Thinkin’ on Thursday: Your MC’s Intellectual, Psychological and Emotional Impact

Easy as A, B, C . . . from BB

Today, I’m thinking about the impact of minor characters on my Main Character (MC). And MC’s impact on others. How do characters inter‑relate? What do they glean from each other, both good and bad? What do they offer to each other?

I had lunch the other day with six of my former debate students from years and years ago. We’d gotten together a few times in the past, but had missed doing so for the last five years. In or near their 30’s now, two of them are working in law offices. Both are basically fulfilling the roles of paralegals, one having had some outside training, the other being taught by her company. One will finish her B.S. this year at the U of U, then begin applying for law school. The other, currently being “trained” by her work place, will get as much training as possible which is offered at her work, and will then go back to school. Both of them are the main support of their two children.

One of the others, having worked years ago with the Utah State Legislature, has a good, solid and responsible job, but also plans on returning to school, has one child and is currently separated from her husband.

Another quit a lucrative and responsible workplace for a “better job” recently: she has become a stay‑at‑home mom. Another, after an LDS mission, and a stint with the military has separated from his wife, works in a law‑involved field, but lives close to and sees his two children often.

What was I seeing from all of them? Shades and shadows of how their debating experience had influenced their interest in world‑wide affairs, their willingness to put themselves “out there” and live a challenging, sometimes difficult, but often rewarding, life. All, without exception, were actively engaged in their own lives. They were still looking forward, still planning “what comes next,” still curious, and still actively involved.

As writers, we need to be the same: curious, involved, active, with wide interests and involvement in the “job” at hand, whether at home, at work, in our writing, in our characters. Take a look at how all your characters — especially the main characters — are influenced by their friends, their enemies, their interests, the actions and reactions of the people around them.

When people are this involved in their own lives, they are influenced intellectually, psychologically and emotionally. All these aspects of your characters will make them feel real, sound real, act in authentic ways. Look at how your antagonist impacts your MC. In one story, that influence may be highly emotional. In another, it may be mostly psychological. Or it may be an intellectual impact. All three may even be evident in the same story, though not necessarily at the same time.

All of these will make your characters more “real.” Your readers will connect with these “real” human beings more quickly, more deeply . . . because readers are influenced in that way by THEIR friends . . . and seeming “enemies” . . . too.

See you next for Spellbinder Saturday!

Tuesday’s Tutor: Questions for Getting Started

Easy as A, B, C . . . from BB

I was thinking of writing a book based on . . . of course . . . an old fairy tale. I’ve always loved those old stories. I’ve read a number of rewrites, like Orson Scott Card’s Enchantment and Jessica Day George’s Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow. I always like another take on an old, familiar story. But I was stuck.

I’d thought of doing two or three old ones—decided they’d been done to death. Looked at my lovely collection of Andrew Lang’s The Blue Fairy Book, The Red Fairy Book, The Green . . . Purple, Orange, etc., etc., Fairy Book(s) and finally came up with an interesting mash-up of two different old tales.

But I couldn’t get started. Didn’t know how to begin. So I didn’t.

Well, eventually I did a NaNoWriMo November session on the idea, and I’m in the process of finishing and rewriting it now. But why was it so hard to start? And what could have helped get me going?

I’ve long believed that writing is another way of thinking, and I should have just started writing anything. But I didn’t. For a long time.

More recently, my husband had thought of three young people (think Middle Grade or MG) who all went to the same school. But he couldn’t seem to get going. Having been there, all too frequently myself, I chose the more indirect method of emailing him a list of some pretty typical writer’s questions. Hopefully, they’re helping. Hopefully, they’ll help you too:

1. What would your Main Character (MC) WANT more than anything else in the world?

2. Who/what is keeping her/him from getting it?

3. What is s/he willing to do to get it; how far will s/he go?

4. Whose betrayal (or seeming betrayal) would hurt him/her the most? How/why would that person do that to him/her?

5. How would your MC react to that hurt or betrayal—what would s/he DO about it?

6. As an alternative to a betrayal (or an addition to ?), what would the loss of your MC’s most important ally (through death, moving away, illness, etc.) mean to your MC? How would s/he react?

WRITE ALL YOUR ANSWERS DOWN.

Ask each of your other major characters (sidekick, villain, mentor, etc.) the same questions—on paper. How do all those answers intersect, overlap, inform the other problems or concerns in their lives? How do they change the direction of your story line? Mine your own answers for gold!

See you day-after-tomorrow for Thursday’s 13!

 Have questions about writing (grammar, punctuation, getting published, etc.)?  Brenda Bensch, M.A., a teacher of multiple decades’ experience in Utah’s university/high school/community ed. classrooms (English, fiction/non-fiction writing, study skills, drama, humanities, debate, etc.), invites you to “Ask The Teacher” at http://BenschWensch.wordpress.com