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Multidimensional Characters

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

In real life, humans are fascinating creatures filled with contradictions. Nobody (at least nobody I’ve ever met) is ALL kindhearted, or ALL confident, or ALL obnoxious, or ALL positive. So why do writers tend to write one-dimensional characters?

Donald Maas offers this answer:
Many writers create multidimensional characters in their head, but they fail to portray these dimensions on paper.

Dimension Check:
He suggests going through our manuscript and counting the different sides of our characters we show our readers. His prediction? We don’t show nearly as many dimensions as we think.

I did this exercise with my WIP. And guess what? He was right. While the characters in my head are multidimensional, these same characters on paper don’t measure up.

What does Maas recommend?
Increase the number of dimensions in your characters.

How?
Pinpoint your character’s defining quality. Now think of this quality’s opposite. In what ways can you show your character portraying this opposite? Repeat the exercise again with a secondary quality.

My Example:
My character’s dominant impression: devoted widow.

She’s devoted to her deceased husband, to her 4-year old son, to her cafe, to her music, to God, to her friends and family. She’s loyal and dedicated to all of these things.

What is the opposite of devotion? indifference or unfaithfulness

In what way can my heroine show this opposite side of herself?

Maybe at some point in the novel, she’s too exhausted and overwhelmed to care anymore. So she lets some of her commitments slide, like her Bible study, business at her cafe, her music at church, etc.

Maybe at some point in the novel, she commits to something with the hero (who is her antagonist) in order to gain the upper hand and she’d deliberately unfaithful with this particular commitment.

In Conclusion:
I highly recommend this exercise. It sure gets the creative juices percolating and opens up some exciting character possibilities.

Questions to Ponder: What is your defining quality? If you don’t know, ask a spouse, a best friend, a sibling, a parent, etc. What do they say? In what ways do you contradict this quality?removetweetmeme

3 C’s – It’s Friday!

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

Cares:
One of my friends found out on Sunday that her husband of seven years had been having an affair for two months. You can imagine what’s she’s going through at the moment. She has started an anonymous blog called Shards of a Broken Life where she’s journaling about her experience. She has decided to journal publicly because she’s asking for prayer. Prayer that God might restore her marriage and get her through this. This is a great opportunity to minister to a wonderful woman who is feeling very broken at the moment. If you have time, please consider stopping by her blog and offering prayers and encouragement.

Concerns:
The Doritos in my cupboard are stale. Tragic, right?

I’m slowly starting to wean my ten-month old son. Pumping three times a day while I’m at the conference in Denver doesn’t sound too time-efficient. I’m sad. How is he already ten-months old? Yesterday he was hiccuping inside my womb, today he’s learning to drink out of a sippy cup, and tomorrow he’ll be off to college.

Celebrations:
Brogan has turned this major corner when it comes to eating solid food. It was just like WHAM, I love everything now, Mom. Avocados, cottage cheese, fruits, veggies, you name it. We cut them all up and feed them to him while we eat dinner. He scarfs it all down like a champ. The only thing he doesn’t like is juice. He makes a ridiculously hilarious face when we try to sneak juice in his cup. Who doesn’t like juice, anyway?

I’m feeling more confident (and overly excited) for the conference, which I will leave for in a little less than three weeks!

Question to Ponder: What are your cares, concerns, and celebrations on this cool, rainy Friday morning?removetweetmeme

Who is your Hero?

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

Do you give your characters heroic qualities?

As a literary agent, Donald Maas says he reads too many proposals with protagonists who are Plain Janes or Average Joes. While the world is filled with such people, readers don’t want to read about them.

So how do we avoid this problem?

Donald Maas’ recommendation:
Think of one of your heroes. Why is this person your hero? What qualities make this person admirable? Boil it down to one defining quality. Find a way to give your character this heroic quality and make it apparent right from the get-go.

My Example:
One of my personal heroes is my pastor. The quality I admire in him is his passion for souls and his passion for truth. He doesn’t shy away from truth, no matter how difficult or unpopular it might be to preach. I admire that about him. So I spent a chunk of time the other day figuring out how I could embed this quality into my heroine. The exercise opened up a whole new avenue of plot possibilities that I never would have explored if I hadn’t gone through the exercise.

Important Note:
Some of you might be saying, “But my MC isn’t a hero.” That’s fine. He or she doesn’t have to be. A lot of average people possess heroic qualities. Your character should too.

Questions to Ponder: Who is your hero? Why is this person your hero?removetweetmeme