The Writer's Weekly

Good morning!

I am reading the current issue of Poets & Writers Magazine and I always find really interesting articles on various aspects of the business.

This month they have included a book list for summer reading, but I always have a pile already chosen so I don't get into that.

There is, however, an interesting article on how to create complex characters that I intend to read. Even though I don't write short stories I do write other fiction and character development is always worth improving. Robert Boswell, in his article The Practice of Remaining in the Dark, suggests that we should write characters so that the reader only ever knows half of them. Boswell says that including the details one might expect but not anticipate creates rich characters. An interesting idea.

I like the idea of creating a character in the same way we get to know someone, the petals open and reveal the stamen within. You see layers of people as you get to know them, but with many people you feel as if you never really know all of them. That's when it's fun to have a character do something which seems totally out of character.

Isn't that what real life is often like? So many people are out of touch with who they are and that is when out-of-character actions come into play. The quiet family man that breaks under financial pressures and kills his whole family including himself. Or the conforming daughter that marries the 'ideal' husband and then just leaves one day abandoning her children forever.

These are examples of people extremely disconnected from who they are. A lot of the people in the world are like that!

Boswell asks a final question which I think is really interesting, he says: What would your character think of you.

Now that's a good one! Imagine your character looking back at you from the pages of your story. They know you pretty well because they've been inside your head. How would they see you in relation to their perceptions of the world?

I'm definitely going to try that. If I can see what they would see in me I'm on my way to making their character solid yet intriguing for the reader.