By Ebony McKenna

I don’t create characters; all I do is get to know them better.

Which sounds like I’m making excuses. Seriously, I’m not. But this is how it happens for me. A character pops into my head, without much substance.

“Oh hello,” I say, and they might nod or point to something nearby or wave or change their hair colour right before my eyes.

But aside from that, they’re not very interesting.

Yet.

I need to get to know them. Understand what they want, what they need, what’s in their way and what aspect of their character they’re in denial about.

Everyone’s in denial about something. That’s human nature.

As Cara Gabriel posted earlier - there are many things you need to ask your character to get to know them.

Sure, I can plot out some basic elements of the overall story, but without knowing the characters, I have no story.

Recently, I had a blazing hot idea about rebooting an historical legend. Let’s call him Sir Lancelot. (It’s not Sir Lancelot. I’m throwing you off the scent. Or *am* I?) But from then on I only had the general idea. I didn’t have true character.

I used Cara’s questions and worked out my character’s goals, motivations and conflicts. I wanted to know what they wanted most from life. What they feared. Why they did what they did. What (or who?) was in their way?

But most of all, what was the glaringly obvious character flaw everyone else could see but they couldn’t? Their blind spot. Their weakness. Their kryptonite.

That’s when the magic happens. That’s when the characters take on a life of their own. That’s when I find myself in the scene, madly writing down everything the character does and says, trying desperately to keep up.

The characters lead me on a merry chase, get me into arguments, get lost, land in trouble and fall in love. They are in control, not me.

Yet I’m the writer. I should be in control, yes?

No. When characters become real, they are the ones in charge.

I’m merely along for the ride.

Next time you have a blazing hot idea that burns to be written, use Cara’s 10 questions to get to know your characters. Find out what they most desire in life. Why is it out of reach? Will they hurt people along the way (even when they don’t mean to. Especially if they don’t mean to).

When you know your characters, the story will flow.





Ebony McKenna is a fantastically imaginative author whose scope and story-telling encompasses the bizarre, the mysterious and the romantic. Her Ondine books are a sparkling combination of romance and magic – perfect for teen girls. Written with genuine humour and unique eccentricity, the series is an obvious choice for fans of The Princess Bride and Ella Enchanted.

twitter - twitter.com/#!/EbonyMcKenna
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By Cara Gabriel

Romance novels are driven by characters. Sure, we all like a nice, juicy plot, but ultimately what drives the book forward is the conflict, and that conflict comes from your characters.

So it makes sense that you should get to know your hero and heroine really well. Better than you know your nearest and dearest. Maybe even better than you know yourself.

There are heaps of resources that tell you how to fill out your heroine’s character, but many of these focus on things like recording what colour eyes she has, or where she went to school. I think the idea is that then you don’t get her eyes changing colour half way through the book.

Sure, it would be annoying to realise you’d switched her from a blue-eyed babe to a brown-eyed girl in chapter six, but something that superficial is actually pretty simple to fix up during your edits. What’s much harder to fix is a character who is inconsistent or illogical in their behaviour; where this happens, it not only jolts the reader out of the story (something we want to avoid at all costs), it also creates distrust in the reader’s mind. 

It's imperative that you really know your heroine – and that goes way beyond eye colour and what she studied at university. Delving that deep into a character can be tough however, so I’ve put together a list of ten questions that I like to be able to answer about my heroines.

1.      What does she carry in her handbag?

Why? A woman’s handbag is a microcosm of her life. Beyond the usual requirements of purse, phone and keys, you need to know what she carries and what that tells you about her. Old receipts, discarded lipsticks, a handful of Euro coins, appointment cards, a cheap plastic ring from a cracker, scribbled phone numbers… (and that’s just my handbag!). Check out this flickr group for more inspiration.

2.      What’s her favourite CD of all time and why?

Why? Music links very strongly to powerful emotions. It’s possible to remember what was playing the first time you met your partner – even decades down the line. The last great summer between school and university might have its own soundtrack. Or perhaps there’s a break-up album that she can’t get rid of. Either way, if you find out what music she loves, and what emotion in provokes in her, you can start to understand some key elements of her backstory.

3.      Tea or coffee?

Why? Little details like this do matter due to what they tell us about her character and her backstory. Maybe she loves afternoon tea because it reminds her of Sunday afternoons spent with her grandmother. Or maybe she only drinks a boutique Guatemalan blend thanks to spending six months there doing charity work.

4.      Cats or dogs?

Or neither. Why? Having a pet gives you roots – you can’t jet off so easily when you have a furry friend to worry about. So a heroine on the run (either physically or emotionally) might be petless. If she does have a pet, what is it? A pedigree cat is much more high-maintenance than a mutt from the animal shelter, and might suggest similar about their respective owners.

5.      She’s running late for work, the car has a flat and….?

Why? It’s important to understand the way she reacts under stress. Does roll her sleeves up and change the tyre herself, or does she call roadside assist? Perhaps she decides to work from home, or does she see it as a sign she needs a day off, and head off to the shops?

6.      What Disney film did she love as a child?

Why? It’s all about the heroines in those films. Does your heroine love Sleeping Beauty (sitting around waiting for Prince Charming), or is she more of a go-getter like Pocahontas? Does she swoon at the idea of Cinderella and having a fairy godmother give her everything she wants, or is she like Ariel, willing to sacrifice everything for love?

7.      What is she most proud of achieving?

Why? This will give you a hint about what she’s most passionate about. It may have nothing to do with her current career, relationship or lifestyle, which will also give you some ideas about her internal conflicts. If she’s a corporate lawyer who’s most proud of her charity work, what does that tell you about her character and place in life?

8.      What is she most ashamed of doing?

Why? What she’s ashamed of doing is an important part of her backstory as it will colour everything she does from that point onwards. Going forward, her actions might revolve around hiding her past actions, or going out of her way to make sure she never does it again. Either way, one action from her past is impacting all her present actions.

9.      What stops her from sleeping at night?

Why? Waking up at four am guarantees one thing – your mind will start enough mental gymnastics to make sure you’ll not see sleep again that morning. But what back flips and somersaults does your heroine’s mind attempt? Is she worried about money? Her family? The environment? Where our mind goes when there’s nothing else to stop it shows us what we’re really worried about, which in turn reveals a lot about your heroine’s conflicts.

10.  What would she spend her last $20 on?

Why? When we were asked this at a recent team building event, there were some interesting answers; depressingly, most of the room said they would spend their last few dollars on cigarettes or red wine. But what about your heroine? Would she buy a train ticket and hand deliver her manuscript to the publisher she’s always wanted to work with? Would she donate it to charity? Or would she buy a toy for her favourite niece or nephew?

Really understanding your heroine means asking questions that will highlight her deepest fears, strengths and beliefs. What would you ask your heroine today?

By Serena Tatti

It’s likely that at some time most of us have skipped paragraphs of narrative and only read the dialogue. That’s because dialogue can move a story along more easily than loads of description. You can learn a lot about characters from their speech.  

Some suggestions that might help:

*Be true to the times: If you’re writing a book set in the past, research the language and the topics of the day. Inaccuracies can pull a reader out of the story.

*If your setting is contemporary, listen to people around you. Take notes if you have to (much easier nowadays with touchphones with inbuilt voice to text applications). Take note of the way people of different ages speak. What used to be groovy, hot, radical or mad, is now bad. Or maybe there’s another word.

*Remember to take into account the character’s upbringing and line of work.

*Dialogue gives us a sense of time and place by the words and phrases used.

*We can gain insight into the nationality of a character by using a few techniques from their native tongue. Perhaps if an Italian man is frustrated and searching for a particular item he might revert to not using contractions (because English is his second language) and using the order of words as he would say them in his native tongue. Instead of, “I’m searching for a large green box. It was unfortunately delivered here” he might say, “I am searching for a large box green. Was delivered here by misfortune.”

*A man who speaks in short, clipped sentences probably leads a busy life and needs to get on with it.

*A Regency hero who comes out with, “Cowabunga, dude!” is seriously out of his timeline – or perhaps a time traveller?

*A contemporary heroine who says things like, “Psychedelic!” or “Groovy baby” is either a child of “Flower Power” parents who grew up on a commune, or addicted to “The Brady Bunch” (or maybe “Dharma and Greg”?).

*Listening to “real dialogue” is very useful, but to make speech flow in your manuscript, it must also serve some purpose. Does it establish tone or mood? Does it help to reveal something about the character or the plot?  Does it add to the conflict?  

We often use pleasantries in everyday speech that would make your novel quite boring: “Hi, how are you?”

“I’m fine. How are you?”

“How are your parents?”

“They’re fine, too. How are yours?”

“Mum is fine but Dad has the flu.”

You can bypass this sort of thing by stating, *They exchanged pleasantries* or something similar. Get to the crux of the matter! Never pad out dialogue.

*While correct grammar is essential to good writing, people usually don’t speak in complete sentences. They speak in incomplete sentences, at times using only phrases. People interrupt each other. People tend to use *umm* and *aahh* a lot, but perhaps avoid doing this all the time because, again, it slows the pace.

If you pay attention to these little details, it can only make your manuscript stronger.