Writing Engaging Characters to Hook Your Readers. Do You?

 Sara Paretsky was recently interviewed in the "By the Book" column in the New York Times on what makes a book good. [The New York Times, 14 Sept 14]

She replied, "Believable characters first, a good story, an understanding of how to pace dramatic action." 

Of course she was talking about crime fiction but I think her words apply to all fiction. I know flat characterization make me drop a book faster than anything else.

How did Paretsky say it? Like most writers, Paretsky's an avid reader. When she was asked about the last book she put down without finishing, her comment: "I read 120 pages and couldn't get engaged with any of the characters."

I read that and didn't feel so mean when I give 4-star reviews. Yeah, writers are like first graders who expect blue ribbons for sitting on the sidelines and picking their noses. They all want five star reviews--even if they don't get outside copy-editing.

But on to writing engaging characters. Barbara Ashford sure doesn't have the problem of cardboard characters. In her Spells at the Crossroads, a combination of two related novels Spellcast and Spellcrossed, she even makes even her Fae character human.

Maggie Graham turns restless after she loses her job to downsizing and, on a whim, takes to the road to explore the New England. She ends up in Dale, Vermont where a community theater, the Crossroads, is casting for positions in its summer stock company. Not only does Maggie get hired, but she's the only one who seems able to connect with the brooding,  "I-vant-to-be-alone" director. Yes, the books are more romance than urban fantasy. Perhaps it's best to say this is Fae fantasy, and Ashfords twists the cliches about Faery about 90 degrees.

Where Spells at the Crossroads excels is in Ashford's characterization. Yeah, Maggie's the intrepid heroine sticking her nose into where it doesn't belong, but she narrates her her story in a wry, first person fashion. Her witty narration of events and her feelings of incompetence have you rooting for her from the beginning. Rowen, the love interest, is dark and brooding and hiding hinted-at secrets. But both are given unexpected angles that make them three-dimensional actors on Ashford's stage.

All Ashford's characters get lots of writer TLC. Where most writers seem to give a their secondary characters a list of physical traits and a tic or two, the Ashford's secondary characters emerge as three-dimensional people with strengths and flaws who influence the plot as much as the principals. Dare I say "stars" since the books are about community theatre. 

And there's more. Ashford's adept at creating tension while giving her readers lots of smiles. Definitely a 5***** book[s]

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Are you wondering how to accomplish

 something similar?

In a recent blog post, writing coach and editor, Jenni Chappelle has written a comprehensive list of the types of body language writers can use to reinforce characterization within their dialog: 9 Simple and Powerful Ways to Write Body Language.

I thought it a good summary, similar to the advice about using all five senses to depict your setting [aka stage]. All good advice, but how often do writers use them? Not often enough, I'd say from my reading of indie ebooks.

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And what have I been doing except for social media until it's coming out of my ears? I'm actually getting some new writing done. The Ghostcrow progresses, and I even have a cover.

Here's a sample of this week's progress:

"Dumdie made a face. She thought pigweed was a zombie plant because, no matter how much you thought you’d killed it, it always returned from the dead, alive and growing more yellow flowers. Green beans were her favorites. They played games with her as they hid among the leaves to see how fat and long they could grow without her finding them. Mr. Carson said she was good enough at finding veggies to be a detective.

A bean detective. Dumdie liked the idea and smiled. Apprehending errant beans."

I hope your writing's going well too.

Readers, if you like humor with your fantasy,

look for Spells at the Crossroads.

You'll be rewarded.

Visiting Your Favorite Fantasy and Realistic Worlds

When a writer creates a realistic setting, readers will imagine much more detail than the actual words used. That's one of the wonderful things about books. I'm sure you have your favorite settings/worlds and react to the world the writers created.

 [Any comments about your favorites welcome.]

If you've read this blog, even sporadically, you've gotten an idea of what kinds of worlds I like to lose myself in. I think of them as fantastically wonderful settings for characters to act in, and where I can enjoy arm-chair adventures. You may or not agree with me or the books I like. But, I'll bet you have your own worlds/settings you like to return to. 

Over the last few weeks, I've returned to several worlds worth mentioning, but they didn't really give me any new insights into the writing process. Even so, I'd like to review them.

Flowering Judas by Jane Haddam. Her running mystery series, featuring detective Gregor Demarkian, has run for years with Haddam delivering competent entertaining puzzles in each book. Here, Demarkian, a retired FBI agent and consultant, is brought in to find out why the body of a man missing for years is suddenly found hanging from a bill board in his home town. Yeah. Demarian's up for solving the puzzle as he chases the clues through an unknown town. While Haddam's interesting plots shine, I think her three-dimensional characters sparkle more.

Even though my favorite part of Demarkian's world, the Armenian enclave along Cavanaugh Street, has a small role in Flowering Judas, I give the book Five ***** Stars.

Death of Yesterday by M. C. Beaton. Another long running series, this time set in far northern Scotland, features Sergeant Hamish MacBeth, a genius at solving crimes and avoiding promotion. He also has problems getting married, a strong sub-plot in this book, and his nosy, small town neighbors always make matters more difficult. 

Beaton creates tangled plots that begin with a tiny wiggling thread of a crime, often a murder. The more MacBeth investigates, the more tangled the thread becomes. The ending comes as a surprise because the real criminal behavior is more serioyus than offing a stand-offish artist who gets killed because she sketched the wrong person.

Death of Yesterday only gets Four**** from me because Beaton's writing is trending towards cookie-cutter descriptions, though her characters remain interesting. Even the detectives in the home office, who are jealous of MacBeth's success rate, supply a few surprises.

Last but not least, Hunted by Kevin Hearne. Atticus O'Sullivan is still running from various preternaturals and pantheons, with only a few allies besides his Irish wolfhound and Granuaile, the new druid he just finished training. And that causes problems for the book. The opening was one big long chase ... for about half the book. Even Atticus rising from the "dead" almost failed to save this book from a competent, but Three*** Star rating. Hearne's sense of humor saved his rating in my eyes. If you like an irreverent take on life in general...and gods in particular ... this book is worth the time to read it. I give it Four**** Stars.

You think that's a lot of books to read in two weeks? I still had another one about Henry the VII I didn't review. Guess I could say, I can read a thousand page book a week ... but I don't want to. I prefer variety. 

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Not much new stuff written this week. The big achievement was finishing the content edits for The Ghost in the Closet. Did have to change the name of my main character from Doodie to Dumdie. Seems my editor came from another part of the country. This California girl didn't associate the name "Doodie" [which was explained in the  story as coming from the way Dumdie sang to herself as a child] ... with "doggie do", which term I do understand ... though I tend to use the term sh*t.

Now that the copy edits are done, I can send the story to the formatter. Think I can get it published by before the 11th? If you like me on Facebook you'll know when The Ghost in the Closet comes out for free on Smashwords.

Still I wonder: What reasons have caused you to change a character's name?

Though I managed to get this blog done, it seems tinkering with my website ate my whole week-end.  I still have to change the inevitable typos and glitches yet, but I like the change in appearance so far. You can check it out, if you want.

Fiction Writers, What Kinds of Worlds Do You Create? Flat or Three Dimensional?

I do love me a book that draws me into a living breathing world. My reading pleasure seems to double when the pleasure drops unexpectedly into my lap. Case in point: Martin Cruz Smith's Rose. It's not fantasy. Just a fabulous Mid-Victorian mystery set in Wigan, Lancastershire, with plenty of twists and red herrings to keep you guessing, Oh, the clues are well marked along the way but there are so many suspects with so many guilty secrets, including the missing cleric whose disappearance must be solved.

Wracked by malaria, Jonanthan Blair, a disgraced mining engineer, accepts a commission to find a missing curate, who happens to be the fiance of his former boss, a bishop, lord-of-the-manor, and mine owner. If he's successful, Blair can return to Africa to find new gold mines under the imprimatur of the bishop's commercial interests. As he searches for the cleric, all clues lead back to Rose, one of the Wigan pit girls who is the linchpin that holds the plot together until the twisty ending.

Cruz Smith is known for his research. At least, a lot of reviewers reference it. What they don't say so much is the sensual way he uses that background to create a touchable, smellable, gritty world. Can't remember one info-dump in the whole story ... and this is a historical novel that's true to its period.  He writes  good fight scenes too,  using brass-tipped clogs no less, something that was new to me.

One apt quote that had me laughing outloud: "Leveret handed him an envelope as covertly as if he were passing French postcards." It's a beautiful example of Victorian hypocrisy.

For me though, it's the multiple-dimensional characters that shine. All writers know the drill of creating living characters -- describe them, list three memories, set goals, set conflicts and give them a tic or two. Cruz Smith goes way beyond Characterization 101. Even his sadistic villains exhibit well-layered motives ... and the plotline is filled with villains of many ilks.

The book appeared out of the bowels of the basement as we tried to clear tradeable and donateable books from the shelves. Now I have mixed feelings because Rose is so well-crafted. Cruz Smith deserves his reputation if his other books are as well done. Unfortuantely, I don't often read in his genre. 

This is a five star book, in case you want a commitment.

Still don't know if it's a keeper.

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Doesn't time pass fast when you're having fun?

Don't usually pay attention to milestones. I know I missed the fact when I posted my 300th blog. This is my 350th. Basic question running through my mind at the moment: Why I'm still here. Guess I can't shake bad habits. ... I consider this blog sort of like talking to myself even though the stats say between 75-100 page views happen. My highest view rate? 875.

Hey, other bloggers out there.

How many blogs have your written? 
Or, did you give up somewhere along the way?

Another fun statistic: My author website now ranks under 900,000 according to Alexa. I think I need to revamp it, though, because I can't see where it's helping me sell my novellas.

Written More than I can Chew???

Lessons from My Reading:  I've been reading best sellers lately.  (Wishful thinking?  Nah, I think I'm too much of a realist for that.)  Anyway, I picked up Jude Deveraux's Lavender Morning at the grocery store.  They make it easy to find best sellers.  1-10 are shelved in a row at the head of the book section.  

I'm guessing the book is what is known as "women's fiction" with a slight mystery about the secret of the MC's parentage while she's finding "true love" and "happily ever after".  The mystery isn't solved by the MC, but by the men in her life and delivered like a game carcass  -- something I think is a weak point considering the MC is a fairly strong woman.  Obviously, millions disagree with me.  So, what?  Different people look for different things in the books they read.  I only ask a writer capture my interest and keep it when I want to fall asleep.  The other hurtle?  Drowning out the evening news.

I' m beginning to wonder if writing 500 page books is a qualifier for becoming a best seller.  I'm not complaining about padding here.  Both O'Connell and Deveraux tell their stories in an efficient manner ... like they don't bog down in the verbiage.  -- You'll know when I start feeling paranoid ... when I start complaining that best selling authors are stealing resources from the wanna-bes ... like the delegates at Copenhagen.

Lavender Morning did have an interesting construction.  A major plot twist happened about every 100 pages ... or about every fifth.  So much for the three act structure.  Deveraux hit my soft spot for depictions of small town life with decently drawn characters -- even if I thought them a little cliched.  But I guess that's what goes with the territory.  Like reading the short stories in the women's magazines in the 50-60s.  --  Never thought of the form surviving in books after the magazine fiction had died.  Interesting.

The book made me consider the plot/characters in Mariah (Dark Solstice).  The fantasy has many of the elements of Lavender Morning ... if you take out the elven magic, genetic drift, border conflicts, and political plotting.  Talk about making a manuscript unsellable!  The relationship stuff, not the other.  (I should also add multiple viewpoints showing how different factions view the same events.  Probably, makes it even more unsellable.)

Progress:  I'm slow on the uptake.  Just noticed all I'm trying to do amidst the Christmas mess.

Emma ... Still in revision -- some chapters more than others.  I think I'm working around chapter 20 or so.  Ten more to go.  I'm beginning to think I might run it up the flag pole at the beginning of the year, ie send it out to a couple agents.  Which means trying to decide to send to not-so-dream-agents or to the ones I'd drool if they wanted to look at even a partial.  --  After working on adult novels, it feels like I'm doing the quick-step.

Demons aka the Gargoyles ... Really not thinking about them while the agents consider their ejections ...  though Britt and Cahal think they should have a sequel set when they are older.

Mariah and her discovery that her granddaughter wasn't the idiot, the child's maternal grandfather claimed...  I still don't quite believe it's a trunk novel.  Rather it's some sort of strange hybrid.  A fantasy family saga about a half-Elf ruling family thriller???  No wonder I can't think of how to market it.  I'm sure a sales department would have a harder time.

And then, there's Maren ... She's getting antsy.

Trivia:  We did our Old Town wander in the semi-cold today.  Four hours of puttering through shops and having lunch downtown.  Used to be we'd spend about $50. on lunch and whatever took our fancy. 

Now there are next to no shops (It's mostly restaurants now.), and we spent over $100. on very little.

The haul?  Cookies, a used book, a couple Putamayo CDs, coffee, and horehound drops.  Oh, forgot the 2 Froodles -- cherry and raspberry.  Looks like The Cupboard won the shopping sweepstakes.  The Stone House Grill came in second.

One Batch of Cookies Down

Trivia:  It's the time of year when my world narrows down to baking cookies and making baklava.  This year it'll take longer since I no longer can handle double batches of dough. (Getting old catches up with you.)

Baking and Christmas was the reason I was so panicky about getting an ending on Emma.  At least, my shopping's done except for the peanut brittle.  Now I've got to wrap the stuff.  Ugh.

Lessons from My Reading:  Finished Mary Balogh's A Precious Jewel.  Cousin Oswald didn't appear again -- but a pregnancy did -- so I guessed wrong.  I marvel that Balogh is able to create characters well-rounded enough that you get teary-eyed even if you know what the ending's going to be.

Didn't guess wrong about the beta-male bit.  While flipping through the book during the news (better than sleeping like the old man), I discovered a 'Dear Reader' note at the beginning from Balogh giving the history of the book.  Mostly about breaking conventions by writing about the tribulations of a beta-male finding his HEA and how the book broke new ground back in 1993. 

Now it's time for all wanna-be writers to take a break and feel *something* about such a long career.  I'm impressed.  Balogh's new books are still lean and wry, compared to other authors who seem to expand the verbiage with each book.  Let that be a lesson for us all.

Truth in reading, I have at least 15 books by Balogh on my keeper shelf -- though some of them will be going out to trade if I ever get ambitious enough to prune the bookshelves.


Progress:  Not much.  I'm stuttering over editing the query and sample pages for Demons.  I'm not an efficient writer.  I re-read and re-edit until I stop finding things to dink.  So far, I've got one sentence that won't flow.  It sits there in the middle of the query like a lump of concrete.  -- The sample pages flow quickly and smoothly ... but are probably a trite beginning.  -- Sometimes I wonder why I even bother.  The whole voice thing and pulling the right character bits out of the story mystify me.

Maren keeps perculating.

Emma is waiting for my first manuscript comments -- from my alpha readers??  After I get the bills paid, I'll print it out and begin playing with it.


Blog?  It's sitting here with all its warts.

PS:  I'm getting some Christmas presents early.  According to the NY Times, P. D. James has a new book out  -- talking about detective fiction.  

Carol O'Connell also has a mass paperback on the best seller list, a new series it looks like.  Loved her Mallory series.  Maybe I should reread Find Me, the last of the series. (Maybe.)