Fully dimensional characters have history! They have a unique perspective on the world that they developed from past experiences.
Few modern stories begin with a character’s birth—Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead a recent notable exception. Of course, Kingsolver had clear thematic and structural reasons why to begin at birth, but that’s a post for another time :)
The vast majority of books follow Matt Bird’s advice: Your story isn’t about your character’s life, it’s about their problem.
Plot and story drive focus on a present problem. The point of view (POV) character makes sense of present story circumstances (their developing problem) based on their unique history of past events.
Compelling story characters make things worse for themselves based on a false or self-protective belief they’ve developed because of past events—often referred to as the “lie,” stemming from the “wound.”
Modern books tend not to start with the development of the character’s wound(s) and subsequent lie, but with the effect the lie has on the character as the story opens.
As the story progresses, backstory that pertains to a character's lie develops.
The question of how to incorporate past events into a present timeline is a question that confounds most writers—at first.
Read more...Time to talk interiority! So much energy in early drafts goes into external events, i.e. what happens in a novel or memoir.
External events = things that could be acted out on stage, like dialogue, and action.
It’s an incredible amount of work to get down the external flow of events in your book. External events are the perfect thing to focus on in beginning drafts.
But when you go to revise, don’t fall into the common trap of polishing sentences that only add to the external story.
What happens only matters as much as the context and meaning a character (or former self in memoir) gives to those story events. Interiority provides that context and meaning.
Read more...Every genre needs "stakes."
The term often brings action and thriller books to mind, so developing the stakes in "quieter" genres such as literary fiction and memoir can get overlooked.
Stakes simply refer to what is at risk for the protagonist. Any story event immediately becomes more riveting to readers when the stakes are on the page.
So how do writers develop literary stakes on the page?
Dialogue is a “craft” element (#4 on the Phases to Building a Book pyramid) necessary in writing novel or memoir.
Use of dialogue deepens and distinguishes character, and delivers important story information.
However, revising craft elements like dialogue without first honing story fundamentals (#2) and narrative technique (#3) can leave writers endlessly word-smithing.
How and where you use dialogue is important to the overall shape and pacing of your book.
Read more...
