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Writing Fiction


When they don't identify with those in your publication, feel their pain, and understand why they struggle to achieve an insurmountable goal, they have no reason to provide you their precious time. If you don't understand your characters, they will not be real to the reader.


Getting to know your characters is a excellent place to begin when plotting your book. Plotting and outlining are related but not precisely the same thing. There are authors that make detailed outlines before they even think about beginning their manuscripts. Other people believe that summaries stifle their creativity.


We'll cover the choice of outlining in a future article. But if you are going to write a book, you must understand what genre you'll be writing in. You have to know what your story will be about - the storyline. But, most importantly, you have to know your characters.


There are various methods writers use to get acquainted with their characters. I suggest creating their characters and compelling needs before you name them pick on looks. The cause of this is that all of us have unconscious beliefs about the sort of person would have a name such as Jane, Joe, Sally, or Athena. If we knew a individual with a specific name before, we'll unconsciously attribute that individual's traits to the same-named personality.


This goes for looks also. Research indicates that when folks look at random photos, they will automatically feature specific personality traits to them, based solely on their appearance. So, it's sensible to get to know your characters.


All your most important characters need a compelling need. This is something they'll risk anything to attain or avoid. A excellent way to get to know your characters and determine what it is they want above all else is to research their past. They need to have been hurt deeply at some stage. Maybe it had been childhood abuse. They might have been raped or assaulted at some time in their lifetime. The majority of us understand how living through the holocaust or the wonderful depression left scars on the survivors.


Let us begin with the antagonist, who's usually the villain. Yet, if you would like to get to know your characters, you will need to understand what they're struggling against. Your protagonist's deepest need is going to be jeopardized by the activities of the antagonist.


Accordingly, in getting to know your characters, in this case, the antagonist, you need to get inside your own skin.


How was your antagonist so deeply injured they would resort to murder, among the most horrifying acts possible? Not only was she mistreated at home. She was teased relentlessly in school. She became anorexic so as to get rid of the weight and feel that she had some control in her life. However, she never forgot the abuse at home or in college.


Now, it is up to you to choose how she is going to manage it. Who is she mad at? Who does she want revenge? Is your protagonist handsome or pretty, such as the popular kids who used to torment her? Or, is your protagonist a little bossy, such as your antagonist's parents? To understand your characters you have to get inside of their minds. In future articles we will work on the protagonist. For now, we would like to feel what the antagonist feels.