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Fleshy Characters by Craig Harris
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Fleshy Characters |
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Education
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Look in a mirror. You have flesh on your bones, albeit more or less flesh than you want. As an author your characters need to have meat on their bones, too. Lots of it. This does not mean fat, but depth. You choose the temperament and personality for each of your characters, depending upon the role they must play. Not only do you need to determine this up front, but you must know why they behave as they do. Your characters should live, breathe, talk and think like real human beings, not bits of cardboard with name tags. Your basic talking head. Is your heroine someone we can respect? Does she have strengths? Where does she get those strengths? What gave her such strong determination.? Does she have a weakness? What is it and why is it difficult for her to conquer? Does she have a goal? She must, and why must she reach this goal? On the other hand, is your female a card-carrying shrew? If so, why? What made her the way she is? Why is she so bitter? Better yet, why should readers give a flying fig about her? There is good and bad in all of us. We humans are flawed, and your characters should not be perfect if they are to seem real. Our upbringing is what manifests us as adults. The same is true for fictional characters. If a character is too flawed, we cannot like them. Save them for your antagonist, your murders, and sociopaths, so we can really love to hate them. Let me introduce a quickly sketched character. Maria Sanchez Age: 30 Personality: Positive or negative? Born in Mexico and immigrated to the U.S. in the trunk of a car, age 15. Goal: To break free of menial labor and move into a respectable position as political aide to a local Congressman. Inner conflict: She fights believing a Mexican is incapable of reaching political heights in the U.S., something drummed into her from childhood. She feels unworthy of becoming anything higher than a hotel maid, yet has worked hard and saved to educate herself in this country. She became a citizen. Physically and financially Maria is ready, but she keeps sabotaging herself emotionally. We've only scratched the surface of Maria. There must be much more to her, but this is a small start. Would you write all of this information in the first chapter? Heaven's no. Don't do it. It is important you know this basic information, but weave in these facts and backstory throughout the ms. Add to this information as you go. Sculpt flesh on those bones. Maria's goal should be shown in the first chapter. Goals can change, too; be sure she always has at least one at all times. Show the motivation behind each goal. Marie wants to be what everyone told her she could not be. Then exterior conflict will show us what keeps Maria from reaching her cherished goals. Happy Writing. Happy Sculpting! creative writing essay
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