Night 5 Writing Tip

Lindsay Eland, author of SCONES AND SENSIBILITY, coming out on December 22 from Egmont USA (OMG! That’s 5 days people!), posts today! To find out more about Lindsey and her books visit her at www.lindsayeland.com

 

A Somewhat Revealing Post

There is a lot more to who we are as people than just what we say, right?

We are people who feel and think deeply yet so differently about everything from the Twilight craze to the African Aids epidemic.

We react to all our surroundings revealing to everyone around us how comfortable we are on stage or in a crowd at Disney World.

And we each have our own unique backstory that illuminates the very essence of who we are in this very moment.

So it has to be with the characters we create. Our stories must be saturated with character.

William Goldman said, “If your characters are saying only what they’re saying…you’re in trouble.”

How true.

Everything that you write must reveal that character you want us to follow and sympathize with, and cry over, and cheer for.

We must see him or her through every single setting.

Feel what they feel at every moment and turn—their reactions coloring every bit of prose and every description.

He or she must be revealed in every tidbit of backstory, every line of exposition, every detail from the cereal they eat at breakfast to the music they play on their ipod.

Everything must reveal character.

Because just as we are people worth watching and paying attention to and listening to, and cheering for, so our characters must be as well.

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