The Things Every Writer Needs to Hear

@Davrielle

First, I want to thank sarsar14 for asking me to do this. I'm happy to share a bit of what I've picked up through my years of writing. 

So when I started writing seriously, I never really thought much of my writing. I only wrote because it was something that made me happy. With that mentality, I have discovered that I enjoy writing for myself and for my characters. 

With that being said, I wanted to share with you the importance of having good characters in your stories. Yeah, you can have the most amazing writing in the world, but if you have zero ability to flesh out your characters, then your story will fall flat. Always. 

And what I mean by character, is not the way they act specifically. People can be unpredictable in their actions, so keeping a character acting the same way all the time can get really boring. We have to create a dynamic aspect to our main characters. 

I have read several books where the main character never changes. You have absolutely no idea how frustrating that is as a reader. I want to see the character question their identity, or do something that shakes them to their very core. Yet I don't see it. After all the author has put us through and the character doesn't have some sort of epiphany, whether it be minor or major. Epiphanies are important in stories. 

For example, we have a character named Bob. Bob is your average joe. He doesn't have a set track record of doing anything out of the ordinary. He shows up for work, goes to church every Sunday. Then Bob meets his doctor. It doesn't matter what kind of doctor, but this someone challenges his role as an average Joe. This doctor tells him that he is dying and only has a few months to live. What do you think Bob will do? He's not an average Joe anymore because he's on the brink of death. 

He decides through this experience that he needs to leave himself behind and experience life to the fullest. That is his epiphany. Life is short, I must live like I'm dying. 

This epiphany addresses an element of humanity in the sense that we all are afraid of death in some way but we all live every day, as if we are dying. Some forget, getting used to their routines. And they end up living an Average Joe life, going from place to place without thought. So this Bob character realizes this and he is happy in the end because he's lived a good life, however short it was. 

All epiphanies need to help shape the characters and themes of your story. You can have several epiphanies, or even just one huge one (most are at the very end or when something happens that shakes up a character). 

Another important element of shaping up a character is interviewing. 

I cannot stress his important interviewing is. I once interviewed a beloved character of mine and realized that there was more to him that meets the eye. I was excited to pick his brain a little and because of my interviews, I really rounded him out. 

Now you need to interview all your major characters, protagonist included. 

This is what an interview could look like? 

What's your favorite drink? 

What is your favorite book? 

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Or you can even interview like this. 

What is the meaning of life to you? 

What would you do if someone you loved died? 

Or you can even freestyle with your characters. By freestyle, I mean getting to know them like you would if you just met them and are at a party. Freestyling in my opinion is the best way to get into the minds of your characters. You're seeing them in their natural habitat. 

Now I'm going to leave you with a quote from William Faulkner. I always wondered why I loved WF's characters so much, until I read this. And I realized why through this particular quote:

"I would say to get the character in your mind. Once he is in your mind, and he is right, and he's true, then he does the work himself. All you need to do then is to trot along behind him and put down what he does and what he says. It's the ingestion and then the gestation. You've got to know the character. You've got to believe in him. You've got to feel that he is alive, and then, of course, you will have to do a certain amount of picking and choosing among the possibilities of his action, so that his actions fit the character which you believe in. After that, the business of putting him down on paper is mechanical."

It's very easy to understand your character when you let them into your daily lives. By talking to them through interviews and also by pretending that they are around you. It's hard to see a character you cannot feel. 

If you do not care about a certain character, find out why through interviewing. You might be surprised and find out you really don't like this person OR you really like him/her and want to develop them more. 

I hope my rambling made sense to you! And once again thanks to sarsar14 for letting me participate in this book!