WRITING ADVICE: Putting Your Character Down

The toughest thing I've ever had to deal with in writing is making my characters seem to live.

NO -- I don't have trouble making lists, writing their life story, doing interviews with them, doing time lines or any of the other things the writing books talk about all the time.

I have trouble writing down things that make my characters live on the page. I have trouble putting my character down. On paper. So that others experience them the way I do.

My most recent solution to the problem is to do the following:

1) I write down basic visual details, choosing one thing that makes them unique.

2) I put them in a situation where their uniqueness STICKS OUT LIKE A SORE THUMB.

3) I write out the character's response to a couple of pressures that have nothing to do with my story.

4) Write a scene I've witnessed and then replace someone I knew with that character and see how THEY react.

5) I dissect the characters in other books I love.

6) I have the character state somehow what they want and come up with a stupid plan to get it.

7) I also make them talk about their "owies" (external, internal, spiritual).

8) I write scenes using SPECIFIC details in all the senses.

9) I make sure the character has realistic FLAWS tied intimately to realistic STRENGTHS.

10) I add quirky flaws, a sense of humor, an exaggerated positive trait and self-doubt.

11) I sit down and think, "What the heck am I trying to do with the character?"

12) I quit worrying and write. Like a shark. (A majority of sharks must have oxygenated water moving over their gills. If they don't, they suffocate. They DIE!)

There you go. Prescriptive writing (see my post "UGH: Prescriptive Writing"). My prescription to me.

If you like it, steal it. Oh, only one thing: tell me if it works for you.