I am in the process of making an outline for a new novel, which I intend to begin writing in November for NaNoWriMo. I have the setting and the society, as it’s an established world, and I have the basic idea for the plot—a murder. But before I get to that, I need the characters.
When I plan a character, I make a simple word picture of them. The word picture is made of a verb and a noun, the two words that best describe each person.
At the outset, I want to know the good things about these characters. I make a personnel file for them. But I need more than a picture of my favorite actor and a brief bio. I must decide the verb (action word) that drives them and the noun (object of the action) that holds them back.
This is their void, the emptiness they must fill.
First, I assign nouns that tell us how they see themselves at the story’s outset. I also look at sub-nouns and synonyms, which means I must put my thesaurus to work.
Let’s look at four characters from my novel, Julian Lackland, published in 2020. Each of these side characters impacts Julian’s life for good or ill.
Julian’s Noun is: Chivalry (Gallantry, Bravery, Daring, Courtliness, Valor, Love)
Beau’s Noun is: Bravery (Courage, Loyalty, Daring, Gallantry, Passion)
Lady Mags’s Noun is: Audacity (Daring, Courage)
Bold Lora’s Noun is: Bravado (Boldness, Brashness)
The way we see ourselves is the face we present to the world. These self-conceptions color how my characters react at the outset. By the end of the story, how they see themselves has changed because their experiences will both break and remake them.
Next, we assign a verb that describes their gut reactions, which will guide how they react to every situation. They might think one thing about themselves, but this verb is the truth. Again, we also look at sub-verbs and synonyms:
Julian has 2 Verbs. They are: Defend, Fight, (Preserve, Uphold, Protect)
Beau’s 2 Verbs are: Protect, Fight (Defend, Shield, Combat, Dare)
Lady Mags’s 2 Verbs are: Fight, Defy (Compete, Combat, Resist)
Bold Lora’s 2 Verbs are: Desire, Acquire (Want, Gain, Own)
When I write my characters, I know how they believe they will react in a given situation. Why? Because I have drawn their portraits using words:
Julian must Fight for and Defend Chivalry. Julian’s commitment to defending innocents against inhumanity is his void, and ultimately it breaks his mind.
Golden Beau must Fight for and Protect Bravery. Beau’s deep love and commitment to protecting and concealing Julian’s madness is his void. Ultimately, it breaks Beau’s health.
Lady Mags must Fight for and Defy Audacity. She’s at war with herself in regard to her desire for a life with Julian and Beau. Despite their often-expressed wish to have her with them, a triangular marriage goes against society’s conventions more than even a rebel like Mags is willing to do. That war destroys her chance at happiness and is her void.
Bold Lora must Fight for and Acquire Fame. She believes that to be famous is to be loved. Orphaned at a young age and raised by various indifferent guardians, she just wants to be loved by everyone. Julian’s fame has made him the object of her obsession. If she can own him, she will be famous, adored by all. This desperate striving for fame is Lora’s void.
Placing a verb phrase (Fight for and Acquire) before a noun (Fame) in a personality description illuminates their core conflict. It lays bare their flaws and opens the way to building new strengths as they progress through the events.
Or, it will be their destruction.
By the end of the book, the characters must have changed. Some have been made stronger and others weaker – but all must have an arc to their development.
What two words describe the primary weaknesses of your characters, the thing that could be their ultimate ruin? The case of Julian’s story, it was:
Julian Lackland: Obsession and Honor
Golden Beau Baker: Love and Loyalty
Lady Mags De Leon: Stubbornness and Fear (of Entrapment)
Bold Lora: Fear (of Being) Forgotten
So, in that story, a girl who was ignored by everyone, a child who’d lived on the outside of things, decides that the one person who had ever shown her kindness should become her lover, and then fame would follow. The way she goes about it changes everything.
Julian Lackland took ten years to get from the NaNoWriMo novel to the finished product. He spawned the books Huw the Bard and Billy Ninefingers, both of which were written and published before the final version of Julian’s story was completed. Billy and Huw play a huge role in shaping Julian’s life.
Sometimes the path to publication is fraught with misery; next week, we will discuss that. Other times, the book writes itself and flies out the door. Who knows how my next novel will go?
I do have four characters for my next novel. I have discovered their verbs and nouns—and I need to settle on one of these people as my protagonist. I’ve written a great deal of backstory for each of them and still haven’t figured out who can best tell this story.
Plotting and pacing is my next problem. When I make the outline, I must place events in their path so the plot keeps moving forward. These events will be turning points, places where the characters must re-examine their motives and goals.
I am a step ahead in this process, though. When I begin plotting the events for my next novel, I already know my characters’ weaknesses. I just need to discover the situations they believe they can’t handle.
A character’s preconceptions color their experience of events. We readers see the story through their eyes, which shades how we perceive the incidents.
Our characters are unreliable witnesses. The way they tell us the story will gloss over their own failings. The story happens when they are forced to rise above their weaknesses and face what they fear.
But the truth is, once I begin writing on November 1st, the characters will ignore all my hard work and drive the story far off the plotted track. But that’s fodder for a mid-November blog post.
Life in the Realm of Fantasy 