Revising Characters

This revision layer does not require you to cut all descriptions of clothes, hair, and accoutrements. Rather, it asks you to take a fresh look at your descriptions and decide if they are meaningful and powerful rather than bland and boring.

The best way to do that is to look at each character individually and each instance in which you have described them.

1. Save a copy of your draft as “Character Description (insert character Name)” and delete everything but the sections that deal with that character (keeping chapter references). It is critical that you revise at this level for your protagonist, antagonist, love interest. If you want to be thorough, do it for your secondary characters as well. Walk-ons deserve a brief look, but not necessarily a file.

If you prefer, you can peruse a printed version of your manuscript and highlight or circle the descriptions of each character separately. You could mark them with different colored ink or stick-on tabs. 

The important part is that you start at the beginning of the story and read through that character looking for continuity mistakes, character definition, and consistency.

2. Have you described the character as he enters the story?

3. Have other characters described this character?

4. Are your descriptions meaningful and original or full of clichés and weak adjectives? Have you repeated the same descriptive information over and over?

5. Are there instances of dissonance or change?

6. Do words and actions illustrate the character? Do they play against type? Are you promoting stereotypes?

7. Is your point of view character’s description of someone accurate or inaccurate due to his personality, past history, or  current situation? Does his opinion change?

8. Have you used clichés or purple prose?

9. Have you made changes in one area and forgotten to change them in the rest (hair and eye color, history, clothing choices).

10. Have you changed their name? Make certain it is changed everywhere! Make certain it is spelled the same everywhere.

11. Have you given them so many nicknames, terms of endearment, or shortened names that it becomes confusing?

It helps to have a character profile nearby when revising for each character listing their visual appearance, quirks, speech style, personal style etc.

You can create your own profiles or utilize the ones provided in Story Building Blocks: Build A Cast Workbook (which also include personality traits).

Story Building Blocks II: Crafting Believable Conflict paperback

Story Building Blocks II: Crafting Believable Conflict E-book

Story Building Blocks Build A Cast Workbook paperback

Story Building Blocks Build A Cast Workbook E-book

Conflicts of Project Runway

For the month of December, I have decided to rerun a few of my favorite posts from years past. This post was originally published on September 30, 2011.

I have to thank Project Runway for inspiring this post. Design competition shows are filled with creative personalities, which make them a terrific cauldron for conflict.

At some point someone decided to wear clothing, possibly to ward off the elements, keep warm or protect their skin from insects and thorns. Then Jane decided that if Dick could wear a bear skin, she could wear a lynx skin. Then Sally decided that if the others could wear skins, she could wear leaves and flowers. I doubt seriously anyone ever wore fig leaves. They would chafe. Nevertheless, the insanity, once begun led to Paris Fashion Week, America’s Next Top Model, and What Not To Wear.

In the case of Project Runway, clothing designers are given a challenge such as make a garment out of party supplies or garden plants. They are given a specific amount of time (usually little), a budget (miniscule), and are told to “make it work.”

In putting your characters through their paces, having them do something that involves a limited amount of time, materials, or options adds tension. For example, Dick may need to make a bomb out of items from someone’s garage in under ten minutes.

How the characters in your story address a challenge will vary depending on their personality types, life experiences, and level of ingenuity. If Sally, Dick, and Jane were competing on Project Runway, it might go something like this:

Dick quickly assembles the pieces based on a firm understanding of how things fit together. He will construct something fabulous and wearable. He will be focused on the construction of the thing. He will be secure in his talents. He will not be worried about what the rest of the contestants are thinking or even what the judges might want. He knows he can rock it. He is probably completely unaware of what the others are doing, though he may turn his critical eye toward their efforts when he is done early.

Jane dithers and worries and procrastinates until the last minute. She will be worried about doing the right thing. She will keep an eye on what everyone else is doing and change her mind five times. She will worry about whether the rest of the contestants like her efforts and fear the judges will hate it. Because she has wasted time, she will have to throw something together in a panic at the very last moment and hope it passes muster.

Sally will toss everything into a pile and stir it around a bit, admire the color and the sheen. She will enjoy the artistry of the challenge. Nothing is too wild or crazy. She will put together something completely different from what was intended with hot glue. It will be impractical and the model will require double-stick tape to keep it in place while she walks down the runway. It would not even occur to Sally that the others could fail to appreciate her genius. Her methods will feel like fingernails on chalkboard to the other contestants.

The fourth contestant, Ted, might ponder, consider, and plan the details down to the final stitch before he ever picks up shears. When he finally starts, he will work the plan and end up with a finished product as the clock strikes done that is sturdy and workable. He will be confident that his attention to detail will pay off. Ted will be completely oblivious to everyone until he is done. He will disdain both Jane and Sally's garments and think they are idiots. Ted will be hurt when the judges tell him that his garment is too fussy and lacks imagination.

When assigning your character a challenge, think about how they usually go about doing something. What are their strengths? What are their usual methods? Then take all their crutches away. Force them to work at something they are uncomfortable with. Force them to work with people with opposite approaches. The result will be conflict.