Cues from the Coach: Taming Your Characters

Taming your characters? This is not to be confused with making your characters tame. If your story is set in the wild, wild West, on an African safari, or on the trail of a serial killer, you can’t think “tame.” Besides, in the minds of your readers, “tame” is likely to mean boring. “Boring” does not sell books—or manuscripts.

So what does “tame” signify in this context? Suppose you want to tame a wild animal or even a dog or wolf hybrid that has been running free and fending for itself. How would you begin? Some basic rules about safety and training play into the picture, but a less tangible element weighs heavily into the success of any such undertaking. What’s that? Observation.

That makes sense, but we’re talking about “taming,” not “observing.” True, but animals, like people, have unique personalities. By watching their behavior, noting their likes and dislikes, and considering their habits and their heritage, you can often learn more about the critters than you’ll ever find in a book. But how does that relate to “taming your characters”?

Detailed character sketches—pain in the backside that they are to create—teach you everything you need to know about the people who populate your story. Did one or more of the grandparents come from another country? Does the character love tacos and hate sushi? When your protagonist is stressed, does she rub her left elbow or cross her legs and swing her foot? Where did he go to school? How does she feel about marriage and relationships? What events in his childhood shaped his current attitude? What are her sleep patterns, his goals, her taste in clothing? (Note that appearance is not included. Yes, it’s important; but without far more detail, it alone creates flat characters that are soon forgotten.)

Answering the above questions may seem a useless waste of time, but the responses play a major role in the development of your characters’ personalities. Does your reader need to know all this? No. But you do. And you need to know it for all your characters, not just your protagonist(s). Why? That’s a lot of extra work. If you know your characters as well as—or even better than—you know yourself, those characters will never step out of character in your story. They will be real three-dimensional people to your readers—people they can relate to, cheer for, love, or hate. Your readers will laugh or cry, be brave or fearful, feel hope or despair right along with them. This makes your characters memorable because you’ve “tamed” them in the sense that they are true to themselves and to their place in your story. And it makes your audience long to read your next book.

Do you have a question that can be answered with a cue from the coach? Let me know. I may be able to feature that topic in a future post.
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Editor Linda Lane coaches writers through rewrites of their manuscripts. By using the writers’ own works rather than a generic text as a basis for the lessons, she individualizes each course to fit the needs of the writer and to enhance the development of a marketable book. Visit her at www.denvereditor.com. Watch for the inclusion of a new team member, a movie producer who specializes in working with aspiring screenwriters.