Who remembers your characters? by Brendan Conboy
I am currently in the process of moving house (again) for what will hopefully be the last time in my life. This makes me wonder, ‘How often does someone read one of your books and declare that they will never read another one of your books again?’
Ouch! What a horrible thought. Where did that come from?
How many books have you read? How many main characters' names can you remember? Can you remember how they behaved? Did you fall in love with them? Were you upset when they were hurt? How many have you forgotten?
Stant Litore (Daniel Fusch), in his book, ‘Write Characters Your Readers Won’t Forget’, says, “Once you know what your character’s strength is, you need to understand how it drives nearly everything in your story – including plot, conflict, what choices the character needs to make and how they make them, everything.”
My wife used to read Danielle Steel books, so someone gave her a couple for Christmas. As they were a gift, she did read them and in doing so, she concluded why she had given up on Danielle Steel – her characters seemed shallow and poorly developed. This in turn made the plot predictable and lacked any excitement. It was boring. I should also mention that one of Steel’s characters was called Dominic, yet, in the middle of the book, he is suddenly referred to as Daniel. This small error further infuriated my wife, whereas, for me, it highlighted that none of us are perfect and we can all make mistakes.
If you want to create characters who are memorable, I highly recommend Stant Litore’s book, as it completely transformed the way that I write characters. The book contains 30 different exercises and what I created with these, eventually became part of one of my novels.
Are your characters memorable? Will your readers fall in love with them?
Since this book, Litore has produced a whole toolkit of books to help you write better fiction, such as – ‘Write Worlds… Write Pacing… Write Stories… Write Magic Systems… Write Descriptions… your readers won’t forget.’
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Let me know if you find these books useful, for now, I’m off to find which box my copies are hiding in.
Brendan Conboy aka Half Man Half Poet is the author of 16 published books including two fascinating autobiographies, The Golden Thread and I'm Still VALUED. In 1986, Brendan invited Jesus into his life and God blessed him with the gift of rhyming words. He used that gift as a Christian Rap artist for 25 years and has written 6 poetry books including the entire Book of Psalms in Rhyme. He has 3 published novels - Issues, Invasion of the Mimics and Legacy of the Mimics. He is
Very interesting questions for one who doesn't write fiction, apart from one unedited novelette about my family history. I remember them!
ReplyDeleteThank you, David.
DeleteBeautiful post, Brendan! Thank you so much! You start with a question that now and again sneaked up my mind and caused me imposter syndrome! Another question is - did they drop it half way or at the beginning? And I wonder if they liked it enough they would spread the news or drop a review. I know that many readers are not in the habit of dropping reviews but still... those questions! The best is to go with your advice write memorable, lovable and unique characters that will cause readers to read your book over again and spread its news. Blessings.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sophia and sometimes it is the most detestable character that some people never forget.
DeleteVery true!
ReplyDeleteThanks Brendan, I hope the move goes well. I shall look at Litore. I haven't heard of his books before.
ReplyDeleteThey are rather brilliant.
DeleteThanks for this 🙂 I haven’t read this book, or considered my characters driving force extensively, although I assess scenes by motivation and conflict when they feel weak. I tend to work on the “what lie is my character telling themselves” principle and establish turning points throughout the novel based on this. It’s probably a different version of a similar thing!
ReplyDeleteI hope my characters are memorable and I hope the move goes well!
Thanks Natasha, your Cain is definitely memorable and a great devolution character arc.
DeleteP.S. I used to read Danielle Steel when I was a teen. I liked them then but soon lost interest. They must have made the publishing house money though, because she didn’t half churn them out! Isn’t it shocking that a professional editor missed that name change? Whoops!
ReplyDeleteIt is so reassuring though to know that none of us are perfect. It's ammunition in the battle against imposter syndrome.
DeleteThanks Brendan - Write Characters ordered!
ReplyDeleteGood move John, you will get so much from it.
DeleteSounds brilliant! Sometimes I can't remember my character's names, making for awkward conversations with people who read my books, haha. Will have a look at your recommendation.
ReplyDeleteHaha, I always remember the major characters but the names of minor ones are much harder to remember.
DeleteThank you Brendan. I didn't realise that Danielle Steel made mistakes, that is comforting to know. Thank you for the recommendation too. God bless.
DeleteHey Derrice, we all make mistakes and when we come to terms with this, we can feel more equipped in the battle against imposter syndrome.
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