By: Linda Rohrbough
One of the things I heard about my work when I
first started writing fiction was readers cared about my plot, but they didn’t
care about the characters I’d created. So my question was, how do you create
characters readers care about?
I’d done my best up until that point to create the
characters I saw in my head, so I was clueless as to how to make readers care
about these people who were so real to me. But the answer is actually quite simple.
Tags.
Motivation.
Let’s take tags first. Tags is the term in fiction
writing given to character traits the reader can “see.” I learned them when I
had three walk-on characters all dressed the same in a prison environment, who
readers told me they couldn’t tell apart. And it got confusing for my readers.
So another writer said give them tags, short but specific physical
characteristics that are different for each one. A big space between a
character’s front teeth, big hair, rhinestone glasses, a limp, a mannerism like
rubbing their eyes a lot, and so on. So I gave each of those three walk-on
characters, a unique tag. And it worked.
Watch people and you’ll see all kinds of tags you can
make use of in your fiction. For example, one of the cheapest tricks in the
book is to give a character a cold or an allergy– especially a walk on
character. The writer has this character sneezing on others, or wiping their
nose, or doing something related to having a cold or an allergy, and that
sticks in the reader’s mind. Any time a character comes on to the “set” with
cold or allergy symptoms, the reader will assume it’s the same character.
The classic example of this from my TV youth was
Columbo. The character played by Peter Falk was always in a wrinkled beige
trench coat carrying a cigar he never smoked with one eye askew. And he was
kind of clumsy physically and socially. But he was smart and people always
underestimated him. We loved that. And we remembered him. If you recall, no one
else on the show was dressed like him or behaved like him.
I am constantly looking for fresh tags I can use in my
writing when I watch people around me. I started dancing as a counter to
sitting around writing all the time. Dancers are a great source for tags,
especially in couple’s dancing. For example, there’s the guy with the plastic
black framed glasses that are too big for his face that he constantly pokes
back into place with his forefinger. And he wears big black shoes that look
clunky, but he’s cut and glued a chamois to the soles, so he can glide on the
dance floor in those shoes. And it turns out he used to be a dance instructor,
so he’s actually a pretty good dancer. And he’s almost always in a short-sleeved
collared sports shirt that’s some shade of teal. See, you’re already involved with this guy. I didn’t
tell you his name or how tall he is or how old but you’ve already got a picture
of him in your head.
Notice I didn’t have to give a lot of details. Just a
few, and the reader will fill in the blanks. In fact, that’s one of the things
I don’t like about television and movies, especially if they are remaking a
book. I prefer the pictures I have in my head of the characters to what the
producer came up with.
If I wanted to surprise the reader, I could have all
the men in the room vying for her attention. I could even put a beautiful
blonde cheerleader type in the corner of the room that everyone is ignoring.
Now the reader will want to know why the men pay attention to the SAS shoe gal
and not the cheerleader, and the reader will start to make up reasons in their
head. And I’ve already got a story brewing because I created conflict with my
tags.
So you need tags. And if you don’t have them, even if
you’ve gone into long detailed descriptions about your character’s appearance,
your reader won’t remember. In fact, I avoid long, detailed descriptions about
anything. I like to paint the picture with a few well-chosen strokes that are
playing double and triple duty, like I did in my SAS shoe gal example. It’s fun
and elegant to create a brief description that sets up potential conflict, and
plays off the reader’s assumptions and stereotypes.
Motivation is another thing that will help your reader
care about your characters. I recently was in an airport that had a special
table in front of a bookstore which had multiple copies of two paperback
versions of The Girl On The Train by
Paula Hawkins with different covers, and then a hard back version. But no other
books on the table. So I asked the bookseller why. And when he explained one paperback
was the original version written by the author, and the other was the movie
version of the book, and that both paperbacks would cost the same as the
original hard-cover version, I bought the two paperbacks. Since I’ve done some
writing for television, I wanted to compare the original to the movie version.
I had time on the plane so I started with the original
paperback version, and I can tell you had it not been a New York Times best-seller, I would have put it down after about
five pages, then deposited the book in the nearest paper recycling bin once I
got off the plane. Because the girl on the train was someone I didn’t like at
all. And it was because her motivation was nothing short of selfish and
despicable, when there was any. Most of the time she was like a leaf blowing in
the wind with no motivation whatsoever. It’s a principle of fiction that
readers don’t like victims and this gal was definitely in victim mode.
My friend, and multiple Spur award-winning western
author, Dusty Richards says your character needs to be motivated toward a goal
and that you cannot remind the reader too many times of what that goal is.
I don’t know if I need to mention this, but the character’s
main goal is always broken down into sub-goals. For example, let’s say there’s
an old-west sheriff character on horseback. He can barely see in the moonlight. But he needs to make it over the next
rise before sunrise to the bad guy's camp to see if the thief he's after is in his
bunk, and can be apprehended. The goal is to catch the thief, but the
sub-goal is to make it over the next rise by sunup.
And, of course, there are obstacles to each goal,
which is what keeps the reader engaged and the story moving. The character
should have deeper motivation, usually produced by a painful past, that drives him as well. Like our cowboy sheriff hates thieves because a thief stole
grandma’s fall harvest back when the character was a little tyke and grandma
died that next winter.
The obstacles also need to be reasonable obstacles,
not ones the character creates by their own stupidity. In the romance writing
world, they have an acronym for this mistake in character development: characters
who are TSTL (Too Stupid To Live). Readers are not interested in “I Love Lucy”
plots where it’s all about manipulation and deception for some inane goal, like
an elaborate deception to keep Ricky from finding out Lucy spent $5 more on
groceries this week than the budget allows.
And The Girl On
The Train so reminded me of “I Love Lucy,” only not as kind and gentle. It
began with a good fifty pages of boring narrative about this woman who rides a commuter
train back and forth past a row of houses every day, laced with detailed
descriptions of the landscape, houses and the players, in between bouts of this
woman drinking herself into a stupor at night. We finally get to something
happening many chapters in, which is a murder. But even then, the main
character was TSTL until nearly halfway through the book. What made it all
worthwhile was the really satisfying ending, which of course, I had my doubts
would actually happen in real life. But it was accomplished by a secondary character
I had some respect for, who was helped by the main character, and that made it
somewhat plausible.
I’m sure in a case like this, the author would argue
people really behave the way she wrote them. And I agree. That does not mean,
however, that I’m willing to pay money to put up with reading about it. (I did
a little research and found out Paula Hawkins is British journalist, and I hear
the Brits are accustomed to this take-a-while approach to getting into a story.)
The only thing that kept me going was all the hoopla about the book, which I
still think was rather unfounded. But I can see how the ending would strike a
chord with women, who are the main readers of fiction. So I get it.
Now away from the book review and back to my subject,
tags and motivation are the two things writers can utilize to make readers
care. If you don’t have those two things, readers aren’t going to care. And
they really want to care, so they’re disappointed when they can’t or don’t. Making
the reader care is part of the job as a writer, but it’s not particularly hard
work if you know what you’re doing. And I think it’s fun work – clever tags
coupled with motivation that’s obvious and deeper motivation peeled back in
layers. That’s the ticket.
Now, to be quite honest, we all stand on the shoulders
of giants, and I’m no exception. I have several writers to thank for this
information, including my romance writing friends, specifically Debbie Macomber
and Jodi Thomas. Romance is very character driven, so those gals were a big
help to me. And Dusty Richards, who is quite a character in his own right in
his ten-gallon white hat and hands so big he has to buy special keyboards with
extra wide keys to keep from “fat fingering” when he types his manuscripts.
I also want to thank the people who gave me feedback,
because that consistent feedback created a tangible problem that I could then
take to the “big boys.” But even with help, it took a while for me to wrap my
head around this.
So if you’ve gotten the “I don’t care about these
characters” feedback, then give your characters tags and motivation. If you
think you already have, make changes anyway, and see if you can hit on a something
that works for you. Because if you can make the reader care about your
characters, that’ll keep them engaged in your story.
Bio: Linda Rohrbough has been writing since 1989, and has more than
5,000 articles and seven books to her credit, along with writing for
television, and seven national awards for her fiction and non-fiction. An
iPhone App of Linda’s popular “Pitch Your Book” workshop is available in the
Apple iTunes store. Find her on Facebook as “Linda Rohrbough – Author” or visit
her website: www.LindaRohrbough.com.
