Author Beth Wiseman Talks About 3-D Characters

We’ve all read books with one or two-dimensional characters, those books that tell a great story but lack the motivations to support the actions, thus making it difficult to stay vested and care about the characters. Three-dimensional characters are layered, but the trick is not stuffing it all down the reader’s throat at one time. Motivations will be easier to digest if they are fed to your audience slowly in a precipitated way that keeps the book moving forward while allowing the reader to have a better understanding about what drives your characters.

For example: Suzie has blonde hair and blue eyes. She has a small scar on her chin. She’s tall and skinny. Suzie works as a paralegal at a law firm. One day she hopes to go to law school and become an attorney. She can’t have children. She sleeps with the light on.

Those little factoids should be sprinkled throughout your introduction to Suzie, but shouldn’t be the main focus of the story in the beginning. Use those supporting tidbits while driving the action.

The second layer should begin to enlighten the reader about what makes Suzie tick. Where did she get the scar on her chin? Why does she want to be an attorney? Why can’t she have children? And why does she sleep with the light on?

So, consider this: Suzie was assaulted when she was a teenager, thus the scar on her chin. She’s wanted to be an attorney since that horrible incident, which left her unable to have children. At this point, the reader assumes Suzie leaves the light on because she is afraid of the dark based on what happened to her. So, instead of driving that point home, let the reader go ahead and assume this for now.

More often than not, that is where a lot of books stop offering layers, which leaves us with a two-dimensional character. But let’s take the reader deeper into Suzie’s psyche in an effort to keep our reader totally vested, caring about Suzie and her outcome. Although, we are still feeding this information slowly.

Third dimension: Suzie doesn’t want to be an attorney in an effort to see justice prevailed. Instead, she is doing it to prove to her father that she can—a man who said she would never amount to anything and who said that she’d enticed the person who raped her. But Suzie helps her father financially just the same. This hints that Suzie came from a bad home life growing up, without force-feeding the information. It also tells the reader that no matter how awful her father might be, Suzie still wants him to be proud of her and she loves him, as shown by her financial support. And Suzie doesn’t sleep with the light on because she is afraid of the dark. She sleeps with the light on because she has a rare neurological condition that requires her to leave the light on.

And throughout the story, you can keep adding layers. Maybe Suzie’s father is so difficult because Suzie’s mother left them both when Suzie was a small child. Does Suzie look just like her mother? Is that why her father resents Suzie or has trouble having a relationship with her? Does Suzie long for a child or never really wanted to be a mother? What is it about Suzie that endears her to the reader? Does she love animals? Maybe so much so that she is constantly bringing home strays?

Then do the same thing for your male character if you’re writing a romance. But ‘Sam’ could be a janitor at the local school who is taking night classes. He has a great family, so he can’t understand why Suzie puts up with her father’s verbal abuse. Has Sam always wanted a houseful of children? Is he allergic to most animals? Take all that conflict, structure an interesting plot, and then let these two people see the essence in each other—the things that no one else sees—and challenge the reader to wonder how these two people will ever end up together.

Even if your story is not a romance, writing multi-layered characters facing insurmountable conflict keeps our readers interested past just the black and white mold of a person without depth.

This process was particularly important for my latest release—The Promise. How many women do you know who would travel to Pakistan, despite warnings from family, friends, and our U.S. State Department? I needed strong motivations for Mallory so that the reader found her actions plausible and wanted to be on the journey with her, rooting for her to achieve her goals. The Promise is inspired by actual events, but sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction, so it was doubly important for the reader to understand what drove Mallory to such lengths.

People are complicated. Our characters should be too. Going the extra mile in a novel will keep your reader turning the pages. We want our readers to live the story, not to just be a spectator. Multi-layered characters are a way to make this happen.

Beth Wiseman is the best-selling author of the Daughters of the Promise series and the Land of

Canaan series.  Wiseman has a deep affection for the Amish and their simpler way of life, and while she plans to continue writing Amish love stories, she is also branching out into other areas. In her daring new novel, Wiseman jumps way outside the box. The Promise will take readers far away from Amish country and the small Texas towns of her previous releases to a dangerous place on the other side of the world. Inspired by actual events, Wiseman believes this is the book she’s been working toward for a long time.

Wiseman can be found at Fans of Beth Wiseman on Facebook where she interacts with readers. Learn more about the author and her books at bethwiseman.com and on Twitter (@bethwiseman).

Don't forget to stop by tomorrow, when you can enter to win a free copy of The Promise here on The Borrowed Book!

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Christian Fiction vs. Mainstream: The Why Of It

Many Christians enjoy Christian fiction, praising it for its cleanness, quality and the challenging questions raised by plot and character. I've heard people express what a relief it is to read a book that doesn't ooze graphic sexual content or pop a curse word every sentence. Yet there are those who think Christian fiction is too light-weight in subject matter, too unrealistic. This puzzles me, for don't we read to escape the realities of a dull economy, high unemployment and constant headlines sensationalizing Hollywood drama stars whose antics prove they have about as much integrity as a Dorito? Isn't a book a way to leave the worries of life behind? And wouldn't it be natural for a Christian to choose books that showcase the religion and values they embrace?


There are some mainstream authors whose works are relatively clean. Are those the authors a Christian fiction lover gravitates to on the mainstream side?


What lures you to choose Christian fiction over mainstream? Do you agree that Christian fiction does not deal with themes that are current or relevant?

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Writing Tips: Agents Vent on Chapter 1 Turn-Offs

Stumbled upon this great article yesterday. Writer's Digest compiled a list of what agents hate and it's an eye opener. If you want to land an agent, enter a contest, or approach an editor with your work of art, please do yourself a favor and read this first! The last agent to weigh in is Rachelle Gardner from WordServe Literary, a literary agent that primarily represents Christian fiction.


Teaser: Literary Reps vent about their Chapter 1 turn-offs.

Ask any literary agent what they’re looking for in a novel’s first chapter and they’ll all say the same thing: “Good writing that hooks me in.” Agents appreciate the same elements of good writing that readers do. They want action; they want compelling characters and a reason to read on; they want to feel an immediate connection with your writing.

But what about all those things they don’t want to see? Obvious mistakes such as grammatical errors and awkward writing aside, writers need to be conscious of Chapter 1 clichés and typical agent pet peeves—either of which can get a rejection letter sent your way.

Here, dozens of established literary agents vent about everything they can’t stand to see in your all-important first chapter.

PROLOGUES
“Most agents hate prologues. Just make the first chapter relevant and well written.”
— Andrea Brown, Andrea Brown Literary Agency
“Prologues are usually a lazy way to give back-story chunks to the reader and can be handled with more finesse throughout the story. Damn the prologue, full speed ahead!”
— Laurie McLean, Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents
DESCRIPTION
“I dislike endless ‘laundry list’ character descriptions. For example: ‘She had eyes the color of a summer sky and long blonde hair that fell in ringlets past her shoulders. Her petite nose was the perfect size for her heart-shaped face. Her azure dress—with the empire waist and long, tight sleeves—sported tiny pearl buttons down the bodice. Ivory lace peeked out of the hem in front, blah, blah.’ Who cares! Work it into the story.”
— Laurie McLean, Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents

The article continues here: http://tinyurl.com/3deuptb

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Characterization 101-Personalities (and how to drive your characters crazy!)

You know those people who drive you crazy? Yeah? Well, you need to have some of them in your book. You see, variety is key to a good story. It also helps set up personality conflicts. Know what I mean? Think Odd Couple. Oy, I just dated myself. But truly, Felix Unger and his polar opposite are the perfect example of a way to generate conflict using characterization.

Just like marriage is the blending of two personalities, fictional characters (especially in romance) should also discover ways to reconcile their differences. To learn the give and take of seeing things through someone else's eyes. Eventually, in your writing, if you work at it enough, the swapping of personality strengths and weaknesses between your characters will begin to make them multi-dimensional. Real.

Opposites *do* attract. Iron sharpeneth iron, and all that. In a romance particularly, and really in any genre, though to a lesser extent, these conflicts of personality can be an integral part of your story arc and produce many hurdles for the protaganist to overcome.

Think of the angst of someone who wants to learn to "get along" with someone else but doesn't know exactly how to go about it. What happens to this person? One of two things. Either he learns the process, or he gives up.

Characters who resist any chance at getting to know others (anti-social) can also be an interesting twist. Thrillers employ this type of character trait all the time in their villains.

What is one of the most interesting play of personalities that you've read in fiction?

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Characterization 101

Week before last, I asked you to consider what qualities make a character memorable and draw you to continue reading the book. The verdict?

Reasons we care:

*We care about a character because their issue mirrors something of our own life, thus a connection is made.
*The character has a goal that we deem worthy or noble.
*We see something in them the other characters do not see, pressing us to cheer for them.
*Sympathy for the character has been stirred because we know what they have experienced/endured (through well-laid snippets of backstory).
*Their goals and attitudes are similar to our own.

Unlike life, reading gives us the opportunity to not only see a characters reaction, but understand the basis for it. This is important to understand. In real life, we want others to judge us not by our actions but by our motives. The problem is life doesn’t afford the ability to explain our motive before we propagate a reaction that can be viewed negatively by others.

Now really think that through. It's a lot to comprehend. Perhaps an example will help.

Character A just screamed at her eight year old child for tripping and tearing a hole in the knee of her new pants. Viewed by a stranger in real life, Character A’s reaction to the child would be a big negative and there would be no second chances for Character A to redeem herself. How dare that woman scream at that poor kid. But in story, if we need to draw sympathy for the character in order to build a connection with the reader we simply show the course of her day. She just got fired and returned home early to find her husband in bed with another woman. Then, after crying and packing her husband out the door, her child’s bus pulls up ten minutes earlier than expected. . . Under these circumstances we can better come to terms with the reason why Character A might lash out at the child.

So writing as a whole allows us unique opportunity to create a character that we are sure will connect with our intended audience. We must learn how to manipulate information and interaction within a scene to show the best and justify the worst traits of our protagonists. And then, according to how many main characters you have, do this again for each of them. Easy-peasy, right?

Next week: Personalities (and how to drive your characters crazy!)

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