Camera Lenses and Main Characters, and How to Tell the Difference

     I have a problem that I would like to share with you.  Perhaps if I talk about it enough, a partially brilliant solution will spontaneously occur to me and I can share it with you.
     My main character, a young boy with an average childhood, a terrible tragedy, and a fascinating destiny, is sadly nothing but a camera lens.

     It happens to the best of us, I prefer to tell myself.  Somehow, our heroes and main characters, that (check all that apply) witty, intelligent, heroic, resourceful, tormented, dark, bright, cheery, somber, happy little lad or lass that carries our imaginations and, hopefully someday, our readers through our fantasy land somehow becomes nothing but a camera lens.  They don't act, they don't speak, they barely think, and all of our less-interesting secondary characters steal the show, while our camera lens just looks around and is useless.

     Why does this happen?  I have my theories.  Perhaps:

• We have lost interest in our main character.
• Our main character is throwing a tantrum.  Anastasia once complained that her characters do this all the time.
• Our main character is what is known as a "puppet character."
• Our main character is an empty shell of his former self.
• The story isn't really about the main character (uh oh).
• We don't know what's going on in our story.  We're winging it, per se.
• I haven't gotten enough sleep.
• Aliens are stealing my creativity for their own nefarious purposes.
• I've been watching too much Spongebob and am emulating Patrick.

     This is all fine and dandy, but HOW DO WE FIX IT!?!?!?!?!  Unfortunately, a camera lens character is not interesting to read about.  If I wanted to read about a camera lens, I would go online and google "Nikon D70 User Manual."

     I would probably die there, reading that six-inch thick manual.  Where would that get us, reader?  Nowhere, I say.  So let's not do that.  Let's fix this puppy up and get writing again.

     Solutions vary to this problem, depending on the cause, but the main thing that needs to happen is the character needs to be a character.  Characters act, think, and speak.  It's in their nature.  So, the first thing one must do is make their character a character.  I've always firmly believed that unless your character (any character, not just a main character) doesn't invade your brain as a separate person, walking around on the stage of your brain and doing things independently of your directions, they are not real characters, but just puppets you control.  This leads to our next conclusion.  Unless you are raving mad, you are not officially a teen writer.

     So, sit down for a few minutes.  Don't even look at a pencil or a keyboard (or a pen, piece of paper, dictation app, or Siri), and really get to know your character.  Don't worry, just because you are talking to a non-existant person in your head, it doesn't mean you are mentally ill (at least that's what I tell myself.  Horace, Darrin, Ser, Anthony, Nocturne, Alexus, Shrrn, Melrac, Crealis, Charming, Galnore, Drake, Aryll, Endon, Ferus, Ethan, and Crux all agree.  Rachel is the only one that tells me I need help.  Kaleas won't talk to me; he's probably meditating).  Figure out his past, his likes and dislikes, his fears and hopes, his problems, defeats, and triumphs.  Imagine every countless detail about your character, even ones that may never make it into your book.  The more you fully imagine your character, the closer you get to creating a real, living character.

     WARNING! Before you do this, make sure you can deal with the consequences.  Real live character do sometimes misbehave and can be quite rude, sometimes contributing to Writer's Block more than they cure it.  Just ask Anastasia.

...

But it's worth it.  Trust me.  A book just isn't a book without real characters.



     After all, if you don't believe that your character is real, why should we, the readers, believe?




That is all,

Watzzit Tooyah

Character Development: The Protagonist Part I

Hello fellow writers,

It is I again, Angelina, and I am here to help rid the world of... I cannot bring myself to type those two dreadful words... WB.  You know what those two initials stand for, those daunting words.  But I am here to try help it vanish for, hopefully, a long while.  This is only one out of the many posts that I will be submitting to help out our characters.  Here we go...

Probably the most easiest thing when writing a novel is character development.  Well that's a big stinky lie.  While character development might be fun, it can be boring and frustrating at times.  I know when I start to think about writing a new novel, the first thing that's really developed in my mind is the main character, the sidekick, or the villain.

 Most of the time it's the main character, or the hero of the story.  So this is the perfect time to reach into the area of your brain labeled, "forgotten but still loved characters who have never been developed," and remodel, revamp, renovate, change, and/or improve someone that is neglected and overlooked for a long time.  Pull out that disregarded character and give it some love!  Once your character is revived, I'm pretty sure that you will get some inspiration and momentarily defeat writers block!  (Can I get an amen?  Anyone?) Are you ready?

1. The Hero

We will start with the protagonist, or, as I like to call it, the hero.  Our hero starts out as just a little idea, something really small and unimportant.  But we see something in the tiny thought and think about it.  And as we think, it starts to grow, and grow, and grow, and grow, until finally the idea is big enough to be a character!

Our hero!

Now our hero can be two things.  Either a flat, boring, and very predictable character, or... an original, awesome, and not so much predicable character.  I don't know about you, but I prefer the second of the two choices any day.  So once we have decided which you want your character to become, then the real fun begins.

2. The Original vs. the Flat

A lot of what makes a good plot is a good character.  Most people would disagree and say that a good plot makes the character good.  But it's the opposite.  So it is absolutely critical that your hero (or any character for that matter) has a good foundation.  Original... not flat.  Compare.

Flat:  Bobby never missed a day volunteering at the hospital and he had a nice summer job at the local cafe.  He was well mannered, polite, and always made good grades in school.  Everyone loved the outstanding teenager Bobby.

Original:  Bobby never missed a day volunteering at the hospital and he had a nice summer job at the local cafe.  He was well mannered, polite, and always made A's in school.  Everyone loved the outstanding teenager Bobby.  But no one really knew the real Bobby.  While at home, he stole other people's credit card numbers and maxed them out, buying things for his own pleasure.  He sold pirated movies for extra cash and made fake i.d.'s, vending them to criminals and other online hackers. 

Let's compare the flat version of Bobby's life, to the original version.  In the flat version, Bobby's a good kid.  He volunteer's at the hospital, he works a summer job, and he gets good grades at school.  End of story.  Not much of a novel there.  In the original version, Bobby's secret life is unknown.  He's a hacker and a criminal.  Now there's something that would catch the attention of a reader.

Let's just put it this way.  Which version would you rather read about?  Which one would you rather write?  Which one catches your attention?  The original is so much more intriguing than the flat, and there is a lot more depth to the character.  Depth is all about a good plot.  And beneath a good plot is an even better character.

3. Flat or Original, Your Choice

Now let's decide about our own hero.  Will he/she be a flat character, or an original?  That is the beginning of character development, and the most important and critical point of it.  Once you have decided the life for your character, then their personalities will surface.

I hope this post has helped you.  There is so much more to character development, but I couldn't put it all in one post.  I will have more, though, so do not despair.  And remember to keep your forgotten character in hand, for in the next couple of posts, you might just get some inspiration for your... HERO!

Until the next post!

-Angelina Zoe