haracter Studies
The second tool in my revision process is my book of character studies. Like my beat sheets these are hand-written in a coil-bound notebook. Now these are de rigeur for most writers, I'm sure - but maybe most writers do them up before they start their first draft. I can't do that as I'm writing in the dark in the beginning. I don't know a thing about my story before I fly at it. I don't even know the genre. I'm a pantser. But if there is one thing I've learned during this novel writing time - whether you do it before (plotters) or after (pantsers) it requires the same amount of work. Obviously, by the time my first draft is done, I know quite a bit about my characters - but not enough. So, I go back into my notebook and write down everything I should know before beginning my revision. I use Elizabeth George's tips in her book Write Away to make sure I'm capturing everything needed. George is a true plotter - she basically writes a book before writing a book - and gawd knows it works for her.
I have to have a little aside here - I truly think being a pantser or plotter is no more a choice than our gender. So, I can see that it might be truly satisfying to approach things so meticulously and not have to take apart a whole ms because I didn't know something at the beginning of the draft that I know at the end - but I could no more be a plotter than grow wings.
Back to character studies - there is something so helpful about doing them when I do. For instance, in Crooked Knife, the mystery I'm revising right now - I discovered something about one of the characters that led to another suspect in the murders - and I needed another suspect. I write the character studies with the same not-knowing as I write the first draft and allow myself to be surprised. Then, along with my beat sheets, and my backstory, I go to work. George uses something in her character studies that is so helpful - she finds out what each character's core need is and there pathological maneuvering to meet that need. Very helpful!
Okay, time to get to work, see you tomorrow. Keep well and I promise to never tell you to wash your hands. Look where it got Lady Macbeth!
1 comment:
I agree with you, Jan, about the work involved in character (and story!) development, whether one's a pantser or a plotter. And it's critical, I think, that writers know who their characters are as they go on. You can't tell someone's story if you don't know who that someone is, if I can put it that way. Thanks, too, for the suggestion about considering a character's core need. Even if you don't spell it out in words, it motivates that character, so it makes sense to know that need.
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