Category: writing

Three Dimensions of Character

Posted on by Katie Ganshert
Your characters are flat. Two-dimensional. Cardboard cutouts.  
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How many times have we heard this about our work?
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How many times have we thought this about somebody else’s?
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How many times have we secretly wondered, “What in the heck is a three-dimensional character, anyway?”
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I mean, sure. We know in theory. And we know when we find one. 
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It’s a character brought to life. A character that lives and breathes on the page.
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But how do we do that?
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I just finished reading this book called Story Engineering by Larry Brooks. And he does something I haven’t seen in other craft books.
He actually defines each of the three dimensions that create a three-dimensional character.
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The first dimension is anything we can see.
The character’s looks, style choices, quirks, mannerisms, speech patterns, etc. Basically, this is how the character looks and how the character acts. It’s surface stuff. Sometimes it hints at who the character truly is. And sometimes it’s all just a smoke screen. Something to cover up what’s lurking inside.
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The second dimension is back story.
The character’s past. Family of origin. Childhood memories. Where he grew up. How he grew up. Disappointments. Failures. Accomplishments. Fears. Inner demons and insecurities. Basically, anything that happened before the story that makes your character who he is today.
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The second dimension should have a big impact on the first. 
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I mean, think about it. Isn’t that how life goes? 
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Our quirks, our mannerisms, our style, the things we say? Aren’t they all shaped by our experiences? Whether we’re breaking away from our past or embracing it doesn’t matter. Either way. It affects how we portray ourselves to the world.
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The third dimension is the character’s choices.
This is who the character truly is. 
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Brooks writes: 
Only in the third dimension do we actually see through the first-dimension facade and the second-dimension excuses to truly understand a character.
To bring some clarity, I thought it might be fun to study an example.
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Let’s look at Ivy.
Ivy is a fashion model.
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Her first dimension: 
beautiful, rail-thin, tall, she wears brand-name clothing and brand-name makeup, her hair and nails are flawless, she’s unabashedly flirtatious, she exudes sex-appeal, she knows how to play coy, she carries herself with confidence and an air of aloofness 
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Her second dimension: 
She is the result of an affair. She was an accident. Her mother was her father’s mistress. Her father has always been ashamed of her. Her mother, who loved her, died when she was 11 and Ivy went to go live with her father and his wife. He treated her like she was invisible. At 14, she moved to New York City with her uncle/agent, who only cared about her for her looks and the money she could make him. And she was introduced to an intoxicating world of parties and men. Inside, Ivy is insecure.
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Notice how the second-dimension of character elicits the reader’s empathy. 
This is what the second-dimension is supposed to do. It sheds light on the 1st dimension. 
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BUT…
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While these two dimensions add depth to Ivy, we still don’t know who Ivy is. 
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Does she make choices that are good for her or bad for her? Does she make choices that are good for others or bad for others? Does she let her past, her emotional scars, define her? Or does she fight against them?
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Hence, the importance of the third dimension in shaping actual character.
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Brooks writes:
True character emerges, eventually, through a character’s choices when something is at stake…..Who that person really is, at his core, is the stuff that resides at the heart of the third dimension of character.
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This reminds me of a famous Dumbledore quote: It’s our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. 
And these choices should arc throughout the story. As the stakes rise and as the character changes.
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Let’s Talk: What do you think about these three dimensions? Do you think they work together to create living, breathing characters? How do you ensure you’re creating three-dimensional characters?
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*Photo by morganfitzp

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A Social Media Plan

Posted on by Katie Ganshert



I don’t mind when you’re working on your writing. But when you’re Twittering or emailing, sometimes that bothers me.

These words came from my husband a couple months ago. A husband who is ridiculously supportive and excited about my writing career. A husband who would do the laundry, shop for groceries, and cook dinner all so I could have some extra time to write.

But when he came upstairs and I was busy getting my Tweet on, that bothered him.

You see, two months ago, writing to him, meant…..well, writing. Pounding out the words on my latest manuscript or marking up the pages in red pen.

Writing did not mean replying to people’s status updates.

And if I’m being honest, spending the precious little time I did have on social media always left me feeling guilty.

Until I met Kristen Lamb. Well….I didn’t actually meet her. I read her stuff. And she said, “If we are just goofing off and sending people farm animals, then yes, we are goofing off. But if we are blogging and spending time on Twitter and FB networking with other writers, published authors and people in the publishing industry, that is called marketing.”

Marketing.
 
But wait a minute. Marketing intimidates me. I don’t know how to market. But chatting on Twitter and connecting with others on Facebook? That’s fun. I like doing that stuff.
So is it really marketing?
 
Kristen would say yes. As long as we’re being intentional about it.
 
So here’s my question for you: How intentional are you when it comes to social media? Do you have a plan? Or are you just winging it?
 
Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for winging the less important things in life. But let’s not wing social media.
 
Because love it or hate it, social media is an integral part of being a successful author. It’s the way we connect with others, establish our brand, and learn more about the industry. Used intelligently, social media can be a huge ally.
 
This is what I explained to my husband. This is what I explained to my guilty conscience.  
 
Once I got that out of the way, I made a plan. Maybe you would like to make one too. In that case….
 
First things first. Repeat after me.
“This is part of being an author…..this is part of being an author….this is part of being an author….” Repeat until you start to believe it.

Second, carve out time.
We carve out time to write, right? Why not do the same for social media? It doesn’t have to be a huge time block, or even a medium-sized time block. But we should make purposeful time for it. We should make it a habit. And maybe, by giving social media its own slot, we will be less inclined to let it bleed into our writing time.

Third, write goals.
Twitter goals, blogging goals, FB goals, and any other type of social media goals. What do you hope to accomplish through each of these? How will you measure success? There’s not a right or a wrong answer to these, but how you answer them should affect how you use social media.

Fourth, strategize. 
What steps can you take each day to accomplish these goals?

Fifth, observe, copy, but be yourself.
Look at authors who use social media effectively. See what they do that works and copy them. Only make sure you’re being you. Copy their methods, not their personality.

Sixth, read Kristen Lamb’s book
Are You There Blog? It’s Me, Writer. Truly, if you want to laugh out loud while learning how to take full advantage of social media and create a killer plan for yourself, then there is no substitute for reading Kristen’s book. I finished it in two days and I can’t even tell you how much I learned.

Let’s Talk: How intentional are you when it comes to social media? Any tips you want to share? Do your loved ones have a hard time understanding why you need to spend time Tweeting? removetweetmeme

One Rule to Rule Them All

Posted on by Katie Ganshert

There are lots of rules when it comes to writing.

No head hopping. Avoid passive sentence structure. No cliches. Show, don’t tell. Write using scene and sequel. Make sure your scenes have GMCs. Write tight. Be specific. Don’t use a prologue. Or if you do, make sure it’s done in the correct way.

Et Cetera.

Et Cetera.

Et Cetera.

Yet, we pick up books – published books – and we see the rules broken. And we scratch our heads because we don’t break the rules.

Do you know in The Help, a best-selling novel by Kathryn Stockett, there is a scene completely told in objective point of view? The story’s told from three different perspectives, all in first-person point of view. Each of the three voices fleshed out in a way that spins my head, it’s that good. And then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, there’s this one scene.

This one scene that reads like a newspaper article. A detached telling of the events. As if the reader were hovering above the party observing the goings-on of each character. Unattached.

Kathryn Stockett broke a rule.

And it completely, one hundred percent works.

I remember laying in bed, reading that scene, crazy impressed because of how well it works. And I remember thinking….

Kathryn Stockett gets it. She understands that amongst the lot of rules hemming us writers in, there is only one that should never ever be broken. There is only one we should vow to live by. And it’s this.

Do what works.

Three simple words.

Do what works.

It’s a rule that overrides all the others. It’s a rule that lets us break all the others. It’s a rule that helps us understand all the others.

Because, usually, following the rules is what works best.

But not always.

So the next time you’re stuck, wondering if you should prologue or not. Wondering if you should tell or not. Wondering if you should throw in a random point of view or not. Ask yourself this one question:

Does it work?

And if the answer is yes, go for it.

Let’s Talk: How much of a rule-follower are you when it comes to writing? When it comes to life? Is there one rule you live by?removetweetmeme