"I think the best stories end up being about the people rather than the event, which is to say that they are character-driven" - Stephen King
A short story's introduction and development of there main character is crucial. Yet, how do you create and flesh out someone who does not exist? Writers of fiction sue a variety of strategies to do just this: they invent characters - people who seem so real that it is as if they truly exist - and show was these characters are like.
The opening paragraphs and/or pages of your piece are critical to the overall success of your short story. This is your opportunity to get a character up and walking around, breathing, living. This is your chance to convince readers - and yourself - that your character lives, allowing readings to accompany a real person through the events of a story. Build people. Listen to how they sounds. Observe how they thing and behave. Understand them.
DO NOT SKIP THIS PART. Do not imagine that you can come back later and scatter some thoughts or give your character a sense of humor, a past, a memory moment, an dream, an attitude, a personality, after the fact. Invest right from the start in the details of character: collect a person. Then as you develop the chosen person and move toward the climax, the events of your story and your character's reactions to them can grow organically (naturally) from the seeds of personally you planted at the beginning of your piece.
As you write your character to life, remember to include all of these ways to develop your character:
A short story's introduction and development of there main character is crucial. Yet, how do you create and flesh out someone who does not exist? Writers of fiction sue a variety of strategies to do just this: they invent characters - people who seem so real that it is as if they truly exist - and show was these characters are like.
The opening paragraphs and/or pages of your piece are critical to the overall success of your short story. This is your opportunity to get a character up and walking around, breathing, living. This is your chance to convince readers - and yourself - that your character lives, allowing readings to accompany a real person through the events of a story. Build people. Listen to how they sounds. Observe how they thing and behave. Understand them.
DO NOT SKIP THIS PART. Do not imagine that you can come back later and scatter some thoughts or give your character a sense of humor, a past, a memory moment, an dream, an attitude, a personality, after the fact. Invest right from the start in the details of character: collect a person. Then as you develop the chosen person and move toward the climax, the events of your story and your character's reactions to them can grow organically (naturally) from the seeds of personally you planted at the beginning of your piece.
As you write your character to life, remember to include all of these ways to develop your character:
- Refection - Whether writing in 1st or 3rd person, tell OFTEN and EVERYWHERE what your character is thinking and feeling: the best, most essential way to create a life is the start and end with INNER LIFE.
- Dialogue - Get your character talking as a way to reveal himself or herself. Make sure to include HOW the character chooses to say things.
- Action - Get your character up and moving around, doing things BOTH LITTLE AND BIG that show what he or she is like.
- Memory Moment/ Flashback - Have your character remember events from the past that showing why your character is behaving as he or she does today.
- Reaction - Show how your character responds to the actions, words, and ideas of another character.
- Other characters: Compare and contrast your character's actions, reactions, beliefs, or values with those of friends, family members, classmates, etc. How is he or she like the others? Shaped and influence by the others? How is he or she different from the others?
- Quirks - Imagine the habits, interests, skills, hobbies, goals, fears, tastes and preferences, daydreams, and nightmares that will flesh out your character as a living, breathing person.
- Intimate Setting: Create your character's bedroom and fill it with the stuff of his or her life that reveals parts of the past and present.
- Beloved Object or Pet: Give your character something to love that reveals his or her private self or previous history. Maybe even have your character speak to the pet or comfort object.
- Letters, Email, Diary, or Text Messages: Illustrate what's on your character's mind through pieces of his or her writing.
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