Tag Archives: Author

Creating Intriguing Characters

Human male face made of several different people, artistic concept vertical collage

Creating interesting, engaging and intriguing characters can be most of the battle when it comes to writing fiction. It is the characters who draw the reader deep into the story and who make a compelling case for why the reader should care about the the people involved in the story. This is relevant for almost any genre of fiction and some non-fiction, although there may be some exceptions.

So how do you go about creating the kind of people who readers will be unable to leave behind? Some characters will be kind and generous, others spiteful or deceitful, some will resist elements of the plot and its events, others will be dislikeable but their flaws might resonate with the reader by exposing a certain vulnerability.

Think about the people who you have met, seen in films, read about in compelling books, or interacted with in business or by other means. Who do you remember and why? What sort of character traits make a person likeable or dislikeable? What has happened in their life to make them behave in a certain way? There are cultural differences to consider – how does the character’s ethnicity and cultural background shape them as a person?

Dig deep into the each character’s psyche and tease out the details of their life, their surroundings, family, experiences, passions, dislikes and fears. Often a character’s fears, especially that of your protagonist, will be rooted in an event or a set of events which might be familiar to people on a larger scale. Are they afraid of change, restrictions, loss, death, illness? Do they have an inability to make decisions?

Take time to profile your characters – brainstorm, make notes, paste photographs into a notebook or onto a Pinterest board (see my post on using Pinterest to improve your writing). Make sure that you know your characters to the very core and then let them loose in a situation, a setting, a crisis and you will know how they respond and why, you will know the decisions they need to make or are afraid to make.

Can you think of interesting characters you have read about recently? Do you have any tips on creating realistic and engaging characters?

Interview 1 – with Booker Prize Short List Author of Narcopolis – Jeet Thayil

I’ve been watching some interesting author interviews recently, so I decide to start a series of blog posts on interviews with different authors. There should be nuggets of wisdom for both readers and writers. Today, Stuart Evers interviews the Booker Prize Shortlist author of Narcopolis, Jeet Thayil, at the Faber offices. I love Faber books and when I discovered Faber Finds (launched in 2008, it has brought 1,000 out-of-print titles back into print) I stocked up on some fantastic books. One of my favourite books is Love and Freedom by Rosemary Kavan. The wife of a Communist in post-war Prague, she pens an emotionally charged memoir of her life through the Prague Spring and the trials of the 50s. I bought this for book research for my novel. Honestly, though, I would have read it and kept it regardless. There was a certain amount of serendipity in the fact that the first edition, bought second hand before finding the Faber edition, arrived in the post with a letter from a young girl to her sister. The letter was a deeply personal one and dated February 1993 – the exact date of the start of my novel.

So, if you have just under ten minutes to watch the interview – I’ll grab a coffee while you watch it – I’m sure you’ll find Jeet’s conversation about the writing process really interesting. What strikes most readers is the sheer length of the first page – 7 pages – a structural idea, which came to him much later on. It caused him to go back and re-write, having found the essence of the story. I have read a great deal about plotting and structure and the need for pre-planning, but I’m a writer who likes to let the story unfold as I lay the words down. Having finished my novel and some recent short stoies, I honestly can’t imagine planning it all out in advance. For me it crushes the creativity. Other authors would disagree, I know.

‘I’m not one of those guys who knows before commencing work exactly how the story is going to go – beginning, middle and end. I discovered it as I was writing,’ says Jeet Thayil.

What are your thoughts on plotting versus letting the plot unfold? How do you write? What works and what doesn’t?

I’ve started Narcopolis today and the descriptions are lyrical and sharp. It is an intriguing read.