Writing Meme Day 9 & 10

[erastes]

Sorry – missed a day.  Got a bit sidetracked yesterday and then collapsed in a heap.

9. How do you get ideas for your characters? Describe the process of creating them.

This might be a little long – so I apologise in advance.  It’s not a science for me…

I generally get the idea for a book first and a nebulous idea for the characters. e.g. Here’s the thought process for Mere Mortals (vastly abridged)

- Was listening to a programme on the radio which was discussing a book about cloning.

- Author was talking about how she wrote a book about cloning in the 60’s.

- Started to think: Hmm… What if a character did xxxx … for these reasons…

- THEN I started to create characters. I rarely do much more to them than just have “Young man has been made ward of court to stranger and book starts as he is travelling to the place.  I don’t generally know much about the character at that point – and I grow to know more about him as I write.  I like this process, because I’m learning about the character at exactly the same speed as the reader would be. I know there are some writers who do huge character profile sheets about their characters in advance, and will know his inside leg measurement and the different colours in his iris, but I like to do it slowly, or I’d be tempted to info dump. Sometimes my beta will say “what’s his name?” and I’ll not even know that, he has to “find” his name (as previously described) and get comfortable with it, like a comfortable pair of leather shoes.  Crispin had a couple of surnames in Mere Mortals, before I ended with Thorpe, and I’m still not entirely comfortable with Philip Smallwood, despite the fact I’ve finished the book. 

As for their characters – I treat them like people I’ve just met.  I don’t know anything about a stranger’s character if I meet any in real life, so I treat them with the same cautious tolerance and as they work their way through their first introduction they gradually begin to take shape—I get a feeling of their build and colouration (I rarely KNOW exactly how a character looks like exactly, so am always stumped when a publisher asks for photos of actors or models who might be similar to them in looks – I feel that if I don’t know exactly, then it’s easier for my readers to fix them in THEIR minds – and that’s more important. Plus – I won’t be disappointed when Hollywood pick someone unsuitable. LOL.)  (If they cast Ambrose as dark haired and Rafe as a blond there will be trouble, however)

When my characters begin to interact with others, and think backstory thoughts, that all helps to cement them in my mind, and generally by the third chapter or so, I’ve got a pretty good idea of how they work, and what issues they are carrying with them.  It’s been a lot of fun with The Muffled Drum to learn about the two main characters.  We come upon them in the first sentence in a full-formed relationship, so they know more about eachother than I do, which has been endlessly fascinating to unravel.

I know. None of that makes sense, does it? You want sense?  You are SO in the wrong place.

10. What are some really weird situations your characters have been in? Everything from serious canon scenes to meme questions counts!

I assume this is aimed a little at fanfic, but I’m not going to discuss my fanfic here.  I don’t know about weird situations, though, it’s hard for me to ascertain what anyone might consider weird or not…

I don’t actually think I’ve done anything I’d consider weird. Even my sci-fi isn’t particularly weird—just space-bois trying to make a living.   Perhaps the WORST situation is when Jonathan in Transgressions is suckered into the Witchfinders.  It’s a very difficult thing to explain from his point of view. He has a lot of guilt issues (hence the name of the book, after all.) And he’s drawn to the Witchfinders after coming out of the English Civil War and he sees—after years of people trying to kill each other, and after thinking himself an abomination—a group of people who are trying to do good. Not only that, but they are (to his eyes) doing good for GOD, and for Jonathan (it actually makes me weep to describe it) that’s like a lifeline for him. A drowning man clutching at salvation.  Here he can perhaps atone for everything he’s done wrong.  The fact that they were accusing women of witchcraft and hanging them (no burnings, don’t believe the hype) didn’t enter into it.  Jonathan is analytical about this – he wants to be SURE that these woman are guilty before punishment, he wants to be convinced that they will get a fair trial—and Matthew Hopkins does exactly that.

The fact that Hopkins was a charlatan doesn’t enter into Jonathan’s mind until it’s far far too late, and by then he’s trapped in a nightmare of submission and control.

Perhaps it’s not “weird” by many people’s standards, but it took a lot of character investigation, and I put him through hell. Sorry, Jonathan. *kisses him*

 

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