This information is from a panel I listened to a year or so ago. I took notes while attending a wonderful SF/F symposium called Life The Universe and Everything. The panels are very educational. The presenter was Paul Genesse.

–         The most common thing that makes books memorable is the character.

–         Recommended book: People’s Names by Holly Ingram.

–        Names that have the letter k in them are considered strong names.

–        Recommended book: How to write a damn good novel by James Fray.

–        A memorable character is created by giving them a trait that is beyond normal and has negative trails with positive. Real characters have flaws. You need to create an interest when reading about these characters.

–        If you want a rich character give them a family.

–        Need a hook. What does he/she want?

–        Go to the website keirsey.com. This site provides the four temperaments of people and four subcategories under each main temperament. It also provides personality tests. You can also see what your temperament is. Define your main and secondary characters with these traits.

–        Writers who have really good plots have really good books. Writers who have really good characters have really good careers.

–        As you rewrite you add traits that will attract the reader to that character. Create a character bible and can also keep track of history and physical traits etc.

–        Write a biography from the character’s point of view. It will point out what is important to them. People will lie from their point of view then add the truth.

–        Strong character’s make strong decision.

–        Don’t let circumstance blow your character around otherwise they are seen as weak.

–        Make a list of the major decisions the character makes in your book. Look at each decision and ask does this ring true to the story? What are your characters’ reasonable options? What does he want most in his life? What does he assume to be true but is not?

–        Ask yourself; is a decision at some point of the story out of character for this person? For example if he is normally selfish but shows an unselfish act that something prior to that act needs to make it so that we believe the new response. There will also be inner conflict if the person is doing something out of character.

–        Inner conflict can be useful when on goal of a character conflicts with another goal and he has to choose between the two or one will cost the other. Same thing with outer conflict.

–        As a character makes a choice, the writer should ask if this decision continues where will it lead.

–        Clues need to be inserted marlin in the story that will influence a decisions of a character and make that decision believable.

–        Your character must be growing and progressions at all times in the story.

–        A character’s actions may sometime conflict with what that character says.

–        Each chapter needs to be progressing or regressing. If a chosen chapter shows no direct than that chapter needs to be cut out. As long as there is believable movement, than the readers will be satisfied.

–        For a series of books you can provide a problem in book one that will provide growth of a character in a future book.

–        If a character makes a bad decision, he needs to do it for a believable reason.

I have a goal to contribute some of my personal comments in entries that contain notes and knowledge from other people. One of things I like doing when I attended panel is to give myself assignments. And as this panel was one of two years ago, I see that beyond typing up my notes from that presentation, I’ve never done any of my goals. I’m sure no one can relate to this characteristic.

I had a goal to go through my current book and actually make a list of the characters major decisions. I realized that I done this, I could’ve had a much better sequence of character arches throughout the plot of my book. It would be nice if I could follow the counsel that I so diligently type up from these talented people.

Some of the things I wrote down to use to evaluate my book were:

Make list of the major decisions the character makes in your book.

Look at each decision and ask does this ring true to the story?

What are your characters’ reasonable options?

What does he want most in his life?

What does he assume to be true but is not?

I remember making an observation on while ago about the usefulness of telling someone a plot that you’re working on. Because when the listener starts asking questions, they may ask things that you may not know until you try to answer the question. I found this useful when I was telling a friend of one of my plots and it was her questions that I created answers that added more debt to the original story. That’s just an additional idea Dave, consider using when you wanting to work on a character arch and character development of your own books.

If you have some ideas that you like to share on plotting or characterization, please provide comments in the appropriate section of this blog. Thanks