Monday, March 23, 2015

Caring for Fictional Characters by Janet Sketchley

As readers, the characters we love best are those we can relate to, but we need a connection with each one of them. Not that we'll love the characters we're supposed to fear or find irritating, but if something in them resonates with us, we'll accept them as real.

If writers don't bond with their created people, readers definitely won't. I struggled with this in my first novel, Heaven's Prey. How to find a point of contact with a serial killer, so readers would want to see him redeemed – and not throw the book across the room in anger when it happened?

In that case the answer came in exploring the man's past, meeting him when he was a regular Tom, Dick or Harry (bad joke: his name's Harry). Seeing the hurts that led to such horrible choices. Seeing his good side. That didn't make him good, but it made him redeemable.

It's just as important to invest in our ordinary characters, the ones who aren't in-your-face offensive or worse. I had to get into the heroine Ruth's head and live with her through her experiences. Let her react in ways true to herself, not in ways I wanted for purposes of the plot. It made for lots of rewrites before she felt real to me.

When I started work on the next novel, Secrets and Lies, I was more intentional about creating emotional links with the heroine Carol. She had begun as a peripheral character from Heaven's Prey: mom died young, dad abusive, raised by repressive aunt, teen pregnancy, loser husband, miscarriage, husband died, preteen son died of overdose... oh, and her only brother's a dangerous offender.

Plenty to work with story ­wise, but I match exactly zero of those descriptions. How would I relate? It turns out we both have control issues, and we both spend too much time living in our own heads.

I didn't know that in the beginning, so I gave Carol a few things I like: she's fond of tea, chocolate and baking, and music helps her de-­stress. I picked a favourite singer for her: Billy Joel. It was a fairly random choice; I liked some of his songs, and knew he had a large body of work. If she's listening to music all the time, it better not be the same three songs.

I also gave her something I'd like to acquire. She's a very good housekeeper. It comes back to control: if she can't keep order in the rest of her life, she can at least run her home.

These minor details helped me get close enough to discover our shared emotions and attitudes. What did I add to her life? As well as those conscious choices about tea, food and music, I helped her find her way into a relationship with the God whose heart we can trust to pick us up when we're broken.

What did she add to mine? Sadly, not the housekeeping. But I find myself drinking more peppermint tea (her favourite), and I listen to a lot more Billy Joel now.

What about you? Can you point to fictional characters who've taught you a life lesson, given an insight, or from whom you've picked up a trait or an attitude?


Janet Sketchley is the author of Heaven's Prey and Secrets and Lies, two novels of suspense and redemption. She also blogs about faith and books. Like Carol in Secrets and Lies, Janet loves music and tea. Unlike Carol, she isn't related to a dangerous offender, has a happy home life, and has never been threatened by a drug lord. May those tidbits continue to hold true!






You can find Janet online at janetsketchley.ca. Fans of Christian suspense are invited to join Janet's writing journey through her monthly newsletter: bit.ly/JanetSketchleyNews.
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13 comments:

  1. Janet SketchleyMarch 23, 2015 at 6:55 AM

    Thanks for the privilege of guest-posting at International Christian Fiction Writers!

    For the writers reading this post, I'm curious: do your own characters have more of an impact on you than the ones you read about? If so, do you think it's because we work so long with them, or because we create some of them to explore areas in which we know we need to grow?

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  2. Shirley CorderMarch 23, 2015 at 8:51 AM

    Thank you for the post, Janet. It made for interesting reading, and I'm sure it will be helpful to a number of us.

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    1. Janet SketchleyMarch 23, 2015 at 9:03 AM

      Thanks, Shirley. Some characters are hard for writers to connect with, so I hope this helps!

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  3. Ian AMarch 23, 2015 at 10:58 PM

    Janet, love the detail to which you've shared with us about Carol. I feel I'm already getting to know her. I don't think I've assumed any new drinking or music habits from my characters yet (who knew that could happen?) but I've definitely been challenged to step out in faith, to both listen for those Spirit nudges and to respond accordingly.

    I understand Billy Joel's back touring this year. Perhaps you should treat Carol to a concert of his if he's visiting Canada.

    Great post, Janet. Thanks so much.

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  4. Janet SketchleyMarch 24, 2015 at 5:44 AM

    Ian, I'm a little sad now. Google tells me Billy Joel is indeed touring this year, but not in Canada, and the closest venues are sold out. But I have my mp3 player!

    Glad your characters have have helped you grow personally -- before writing this post I hadn't thought much about the symbiotic relationship between writer and character.

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  5. UnknownMarch 24, 2015 at 9:52 AM

    Thanks, Janet. Good reminder to take the time to live inside the heads of our characters.
    BTW, our community choir is singing Billy Joel's Lullabye in our spring concert. Love that song.

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  6. Janet SketchleyMarch 24, 2015 at 10:12 AM

    Lullaby is a pretty song Janice. I didn't know you sang in a community choir -- good for you! And I have to say, living in some characters' heads is easier than in others :)

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  7. UnknownMarch 25, 2015 at 10:21 AM

    "If writers don't bond with their created people, readers definitely won't." Janet, I will always remember this line. How important!! Thank you for sharing.

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    1. Janet SketchleyMarch 25, 2015 at 1:19 PM

      Thanks, Sara. We want to give our characters their best chance to shine!

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  8. UnknownMarch 25, 2015 at 11:07 AM

    What a great post. I love connecting with characters. My all-time favourite would have to be Madeline L'Engle's Vicky Austin. When I was in my formative years, Vicky showed me it was okay to struggle with fear, hope, and sorrow. Even today, when I reread her stories, I feel an instant connection with my younger self who was just starting to figure out life's complexities!

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    1. Janet SketchleyMarch 25, 2015 at 1:21 PM

      Madeleine L'Engle wrote amazing stories, Jeb. Somehow I missed reading most of the Austin stories (It's not too late!) but I definitely bonded with Meg Murry from the Wrinkle in Time series.

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  9. RuthMarch 26, 2015 at 8:00 PM

    Thank you for the post! I never really thought about it, but you're right--if you can't connect with the characters, it's hard to write about them. I think I connect more with characters that I create than with ones I read about in books, simply because I live with them for so much longer. I'm a fast reader, so I usually only live with a character in a book for a few hours or at most a few days. But the characters I create, I live with for months or even years.

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  10. Janet SketchleyMarch 27, 2015 at 5:48 AM

    Ruth, I've often wondered why I bond better with my own characters, but of course. When we spend that much time with them, and know them so well, it makes perfect sense. Thanks!

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