Thanksgiving is tomorrow! I’m so busy with dinner preparations I almost forgot to do this post. Well, and I’ve never blogged before. Blogged is the right term, right? Someone asked me to do this and I really know nothing. What do I write about? I guess me.
My name is Emily Valentine and I’m Jay Valentine’s mom. I miss him so much. This will be the first Thanksgiving without him. Which means there are some things that won’t make it to the table this year because he was the only one who liked them.
I don’t suppose you want my biography, right? Just stuff that’s relevant to here and now. If that’s the case, my whole life was my son. I honestly don’t know who I am without him. I’ve been so lost since that summer day when Turner and Brad came with the police detective to inform us. We were leaving for a special trip, just me and Jim, Jay’s father. It was our anniversary soon and the only time my husband could arrange to get off work. Now or never, you know? It’s a big year for us, too – 20 years! I was so excited. We were almost ready to leave for the airport. We’d been saving for about five years and were taking a trip to Australia. I’ve always wanted to go there. Instead, our trip money went toward our son’s funeral expenses.
No, I’m not disappointed in the sense that that’s where the money went, but I’m angry that it had to. No one should have to bury their teenage child. We’ll build up another fund and maybe shoot for the 25-year anniversary. Maybe Jim will be retired by then and we can have a true anniversary trip. Maybe by then I won’t be rocked by the tidal wave of emotion that goes with this loss, but I doubt it. I…I can’t do this anymore. Thanks for listening, or reading.
Some people have asked “can I be a character in your next story?” or “can you write a story about me?” Be careful what you wish for. I won’t design a character of you trait-for-trait. You may not even recognize yourself on the page. If you want, I’ll give you a different name to protect your anonymity.
What goes into characterization?
The answer: a lot. Characterization is about more than eye or hair color or body type. Character runs deeper than the physical. In fact, when I imagine my characters, physical features are secondary. Physical features are beyond that person’s control (to a point), and so aren’t as important. Information like this may not even make it to the page, or only briefly so the reader can get a sense of what the person looks like so they can build the rest in their imagination.
Where I exert the most effort for characterization is the seemingly little things: the way they walk, the way they talk, the clothes they wear, their hobbies, their job, and all the little things that make them who they are. For example, you may know a set of identical twins or triplets. Outside, they look exactly the same – hair color, eye color, skin tone, body shape, etc. But they’ll never have exactly the same lived experiences. Each is an individual – one may like sports and become a multi-sport athlete while the other is more comfortable sitting on the sidelines to cheer on their sibling. While their accent and vocabulary may be similar, their tone and the words they choose to use can be markedly different. Favorite foods will be different, too.
If you want a character designed around you that you recognize as you, we’ll need to talk. I need these little nuances that make you who you are. I don’t need your deepest, darkest secrets. Listening to you talk, asking your opinions on certain topics, your goals, what you wanted to be when you grew up vs. what you are, and more. The ‘you’ that comes out on the page will hopefully be close to who you really are, with a little embellishment here and there to turn you into a fictional character rather than specifically you. When people read the story and say “this sounds like you!” you can say “because it is!”
My most recent character based on someone I know is quite unique, because he himself is quite unique. I can’t imagine there’s anyone else like him. When I proposed the idea of basing a character on him and writing his story, he jumped at the opportunity. We’ve had detailed discussions about what seems like hundreds of different topics: his job, various personal and political beliefs, hobbies, and more. He let me ask ‘stupid’ questions. When he sees his character reflected on the page, he’ll know it’s him. The people who know him will know it’s him. All without focusing on his physical features.
But when most of my readers read the story, they’ll just see a well-developed character who could be as real as they are themselves. (Wait, are my readers real?) For me, when writing about real people in my life, the inspiration comes from knowing those details. No, not every character in every story is based on someone I know, but their lives started with this characterization focus, not the superficial.
What character traits do you admire? What do you think are you best and worst trait? Have you ever tried to change it? Let’s talk more on Facebook!
Being a writer is more than just sitting at a desk with a pen and a notebook or staring at a computer screen and hoping the words write themselves. For a story to be truly captivating, readers must often use their suspension of disbelief. If you want a definition, suspension of disbelief is the avoidance—often described as willing—of critical thinking and logic in understanding something that is unreal or impossible in reality in order to believe it for the sake of enjoying its narrative.
Many works of fiction include elements that may not be entirely believable in real life, like magic or various fictional beings, or even something somewhat believable, like teenager being a ‘star’ witness to a crime and being an integral part of the investigation.
Writers play a big role in the suspension of disbelief. Their story must be crafted in such a way that it’s not too far out of the realm of believability, yet entertaining enough to take the reader out of their reality and into the story.
One way to do this is with thorough research. Yes, research. Believe it or not, your favorite writer likely didn’t always know all about the sizes of entrance and exit wounds from various firearms, the concept of every day carry (which I covered in a previous blog), or how a police detective actually goes about solving a crime. Hint: it’s not how it’s done on your favorite police procedural TV show.
Your favorite writer came up with the framework for the story: the main plot, subplots, scenes, characters, and dialogue – and a lot more – to create the book you read on your e-reader or the physical copy you hold in your hand. Then, they had to fill in the details, including details they may not know.
One detail I’ve had to research recently for a work in progress is car bombs. The thoroughness of the search may have shot my name to the top of some government lists, but now I feel I know enough that the small scene believable. I put in several hours of research to make one, 62-word, 4-sentence paragraph believable to not just my entire audience but to the select few who may know how car bombs are made, where the ‘best’ place to plant them is, how they detonate, and the aftermath they leave behind.
Would a person close to the blast have been able to escape? If so, would that person come away with only minor injuries – like cuts and scrapes from shrapnel – and nothing else? What could be the extent of injuries? Collapsed lungs? Smoke inhalation? How long would that person survive without immediate care? These are all questions that needed to be answered to make those 62 words less Hollywood and more reality. You won’t need to pull yourself out of the story to go look up the information to see if I’m right or wrong.
My readers don’t necessarily need to know the exact mechanics of how the bomb was made, planted, and detonated in technical terms. Of course I know those facts, but they add nothing to the story. Even when the character that knows about the bomb is talking about the event, they won’t go through exactly how it’s made. If they did, you’d be bored within a few sentences and put the book down, possibly to never finish it.
What’s a story you had trouble finishing because small details weren’t addressed? Or stories where the author offered too much information that reading through it all made you wish you hadn’t picked up the book? Let’s talk more on Facebook!
