Getting to Know Your Characters

This week, I've really been in the mood to get to know people. And by people, I mean characters.

You see, I've mostly been working on my own novel this week, something that has been kind of on the back burner for a number of weeks (thanks, life, for getting in the way). I've been really excited about this speculative, semi-dystopian novel I've been writing, Perchance to Dream. I've got a really great scenario, a 'what-if' question that sends the mind churning. The plot has a series of well-structured events that are compelling and curious, too.

But this week, when I returned to it and read over the 50,000-odd words of the first draft that I've already written, it all felt... well, a bit flat, if I'm honest. Disappointment descended upon me, and I didn't quite know what to do. So I just sat on my sofa for a while, notepad on my lap but my pen not moving. I thought through every part of my plan, trying to work out what had happened. Had I just grown bored of the project? Or did I have it all wrong in the beginning?

And then it dawned on me. There isn't anything wrong with the plot. The idea is there, and it's just as intriguing as it ever was. The structure is solid, and I've got the pacing of events just right.

It's the characters that are wrong.

It's Meredith Owens.

Meredith - or Merry to her friends - is my protagonist. And as I sat there, staring at the blank notebook while Titi (my gorgeous little French bulldog) got a bad case of the zoomies up and down the room, I realised that I don't know her at all. And worse - I've been using her.

Poor Meredith deserves more than that - and so does my manuscript as a whole. You see, I hadn't really considered Meredith in any of it. She was almost an afterthought - one of those "Oh, I suppose I ought to add someone in here at this point" kind of thoughts. I was using her almost as an empty vessel to tell my readers what was happening in my world.

Because what's happening in my world is exciting, right?

Sure, but a great plot is nothing without a great character. 

Even the best plots in the world are remembered by the particular way their characters traverse the events. That's what was wrong with my book. I didn't see Meredith as the beating heart, the life force behind Perchance to Dream, and as a result, everything else fell flat.

So this week, I've been spending a little time working out what I need to know about Meredith to make her the living, breathing person she needs to be to push my plot from flat to fat. I should be using the plot to tell Meredith's story, not the other way around.

I discussed this in-depth in one of the live chats in our lovely little free writing group, So You Want to Write a Book Nook, on Facebook. The replay is still available if you want to catch up—and it's definitely worth a watch.

But to sum it up, you really need to know at least your main character - and probably some of the others - as well as you know yourself. What are their hopes and dreams, fears and flaws? How does their life experience impact how they react to and see the world?

At the very least, you need to know these three things:

1. What your character wants,
2. What's stopping them from getting it,
3. And how they're going to overcome it.

Get absolutely certain on those things, and you'll be off to a really great start.