What a Character

Have you ever had a character invade your mind? When you thought you were done with him, has he ever come back to haunt you, or to prove otherwise? It happened to me. When I began to write Nora’s Soul, the character of Dante was just a satellite character in my mind, a device to move the story forward. But he had other ideas and he just wouldn’t be silenced. He invaded my mind, took over my thoughts, and even tried to –

Dante: Stop, woman! You like to think you’re my creator, but we both know the truth of that, don’t we?
Margay: But I did create you.
Dante: Tell them how I came to you in a dream.
Margay: All right, so you came to me in a dream -
Dante: I love invading dreams. I don’t get to do it very often.
Margay: Can I tell the story?
Dante: Oh, yes. Please do.
Margay: Thank you. As I was about to say, it was one of the more vivid dreams I’d ever had, a fully realized scene of the two of us on the dance floor, dancing the night away.
Dante: I love dancing.
Margay: Dante, please.
Dante: Oh, sorry. Go on.
Margay: But you were something of a devil and that is how I first thought of you. But as the story came to develop, I realized that you were more of an angel, just a…misguided one. You’d lost your way somehow. You’ve been rather stingy on the details.
Dante: If I told you everything up front, what fun would that be?
Margay: Yes, I must admit it’s been more fun pulling the details out of you with a pair of tweezers. I just wish I didn’t have to go through Nora to get them.
Dante: Ah, yes, Nora. Sweet girl.
Margay: We’ve talked about this, Dante. You can’t have her. She’s not meant for you.
Dante: Can’t I have anyone? What kind of power do I have if I can’t take whomever I want?
Margay: Don’t forget free will. It’s all about free will. You see, they have to choose you. If they don’t choose you, you can’t have them.
Dante: I never did like free will. It’s always messing things up.
Margay: Dante, come on now. Maybe we should just talk about the book.
Dante: Yes, do that. Talk about the book.
Margay: At its core, Nora’s Soul is a story about one woman’s journey to rediscover her faith – in herself, in her beliefs, but along the way, she is challenged by two angels, one light and one dark. The light angel, Peter, wants to help her reconnect, but the dark angel, Dante, wants something entirely different. He wants her soul.
Dante: Nice summary.
Margay: Thanks.
Dante: I just hope you got the story right.
Margay: Well, I guess you’ll just have to wait until the release date to find out.
Dante: So you’re not even going to give me a little hint about how it turns out?
Margay: Nope. But if you go to my website http://margayleahjustice.com, you can read an excerpt.
Dante: And you thought I was the devil.
Margay: If you’re done, I’d like to regain some control over this article.
Dante: Oh. Sorry.
Margay: Right.

Well, there you have it. Character. You just never know when a character is going to invade your thoughts – or take them over completely and try to run your life. But what are we without the characters that populate our books, our movies, our lives?

Character Names

One of my favorite parts of writing is naming the characters. Like Sierra, I use name websites a lot to help me with this task. Some of my favorites are: babynames.com, 20000-names.com, and behindthename.com.

When I name my characters, I almost always choose the names first by figuring out my character's ethnicity and country of origin (or ancestor's country of origin). Then I go about finding a name that matches a certain quality or trait regarding the character. For instance, if I were to have a character that was very much into protecting others, I would go with something like Alexander/Alexandra, which means "defender of mankind."

Sometimes though, a character will emerge with a name, and I don't have to worry about picking out just the right one. I enjoy either path, though it is nice when I do get to go through the lists of names. A lot of the time it gives me ideas for secondary characters, or even ones not related to that story.

How about you? What are your methods of naming characters? I'd love to hear your opinions. =)

What's In A Name?

Naming my characters is not difficult, but it is a long process. Not just any name will do. I f I name a character something that doesn’t fit right, the characters will let me know it. They will protest and not tell me their stories. Therefore, I have to make sure that I’m picking the right name or else I get stuck.

I use several online naming sites to help me pick the names. One site is for first names and I have a couple that I use for last names. I also have a site that gives random names, in which I can choose for it to give me both first and last names. Sometimes, I’ll find just one name this way but I’ll find gems that I can use for secondary characters as well.

I’ve also been known to go through the phonebook and pick names. The problem with that is that some of the names are regional and not something that would work in a different state.

Sometimes I’ve been lucky enough that my characters will tell me their names flat out. That doesn’t happen very often, but it does occur once in a while. I also have to take into account whether or not the name is appropriate for a hero or heroine. Sometimes, names may be unique, but just not fitting for the character part.

I also don’t like to reuse character names, so I keep a list of the one’s I’ve used to prevent me from picking a name again. I just have to remember to keep it updated. If I get carried away with a story, sometimes I forget about everything else but it.

This is my method of naming my characters. Do you have a different method that you use? I’d love to hear it. Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

The People in my Head

Creating characters can be a tricky business. I usually start with a character chart that lists physical and emotional traits. I’ve used long ones and short ones and I’ve found that the answer lies somewhere in between. You can put down too much information for your characters in my opinion.

I usually start with looks, it’s the easiest to figure out. Hair color usually comes first for me. I have a mental picture in my mind of the character I’m working on and I fill in the information as I see it. Once in a while my mental picture is wrong, and the character lets me know about it, but I’m usually pretty close where looks come in.

After I get the looks down, then the trickiest part comes into play…personality. I try my best to figure out as much as I can at first, but I have been known to leave some of it blank and work on the story. After I’ve written a bit, their personalities really come to life and I learn a little more about them as I go. Then once I’ve come to a better understanding of their personality, I go back and fill in the rest.

I think it’s important to know your characters traits because this helps prevent you from having flat characters. The more you know about them, the more three dimensional they are in the story. That’s what really makes a story come to life for me. Interesting characters.

This is how I create my characters. I’d love to hear what everyone else does. Leave a comment and let me know what your tricks are.

Villains...or the Case of the Ex

The Deadly Vixens is pleased to welcome Vivienne Westlake! Thanks so much for joining us this week Vivienne. We're thrilled to have you with us. And without further ado...

Villains...or the Case of the Ex

First, let me thank the wonderful ladies of Deadly Vixens for letting me blog this week. And, a special thanks to Sierra who was there with me when I was doing a mad dash to finish my novella, Secrets Uncovered.

Now, on to the juicy stuff...

I had a thought this morning. How much do villains resemble ex boyfriends or guys we've dated?

I thought about Fergus, the dead philandering husband of my heroine in Secrets Uncovered. While Fergus is much worse than my particular ex-boyfriend--whom we'll call Adam, after the first man--Fergus' height, coloring, and general features greatly resemble Adam's. And, while my ex didn't have three other wives (that I know of), Adam sure had a habit of disappearing and reappearing at will, just like my heroine's first husband.

I didn't consciously set out to turn my ex into a character. Nor did I set out to kill him before the book began. But, the subconscious mind is a powerful thing and it sort of happened anyway. Perhaps it's writer's revenge. A long time ago, I read a quote by Gloria Anzaldua that said, "The world I create in writing compensates for what the real world doesn't give me." While the quote was not exactly intended in this way, it makes sense here.

So, I'd like to know, has anyone else either consciously or unconsciously made an ex boyfriend the loose inspiration for a character or certain traits of a character? Feel free to dish. I won't tell if you won't.



Vivienne Westlake Romance
History Has Never Been Hotter

www.viviennewestlake.com
My Blog * Myspace

Disclaimer (because we don't have a choice): The views expressed by the guest blogger do not necessarily reflect those of The Deadly Vixens.