Today, I was looking at forums, and saw someone ask a pretty important question.
It's no doubt that your character grows. It should be natural for it to happen. You should put your character in so many different situations, that they naturally just grow. Of course, it's the publishing biz, and nothing, absolutely nothing, is as easy as "natural."
So, first you have to define your character. Let's take my MC, Bryce, as an example.
The first chapter opens up, and you're introduced to this...
womanizing, arrogant prick.
Before you can hate the boy too much, I put him through a pretty brutal situation. His mother is sprawled across the kitchen floor -- lifeless in her own pool of blood. His father had just been shot, but wasn't dead. Instead, his father sat on his knees suffering from the pain of the wound. He can't speak, and the only sounds made are the gargle of his own blood.
It's tragic. It's something meant to be so terrible, it'd stick with him for the rest of his life, but of course, I wanted to paint out his character.
The demon who held the gun that put the bullets through his parents puts the cold metal into his palm.
"Humans, interesting to say the least. Will you use the last bullet to put your father out of his own misery? Or, will you turn the gun on me?"
So there's the decision. Shows two completely different personalities. Compassionate, caring, considerate versus resentful, vengeful, and violent.
Bryce chooses to turn the gun on the demon, and that decision, forever shaped him. Without family, without a real committed relationship, and without any dreams -- he sacrifices his life to gain the power to kill this demon to extract revenge for his parents' death (of course, when he turned the gun to the demon, he didn't kill her).
Throughout the book, he'll have a couple more situations where he could help someone or get revenge, and each time he chooses the route of revenge.
It isn't until many bad decisions later, that he realizes revenge isn't everything to life. That killing the demon won't bring his parents back, and a saved life is more important than anything else in the world.
The growth is important, not only because it makes the character more likable. The entire book Bryce is struggling with his past, not his parents death, but the fact that he is the devil. As the story builds, he lives his life just like the Devil once had. Hatred and revenge fueled his every move, which eventually caused the fallen angel to turn into the devil. Once Bryce learns the value of a life, and that it is more important than getting revenge, it's his first shining hope that he won't become the one thing he's been fighting against: evil.
Now, there are a few things about a character's growth that you should take into account.
Let's put the book into four quarters. If your character acts one way 25% of the book, then goes through dramatic changes after the first quarter, and acts "changed and enlightened" the other 75%, it's not going to be obvious growth.
If your character acts one way half way through the book, and the enlightened way the other half, it means you resolved your plot way too early, honestly.
Personally, I think your character should change 75% through the book, while his change is the reason whatever major plot point was resolved.
Anyone that knows me knows I'm a passionate person. And I like drama (at least.. in books). I think a character's growth should be BIG. Personally, I mapped mine out like this:
It's no doubt that your character grows. It should be natural for it to happen. You should put your character in so many different situations, that they naturally just grow. Of course, it's the publishing biz, and nothing, absolutely nothing, is as easy as "natural."
So, first you have to define your character. Let's take my MC, Bryce, as an example.
The first chapter opens up, and you're introduced to this...
womanizing, arrogant prick.
Before you can hate the boy too much, I put him through a pretty brutal situation. His mother is sprawled across the kitchen floor -- lifeless in her own pool of blood. His father had just been shot, but wasn't dead. Instead, his father sat on his knees suffering from the pain of the wound. He can't speak, and the only sounds made are the gargle of his own blood.
It's tragic. It's something meant to be so terrible, it'd stick with him for the rest of his life, but of course, I wanted to paint out his character.
The demon who held the gun that put the bullets through his parents puts the cold metal into his palm.
"Humans, interesting to say the least. Will you use the last bullet to put your father out of his own misery? Or, will you turn the gun on me?"
So there's the decision. Shows two completely different personalities. Compassionate, caring, considerate versus resentful, vengeful, and violent.
Bryce chooses to turn the gun on the demon, and that decision, forever shaped him. Without family, without a real committed relationship, and without any dreams -- he sacrifices his life to gain the power to kill this demon to extract revenge for his parents' death (of course, when he turned the gun to the demon, he didn't kill her).
Throughout the book, he'll have a couple more situations where he could help someone or get revenge, and each time he chooses the route of revenge.
It isn't until many bad decisions later, that he realizes revenge isn't everything to life. That killing the demon won't bring his parents back, and a saved life is more important than anything else in the world.
The growth is important, not only because it makes the character more likable. The entire book Bryce is struggling with his past, not his parents death, but the fact that he is the devil. As the story builds, he lives his life just like the Devil once had. Hatred and revenge fueled his every move, which eventually caused the fallen angel to turn into the devil. Once Bryce learns the value of a life, and that it is more important than getting revenge, it's his first shining hope that he won't become the one thing he's been fighting against: evil.
Now, there are a few things about a character's growth that you should take into account.
When does the character finally grow?
Let's put the book into four quarters. If your character acts one way 25% of the book, then goes through dramatic changes after the first quarter, and acts "changed and enlightened" the other 75%, it's not going to be obvious growth.
If your character acts one way half way through the book, and the enlightened way the other half, it means you resolved your plot way too early, honestly.
Personally, I think your character should change 75% through the book, while his change is the reason whatever major plot point was resolved.
How do you personally like the character's change to come through?
Anyone that knows me knows I'm a passionate person. And I like drama (at least.. in books). I think a character's growth should be BIG. Personally, I mapped mine out like this:
- Define the character.
- What must change in order for the character to achieve his final goal?
- Name three HARD decisions the character must go through before his growth happens. What all does he lose before he realizes he must change?
- How is he ultimately rewarded when he does change?
So, once again, I'm back.
I ended up getting incredibly sick for almost three weeks. After a couple doctor visits, and lord knows how much medicine, I'm all better. =)
Then, I had to spend way too much time doing make-up-work at work. I'm all caught up, finally! So, I'll be able to give writing a closer eye.
I left off in the middle of my query. When I was sick, I couldn't do much writing (I dosed in and out of sleep every hour... was terrible). So I spent my time reading.
Normally, I enjoy books. Not as much as I used to since I have a critical eye, but I do. I rarely ever enjoy someone's novels so much that I want to write about them, though. And ladies and gents, I have to tell you, if you enjoy romance in the least bit, give Monica McCarty a try.
She's got three trilogies going (not what I'd call your traditional "trilogy," but three books with the same characters, just different stories and MCs.) I'd suggest Highland Scoundrel for the first of her books. It's phenomenal, especially for a romance.
I believe anyone writing from any genre could appreciate Highland Scoundrel. Monica has some of the best tension I've ever seen, and her plot/set-backs are perfect. As I said, I very rarely promote a book, but for educational purposes, I think everyone should give this a read. Phenomenal author, and the golden story to represent her.
I ended up getting incredibly sick for almost three weeks. After a couple doctor visits, and lord knows how much medicine, I'm all better. =)
Then, I had to spend way too much time doing make-up-work at work. I'm all caught up, finally! So, I'll be able to give writing a closer eye.
I left off in the middle of my query. When I was sick, I couldn't do much writing (I dosed in and out of sleep every hour... was terrible). So I spent my time reading.
Normally, I enjoy books. Not as much as I used to since I have a critical eye, but I do. I rarely ever enjoy someone's novels so much that I want to write about them, though. And ladies and gents, I have to tell you, if you enjoy romance in the least bit, give Monica McCarty a try.
She's got three trilogies going (not what I'd call your traditional "trilogy," but three books with the same characters, just different stories and MCs.) I'd suggest Highland Scoundrel for the first of her books. It's phenomenal, especially for a romance.
I believe anyone writing from any genre could appreciate Highland Scoundrel. Monica has some of the best tension I've ever seen, and her plot/set-backs are perfect. As I said, I very rarely promote a book, but for educational purposes, I think everyone should give this a read. Phenomenal author, and the golden story to represent her.
Note to self: when your eyes are goosh and you are considering putting something up for review.
Don't.
After working hours to do my query, there were tons of elementary mistakes. My query just got rocked, hah. Although it's embarrassing that I put such trash under my name, I'm going to try and make it a positive.
But on a random side note, it seems like when there are elementary mistakes, more people give you feedback. When my second version of the query was up there, I had one comment in 4 days. This was up for about 12 hours and already has 5. The more feedback the better.
So far, this is what the feedback looks like after I corrected the grammatical mess I started with.
Their thoughts are in red, mine are in blue.
Blood. The sprays of red liquid across his kitchen floor haunt the helpless seventeen-year-old, Bryce Bourbon. With his parents dead, Bryce attempts to kill Becca, the sadistic demon who murders his family, but fails. He knows her name? Perhaps I'm wrong, but a query should be told from the stance of the author, not the character. I'll have to look into it.
Desperate for enough strength to knock the mocking grin off Becca's face, he abandons the comforts of New York to go to a hidden city in the Philippines, the Abyss. You introduce three different locations in one sentence. If he never goes back to NYC, it *really* doesn't need to be mentioned. You also need to carefully consider whether it matters that the hidden city is in the Philippines, too [See, and I was told to be specific where the Abyss was in previous feedback. It could be in the garage or alleyway somewhere..? Not sure what to do here.] Despite Bryce's accident-prone nature, the war academy What war academy? You only mentioned a hidden city [And that's why I'm giving you more information about the hidden city =( Guess I should make it omega infodump?] successfully trains him as an elemental-wielding assassin. With avid experimentation he learns he can conduct Aether, a power much like an atomic bomb so it blows things up using fission? Really? [Actually, yes, yes it does. That's my worlds form of magic.]that only one person was known to manipulate: the Devil. I think this should be capitalised, if we're talking about the ultimate devil. Agreed, so I did.
After utilizing Aether, hallucinations overcome Bryce. Mass genocide. Rape. Torture. The more he uses the wicked magic, the more these nightmares come. When he sees the devil's reflection, Bryce realizes the scenes weren't simple illusions -- they are memories. His memories.
Becca knew who the young boy was the second her eyes fell on him. Killing his parents should have been enough to suppress him, but when she realizes her old home, the Abyss, has enrolled the devil, Becca blackmails his friends to turn on him – hoping one will get lucky enough to kill Bryce before he realizes who he is or the power he contains. Screw Becca. She's the antagonist. Stick to Bryce. // Why are we suddenly thrown into her POV? [Once again, conflicting feedback. Someone tells me that my query is bad because it doesn't mention enough about the antag, and this one is telling me to fuck her. *cry*]
With his friends' betrayals and the constant threat behind his explosive power, Bryce must eliminate the treacherous imp before her plans to massacre humanity are carried out. There's one problem: he's becoming the very evil he's fighting against. I'm sorry, I don't get this at all. If Becca's intent is anti-humanity, why wouldn't she be trying to *enlist* Bryce to her cause? [Because she's Queen Bee now. If the devil shows back up she loses that spot. I'm going to need to figure a short snappy way to get that across so it doesn't confuse the reader.]
Ah. That stung. I'm late for work. I'll ask a couple questions about the conflicting feedback, and see what people have to say.
Don't give up, don't give up.
Update:
One of the critters gave me a bit of amazing advice (well, her entire crit did, but she added to it!)
Question: The POV switch - While I wasn't told to do a POV switch, I was told that I needed to show the antag and the personal threats between her and the protag. I figured it would best be done from her point of view.
Answer: Yes, we need to see the antagonist and the personal threats - but we need to see the impact it has upon the protagonist.
Hopefully, your villain is the hero to her own story. It doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is the filter through which the protagonist sees all this. Is he rocking in a corner and hiding coz he's terrified of what she's doing to his friends? Is he so bent on revenge that even though she's *actually* as cute as a kitten he's gonna rip her to shreds anyway? Does every move she make only piss him off more? That kind of stuff is what we need to know.
---
One step closer. Now, I need to get my mind screwed on straight and apply the advice. Woot.
Okay, after getting some lunch in, I decided I was going to apply the advice. Attached is the revisions I need to make, and I'll probably give it a day before I try to tackle it.
Don't.
After working hours to do my query, there were tons of elementary mistakes. My query just got rocked, hah. Although it's embarrassing that I put such trash under my name, I'm going to try and make it a positive.
But on a random side note, it seems like when there are elementary mistakes, more people give you feedback. When my second version of the query was up there, I had one comment in 4 days. This was up for about 12 hours and already has 5. The more feedback the better.
So far, this is what the feedback looks like after I corrected the grammatical mess I started with.
Their thoughts are in red, mine are in blue.
Blood. The sprays of red liquid across his kitchen floor haunt the helpless seventeen-year-old, Bryce Bourbon. With his parents dead, Bryce attempts to kill Becca, the sadistic demon who murders his family, but fails. He knows her name? Perhaps I'm wrong, but a query should be told from the stance of the author, not the character. I'll have to look into it.
Desperate for enough strength to knock the mocking grin off Becca's face, he abandons the comforts of New York to go to a hidden city in the Philippines, the Abyss. You introduce three different locations in one sentence. If he never goes back to NYC, it *really* doesn't need to be mentioned. You also need to carefully consider whether it matters that the hidden city is in the Philippines, too [See, and I was told to be specific where the Abyss was in previous feedback. It could be in the garage or alleyway somewhere..? Not sure what to do here.] Despite Bryce's accident-prone nature, the war academy What war academy? You only mentioned a hidden city [And that's why I'm giving you more information about the hidden city =( Guess I should make it omega infodump?] successfully trains him as an elemental-wielding assassin. With avid experimentation he learns he can conduct Aether, a power much like an atomic bomb so it blows things up using fission? Really? [Actually, yes, yes it does. That's my worlds form of magic.]that only one person was known to manipulate: the Devil. I think this should be capitalised, if we're talking about the ultimate devil. Agreed, so I did.
After utilizing Aether, hallucinations overcome Bryce. Mass genocide. Rape. Torture. The more he uses the wicked magic, the more these nightmares come. When he sees the devil's reflection, Bryce realizes the scenes weren't simple illusions -- they are memories. His memories.
Becca knew who the young boy was the second her eyes fell on him. Killing his parents should have been enough to suppress him, but when she realizes her old home, the Abyss, has enrolled the devil, Becca blackmails his friends to turn on him – hoping one will get lucky enough to kill Bryce before he realizes who he is or the power he contains. Screw Becca. She's the antagonist. Stick to Bryce. // Why are we suddenly thrown into her POV? [Once again, conflicting feedback. Someone tells me that my query is bad because it doesn't mention enough about the antag, and this one is telling me to fuck her. *cry*]
With his friends' betrayals and the constant threat behind his explosive power, Bryce must eliminate the treacherous imp before her plans to massacre humanity are carried out. There's one problem: he's becoming the very evil he's fighting against. I'm sorry, I don't get this at all. If Becca's intent is anti-humanity, why wouldn't she be trying to *enlist* Bryce to her cause? [Because she's Queen Bee now. If the devil shows back up she loses that spot. I'm going to need to figure a short snappy way to get that across so it doesn't confuse the reader.]
Ah. That stung. I'm late for work. I'll ask a couple questions about the conflicting feedback, and see what people have to say.
Don't give up, don't give up.
Update:
One of the critters gave me a bit of amazing advice (well, her entire crit did, but she added to it!)
Question: The POV switch - While I wasn't told to do a POV switch, I was told that I needed to show the antag and the personal threats between her and the protag. I figured it would best be done from her point of view.
Answer: Yes, we need to see the antagonist and the personal threats - but we need to see the impact it has upon the protagonist.
Hopefully, your villain is the hero to her own story. It doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is the filter through which the protagonist sees all this. Is he rocking in a corner and hiding coz he's terrified of what she's doing to his friends? Is he so bent on revenge that even though she's *actually* as cute as a kitten he's gonna rip her to shreds anyway? Does every move she make only piss him off more? That kind of stuff is what we need to know.
---
One step closer. Now, I need to get my mind screwed on straight and apply the advice. Woot.
Okay, after getting some lunch in, I decided I was going to apply the advice. Attached is the revisions I need to make, and I'll probably give it a day before I try to tackle it.
Blood. The sprays of red liquid across his kitchen floor haunt the helpless seventeen-year-old, Bryce Bourbon. With his parents dead, Bryce attempts to kill Becca, the sadistic demon who murders his family, but fails.
Desperate for enough strength to knock the mocking grin off Becca's face, he abandons the comforts of New York to go to a hiddencity war academy in the Philippines, the Abyss. Despite Bryce's accident-prone nature, the war academy he successfully trains him graduates top in his class as an elemental-wielding assassin. With avid experimentation he learns [weak verb] he can conducts Aether, a power much like an atomic bomb that only one person was known to manipulate: Lucifer [instead of "the devil"].
After utilizing Aether, hallucinations overcome Bryce. Mass genocide. Rape. Torture. The more heuses [weak verb] triggers the wicked magic illusions, the more these nightmares come. he perceives these nightmares as memories. His memories. Bryce is the reincarnation of the Devil. When he sees the devil's reflection, Bryce realizes the scenes aren't simple illusions -- they are memories. His memories. [Personal preference, I liked the reincarnation of Lucifer. Seems a bit more specific than memories.]
Becca knew who the young boy was the second her eyes fell on him. Killing his parents should have been enough to suppress him, but when she realizes her old home, the Abyss, has enrolled the devil, Becca blackmails his friends to turn on him – hoping one will get lucky enough to kill Bryce before he realizes who he is or the power he contains.
With his friends' betrayals and the constant threat behind his explosive power, Bryce must eliminate the treacherous imp before her plans to massacre humanity are carried out. [Too much on the plate, plot wise.] if he wants to stay alive. There's one problem: he's becoming the very evil he's fighting against.
Desperate for enough strength to knock the mocking grin off Becca's face, he abandons the comforts of New York to go to a hidden
After utilizing Aether, hallucinations overcome Bryce. Mass genocide. Rape. Torture. The more he
Becca knew who the young boy was the second her eyes fell on him. Killing his parents should have been enough to suppress him, but when she realizes her old home, the Abyss, has enrolled the devil, Becca blackmails his friends to turn on him – hoping one will get lucky enough to kill Bryce before he realizes who he is or the power he contains.
With his friends' betrayals and the constant threat behind his explosive power, Bryce must eliminate the treacherous imp
