BIRTHDAYS AND CHARACTER

by Janis Patterson

Today is August 23. It’s the birthday of two of the most important people in my life. Unfortunately we all live far apart, so our celebrations are now confined to postal, electronic and telephonic mediums, but we have the memories of more exuberant parties in the past. Happy Birthday, my dear ones.

Which – since I am first and foremost a writer all the way down to my bones – started me thinking about how birthdays affect character. It is a fact that everyone has a birthday. It’s a given of being a human being, along with the fact that someday everyone will die. However, everything else is different for every person, and it is those differences that give your character depth and personality.

Does the character even know his birthday? Did he have fantastic parties with mountains of presents, bounce houses and pony rides? A family dinner with a few presents and a homemade cake? Just a cupcake and a song? Or no celebration at all? Whatever the character had affects what he is presently and what he regards as normal, for good or bad.

No, you don’t have to put the history of his birthdays in your story, but that history affects the way he behaves, and you have to know it, just as you know his history of school and everything else in his prior life. Was he a straight A student or a sullen dropout? Did he date a lot, or not at all? Did he have an allowance or work for pocket money or did he have to work to support the family? All these affect what he (or she) is now.

I repeat, none of these facts have to appear in your story. The character doesn’t have to sit and remember on the page how Ella Sue turned him down when he asked her to senior prom, engendering in him a life-long hatred of blondes who wear glasses. On the other hand, he can – just remember it’s your story and you must write it the way that is best for that story. I’m just saying everything that happened to your character in all of his life before the story starts makes him the person that he is, and you must know it. Our past affects our present. Our past makes us what we are now, and that goes for fictional characters too.

Happy Birthday, Canada! And other lessons in objectivity!

I'm feeling a little sad. Today is my last official NYUS post (insert sad face) although I hope to get invited back occasionally ;). It's a little ironic because my Carina Press titles (SEA OF SUSPICION, STORM WARNING and EDGE OF SURVIVAL) are all getting makeovers soon, including new covers. I, for one, am very excited to see them. But I've decided it's time to move on (if anyone perfects cloning or time travel let me know and I might reconsider).

On a more important note, my beloved adoptive country of Canada is celebrating 150 years on July 1st. Happy Birthday! I love this country--snow and all! However, it's also important to remember that the land has been around a lot longer than 150 years and I appreciate the indigenous people of Canada might have a different view of the anniversary.

What does this have to do with writing? Good question. Let me expound (and give you a tip). Whatever you are writing about, always see if you can find an opposing POV somewhere in the news or literature. I guess it's like debate club--but I believe it gives stories more depth than if you simply view a subject from your own inherently limited perspective. (Try to avoid FAKE NEWS though! I'm not actually kidding.)

Another tip, and basically just going deeper into this practice, is to do solid research, especially if you're writing someone completely alien to the real you (hopefully murderers fall into this group). You can't just put yourself in a killer's shoes by picking up a fictional knife and start hacking away. It can't actually be YOU in the serial killer's shoes because you don't understand his mindset--even though you created him. In fact, YOU can't be in the scene at all. It has to be a fictional serial killer in a fictional serial killer's shoes. And the opposing POV would be either the victim/potential-victim trying to get away, or the law enforcement officer trying to bring a murderer to justice. Both sides believe in what they are doing.

Read biographies of and articles on people who live the same lives your POV characters live. Also, because you're thorough, read books by psychologists and cops who deal with these people (Robert Hare, Robert Ressler, John Douglas come to mind). You have to be able to know how they think, know how they justify their actions, how they lie--and not just the killers! You need to become that character on the page, during those scenes.

It's kind of a scary thing.  I scare myself some days.

If that's too much, then tell the story in a different way, but make sure you understand the subject matter from every angle. My latest WIP features some white nationalists with racist ideology. I made a point not to use any racial slurs or derogatory language in the book. It wasn't easy, but I couldn't go there (ironic, as killing the masses isn't an issue). Instead I used a POV character who'd been fully immersed in that world but with whom the reader could sympathize.

So my last whisperings of advice for NYUS readers are...
To always see issues from both sides.
Always do your research.
To be fearless, but don't turn off your reader.
(And, as always, advice is something that works for some and not others, so feel free to ignore :))

I'll be around the internet even though I should be writing. Hope to see you there!

If you want to check out the blurb for COLD MALICE it's on my website.

Villain, Villain, Who's Got the Villain?

by Janis Patterson

I like villains. I have to watch myself when writing and make sure the villain is not more attractive, intelligent and believable than the hero.

Why? I don’t know. Perhaps it has something to do with the aspect of danger a villain exudes. I’ve always liked the bad boys. No – not the scruffy, unshaven, semi-clothed bad boy of some romance fiction; while I realize they are very popular I don’t care for them at all. They all look as if they don’t smell very well. My favored bad boys own tuxedoes, dance well, probably are very knowledgeable about wines and are capable of anything to get what they want.

And therein lies the essence of a villain – they will do just about anything to get (or protect) their desire without respect to laws, rules or morals. Whatever it is that they want depends on them, and it does not have to make sense to us. Some person will kill to ensure that the secret of their great-grandmother’s infidelity remains secret just as easily as another will commit all kinds of mayhem to gain ownership of great riches or yet another will kill to protect his freedom.

So – in order to create a believable villain you don’t have to worry so much about what is at stake, but what it means to them. It has to be more important to him than anything.

Another thing is to be sure that your villain is a well-rounded human being – unless you want the old straight from a melodrama mustache-twisting, blackhearted Snidely Whiplash. One dimensional characters are too obvious – they never work and they are unworthy opponents for your sleuth. The idea of any person committing crimes, especially if it involves considerable risk to themselves, for the abstract concept of Evil belongs in cartoons. It can and has been done, but to my mind works only when the villain is a certified loony-tune. In most mysteries the villain isn’t known until the solution, so you don’t want your bad guy being obvious from the beginning, which means he has to blend in with the rest of your characters. And therein lies danger… at least for me.

Like I said, I like bad boys and have to keep a tight rein on the story to keep them from taking over the story. No matter how hard one tries to keep the hero from turning into a Dudley Do-Right of perfection and yet still keep them both real and interesting, villains are automatically (for me at least) much more nuanced and believable. 

CHOICES

Photo courtesy of Americasroof at en.wikipedia

     In High School—many long years ago—I had to make a decision. If a student’s grades were high enough, he or she could take a special English class that either focused on theatre or writing. I offered to drop math in return for both classes but for reasons I could never understand my offer was refused. After a heated debate with myself I opted for theatre and never regretted my decision. Years later when I was singing at Radio City Music Hall I thought wouldn’t the Music Hall be a perfect setting for a play and between shows I began to jot down bits of dialogue, incidents that took place in the dressing room, anything that seemed possible in a small notebook which led to ... which led to ... which led to ... well here I am.

Courtesy of Dreamstime

     During rehearsals for shows I realized methods used in theatre could be applied when writing. When I write, I think of the protagonist as the star of my story in conflict with the antagonist who has his own motivation and tries to find his or her place in the spotlight. Most actors work on their motivation for hours, some for weeks, many for the entire run of a play. There’s a hoary theatre story about the actor who asks the director what his motivation is for making an exit. The director replies, “Your paycheck.”

     Actors improvise and often add a line or two or three; if the director disagrees with the actor’s “improvement.” The lines are cut unless the actor is a star in which case the stage manager tears out strands of her hair. My characters often develop minds of their own. I begin with an idea of what the characters should do, why they’re doing it, what stands in the characters way and what the story and the theme is about. Then, sometimes without any warning, my characters decide they want to go in another direction. My villain doesn’t want to be my villain anymore, an unlikely heroine emerges, pages and chapters need to be revised or cut. I may fight to keep my original idea but my characters are stubborn and after a sleepless night I think—maybe they’re right and try it their way.

     Some actors work from the inside out—motivation, background, and the reason why he is crossing from stage left to stage right. Others change their hair until they find the one that fits their character; they may rehearse with a long skirt, grow a mustache, walk with a limp, develop a twitch, gain weight or lose a few pounds—anything that will add to their portrayal. An idea, a conversation overheard, someone an author can’t forget begins the process of writing. We also use the senses as we work on the background, the characters, and who, why, what, when and where.

     First drafts are like readings where friends are corralled and the author listens and takes notes—was that a laugh, a tear, a yawn or ... oh, my God ... a cough?

     A director works with the actors, author, scenic and costume designer sometimes harmoniously ... sometimes not ... to get the results he wants. The writer works with an editor who will give a gentle push  ... or maybe a not so gentle shove to help the writer find the better book that lies within.

     The Producer of a play or show wants a hit, a chance at a Tony and someday his name on a Marquee. A Publisher doesn’t mind his books listed on the N.Y. Times Best Seller List and a prestigious award presented to one of his authors is always valued.

Mary Sue and You - How Much of Ourselves Do We Put in Our Novels?

by Janis Patterson

One of the more peculiar kinds of book is known somewhat disparagingly as the Mary Sue. Although it can occur in any genre, it seems most prevalent in romance and marginally less so in mystery and usually but not always is the offering of a beginning or very amateurish writer. The generally accepted definition of a Mary Sue book is that the protagonist is always just too perfect – too beautiful/handsome, too smart, too brave, too kind, too loveable, too adored by everyone they meet, too… everything. Obviously most of the time this is just a bit of wish fulfillment and self-projection by an unskilled author. Yes, there are professional authors who indulge in this fantasy trip, but thankfully they are rare.

On the other hand, some don’t believe a writer can create a believable character without putting a little of themselves into the mix. It is this touch of humanity that makes the character live. So when we are creating our characters, how much of yourself do you put into your people? I’ve asked this of a lot of writers and have gotten answers ranging from ‘nothing at all’ to ‘a passion for ripe olives’ to ‘she’s my Aunt Clarissa.’

I know that writers are all different, but I do believe that most writers tend to make their protagonist the same sex as themselves. While there are some who do write the opposite sex both beautifully and believably, doesn’t the basic denominator of sex itself color our writing? A well-crafted male character will have a different view of and reaction to the world than an equally well-crafted female character, no matter by which sex they are written. 

While I am neither, I have written 20 year old protagonists and 80 year old protagonists, but at the base of their character is the fact that they are women and that basic fact of femaleness does a great deal to shape them.

I’m not going to go into sex stereotypes, which is its own minefield, but say again that what and who we are has to influence the characters we create. As an experiment, we should take the skeletal description of a character – for example, a 35 year old widowed single mother of three who is a welder, who used to want to be a nun and who is allergic to peanuts – and then ask five or ten authors to flesh the character out by writing a couple of scenes. Other than those skeleton points, I wonder how much any of the characters created would resemble each other.

To offer up my own work, my main protagonists are human (as I am), are female (as I am), are Caucasian (as I am), are politically and socially conservative (as I am), are generally tall (as I am not but wish I were) and reasonably intelligent (as I hope I am). Other than that they run the gamut from demure 19^th century librarian to arrogant and opinionated old lady to wildly courageous contemporary spy and, should they ever meet, would probably have nothing of substance to say to each other.

I’m not saying that every writer should have something of herself in her characters. Neither am I saying that no writer should ever put anything of herself in her characters. I am instead offering for thought that a part of ourselves does live in our characters, that it cannot help but do so. Our job as writers, though, is to keep Mary Sue at a distance and let our characters shine as themselves.