Players
Every story needs a Character or two. So, you should know your basic story. You must know your genre.
Who is your story about? Who are the main characters, the players?
And most importantly…how will they change?
Think of your favorite books or movies and the main characters they housed. Your favorite characters grew and changed because of the events of the story. You wouldn’t have liked spending time with them if they hadn’t. Your closest friends from the pages seemed like different people when you closed the book compared to when you opened it. These are the kind of characters you want to write.
Will all your characters change? No.
Only MAJOR characters change. A minor character doesn’t get enough “screen time” (or “page time”) to go through meaningful change. And not ALL major characters change. That’s what you’re deciding today.
Flat Characters: AKA Static Characters – These are characters that DO NOT change. They may be minor characters who don’t get much time in print. We’ll deal with minor characters in another template. And there could be some major characters who are just too stubborn to change.
Round Characters: AKA Dynamic Characters – These are characters who DO change. Maybe they come to realize something new about themselves. They gain a confidence they never had. Maybe they become jaded or bitter. There’s a good list of potential changes here.
*Please realize this is not the same as “Hidden Depths” where the READER comes to discover something about a character that has been true all along. It just was revealed slowly. (This is a very cool thing if you can pull it off because it makes a FLAT character suddenly ROUND.)
Me?
• Ike Maxwell began as a cocky cattle baron who wielded power without shame. He is desperate in the middle. He is humble and broken by the end.
• Justice Maxwell first appears in the book with a singular distrust of his father and intense guilt from his sister’s death. Will he find forgiveness for himself and Ike??? Not telling.
You can find out by reading Choosing Justice. Check it out on Amazon.
You?
You need time to ponder your major characters.
Remember:
My FREE novel planning templates are available beginning June 14, 2021 from my Novel Planning page here, along with links to the brief blog posts like this one that explain my use for them. You will also find links to posts describing my additional planning templates that are available here in my Shop.
I have to admit that I’m loving the time I spend in the word as I put a visual to the text. 1 Kings 19:12 tells how God was in the Little Voice. We just have to be still and listen sometimes.
You can contact me on my Facebook page, 13Prayers, if you have any questions or comments.
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