As a psychology major I am constantly studying people – the way they think, the way they behave, the way they talk (and they way they don’t think, don’t behave and don’t talk) and who they are in relationship to other people. Perhaps that is why I am so attracted to the Chick Lit genre as it has been said before that “Chick lit is also a truly fascinating character study”. Every time I read one of Emily Giffin’s books, I am in awe of the depth with which she describes each character. Even greater than I am inspired by the depth of each character, I am more inspired by the way she brings life to each one, whether they are the lead heroine or the token stand-in character sitting on a bus. When I read her books, I find myself thinking about the characters when I’m not reading, wondering what they are doing, how they are feeling after, say, their husband just cheated on them, or their ex-boyfriend just contacted them out of the blue, and I have to remind myself that hey, it’s just a book - these are merely characters in a piece of fiction (a very moving piece of fiction mind you, but, nonetheless they are not real.) For the characters to blur the line of reality, to me, that shows great talent on the part of the author.
It was no surprise to me, then, when I read the line, “The single most important element of your chick-lit novel is your main character.” What readers love about chick-lit is that the heroine is them — but with more attitude, more courage, or maybe just more shoes. She is
Everywoman, with quirks and problems that are believable yet larger than life. She’s confident yet insecure. Smart but naive. Loveable yet flawed.
How you create her your main character will depend largely on who you are and whom you’ve come into contact with in your life.” But “As long as the characters live and breathe, not an awful lot need happen. Don’t get too complex.” ~ Freya North
Emily Giffin has been quoted as saying something similar – that not a whole lot happens between the beginning and end of her books, but the character growth and relationships that are drawn out in her stories are incredible.
“The trick to making your characters sound different is to bury yourself really deeply in their head. Become them. Think like they would thinks. Speak like they would speak. Use words they would use. Today we're going to focus on using POV to make your characters stand out from each other.” ~ Stephanie Rowe
I love this quote because it reminds me of what I’ve heard from many authors, including one of my most favorites, Emily Giffin. I heard Ms. Giffin say in an interview after the audio version of Love the One You’re With, that before she even thinks about putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), she spends much time (months even!) getting to know her characters. I have heard other authors mimic similar advice, saying that before they begin writing, they know their characters inside and out. They know what their characters will be wearing on Tuesday, eating for breakfast on Thursday and where they will be going out Friday night better than they know their own plans! For me, this is something to aspire to as a “wannabe” chick lit writer. So far, as I work on writing my first Chick Lit novel, I have followed a wonderful outline (because in addition to my love for post-it notes, I love to be organized) from See Jane Write: A Girl’s Guide to Writing Chick Lit by Sarah Mlynowski and Farrin Jacobs:
Character Sketch
Answer the following questions about your characters:
Name
Age
Physical description
Education
Five words that describe her personality
Her dream job, or dream life
Where does she work? Is she good at her job? Why? Or why not?
Things that annoy her
Her bad habits
What people like about her
Her roadblocks to happiness
The person she should trust most (and why)
Her dream guy
The person she trusts most (and why)
The worst day of her life
Before the book began, the best day of her life
What she does to relax
I’ve included some of my own questions/categories as I’ve moved along in my quest to “Get to Know My Characters.” For instance, I added “Birthday and Zodiac Sign Traits & Qualities”, “How She Met the Lead Character/Relationship to Main Character”. The list of questions, fill-in-the-blanks and other data you can gather about your character is virtually endless.
Other great advice I’ve received about characters - You don’t want your characters to be carbon copies of anyone, including yourself, for that matter. Think about it: There can only be one Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, one Elle Woods from Legally Blonde, one Beauty from Beauty and the Beast and the list goes on. Another pitfall of the “carbon copy” character – you don’t want your character to fall into any one stereotype or become a cliché. Especially in chick lit, many “type” characters have been overly cast and done to death. Some examples include the gay friend, the evil boss, the overbearing mother and the bubbly and near-perfect best friend. Here is a list from the
Chick Lit Club’s Top Ten unforgettable (and unmistakable) Characters:
1. Bridget Jones - Helen Fielding
She makes you laugh, cringe and cheer. No woman sums up the life of a chain-smoking, social-drinking, weight-watching singleton better than Bridget.
2. Rebecca Bloomwood - Sophie Kinsella
Who wouldn't love this whirlwind with maxed-out credit cards? And the best bit is we can follow the Shopaholic's antics through five books.
3. Miranda Priestley - Lauren Weisberger
The female villain of The Devil Wears Prada is cruel, rude and overdemanding, and of course, exquisitely dressed. She'll definitely make you feel better about your own boss.
4. Walsh sisters - Marian Keyes
These Irish sisters have certainly added a few grey hairs to their parents' heads - there's Claire whose husband left on the day their baby was born; Rachel whose fondness for recreational drugs led her to a rehab clinic; Maggie who left her husband to head for LA; Anna who gets badly injured and Helen who never seems to be in work.
5. Tracie Martin - Alison Kervin
She may not be quite Posh Spice but Tracie is Queen of the WAGs in our book. Who else perfects the WAG look of orange skin, yellow hair, indecently short skirts and tower-high heels - while still being a charming, yet somewhat, clueless character.
6. Rose Feller - Jennifer Weiner
Apart from sharing a shoe size, attorney Rose is so unlike her wild sister Maggie. But in In Her Shoes, Rose learns to live a different type of life.
7. Rosie Dunne - Cecelia Ahern
From a naughty schoolgirl passing notes in class to a single mother trying to forge a career, we are with Rosie through several decades of her life and pray she'll get together with her soulmate in Where Rainbows End/Love, Rosie
8. Rachel White and Darcy Rhode - Emily Giffin
These best friends fall out over the same man but in Something Borrowed, then Something Blue your sympathies will swing between the pair.
9. Jemima Jones - Jane Green
You'll be right behind Jemima J as she undergoes her transformation to look like her altered after photo.
10. Kettle sisters (Cat, Lyn and Gemma) - Liane Moriarty
Right from the opening restaurant fight, the triplets of Three Wishes will leave a lasting impression.
In my journey to create a few (im)perfect characters of my own, I have learned that characters can be revealed in a variety of ways. Like the study of people in psychology, you can learn so much about characters through dialogue, action and relationships with other characters in novels.
Use
dialogue to show your character — “A gushy person might say “darling” a lot, an older person will speak differently from a younger person. When a man doesn’t say much it adds to his mystique.” ~ Fiona Walker
1. Dialogue should be brief.
2. It should add to the reader’s present knowledge.
3. It should eliminate the routine exchanges of ordinary conversation.
4. It should convey a sense of spontaneity but eliminate the repetitiveness of real talk.
5. It should keep the story moving forward.
6. It should be revelatory of the speaker’s character, both directly and indirectly.
7. It should show the relationships among people.
-Elizabeth Bowen
As I read and observe the writing of other great authors, I’ve learned that the best practice behind character writing is to avoid giving all information and background through pure description (yawn!). For example, I just finished reading The Bachelorette Party by Karen McCullah Lutz (co-writer of Legally Blonde and 10 Things I Hate About You, among many other screenplays) and I was in awe of the information that came out about each character through the short chapters that made up this 256 page novel. Never before had I read an author who made such excellent use of every inch of paper she had! Despite the brevity of print, with each passing page, full of dialogue and (even more) action, I found myself getting more than acquainted with every character. While I had a hard time keeping track of the characters on page 5, by page 100 I could tell you exactly what type of woman Jane was versus Betsey, Marci, Kim, Helen, Skinny, Snotty or Zadie. An excellent piece of advice, however, Don’t force your character(s) to behave a certain way simply because that’s what you need her to do to make the story move from point A to point Hopeful Ending. If it doesn’t feel true, you may need to rework that particular plot point. The Bachelorette Party took on a life its own and despite some of the incredulous events that occurred, the fast pace action was highly entertaining and kept me interested, invigorated and eager tot urn the page. I know for me, that is the type of book I want to write – one where readers say, “Wow, I hope there is a sequel”; “I hope we get to find out what happens next in [insert main character’s name here]’s life”; or “I hope this book is turned into a movie”.
Finally, every character in a story must relate to the protagonist in some way (otherwise, there is no point for their existence in the plot). One great way of keeping track of your own story is to make a family tree, connecting each character to the main character and then (if applicable) to each other. Through their relationships, each and every character has the opportunity to reveal something new about the story’s heroine (or hero). For example, the antagonist is often what drives the heroine forward, leading to the story’s climax. *I have heard that making the Antagonist multidimensional is just as important as creating a well-rounded main character. Look at Gregory Maguire’s books – they are all built on a classic fairy tale, but told for the perspective of the evil nemesis, like the Wicked Witch off the West in Maguire’s Wicked or Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister’s Iris. Other key relationships in fiction include the “foil”, who has the ability to bring out the main character’s best and worst qualities. In Shopaholic and Sister, Becky Bloomwoods’s newfound sister turns out to be a great character addition to the series, adding more depth to the Shopaholic that we already love and know so much about. Through their relationship, we, as readers, are able to see many more sides to Becky, some more noble than others. In fact, each character who crosses Becky’s path reveals something different about the Shopaholic. Between her husband to be, Luke Brandon, best friend, Suze, parents and even bill collector, Derek Smeath, we learn so much about Becky, from being an adorable, loving, naïve, and innocent financial editor who hates her job to the manipulative, scheming, smart and funny woman who will do anything to maintain her addiction to coordinating shoes and handbags and clothes. It is the whole mess of traits, qualities and imperfections that made me intrigued to read more…and more and more…and with one blockbuster movie already under her belt, the success of Sophie Kinsella’s Shopaholic series moves onto its 7th novel, due later this year.
All in all, you want to make sure to create likable characters. While chick lit is edgy and has been called “fiction with attitude,” the main character needs to be likable. Making her too strong may turn off an agent or editor, and you’ll receive a rejection notice. As I already mentioned with the success of one character, Becky Bloomwood, a long series was born with movie rights and no end in sight. That is my dream - To create a character that draws the attention of so many that it has them begging for more. To give you another example, I recently finished two two-book series by Brenda Janowitz, starring character Brooke Miller, and separately, Kristen Gore’s political chick lit series with hilarious (and hypochondriac) heroine, Sammy Joyce. I was so in love with the series that so far I have emailed Ms. Janowitz to see if she had any thoughts for a future novel with Miss Modern, Brooke Miller and I am still searching for a way to contact Ms. Gore to see if there is any chance for a political sequel for the zany Sammy Joyce.
Who are some of the characters who have moved you? I know for me, a general rule of thumb, if I can remember the character’s name and most of the predicaments that made up the story’s plot, it was most likely a story I would love to read a sequel – and a character I would like to emulate in my own work. What tricks, tactics or techniques do you use or write by to flush out your characters? Please share any (and every) thing with me in the comments section related to character mapping, creating or just your love of a certain character!
