Advanced Brilliant Writing: Make Your Plots Wider and Your Characters Deeper (Go! Write Something Brilliant) (6 page)

After a few dates, perhaps you had a first fight. He or she reacted to that fear of getting hurt. In that moment, you saw their history with love, maybe even a hint at their deepest fears, making you think back to the events that shaped them. Suddenly you felt as if you looked inside their hearts, and if your fight made you a stronger couple, then it made your heart more tender toward him or her as you understood their insecurities and perhaps embraced their dreams.

Finally, you came to the place where you knew you had to go forward or break up. You came to that barrier between dating and true love, and if he struggled to cross it, you saw his darkest fears and his spiritual lies that kept him from finding happiness. Hopefully he or she broke through the barrier with an epiphany or truth that gave them the courage to declare their love.

Ahh . . . I love falling in love. Seeing the heart of someone else, and embracing it.

And your reader does too.

The first key to deeper characterization is a technique called Character
layering
.

Character Layering

Character Layering is all about slowly revealing the heart of your character—to your other characters in the story and, ultimately, to your reader.

But doesn’t my reader need to know about my character in order to love them?

No.

Think back—if you knew everything about your spouse or significant other when you met them, would you still go forward? Perhaps it’s best if we fall in love layer by layer.

More than that, your reader wants to dive into the story, and too much too soon just bogs it down. If you dump your hero’s entire bio onto the page, not only will it seem forced, but it also will lack impact. The fun of getting to know a character is discovering who they are and what makes them tic. The best part of a book is discovering the
Dark Secret
, or desperate motivation, behind their actions. If you reveal it all at once it lacks punch, and you’ve stolen the emotional impact of the story from the reader.

Character Layering solves the problem of what to tell, when.

The reason we see huge chunks of
Backstory
in a novel is because the author is trying to figure out their own character. They’re getting into their character’s skin and working through his layers to figure out his behavior. This is perfectly acceptable . . . for a rough draft. Go ahead and put on your character. Take as many pages as you need and then . . . cut it. Put it in a “Character” file and
then
start your story.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Before you can unlayer your character, or even start your story, you have to build your character.

And that means . . . Backstory.

It is essential to know the Backstory of your character
before
you start the book because as I mentioned, you want to start your story quickly, without too much bio. But you need to understand your character because it’s their Backstory that causes them to react in present. The reader just needs to see the
outcome
of the Backstory, and how it affected your character.

So, how much Backstory should you develop?

Answer: Enough to know your characters motivations for why he/she does the things they do in your story.

If your character loved to draw as a child and always dreamed of being an artist, that’s only important if it has something to do with the plot. If he’s a detective solving a murder, it might not have anything to do with the story. However, if he is asked to draw the suspect and rediscovers the rusty talent he had, then perhaps it is slightly important. If, even better, he loved to draw, and had talent, but his father told him he was a terrible artist (in order to discourage such a “frivolous” career), and the story is about a policeman who discovers that he has the ability to see the crimes in the pictures he draws, (and thus was always meant to use this God-given gift) well, suddenly this Backstory takes on relevance.

As the author, you always want to figure out what elements of their past molded them into the people they are today. Mostly because you’re going to use the fears and dreams, the secrets and mistakes from their past to construct their story, and to help your reader fall in love with your character.

I’ve read countless books where the character seems to have been born on page one. They’re flat, uninteresting, even unbelievable. Even worse, however, is when the character’s entire life history is fleshed out in the first three chapters. I’m not going to remember (as a reader) what college he/she went to. But tell me that he witnessed a murder as a ten year old, and yes, that I’ll remember.

If you’ve read
How to Write a Brilliant Novel
, you know that I am a proponent of sitting your character down and chatting with him about why he is who he is. This is how you discover the Backstory, and is essential for a well-rounded, three-dimensional, living, breathing character, and the key to creating a hero/heroine that your reader will root for.

So, what questions do you ask to discover their Backstory?

If you’ve taken any of my classes, read the My Book Therapy blog, or read
From the Inside . . . Out
, you know I like to use the Five Elements of Self-Esteem as a foundation for plotting and character development.

I also like to use them for building the elements of layering.

For a more in-depth explanation of the Five Elements of Self-Esteem and how to build them into a plot, check out
How to Write a Brilliant Novel.
(This is available through the My Book Therapy store, or at Amazon.com)

The Five Elements of Self-Esteem help us determine who our character is, why they do the things they do, what their greatest fears and dreams are, how to make them suffer, how to craft the
Black Moment
, their perfect Epiphany, and finally the happily ever after ending.

They will also help us layer our character, step by step.

What are the components of our character’s layers?

Identity:
Everyone has an identity they use to introduce themselves to others. The first layer reflects how they see themselves, or how the world sees them.

When you meet someone for the first time, you are basing your impressions on who they are by how they dress, what they are doing at the time, perhaps the speech they use, and the way they introduce themselves. This gives us the first glimpse as to who they are. So, who is your character? What identity does he give himself? What external trappings go along with that identity?

What impression do they give to the world because of that identity?

For ,
from my book
Happily Ever After,
my hero Joe, considers himself a drifter, and when he meets the heroine, Mona, for the first time, he looks like one—a wreck of a truck, a duffle bag, a mangy dog, faded jeans, work boots, a flannel shirt, a scruffy beard, a hint of unkempt hair. He even wears his muddy boots into her house, indicating that he really doesn’t think about things like decorum. He’s showing that he’s much more concerned about hard work and hiding himself than he is about presenting a clean image.

Book Therapist Questions:
Who is your character? What sort of attire, behaviors, mannerisms and trappings go along with that identity?

Now, before you panic and think . . . wait, that’s so stereotypical! I don’t want you to write cardboard characters—don’t panic! We’re just setting up the components of the layers and, as you go, you’ll discover even more facets to your character’s identity.

Noble cause/Purpose:
Behind every hero, there’s a reason why he does the things he does. In
Braveheart
, the death of his bride compels William Wallace to fight for a free Scotland. In
The Bourne Identity
, it’s Jason Bourne’s quest to discover who he is.

In determining your character, you need to know what happened in his past that made him the person he is today. What was his darkest moment? Usually, it is this moment that contributes to his Noble Cause (and creates a superb foundation for letting the heroine see through his cracks to the vulnerable heart of the man inside).

Usually a person will do anything to make sure this dark moment is not repeated. Often the Noble Cause is directly related to either atoning for that dark moment, or protecting himself or others from it.

You’ll use this information in developing a
Layer of Revelation.

Book Therapist Question:
What happened in your past that molded your goals and purposes today?

Competence:
We like heroes who can take care of themselves, who know what they’re doing. It builds our confidence in them and causes them to be heroic. What is that one thing that your hero does well?

The Bourne Identity
is a wonderful movie that showcases Bourne’s skills. We know that his girlfriend is safe with him, even though many assassins are on their tail.

Even computer geeks can be heroic when we see them using their skills.

Book Therapist Question:
What is your character good at, and how is that shown on the page? In a romance, you can go further and ask: What skills does your hero possess that he uses to save the heroine?

Security:
When I’m plotting, I use the element of
Security
to pinpoint that point of no return, when a character must fish or cut bait. But when I’m working on layers, I use a character’s
IN-security
to discover what his worst nightmare is. What are his deepest fears? What is he going to avoid at all cost?

Often you can discover these fears by going back to that darkest moment in the past. At some point in your story, your reader will be pushed to his limits. In that moment, he or she will either turn back to safety, or face their fears and move forward.

Discovering what he is most afraid of, what makes him feel most insecure, will add another layer to your character that will be revealed shortly before or after the dark moment.

In Donald Maas’s workshops, he talks about finding that one behavior that your hero would never do. For example, building on
The Bourne Identity
, I doubt that Jason Bourne lets himself fall in love . . . and yet, there he is, falling in love with the heroine half-way through the movie.

What prompts a hero to do something he would never do?

Answer:
His greatest fears pushing against him, his biggest dreams dangling before his eyes . . . and the realization that he wants something different, something more. Bringing your character to this place, and revealing this for your reader, or heroine, is a pivotal emotional point on the journey.

Book Therapist Question:
What is the one thing your character would never do, and what would make him do it?

Belonging:
What lie keeps him away from God and why?

Because of your character’s darkest moment, they will have learned from it something that holds them back from happiness. We all operate with lies in our lives, and your character is on this journey to be set free. So, he must learn a truth, sometimes referred to as the Epiphany, in order to be set free to complete his mission, or to be able to love. Understand this lie will help you create the last layer, the one closest to his heart.

Book Therapist Question:
What lie has he believed that has broken him?

Now, you should have interviewed your character enough to understand his Backstory, how he sees himself and why, what his motivations and goals are, what he has to live or fight for, what he’s good at, what brought him to this place, what lies he believes, and what truth will set him free. These are the components you need to dress your character.

Take your Character Deeper

Okay, you’re going to stop looking at other books and movies now . . . and turn your focus inward. I want you to interview your character. Yes. Sit down, have a cup of coffee in hand, lock your door, and imagine your hero (or heroine) in your mind. You are the therapist—and it’s time to get to the bottom of things!

• Basic Bio
  
• Name
  
• Age
  
• Profession
  
• Who are you? (Identity) How do you express this identity through your appearance?
  
• What monumental event in your past shaped you and determined your goals and motivations for today? (Noble Cause/Purpose)
  
• What are you good at? (Competence)
  
• What is the one thing you would never do, and what would make you do it? (In-Security)
  
• What is the lie that you believe, and what truth will set you free? (Belonging)
  

Building the Five Layers of Your Character

Okay, now we have the components to who he is. Now let’s clothe him in his layers.

Layer One: His Attire:
(which reveals his Identity) mannerisms, clothing, public goals

Going back to the question about his identity, we’re going to build an initial impression of our character, the one he gives off to our heroine, and our reader. There will probably be inaccuracies, just as real impressions are, but underneath the exterior, we want to glimpse his essential identity:

Below are excerpts from a book I wrote a few years ago:
Escape to Morning.
The hero is an undercover Homeland Security agent who is posing as a reporter. But Will’s essential identity is protector. He is from South Dakota, so we’ll dress him like a cowboy, and he’s pretending to be a reporter, so he’ll have some of those curious attributes as well. His goal is to get our heroine, Dannette, to trust him. Later on, she’ll realize that he lied to her about his identity, but he can’t totally divest himself of who he is, and we see this in the first layer: