals? 

How moral is he? Is he meeting his own standards of right and wrong, or has he crossed the line somewhere and feeling guilty about it? Would his mama be proud of him? Is he in jail, or even been in jail? Does he wants his kids to emulate his behavior?

Once you know the emotional and physical state of your character, you can find ways to shake him up even more. 

-Sonja

Building Characters - Passion

Jeff Gerke's book  Plot vs. Character contains information vital to creating believable characters. I'm not doling out all the information in the book--you'll need to buy it to get it all--but I'm offering the highlights. Today's topic is passion.

Every person is passionate about something, and your character should be, also. Religion, politics, quilting circles, protecting children from predators, freedom of speech--whatever he's passionate about, it will impact how he thinks and acts. The woman who's on a mission to make sure every child in her kindergarten class is well-fed will act differently than the kindergarten teacher who's zeal is to find the perfect mate. A character who hates conservative authority will think differently than a character who passionately defends the welfare system. Knowing what your character feels passionate about helps you determine how she'll react in stressful situations.

Every person is religious. Even those who state there is no God is making a faith statement, and systems of belief are powerful motivators. Does she hold fast to the morals taught in the Koran? Does she cling to the hopes inherent in Christianity? Is she a Jew in name, but an agnostic in practice? Show your character zealously expressing her beliefs. When she's in the midst of crisis, her true beliefs shine.

Fill in the blank for your character: "I love