Posted by Debora on Sep 12, 2011 in
Writing Craft 
Welcome to Character Empathy month! During the month of September we've decided to dedicate the blog to creating more empathy in our characters and we're going to share some of our ideas with you along the way.
Up first is the idea of giving your character a highly valued trait such as loyalty, love or courage.
I think it's always important to remember that our characters aren't all good or all bad, they are a combination of many traits that form a well-rounded character readers can relate to. It's especially important to show a desired trait to create that empathy before you have that character make a bad or a questionable choice – it helps the reader relate and adds to the conflict!
Showing your character in a positive light can be achieved in a few ways:
Have your character showing kindness to a stranger, to a loved one or even being kind to a pet.
Another great way to show your characters valued trait is to present it through the eyes of a secondary character – a friend coming to them for help, two friends talking about your character, etc.
When you start out creating your character on the page, don't just start by giving him/her a name and few quirky characteristics. Chewing gum, cracking their knuckles or twirling their fingers in their hair does not a character make! You want the reader to connect and feel something for your character – you want to make them believe that during the next 200 pages the decisions they make (good or bad) happen for a reason. You've got to delve deep into your hero or heroine's psyche and give the reader something to latch onto.
Your character needs a dream, a deeply help belief or a loyalty that might be tested. This is something you, the writer, will be building on as the story progresses, so when your hero must make that choice that goes completely against his grain – it's a big moment and the reader understands WHY that choice was made.
Always remember that empathy is about the understanding of the character, because from understanding comes caring and isn't that what it's all about? If we can get the reader to "get" our characters motivation and cheer for them on the road toward their goals, we've got the reader hooked. If they care about the hero or heroine, they will keep reading!
See you next time for another post on Character Empathy! Have some tips you'd like to share? We'd love to hear them!
Debora writes romance - all types of romance! Her tastes vary from the paranormal to romantic comedy and everything in between. Believing variety is the spice of life, her website changes frequently to appease her creative spirit! She freely admits to being a caffeine and chocolate addict and loves to talk about romance writing with anyone who'll listen. Her latest release, A Knight in Her Arms, was released August 3rd. Visit her website for me details!
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Posted by Bethanne Strasser on Feb 2, 2010 in
Writing The Daredevil, a close relative to the Bad Boy, think Bohdi in Point Break–one because who doesn't want to think about Patrick Swayze? And two, because he kind of fits the bill. Not only does he have this extreme surfing, devil-may-care scenario, he's decided life just isn't interesting enough and becomes a thief, too.
So, let's move our Daredevil into the romance novel. He's the hero who isn't going to think twice, who might hurt the heroine before they reach the Happily Ever After, but somehow can be forgiven. Taking extremes is part of his nature. Actually this reminds me of a story of a MotorCross [I think] racer who died, leaving his family behind. So, right… that doesn't actually represent the romance novel, but I think if we spin real life to fit into our make-believe, this is the guy you'd have. And when he dies, everyone says, "He died doing what he loved." As if that makes it better… then again, maybe it does. See [I'm going to get philosophical on you], we all die. If you think about it that way, why not die doing something you love? Like surfing or bike racing or pirateering–okay, that one's definitely from a romance novel. As a matter of fact, read The Iron Rose by Marsha Canham. It is one of my all-time favorite romance pirate stories. The opening scene in that book IS daredevil. It's a hero with a flare for style who takes ships as a hobby… until he unwittingly takes the heroine's ship!! 
ONE MORE DAY! Join me either tomorrow or Thursday at Penny's blog as I wrap up my series on HEROES talking about the warrior. Thanks for being here.
With Love,
Bethanne
Mother of FIVE smarty-pants and married to her Love for twelve years, Bethanne spends her time writing stories that always--without a doubt--end happy.
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Posted by admin on May 17, 2009 in
Writing Learning the craft, I’ve spent so many hours focused on fine-tuning the areas I’m weak in, such as description and emotions. Hours upon hours I’d write then edit and go over every word, every minute detail. I’d layer in physical descriptions, the five senses, emotions, worrying over every choice.
My conversations with other writers were heavily about what I had difficulty with. It was after all mostly what I thought about. But isn’t that the way of life for some people? We concentrate on what needs improvement and take for granted the rest. I knew I was good at dialogue, so I didn’t need to think about it. Did I?
The ironic thing is I’m usually a pretty positive person. In my every day life, I refuse to focus on the negative. I believe what you put out into the universe in terms of actions and thoughts, comes back to you. And I certainly don’t need to bring any negativity upon myself. So then why am I this way with my writing? While trying to learn and improve, I forgot to be grateful. I forgot to smell those virtual roses. I forgot to remember the good…the great.
I write awesome dialogue. My voice is incredible. My characters have unique sounds/voices. And I have a talent for plotting that makes my pacing flow smoothly and my plots believable. These are not insignificant and surely shouldn’t be overlooked. It is these attributes that will help pull me out of a mental funk after a crushing critique or a rejection. I won’t forget to smell those roses now.
So tell me…
What are you good at?
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Tags: characters, description, dialogue, emotions, Jennifer Bianco, Pacing, plotting, roses, Writing
