Wednesday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

FOR WRITERS ON THE VERGE OF WRITING SPECTACULARLY COMPLEX CHARACTERS

By: K.M. Weiland

The most ironic thing about complex characters in fiction is that the essence of what makes them so wonderfully complicated is actually incredibly simple. Complex characters are complex for one reason: dichotomy. That one word is the solution to all your character problems. Cliched stereotypes? Fixed. Dysfunctional character arcs? Done. Boring personalities? No more!

For all its grand simplicity, dichotomous complexity in our characters can actually be surprisingly easy to overlook. We can get so caught up in creating a hero or a loner or an orphan or an idealist that we forget what makes any person interesting is the surprising contrasts, the seeming contradictions–the place in our lives where our virtues collide and coexist with our faults.

Creating Complex Characters in Their Beliefs and Motives

We sometimes use “complex” synonymously with “complicated.” But what complex really means is “made up of many working parts.” Complex characters are those who have more than one facet. Remember when we were studying character arcs, and we talked about how any character change must revolve around two completely opposite beliefs: the Truth and the Lie (as represented by the Thing the Character Needs and the Thing the Character Wants). It is these two beliefs, at war within the character, that creates the catalyst for fascinating themes and character studies.

A character who wants one thing, pursues it with single-minded focus, and achieves it is boring. How much better when he wants and believes in two totally different–and, even better, exclusive–things? We all do this. Be super-model skinny and also eat ice cream before bed every night? You bet!

In real life, this ability of ours is often frustrating, but it’s always an opportunity for learning more about ourselves and the world in which we live. Same goes for our characters. In Martin Brest’s Meet Joe Black, Death wants to end his loneliness by living as a human, while on another level he is compelled to continue his duty as the Grim Reaper.

Creating Complex Characters in Their Roles

. . .

Read the full article HERE!

~*~

If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

1. Two Tools Self Publishing Authors Need To Succeed | Just Publishing http://ow.ly/K902R
2. Double Your Adverbs, Double the Trouble | Live Write Thrive http://ow.ly/K90sA
3. In Defense of Fluff - Women Writers, Women's Books : Women Writers, Women's Books http://ow.ly/K90yC
4. How to Avoid Staring at a Blank Screen - Elizabeth Spann Craig http://ow.ly/K90KO
5. 7 Key Character Motivations | James Royce Patterson - @thePenleak http://ow.ly/K90PN
6. Fifty Writing Tools: Quick List | Poynter. http://ow.ly/K90WC
7. A Weird Way to Beat Writer’s Block http://ow.ly/K9124
8. Writer Unboxed » Literary gender shape shifting http://ow.ly/K919j
9. Karen Woodward: Crying Uncle: When Should We Lay A Story Aside? http://ow.ly/K91h3
10. Marketing, Advertising, & Public Relations: Can You Have One & Not the Others?? - Where Writers Win http://ow.ly/K91nu
11. Writability: Vlog: On Writing Messy Characters http://ow.ly/K91rF
12. 6 Ways to Build Your Readership Without Social Media http://ow.ly/K91yO
13. Between the Lines- The Official Blog of the Books & Such Literary Team : Books & Such Literary Management http://ow.ly/K91BI
14. 4 Pathways to Publishing: DIY, Assisted, Pro-Team, and Subsidy Options — The Book Designer http://ow.ly/K91Ha
15. 44 Social Media Tools Recommended by the Pros | Social Media Examiner http://ow.ly/K91L0
16. Author Earnings Dashboard | The Passive Voice | http://ow.ly/K925N
17. Author, Jody Hedlund: 3 Surefire Ways to Generate Book Ideas http://ow.ly/K9t5Z
18. For Writers on the Verge of Writing Spectacularly Complex Characters - Helping Writers Become Authors http://ow.ly/K9tfp

Happy writing and running, Kathy