A subway car is a microcosm of life. Its riders are a random sampling of society, the characters in that scene from life's novel. Look at this picture. Who are these people? What would happen if a disaster struck, if the train jumped the tracks moments after this picture was snapped? The answer depends on the personalities of the people thrown together and what they carry with them in terms of priorities and their life experiences.
I'm a virgin novelist, as many of you know. I may be approaching this project backwards, but it's occurred to me that assembling my first cast of characters is a little like walking onto a subway train and picking a handful of people. As I get to know the strangers I've invited into my project, I'm reminded of a great truth in life: We're all struggling down our life paths.
Nobody has it easy in life. You can take five people, for example, and in the group have:
As I flesh out my characters, I appreciate the importance of acknowledging all the successes and failures with which the characters are dealing, within the time frame of the novel. How a person acts and reacts in a scene is dependent on the combination of their conflicts and what they've experienced in life. I'm enjoying exploring what those things are and deciding how they will impact the plot of the novel.
What about you? When you start a project, are you more apt to know the personalities you need and build characters around them? Or are you like me and create characters who then reveal themselves in ways you didn't anticipate, so that you have to adapt the plot to accommodate them?
I'm a virgin novelist, as many of you know. I may be approaching this project backwards, but it's occurred to me that assembling my first cast of characters is a little like walking onto a subway train and picking a handful of people. As I get to know the strangers I've invited into my project, I'm reminded of a great truth in life: We're all struggling down our life paths.
Nobody has it easy in life. You can take five people, for example, and in the group have:
- A successful Marketing Rep
- A gorgeous fitness model
- A creative storyteller
- A well-known entertainer
- A Martha Stewart-style homemaker
- A person paralyzed by fear of failure
- A woman who kicked her cheating husband out but is afraid to divorce him and truly be on her own
- A drug addict, in and out of rehab
- A blind person
- A first-time mother transitioning to the new life of parenthood
As I flesh out my characters, I appreciate the importance of acknowledging all the successes and failures with which the characters are dealing, within the time frame of the novel. How a person acts and reacts in a scene is dependent on the combination of their conflicts and what they've experienced in life. I'm enjoying exploring what those things are and deciding how they will impact the plot of the novel.
What about you? When you start a project, are you more apt to know the personalities you need and build characters around them? Or are you like me and create characters who then reveal themselves in ways you didn't anticipate, so that you have to adapt the plot to accommodate them?
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