Writing Tips: Character Balance

Today’s topic might feel basic, but it’s probably the most important concept you need to grasp if you want to succeed as a writer. There’s a fairly well known mantra that is often beaten into the heads of writers: Don’t write a perfect or overpowered main character. This might feel a little obvious, but I can tell you through first-hand experience that when you begin writing, you will probably write a main character that you  identify with. Because of this, it’s very likely you will write this character so they have no personal faults, are incredibly smart, athletic, well-loved by all, and are everything a normal person is not. These kinds of characters are really hated. Publishers won’t go near them, and neither will readers. So before you start your story you need to take a close look at what your character is like.

A lot of books that talk about characterization and writing novels assure you that you can fix your too-perfect character by giving them a flaw. Just one. That is the biggest load of hogwash I have ever read. Your character needs several flaws and a slew of weaknesses because he/she should be a reflection of real-life people. I have never met anyone who possess only one flaw. Furthermore, you need to give them a doozie of a flaw that they have to face throughout the book, not a little one that rarely comes into play. (So you can’t have a story in which the main character is good in everything, except for perhaps one sport which she is only a little good at, and it never comes up.) It doesn’t mean your character can’t still be clever and fun, or really good at something, it just means you need to look for balance. Often a flaw is accompanied by several personality defects, and usually a character’s strength ends up becoming a weakness. I’m going to draw on a few literary examples to show you this.

Let’s start with the classics: Elizabeth of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. For starters, Elizabeth is not the prettiest out of her sisters–but she is the smartest. Her fatal flaw is her prejudice. As we all know she is prejudice of Mr. Darcy, and dislikes him for the first half of the book. BUT, it doesn’t stop there! If Elizabeth’s only flaw was prejudice she still could have befriended Darcy, or noticed how he was interested in her and decided to accept when he proposed. (The book would have been a total BORE.) Instead, Elizabeth’s cleverness gets the best of her and she openly scorns Darcy and treats him with disdain. If she had been as kind as Jane that wouldn’t have happened. Do you see how the balance of her character works to create a wonderful story? She is pretty and clever, but her cleverness is a double edged sword thanks to her prejudice. Balance makes it possible to picture her as your next-door neighbor.

Another example: Sherlock of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s books. Sherlock was incredibly clever, but not the most handsome guy. He was so brilliant he could catch crooks with very little work, and he is obviously a genius. However, Sherlock is not the smartest man in Britain. His BROTHER is. (Talk about an excellent opportunity for emotional conflict!) Furthermore, he had a drug addiction, wrestled with depression, and because of the curt way he acted he wasn’t exactly well liked. Many say John Watson looks stupid next to Sherlock, but I think Sherlock’s social ineptitude/stoicism is amplified by Watson’s kindness. (You can see this in modern adaptions, like Sherlock BBC, and the Great Mouse Detective.) Sherlock’s genius and prowess is balanced with his emotional and social issues, and while they might not play a role in the crime he has to solve they play a HUGE role in his life.

How about an example from my work: Gabrielle from Puss in Boots. I chose this one on purpose because Gabrielle–unlike many of my heroines–is absolutely beautiful. Hands down she is the most gorgeous princess from Timeless Fairy Tales. However, several things counter her beauty: 1) she doesn’t value it and sees it as a flaw 2) she misjudges people because of her past experiences 3) she willingly takes orders from a cat. By the end of the book Gabrielle is much more comfortable with herself, and she’s become more gentle. She understands she was wrong in the way she would verbally act out in her hometown, and Puss has helped her become more independent. (She wouldn’t have taken on the ogre alone at the start of the story!)

This brings me to a big point. Your character must start the book negatively unbalanced–though they most often shouldn’t know it, or they see it as something that is only natural. By the end of the book, they should be a better person (better, not perfect) and have grown because of the challenges and obstacles they faced. You can see it in all my heroines. In the little Selkie Dylan is prideful and doesn’t want to ask humans for help, but by the end of the book she requests their help and marries one. In C&C Cinderella overcomes her deeply held hatred of Erlauf, and becomes queen. In King Arthurs Britt started as a very unwilling king and didn’t care much about ruling, but she’s maturing and is being forced to let her knights mature, so she can become a leader who could rule Britain in her own right.

Your goal should be to tell a good story, not to live out your fantasies through your main character. That might sound harsh, but it’s a painful lesson I had to learn that I would like to spare you. My first book was a sci fi story, which will never see the light of day because it cannot be salvaged. I got too attached to the main character, and I made her perfect in every way. If I ever feel like I’m getting a little prideful, I go back and read that story, and it sets my teeth on edge because now I loathe that very same character.

If you need practice in drawing balanced characters, try examining the people in your life. Who do you really know and love that would be a fun main character? What kind of flaws does that person have? We’re not looking to be critical, we’re observing truth. Usually the smart, quiet, perfectionist people can be a little socially awkward or they will feel overwhelmed because they don’t live up to their own standards. The social butterfly who is an absolute blast to hang out with might have a hard time organizing herself so her life is a little messy. None of this is because these people are terrible or evil, it’s because everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Your main character must reflect this, or your story will never go anywhere.

Gah, there’s so much more to talk about–how character flaws play important roles in plot, how your secondary characters should have strengths and flaws of their own, etc–but this is already a huge post so I’ll have to cut it off here. Can you think of your favorite novel and identify the character’s strengths, weaknesses, and flaws? Leave a comment and get some discussion going! In the meantime, thank you for reading, Champions, and I hope this gets you thinking.

Writing Tips: Character Movement

Greetings, Champions! Before we get started with today’s topic–Character Movement–I want to announce that I have an instagram account: km.shea. Follow my account if you want to get a little glimpse into my life! Thus far I have two extremely lonely pictures on there, but as the account is brand new, it will take me a few days to fix that. Additionally, I did some major remodeling to the categories section (omgawsh it took me all morning to sort my posts) so the categories cloud on the right navigation bar will be easier to navigate now.

Okay, let’s begin! When I say today I’m going to discuss character movement, I mean two things 1) actual movement–think verbs, like: jumped, skipped, swung–and 2) facial expressions.

Editor #2 watches character movement–facial expressions in particular–like a hawk. The misuses she commonly watches for are…

1. Overused movement/expression: A lot of writers use smile too much–heck, I use smile too much. It’s a challenge, but if you notice your characters are displaying one expression over and over again, try to think of an alternate way of showing that feeling. Instead of smiling their eyes could brighten, or they could jump for joy.

2. Continuity: This means that you can’t have Sally standing in paragraph one, and in paragraph two she gets up from a chair.

3. No movement: There are times when you want a lot of dialog, and there are times when you just want action. However, these times need to be carefully balanced and interrupted. If the characters are having an emotional conversation, you need to use their body language to give the readers clues as to what they are feeling.

4. Too much movement: Readers are intelligent, so you don’t have to spell every gesture out for them. If your character is getting up from a desk you don’t have to say “Hunter pushed his chair back from the desk and stood up out of the chair” you can simply say “Hunter stood.” Your reader will understand. (That being said, if your character is stuck in a bear-trap, you better explain how he got himself unstuck before he stood.)

5. Tame verbs: Character movement needs to be strong. Why have your character walk when they can march, or stroll, or saunter? However, you don’t want to have “strolled” or “sauntered” in your manuscript more than a a few times. It’s all a balancing act. In my original draft of The Snow Queen: Heart of Ice, Rakel–the heroine–winces about eight times. That is five times too many, so Editor #2 had me change some of the instances to flinched and grimaced.

Now that list is some of the areas Editor #2 has pointed out as errors, but there are a few good things you should know about character movement as well.

Body language, actions, and facial expressions should all give hints and clues to what your characters are feeling, and what’s going on. Movement can also be an expression of the character itself.

Bill Amend understands the importance of character movement… For anyone who doesn’t know this comic, that’s Peter–a senior in high school–cross-dressing as his little sister Paige.

Tari–the nimble elf heroine of Red Rope of Fate–does a lot of gliding, waltzing, and dancing. Her movements are beautiful and elegant because of what she is. Ahira of Princess Ahira is a little more clumsy so she occasionally trips, gets dirty, and stomps around when she’s feeling bad tempered. And that’s the differences between two females. If you compare them to, say, Colonel Friedrich of Cinderella, the Colonel stands a lot taller, saunters, and has the tendency be on his guard due to his military training.

Figuring out how they move is especially important for your main characters, and it needs to be consistent. You can’t have your heroine be clumsy one moment and then as graceful as a swan in the next scene–unless you make the change gradually over the duration of the novel. Also, a few secondary characters might have unique movements, but you need to make sure you don’t go overboard or everyone will be skipping, romping, and storming all over the place. It will get distracting and feel forced. Keeping that in mind, the same movement technique can be used to show information about background characters that have an impact on your story.

Let’s say your characters have broken into a castle and are trying to avoid any guards. Although the guards are background roles who likely will never be named, their movements can help readers grasp a blanket generalization about them. Using body language can tell readers (and your characters) if they need to worry about the guards or not. Horrible guards would be slumped–possibly leaning against a wall–and perhaps even look bored. Elite honor guards, on the other hand, would stand at perfect attention with their hands on their weapons.

Alright, so I’ve had a chance to try explaining this to you, now you’re free to fly away and try it for yourself. However, I highly recommend you do a bit of research first and skim a few of your favorite books to watch how the authors move their characters. Observing it in other stories will help you see the rhythm and pattern writers use.

Whew, and that’s everything I can think of today. Thanks for reading, Champions! I hope you found this helpful.

What do you want to see?

Hello Champions! It’s been a while since I’ve posted any writing tips, so I really wanted to do that today, but I realized I don’t really have a good idea what you guys want to know about writing, so instead I’m holding a poll to find out what interests you the most!

The poll will be open for roughly one week. You can only vote for one topic, but you can vote more than once–though I would appreciate it if you cast your votes for the things you are most passionate about so I know what to prioritize. These were all the general topics I could think of at the moment, but if you have a particular topic you would like to see me cover please give me a shout out in the comments below.

I’ll wait for the poll results before I tackle any real writing tips, but I know in the past I’ve been asked a few times by readers who badly want to write, but find it difficult to snatch more than a few minutes at a time. I have found the book for you: 5,000 words per hour. It’s an ebook that outlines how the author manages to write 4,000 to 5,000 words in an hour–which is roughly 8-10 pages of a Microsoft Word Document. Warning: I have tried his method, and I’m not certain how the heck he does it. Using his method DID help me increase my output, but I max out at roughly 2,000 words per hour, well below what he clocks in.

BUT, the idea of maximizing your output isn’t why I think you should check this book out. As I mentioned, I have this book in mind for writers who find it difficult to muster up the time. Trying to write for an hour is probably out of their reach. The reason why I think this book will be a perfect jump-start for you time-masters, is because he gives a detailed method that shows you how to start writing for five minute stretches. After a few weeks of practice, if you can slip a couple of these five minute sessions in your day, you should be able to get about a page done per day. It doesn’t sound like a fabulous pace, but after half a year you should have a decent-length novel!

That’s all for today, Champions! Thank you for voting in the poll, and I look forward to seeing what you guys are interested in. Have a great week!