A Slice of Orange

Have you ever been asked the question: Where do your characters come from?
I often wonder when I sit down at the computer and a personality emerges, with quirks and histories I didn’t outline or think through: Did I know a person like this? Or did I merely see someone at a party, a Dodger game, a museum who inspired the thought?

Most recently a wrote a book where the female character wears heels always, because of her diminutive stature, and always curls those legs up to sit cross-legged on any surface that isn’t a chair. Was it her history that gave her this quirk? A rebellious background (she’s a true American Gypsy) that had her sitting on tables rather than chairs? Or was it purely about being less that tall, so she didn’t want to be at the same level or lower than others when she was sitting down? Or was it a physical condition that made sitting in that posture merely the most comfortable?

Personally, I have no idea. I sat down to write a scene, and as it emerged from my fingertips, the quirks became a natural part of the action. And the book is not completed, so I still haven’t attached a reason for it yet. Now I would guess that some of you are nodding your heads. Your heroes & heroines and their personal characteristics emerge in the same manner. Others of you are appalled. How can you portray someone doing that without thinking things through and meticulously outlining their background?

I’m sure others have addressed this is classes or seminars, and probably in a more quality manner. Regardless, this is my question of the month: whether you are building the perfect hero, aspect by aspect in an outline, or if they spring whole and complex, birthed from a few lines in a scene, where do they come from?

For me, I don’t really remember ever meeting anyone who fits the description of my gypsy girl. But it must have come from somewhere. Even my busy to chaotic imagination usually doesn’t concoct someone out of air. Perhaps she is pieced together from a dozen souls whose path I’ve crossed over the years. When I originally planned this book, she was still short, but her history, her quirks and her personality are nothing like the person who has emerged onto the page.

Yes, I went through a planning stage for a number of books. Back in the 80’s (geez I turn 52 in a couple of weeks!) I attended my first Romance Writing seminar. One of the techniques that came out of the class was to identify and outline a “couple” who will be the center of your book. I created several, with a couple of lines describing each, a paragraph or so about their history, and a plot line that I thought would enable them to meet, fight, love, leave and reunite for happily ever after.

I still have those yellowing pages of notes. Three of those pairs live in three of the books I have completed over the years. (Other recent manuscripts evolved from other sources). I have about five more who still are waiting for me to write their story. What’s funny is those I did write about remind me of the remodeling jobs of some houses in old neighborhoods: you keep that one foundation beam or wall in the house, and per zoning law, it’s not a new house, although everything around it may change absolutely.

And so it is with my characters. They started as one type a person — In the case of my Gypsy, she was a mousy, bank teller with psychic visions – and as the book begins, she evolves into a character for today – a sassy, secure, security software designer (I really didn’t mean to add all that alliteration J), who has a past as a con artist. Still short, with long dark hair, but now she wears heels and sits on tabletops. And, I handed the psychic abilities over to her love interest, an LAPD cop. He was always the cop, but he was the cynical disbeliever. Now he’s still the cynical disbeliever, but he has this annoying yet useful ability to be able to tell when someone is lying, and the frightening ability to see when a crime is going to happen.

Where did they spring from? Stories we’ve read? You hope you’re not Xeroxing someone else’s character from an old memory, but one would guess you couldn’t help but retain some quirk that sticks in your mind. Articles in the newspaper? Forensic Files? CSI? Your next door neighbor? That family at Disneyland? (Have you seen some of those people?)

We are all observers of the human condition, of people whose lives we interpret and then relay on paper. Let us hope we continue to take what we see, and spin it into a tale that brings joy to our readers and insight to our world.

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Hi everyone! Check out the exciting online classes offered by the
Orange County Chapter of RWA!

”Using Body Language and
Vocal Gestures to Create More Believable Characters”
with Bill Edmunds
August 10, 2009 – September 5, 2009

Enrollment Information at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassAug09.html

COST: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-members
Enrollment deadline: August 9, 2009
If you have specific questions, email occrwaonlineclass@yahoo.com

ABOUT THE CLASS:

“Show – Don’t tell” –
If you have been in the writing business for any time at all you have likely come upon this phrase. Editors love to use it. But what does it mean? Answering that question will be the focus of this course.

Here’s an example of two exercises we will work on together:

“What Jim said really angered Mary.” How might you convey this scene using only a description of Mary’s body language.

Which one of these two actions would be the least provocative?

“She flipped her hair back off of her shoulder with the back of her hand” or “She swung her head, causing her hair to fall back off of her shoulder.”

You might say that we will learn how to better stir the blood of our readers by creating more believable romance characters through descriptions of body language and vocal gestures. What are vocal gestures? You can find one of them in the sentences above that signals “a lack of commitment.” Did you find it?

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:

William I. “Bill” Edmunds, a freelance writer, teacher and frequent speaker, is a retired Police Lieutenant. Starting prior to his retirement from full-time police work, Bill serves as an instructor in advanced interview and interrogation techniques and statement analysis for Behavior Analysis Training Institute (B.A.T.I.) headquartered in Santa Rosa , CA . He has personally participated in the training of more than 11,000 law enforcement professionals, teaching on how to detect deception and get to the truth.

He has served on the staff of the Mount Hermon Writer’s conferences for a number of years and has taught on, “How to Create More Believable Fiction Characters,” at best selling author, Lauraine Snelling’s Advanced Fiction Writers courses.

He has two books currently in print. “All Roads Lead to Zion ,” published by Paracletus Press, (www.RoadstoZion.com) and “Mary’s Lavish Gift,” published by Every Good Gift (www.Everygoodgift.com). He and his wife, Joan, reside, romantically, together in Clearlake , CA .

Enrollment Information at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassAug09.html
COST: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-members
Enrollment deadline: August 9, 2009

Coming in September –

“Plot That Novel YOUR Way”
with Sue Viders and Becky Martinez

It provides explanations of ways to plot and goes into detail on how authors who write by the seat of their pants can use those ways to make their own plotting—or lack of it—easier.

http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html. Check out our full 2009 list of workshops.

Want to be notified personally two weeks before each class? Be sure
you’re signed up for our Online Class Notices Yahoo Group! Sign up at
the bottom of http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html or send a blank
email to OCCRWAOnlineClassNotices-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

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