Character Development - The Heroine
September 24th 2006 10:33
Your heroine.
Those who read 'How To Write A Romance Novel' (and, judging by the votes, only about 14 people will know what I'm about to talk about) know this character has to be fantastic enough to not only carry an entire book, but kick some butt along the way.
And fall in love with the hero.
But its not the hero's turn right now - its our Heroine's turn. She's in the spotlight, as she so rightly deserves to be.
We'll use her as an example of character development. I'll start first by telling you everything I do to create a book I either do just on instinct, or because I want to, or because I've read in how-to books this is how you should set up your charcters.
For me, I love this part. The greatest part of being a writer is creating these personal characters you've thought up yourself, creating whole worlds where they live in, like a Sims City, but all in your head.
There are some out there that would have us writers certified for the way we think and create. Hey, I think you do have to be a little bit crazy to write.
Crazy equals focus, I say.
But back to the heroine. Firstly, I create her background, her stats.
How old?
Birthdate?
Loves?
Hates?
Her greatest dream?
Her greatest fear?
Her outstanding qualities?
Outstanding features?
Her physical appearance?
Her strengths?
Her faults?
Now, here are my answers for my favourite heroine, star of her very own series (yet to be published; I repeat, yet to be published...any publishing houses out there, yes, K.L. Almeroth, and her characters, are for sale), the first one titled Betrayal:
How old: 27
Birthdate: 22 February 1979
Loves: The color pink, pink champagne, Ryan Reynolds, 80's movies, reading, her family, Coca-cola, archaeology.
Hates: Coffee, rude people, violence against women, children and animals.
Her greatest dream: To find her true love and have babies.
Her greatest fear: Losing her identity if she loses archaeology.
Her outstanding qualities: Graduated high school early, entered university early, obtained her Doctorate in Archaeology.
Outstanding features: Beautiful.
Her physical appearance: 5foot4, ruby-red hair, curves, dark brown eyes.
Her strengths: She's unstoppable, she's strong, she's unbelievably driven, she never gives up. She's truly kind-hearted, and loves unconditionally.
Her faults: She's emotional, overly so. She has a fierce temper, and she reacts to everything - bound to get her into trouble.
You could go on forever - favourite books, favourite foods, favourite movies, what does she like to do in her spare time, etc., etc.. Hey, go crazy (crazy equals focus), because the more you know about your own characters, the more they will leap from the page and create the novel themselves.
Once you've had fun with your character's stats, I focus on this: what is the heroine's goal in the book? What does she have to do? Why is she there? How does the story line revolve around her?
For my book, Betrayal, this is really simple - Kit Sawyer has to find the thief and murderer, get her archaeology job back, and make it to her wedding day.
Sounds simple, but in reality (or fiction), its not. She has a serial killer closing in on her, a supernatural agency she's just bought, and the spirit world doesn't like her one bit, and the one she's getting married to isn't the man she loves.
From answering your own question, you've got yourself a story.
Hopefully enough to make one hell of a book.
Those who read 'How To Write A Romance Novel' (and, judging by the votes, only about 14 people will know what I'm about to talk about) know this character has to be fantastic enough to not only carry an entire book, but kick some butt along the way.
And fall in love with the hero.
But its not the hero's turn right now - its our Heroine's turn. She's in the spotlight, as she so rightly deserves to be.
We'll use her as an example of character development. I'll start first by telling you everything I do to create a book I either do just on instinct, or because I want to, or because I've read in how-to books this is how you should set up your charcters.
For me, I love this part. The greatest part of being a writer is creating these personal characters you've thought up yourself, creating whole worlds where they live in, like a Sims City, but all in your head.
There are some out there that would have us writers certified for the way we think and create. Hey, I think you do have to be a little bit crazy to write.
Crazy equals focus, I say.
But back to the heroine. Firstly, I create her background, her stats.
How old?
Birthdate?
Loves?
Hates?
Her greatest dream?
Her greatest fear?
Her outstanding qualities?
Outstanding features?
Her physical appearance?
Her strengths?
Her faults?
Now, here are my answers for my favourite heroine, star of her very own series (yet to be published; I repeat, yet to be published...any publishing houses out there, yes, K.L. Almeroth, and her characters, are for sale), the first one titled Betrayal:
How old: 27
Loves: The color pink, pink champagne, Ryan Reynolds, 80's movies, reading, her family, Coca-cola, archaeology.
Hates: Coffee, rude people, violence against women, children and animals.
Her greatest dream: To find her true love and have babies.
Her greatest fear: Losing her identity if she loses archaeology.
Her outstanding qualities: Graduated high school early, entered university early, obtained her Doctorate in Archaeology.
Outstanding features: Beautiful.
Her physical appearance: 5foot4, ruby-red hair, curves, dark brown eyes.
Her strengths: She's unstoppable, she's strong, she's unbelievably driven, she never gives up. She's truly kind-hearted, and loves unconditionally.
Her faults: She's emotional, overly so. She has a fierce temper, and she reacts to everything - bound to get her into trouble.
You could go on forever - favourite books, favourite foods, favourite movies, what does she like to do in her spare time, etc., etc.. Hey, go crazy (crazy equals focus), because the more you know about your own characters, the more they will leap from the page and create the novel themselves.
Once you've had fun with your character's stats, I focus on this: what is the heroine's goal in the book? What does she have to do? Why is she there? How does the story line revolve around her?
For my book, Betrayal, this is really simple - Kit Sawyer has to find the thief and murderer, get her archaeology job back, and make it to her wedding day.
Sounds simple, but in reality (or fiction), its not. She has a serial killer closing in on her, a supernatural agency she's just bought, and the spirit world doesn't like her one bit, and the one she's getting married to isn't the man she loves.
From answering your own question, you've got yourself a story.
Hopefully enough to make one hell of a book.
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Comment by Aaron
Comment by Homer Joyce
I thoroughly enjoyed your article on Character Development – The Heroine. It made me pine for days long gone – days spent at writing college thoroughly immersed in literature, and mingling with other writers. I am never more inspired to write than when I have spent time with other writers … (either personally, or through correspondence) …
Remind me at some stage to correspond with you about Lajos Egri’s book, ‘The Art of Dramatic Writing’. It has a lot of relevance to your post …
For now, however …
My Heroine (her background and stats):
How old: 41 going on 14.
Birthdate: 25 March 1965
Loves:
Domesticity (home-bodiness). Her parent and grandparents. Spirituality. Peace. Order. Nature. Cooking. Study. Learning. Research (the stories behind the stories). Cats.
Hates:
Selfishness, pride and arrogance (people with superiority complexes). Public speaking. Restaurants/Cafes that can’t produce a meal anywhere near the quality of what she cooks at home. Social occasions and being trapped with boring people who are only interested in sex and debauchery, or the weather, and other associated trivialities and banalities. Dogs.
Her greatest dream:
To meet a man who is not threatened by her intellect, and is a provider.
Her greatest fears:
Sterility. Going bald. Wrinkles.
Her outstanding qualities:
Self-knowledge and knowledge of the essence of life. Humility. Generosity. Appreciation of how precious every moment in time is. (She has a lot of left-brain and right-brain activities happening simultaneously). A heightened sense of the absurd (or truth played out by humans).
Her educational qualifications and achievements:
Dux of school.
Associate Diploma in accounting.
BA in Literature.
Honours degree in Literature.
Masters Degree in Real Estate (Aged Care).
PhD in Social Welfare/Psychology (deferred)
Her physical appearance:
5 foot 0 inches tall. Feminine, petite and delicate. Black hair, black eyes (it’s hard to distinguish the retina from the pupil). Milky-white skin. A classical, conservative dresser (skirts and dresses only: no jeans). While the fashions change and fads come and go she remains stylish.
Her strengths:
Discipline. Her ability to be independent and career-focused when her real desires lie elsewhere. Compassion. Time management skills. The ability to prioritise. A balanced view on money/finances.
Her faults:
For all of her exterior conservatism, on the interior she is only truly attracted to wild, non-conformist men. They challenge and excite her. Secretive. She finds it very difficult to be open, or express the inner motions of her soul. The men she loves are convinced that she is not remotely interested in them.
The best moment of her life:
Gaining a Masters Degree.
The worst moment of her life:
Gaining a Masters Degree and having no-one to share it with.
A few other things to consider (that I’m not going to answer now, but will later … )
Father’s occupation. Mother’s occupation.
Siblings.
Her relationship with her family.
Illnesses/Accidents (medical history).
How does she treat her toothpaste container? How does she eat chocolate?
etc, etc.
Regards,
H. J.
Comment by K.L. Almeroth
Motherhood
Wow. Just boggles the mind. You know your heroine very, very well...I'm impressed. So which book of yours is this heroine from? Tell me more about the book...
I love your heroine...there are some similarities of your heroine to mine, Kit. Her faults, for example. I love them! And very true to my heroine, too...
You've really captured a true heroine. I want to know all about her already.
Also love the worst moment of her life: 'Gaining a Master's Degree and having no one to share it with.'
That just broke my heart.
Okay, so I'm going to add to my heroine's, from what you've added to a character's background stats (please note: had all this info worked out before for her, but didn't want to overwhelm the reader; but since you've delved into it, I thought I may as well...plus, its fun):
The Best Moment of her life: Would be excavating for the British Museum in Egypt
The Worst Moment of her life: When her high-school boyfriend killed himself and named her as the cause; from this, all the hurt and humiliation that was dumped on her family. She hated seeing her father disappointed, in any way, in her. Carries around this enormous guilt that Jack, the young man, ended his life because of her.
Her Father's Occupation: Runs and owns a nautical shop.
Her Mother's Occupation: Was a housewife, until she ran off and left Kit and her sister, her dad, when Kit was 12.
Illnesses/Accidents: None...so far...(yes, meant to intrigue you)
How Does She Treat Her Toothpaste Container: Doesn't own a toothpaster container. She keeps her (pink) toothbrush in a pink marble stand in her massive bathroom.
If you meant is she a roller from the bottom or a scruncher from the top of the toothpaste: Scruncher from the top - she's a busy woman, after all. No time to worry about the actual toothpaste tube...
How Does She Eat Chocolate: In a bath, with a glass of pink champagne...delicately.
What else? I know my heroine so well I know everything about her...
K.L.
Comment by Homer Joyce
You ask what else?
There is a little-known book titled ‘The Art of Dramatic Writing’ by Lajos Egri. My film friend/colleague Duncan introduced me to it … (I have since kissed his boots … while he was wearing them … Jack Lipnick style (you have to be familiar with Barton Fink to get that one …
Egri’s instructions on premise and conflict are superb, but he also devotes a chapter or more to Character. I no longer have a copy of this priceless little treasure, so I have to rely on my memory as to what was in it. I’ll do my best.
Egri divides a character into four categories from memory: Physiological, Psychological, Sociological (and one other). He then subcategorises … and his list is so comprehensive … every fiction writer should go out and buy this book, regardless of whether or not they are writing novels, films, stage plays, romance, crime etc …
It would be money well-spent …
and sure beat reading what I have to say on it …
But, I’ll go on anyway …
Egri tends to prompt the reader to ask questions the reader would not normally think of him/herself …
If I was going to write a romance novel, I’d probably ask … what methods do the main characters (the hero and heroine) …. employ in order to snare the other? Are they similar or opposite, e.g., is one passive and one pro-active, is one aggressive and the other submissive … etc etc …
Here’s the The Writer’s Store spiel on Egri’s book:
Amid the hundreds of "how-to" books that have appeared in recent years, there have been very few which attempted to analyze the mysteries of play-construction. This book does that - and its principles are so valid that they apply equally well to the short story, novel and screenplay. Lajos Egri examines a play from the inside out, starting with the heart of any drama: its characters. For it is people - their private natures and their inter-relationships - that move a story and give it life. All good dramatic writing depends upon an understanding of human motives. Why do people act as they do? What forces tranform a coward into a hero, a hero into a coward? What is it that Romeo does early in Shakespeare's play that makes his later suicide seem inevitable? Why must Nora leave her husband at the end of A Doll's House? These are a few of the fascinating problems which Egri analyzes. He shows how it is essential for the author to have a basic premise - a thesis, demonstrated in terms of human behavior - and to develop his dramatic conflict on the basis of that behavior. Premise, character, conflict: this is Egri's ABC. His book is a direct, jargon-free approach to the problem of achieving truth in a literary creation.
The Writer’s Store: (http://www.writersstore.com/product.php?products_id=65)
And then there is another little treasure from my list of obscure spiritual books. It is called The Four Temperaments by Conrad Hock which is available to read online at:
http://www.angelicum.net/html/four_temperaments.html
Hock divides people’s temperaments into four categories: Choleric, Sanguine, Melancholic and Phlegmatic.
The choleric person is quickly and vehemently excited by any and every influence. Immediately the reaction sets in and the impression remains a long time.
The sanguine person is quickly aroused and vehemently excited by whatever influences him. The reaction follows immediately, but the impression lasts but a short time. Consequently the remembrance of the impression does not easily cause new excitement.
The melancholic person is but feebly excited by whatever acts upon him. The reaction is weak, but this feeble impression remains for a long time and by subsequent similar impressions grows stronger and at last excites the mind so vehemently that it is difficult to eradicate it.
The soul or mind of the phlegmatic person is only weakly or not at all touched by impressions. The reaction is feeble or entirely missing. Eventual impressions fade away very soon.
HOW TO DETERMINE ONE'S TEMPERAMENT
In order to determine one's temperament, it is not wise to study the bright or dark sides of each temperament and to apply them to oneself; one should first and foremost attempt to answer the three questions mentioned above.
1. Do I react immediately and vehemently or slowly and superficially to a strong impression made upon me?
2. Am I inclined to act at once or to remain calm and to wait?
3. Does the excitement last for a long time or only for a short while?
As to which book my heroine is from … she is not really in any book .. she’s more my fantasy woman … I did, however, once write a romantic screenplay …so she’s probably from a film that was never produced … (my version of romance is probably not the romance novelist’s version … it was about a woman who marries the man of her dreams and he dies in a freak mishap on their wedding night on the way back to the marital home … it was a sea change romance … (but written before TV’s Sea Change). She was a corporate woman with a country house … after becoming a widow she moves into her country house for a break … and there is a very simplistic bloke next door … the complete antithesis to her dead husband (a corporate) etc …she is intrigued, and spends a lot of her time trying to work out why this guy is so happy with the simple little things of ordinary daily life, and has no ambition to be a someone in the eyes of the world … She begins questioning her real values regarding a ‘perfect’ partner … etc … It was called ‘World’s Apart’… lost it in a computer crash … etc … I might drag it out again one day … who knows? As my mother would say … ‘Only God, and He’s not telling us …’ … my family descends from Catholic Irish stock if you hadn’t already guessed …
Sorry about the length of the comment …
H.J.