Category Archives: Writing Tools

A discussion of the various software that authors employ to write, plot, backup, and ultimately use to write a novel.

Character versus character is, of course, not the only way to bring conflict into your story. Other avenues include character versus nature (dangerous terrain, wildlife, storms, floods…) or character versus self, where the character must overcome an aspect of themselves, such as their fears or the beliefs instilled by their upbringing, in order to be successful. Still, in stories with multiple characters, watching their personalities strike sparks off one another is a realistic and intriguing way of developing conflict. And conflict is the fuel that drives a plot – without an adversary to overcome, heroes sit around doing nothing.

The most obvious form of character versus character is hero versus villain. Other blogs this month talk about what makes a good villain, so I will add only this: a good villain sparks an interesting conflict with the hero. This statement encompasses both evil masterminds whose machinations drive the plots of whole series, all the way down to the minion who perhaps doesn’t survive his first and only interaction with the hero. Even that one-encounter minion can be memorable. Perhaps the hero realizes she can’t defeat this minion with strength, and has to use cunning, or endurance, or ask for help, instead. Perhaps it’s the first time the hero has ever had to kill in battle, or the first time she’s ever lost someone under her command. This conflict can involve both the fight itself (physical action, mental strategy, or both) and the aftereffects (emotional fallout; fatigue or lost gear heightening the hero’s conflict with her environment; the time delay heightening tension; etc).

Some of the most interesting conflicts are conflicts between protagonists. Just because a group of people are on the same quest, or in the same military unit, or working toward the same goal, doesn’t mean they’re going to all like each other. They may not even get along with one another. Aspects of their personalities are going to grate on one another. First impressions may create misunderstandings; past beliefs may shape prejudices or preconceptions. Different desires may set members of the same group working at odds to one another, or tempt one to betray the group; or threaten to splinter the group. These dynamics can lead groups to a vast array of outcomes, depending on the pressures placed on the group by the plot, and the choices made by the characters within the group. All that, and a villain besides!

Previous posts this month have dealt with romance, and one of the most elegant conflict generators – the love triangle – hinges on romantic attraction. If two characters (I’ll say a girl and a guy) like each other, there’s only so many ways to defer that mutual attraction before it’s acted upon. But if a girl likes two different guys, the writer has now set up two additional conflicts: the girl is forced to make a choice between the guys; and the guys are set in an adversarial relationship, competing against one another for the girl’s attention. Like any formula, this one can be tinkered with: for example, the girl who likes a guy who’s oblivious to her and doesn’t notice the second guy who dotes on her; or the “triangle” that becomes a square with the addition of a fourth character.

Love triangles don’t suit every story-category romance, for example, favours one hero and one heroine, and a story that illustrates how they overcome the obstacles in their path to a life together. Perhaps their conflict is generated by secondary characters: the disapproving family members; the crazy ex or jealous outsider, sowing misunderstandings to sabotage the relationship; the character who represents duty, such as a child, military unit or business obligation. A writer doesn’t even need romance to torment his hero with secondary characters such as these.

Without conflict, characters have nothing to do. Without disagreement, readers become bored watching the Happy Hero, and his Happy Friends who always act and think and feel exactly like their leader, wander on their Happy Way. But once the Happy Hero faces off against the Cunning Villain, with nobody at his side except: the alien with questionable loyalties; the attractive gunner who can’t get along with the equally attractive navigator; and the cranky sergeant who hates the villain only slightly more than she hates the hero; well, then the hero’s not always so Happy, and then you’ve got a story. A story that keeps readers hooked, wondering how those conflicts will play out.

Complex Characters

February 20, 2013

Frank Morin

Character Craft & Skills Frank Morin Writing Tools 4 Comments

We’ve all heard the criticism: “Your characters are flat” or “One-dimensional” “Make them deeper, more rounded.”

The problem is, most of the time the people offering that vague advice have no concrete suggestions for fixing the problem. Many newer authors often fall into the trap of trying to add quirks or other surface affectations to try to make the characters appear ‘interesting’. Quirks can be cool, but only if they tie into the character’s real psyche. If not, they’re just weird and don’t help.

In my last post, I explored what it means to have deeper, more complex characters by utilizing Larry Brooks’ three dimensions approach to character development. Today I want to explore additional examples from books and television to highlight what we mean when we say a character has ‘depth’ or is ‘complex’.

First, we need to know our characters, know them better than we know just about anyone else in our life. Think about it – most of the people we interact with are enigmas. We know their surface personalities, and we may know a little about their history, but how many people do we know well enough to imagine them in an extremely difficult situation like the ones we’re going to place our protagonists in, and then feel confident we can predict how they’ll react? The number is probably smaller than we usually assume. We can’t have that ambiguity with our main characters. When we place them in extreme situations, we need to know how they’re going to respond.

Many of the ‘flat’ characters we see are ones where they don’t seem to have a history. They step onto the page with no back-story, no childhood, no past mistakes or triumphs to be reminded about. As a result, we only see the surface of a character but get no insights into why or how they reached that stage in life. These are characters with only that first dimension defined. Fine for secondary characters, but not for central characters.

For example, in The Dark Knight, the joker is such a fantastic character not only for how crazy he is on the surface, but also for the hints he gives us of his tortured past. We never actually learn the truth, but just hinting at it is enough to make him far more deeply fascinating and freaky. Who’s ever going to forget the line, “Want to know how I got these scars?”

As a reader, knowing a character’s back-story helps us develop empathy with them. This is the why of a character’s actions that gives them meaning. Without it, we cannot connect with them.

Another fascinating example is the character Cobb, the main protagonist in the movie Inception. On the surface, Cobb is an efficient dream spy, capable of infiltrating the best-kept mental secrets. Then we’re faced with his ex-wife who continually threatens to undermine all his work. That twist becomes infinitely more interesting when we learn she’s actually dead, a projection created by Cobb’s own sub-conscious that refuses to be ruled by him. Throughout the movie, the layers are peeled back as the stakes rise, until we realize this projection is his inner demon, the part of his psyche he has to face. We’re left wondering right up to the end: how did she die? Was he really responsible? Why can’t he let go?

Brilliant use of back-story and inner demons.

Another wonderful example, and an excellent venue for studying complex characters is the tv show Once Upon A Time. Not only is the concept fantastic and the writing brilliant, but the show offers many examples of great character development.

Virtually every character in the show has a complex back-story that interweaves with other characters and generally experiences at least one major flip that catches the audience completely by surprise and challenges expectations. This is especially true for the evil characters (the wicked queen and Rumplestilskin – the dark one). We see them struggling against evil impulses and trying to live the best lives they can. It’s absolutely brilliant because we end up developing empathy with characters we should simply loathe.

There is nothing simple about any of these characters. Their second dimension is fully fleshed out and complex. Even better, in critical moments, we see even some of the evil characters try to break out of the mold they’ve placed themselves in, and we root for them. At other times, we see the heroes struggle with powerful temptations to do terrible things, usually with plenty of justification. These are the deep moments when characters’ true selves are revealed, the third dimension moments of truth, and it’s wonderful to see a character we think is evil show us a hint of good, even if they back-slide later. I’ve learned a great deal from this show, and hope to apply it to some of my own writing and character development.

Of course, most of us won’t get to use our back-story as heavily as Once Upon A Time. They set up the show format around this complex back-story, and the very structure of the show allows them to maximize the power of it. Still, the point is valid – it’s absolutely vital for the writer to know what happened in their characters’ lives before page 1, and find ways to share that information with their readers.

Another fun example is Shrek. The funny, irreverent ogre who refuses to live within the narrow boundaries expected of him. As he explains to his companion, donkey, he has layers, like an onion. All good characters should have those same layers.

Of course, once we’ve created our onion characters, we then face the daunting challenge of when and how to weave that back-story into the narrative without falling into that dreaded ‘info-dump’. It’s hard to not share the cool stuff we know about characters, but that information is best served in small portions, sprinkled throughout the story. It’s the seasoning that separates the simple stories from the great. But like any seasoning, apply too much, and you wreck the effect.

What other characters stand out as exceptional examples to you? Why do you find them so powerful?

3 Dimensions of Character – A Review of Larry Brooks’ Character Development Technique

February 18, 2013

Frank Morin

Character Craft & Skills Frank Morin Writing Tools 7 Comments

We’re talking a lot about character this month, as well we should. Great characters are critical components for great stories. We need to understand our characters, their relationships, and then we need to reveal the truth about our characters with a deft hand, weaving in back story and inner demons.

It can prove a daunting process, and sometimes it’s hard to know how to approach working with our characters to maximize their effectiveness. At times, it’s like looking at a hidden 3d image, like the one at the top of this article. Can you see the hidden image? It takes effort and practice to train your eye to see what’s right there.

Same with building great characters.

There are lots of opinions and articles and books on the subject, including this month’s Fictorians posts. One resource I highly recommend is Orson Scott Card’s book Characters & Viewpoint.

Another, which I found extremely helpful, is Larry Brooks’ Three Dimensions of Character. This is available as a standalone ebook, but is also incorporated in Larry’s best-selling book Story Engineering.

The brilliance of this approach is that it explains complex character building in a direct, understandable way that makes it accessible to every writer. Larry provides a toolbox to assist authors in crafting great characters, and knowing what is required to do so. He teaches, in essence, how to see the hidden image by removing some of the vague, mysterious elements from the process, which I found refreshing and extremely helpful.

I won’t explain the entire system. This short article won’t do it justice, but I will review the core concepts to illustrate the power of it.

Characters have three distinct dimensions that authors need to understand and define, and which they can then apply for greatest effect.

Dimension 1: Personality. What a character looks like, their quirks, how they present themselves to the world. This is all surface material, without any assigned meaning. For minor characters, this may be all we ever see, and it’s left to the reader to assign any deeper meaning, if they choose. For important characters, we cannot stop here without getting the dreaded “your characters are flat” reviews.

Dimension 2: Back story and inner demons. This is where things get interesting. This is the why of a character’s choices. This is where meaning is assigned, where they face their inner struggles, hide their deepest fears. It’s the world view that motivates their actions, and it may or may not coincide with the face they choose to show the world.

Dimension 2 is where characters gain depth, it’s where the reader gains a glimpse into the why, and gives us a chance to build empathy with the character, which is absolutely crucial for our story success.

However, we’re not finished with Dimension 2. Dimensions 1 and 2 are still what the character wants us to see, to understand.

Dimension 3 is where we get to the true heart of a character, their moral substance, or lack thereof.

Dimension 3 is what a character does in critical moments, moments of extreme stakes, moments that count. This is where everything is stripped away and their true, inner core is revealed.

It may surprise us. It may surprise them. This is where a character really becomes a hero, or a villain. It’s where they shine, or where they run away screaming. This is where inner demons are excised, when a character arc is complete. Only then is the hero ready to overcome the external antagonistic forces.

This is powerful stuff! Too often advice about character lacks this level of clarity. Larry goes on to expand upon this in his books, and I highly recommend you study his system, because it empowers authors to elevate character development to a much higher level.

To illustrate briefly: Assume we have a character, a middle-aged school teacher who works with first graders. Never married, but beloved by her children. All first dimension stuff. Then, let’s give the readers a glimpse into her past. Maybe she went into teaching because a younger sibling died and she always felt guilty for not protecting that child, and has dedicated her life to teaching to help excise that guilt. Second dimension back-story and inner demon. She’s an easy character to empathize with.

Then let’s set the school on fire. Children are in danger. What will she do?

Well, that’s the question, and the moment that will make the story. Will she rush into a burning room to save children, perhaps by making the ultimate sacrifice, and therefore justify her life’s work? Or will she break down and ignore everyone around her, perhaps letting children suffer because she’s unable to break out of the prison of her memories? Or does she do something totally different? It’s not until that moment of crisis that her true character is revealed.

In my next post, I’ll explore examples of great complex characters, and lessons we can learn from them.

Building Character ““ Tools for Genuine Interaction and Staying on Track

February 8, 2013

Ace Jordyn

Ace Jordyn Character Conflict Craft & Skills The Writing Process Writing Tools 3 Comments

So, you’ve done the deep psychological analysis, built the world, have a broad outline, now what? How do you place your character into the story and make it believable? How do you keep the protagonist’s story on track? How do you keep character interactions interesting, genuine and moving the story along?

In complex novels, I use charts to help me along, to keep information organized and to consider the deeper questions of values and motivation for each significant character. In every instance, I refer to the major points from the story arc because that’s when those critical moments of change, realization, action and reaction happen. This system keeps me from straying from core values during interactions. What happens in those moments when characters surprise me and go in a totally different direction for reasons of their own? As long as the character is true to their core (usually is), I embrace the change and make adjustments accordingly.

Relationship Arc Chart- Protagonist and a Key Character

	Disasters (faced by the protagonist)	Protagonist (reaction to the disaster)	Pam (reaction to the protagonist)
Act 1	Attackers at warehouse	Is dumbfounded by the attack and then decides he must figure out who did it. Is afraid because goods were damaged, he didn’t finish his work and is late to see his father	Likes him a lot but doesn’t always trust her feelings for him – is hot and cold toward him- her father warns her away. Not sure if he’s a victim or incompetent.
	Overhears conspirators re father and power & sees someone run away	Suspicious of everyone except his friend and Pam. Urgency to do something before it’s too late.	Wonders if he’s making things up – see this in her body language and cautious language
	Discovers father is dead	Is devastated, angry and feels he failed his father. Resolves to solve murder.	Has deep compassion for him but is afraid of his anger and feels helpless to help him.

It’s also important to be aware of the impact of a significant event on all major characters. For example, the death of a central figure has a huge impact on the protagonist and other characters. We really see this, and expect it, in mystery writing yet reactions need to be thought out just as clearly in any genre. How does each person feel about the death? What opportunities or misfortunes do they see as a result? How every character reacts to the death and to those around them must be consistent with personal motives and values.

Relationship Arc Chart- Reaction to a Major Event

Person	Rxn to Felix’s death	Rxn to Joey (protagonist)
Sally (wife)	There is the customary wailing etc but with an unusual sparkle in her eye. After, she appears to be even more crazy and delusional as she insists he isn’t really dead	She wants him to remain loyal to his father – to obey his father as if he’s still alive rather than becoming his own person
Shosha(high priestess)	Relieved. Now Felix won’t be a threat to the people or to her plans. Knows she must appear to be saddened by the death.	Sees Felix’s death as an opportunity to bend Joey to her will. Believes he is the key to restoring balance and making the island safe but he must follow her.
Talar(head of a guild)	Relieved and upset. Felix was a master at his craft and did before his son learned all the skills. He was crucial to island trade. Never liked or trusted him. Has a lifelong grudge about something.	Unsure if Joey can do his father’s job yet he is the last master of his trade. Believes the son is/will be like his father (unstable, and self-serving) and wants to protect his daughter from him.

There are two seldom spoken about things writers need to be aware of to keep interactions genuine. I don’t chart these but I do short write ups on each to make sure I understand them from my characters’ points of view.

Male and Female Perspectives

Yes, males and females see and express things slightly differently. And no, it’s not all stereotypical black and white behaviour either so please don’t take my comments as such. However, it’s folly not to consider the language, approach to situations and socialization of the sexes when writing characters or in understanding target market appeal. That’s why there are so many books on relationships (the Mars and Venus stuff) because it is important. It’s not about equality issues or discrimination. It’s simply that as women and men we are biologically different and we see the world a little differently. Those differences need to be understood and embraced. We can do the same jobs but our approach and communication may be different.

Women may be more prone to focus on emotions and relationships while men are more concerned about process such as fixing something or winning the race. Use this to create confusion and tension as characters speak at cross purposes on an issue. Mix it up to make interactions more interesting. Change the socialization norms. That’s what happened when television, books and movies first created female detectives and lawyers – interactions between the sexes was awkward and rife with tension. It still is and it makes for compelling viewing and reading. Being aware of the differences gives writers more ammunition to mix it up and make interactions more dynamic, less boring and less stereotypical.

Life stages

So how do people react to Joey – as a late teen, and with his father’s death, his mother Sally doesn’t want him to leave the household to become his own man. He’s now expected to fill his father’s shoes, stay in the family business and look after her. Although he knows he must do this, Joey’s interactions with his mother will be charged as he struggles for his own identity and sense of self. If Joey had been married and with a maturing family of his own, his position in society and his skill wouldn’t be questioned and therefore his interactions with his mother would be quite different like charged but now able to assert himself and demand what he wants, respectful or entirely dismissive.

Writing for teens (YA) is different than writing for adults or middle grade. It’s deeper than point of view – it’s about issues, maturity, ability to express, comfort with expression and experience. An adult who has been burned in a relationship as a teenager will have a very different approach to a date than a teen on a first date. That seems obvious, but as an adult writing for teens, I must be very careful not to insinuate my adult knowledge, observations and experience on my characters otherwise their interactions won’t ring true for my readers. The same holds true whenever we write about something apart from our own soci-economic strata.

These are just a few of the tools I use to keep character interactions interesting. What works for you?