As I said in yesterday’s post, I just finished reading a book by Debra White Smith called Central Park. The story, like so many of Jane Austen’s novels, which Smith has used as a pattern for her Austen series, is great on characterization. By the end of the book and even days after finishing it, I’m still thinking about those characters. There is something endearing about them that draws the reader in and makes them care.

Francine Rivers is another author who knows how to create great characters. Her Mark of the Lion trilogy sits on my shelf as a treasured keepsake. I’ve read the series twice and the characters live on in my memory.

As a writer, I understand how hard it can be to create believable, endearing characters. It’s one of my weaknesses when I first begin a story and something I’m still aiming to learn well. Some authors start a story by having a character introduce themselves to them and the character tells the author their story. I’ve only had that happen in part, once. My characters usually come to life for me differently with every story.

For Biblical fiction the characters were already in Scripture. My challenge has been to ask questions about them and the time in which they lived. What motivated them to do what they did? Since my series centers on the life of King David and four of his wives, one of the primary questions I asked was, “Why did he need so many wives?” And a greater question, “With so many wives, why did he commit adultery?”

At first, in my younger days, I thought the answer to be somewhat romantic. What girl doesn’t imagine romance as the motive for a man’s actions toward the female of the species? But the more I studied his life, the more I came to believe that the answer was as much political as it was relational. In most cases maybe more so.

In developing characters in any genre, a writer must ask similar questions. What did your character do, what are they planning to do, and why? What motivates them to act either for good or for evil? Even the bad guy needs a motive. No one acts without one. Even if the character can’t tell you what his motive is or it’s hard to figure out, as writers we need to dig deeper, keep probing, keep researching, until we find the underlying motive of our characters.

For David’s life I spent seven years in research and still changed my initial romantic opinion. (You don’t want to know how many times I rewrote that series!)

With my suspense stories, I plot first, then meet the characters, then write the book and ask the questions as I go. I have a basic idea of motive, but it’s not deeply developed. By the end, I have a better handle on the character and their motives are pretty strong, but then I go back and rewrite because I learn things about them that might have changed my initial perception. For me, characterization is like getting to know a friend. I don’t know them all at once the moment we meet. It takes hundreds of pages of walking with them through their journey to know who they are and what they’re like and why.

So one of the first things we need to learn to have good characterization as fiction writers is to figure out what makes our characters tick. Find out what they do, then ask them why they do it. And don’t be discouraged if they don’t want to tell you until they get to know you better. :)

(For all you readers out there who don’t write fiction, this post might sound a bit strange. Never fear, writers are a bit strange.)

Ah, but we do work to bring you endearing stories… :)