Usually I create an outline for a novel and race through the first draft. The resulting manuscript, as I noted in Writing The Zero Draft Of Your Novel, usually has tons of plot holes and characters who are more like stick figures.

I’m okay with that because that’s what rewrites are for.

Sometimes, though, what I don’t know about a character keeps me from moving forward.

Characters Who Don’t Drive The Story

Because I’m a fan of writing first drafts fast I don’t worry too much about side characters.

For example, in my current novel (The Fractured Man, the third in my Q.C. Davis suspense/mystery series) a character named Dan appears in an early scene. He’s a suspect in the murder at the heart of the book.

But I already know he’ll be eliminated as a serious possibility pretty early on. Also, while he’ll get in my main character Quille’s way as she investigates, doing that won’t depend on who he is as a person.

Because of that, right now he doesn’t have a whole lot of personality. Or backstory.

When I’m done with this initial draft, I’ll expand his character to fit what I need him to do and be. If he’s meant to be a red herring and mislead the reader, he may very well end up a three-dimensional, compelling character.

Sometimes readers end up loving those characters. Maybe because I have so much fun creating them after I’ve nailed down the plot.

For now, though, it’s fine for him to walk in and do what the plot requires.

The Characters Who Matter Most

Other characters, though, propel the story forward. The most obvious is the protagonist.

For The Fractured Man, my main character Quille continues from book to book. I have a good sense of who she is. For that reason, I thought I’d write the third book in the series pretty fast once I had the plot figured out. (I do a rough 5-point outline and make some notes, and usually it’s enough.)

I rarely worry about whether any one scene is exciting or dull at this early stage because it’s easier to figure out what’s working and not when I have a whole novel in front of me.

But if a major character lacks motivation, or I’m unclear how two people relate to each other and their feelings ought to drive the plot, everything falls flat.

Which was happening with The Fractured Man.

I found myself rewriting early scenes and struggling with momentum. I finally realized it was because I didn’t have a good feel for what was happening with Quille and her best friend from childhood, Caleb.

He comes to her for help after dropping out of her life when they were both twenty years old. For me (and therefore the reader) to believe Quille would do him a major favor after over a decade of silence, I needed to know how they felt about each other.

Not only right now but in the past.

Past, Present, and Future

Sometimes if you know a character well enough in the present, you can fill in the past as you go. Other times who that character was as a child makes a vast difference to who the person is now.

Think about Stephen King’s It, for instance. My love for the characters as children had a huge amount to do with why I found their story as adults compelling.

But the more I thought about Caleb and kicked around ideas in my head, the more frustrated I became. I could picture him, but I couldn’t quite get in touch with him.

So I took out some tarot card decks, which I use as creative prompts only. (Despite having written some horror fiction, I’m not a believer in the supernatural or the occult.) If you’re not comfortable with tarot decks, you can buy any sort of deck of cards with striking imagery.

I laid out a card for the past, the present, and the future from the Robin Wood tarot deck and did the same for an Angel tarot deck.

Without looking at what the cards supposedly mean, I wrote a few notes with my reaction to the images and card titles alone. I found the cards in the Future column most compelling.

The Sun seemed to me to portray Caleb’s whole personality. He sees himself as the center of the universe with everyone revolving around him. The upside down card The Lovers demonstrated what I saw for him in future relationships. Basically that he comes at love, friendship, and family relationships in an upside down way. Looking for what he can get first and then wondering why he doesn’t feel close with anyone.

From there I moved to the past and then the present. Though I’d thought I might write about his friendship with Quille, in the end I wrote only about Caleb.

Have I solved every issue, and filled in every blank, for Caleb? No. But it’s enough that I feel confident that I can keep writing from where I am, which is about one-fifth through the story.

What are your favorite ways to learn more about your characters?

That’s all for today. Until next Friday–

L.M. Lilly

P.S. Looking for more help creating characters? Download Free Character Creation Worksheets.

A friend recently passed on a point screenwriter Tony Gilroy (the Jason Bourne series, among others) made. He said that a writer’s understanding of human behavior caps the quality of that person’s writing.

I agree.

But how do we better understand human behavior?

I’ve got a lot of ideas about that, too many for one article. For today, though, I’ll stick with one – reading other people’s life stories.

Types Of Life Stories

Overall, I read far more fiction than non-fiction. But when I’m first drafting a novel I like to read non-fiction and, particularly, people’s life stories.

Life stories come in three basic varieties:

• Biography
• Autobiography
• Memoir

Autobiography and Memoir are really subsets of Biography. Also, the lines between them can blur.

But for simplicity’s sake I’ll talk a little about each separately.

Biographies

A biography is a person’s life story told by someone else.

Biographies are usually based on research and source materials such as interviews, letters, original manuscripts, books, newspaper articles, etc.

I like biographies specifically because the author draws from multiple sources. That means getting different points of view about the life story that’s presented.

You might get a glimpse into how a daughter, a chief of staff, or a leader of a foreign state saw the President of the United States in a certain timeframe. Each of those people no doubt will interpret the president’s behavior in different ways, attributing different motives to the action and having different reactions.

Also, a biographer often stands at a distance and places the subject’s life in a broad context.

I like reading biographies of people I both agree and disagree with. After the 2008 U.S. Presidential campaign I read books about Barack Obama, John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and Sarah Palin.

Autobiographies

Typically told in first person, in an autobiography the author writes about her or his own life.

Unlike memoirs, which I’ll talk about next, an autobiography is usually pretty wide ranging. It covers the author’s real life to date. The author usually shapes the story in a creative way so it has a narrative, but the idea is to stay fairly true-to-life and include from childhood on.

If the author/subject is a public figure, I like comparing the long-term perspective of the autobiography to what the author said at the time in news reports or interviews. (Or if it’s a contemporary figure, on social media.)

Memoirs

In contrast to autobiographies, memoirs typically are narrow in scope. Rather than trying to tell a complete life story, the author collects personal memories connected by a specific emotional experience or theme.

For example, last fall I read Educated.

The memoir traces a young woman’s journey from being home schooled in a family that takes an isolated, survivalist approach to life to earning advanced degrees and choosing a vastly different life from the way she was raised.

A memoir’s tone is often less formal than an autobiography. When I read one I usually feel I get a better sense of who the author is and how that person speaks and thinks. Memoir writers often employ a bit of poetic license, combining characters, using pseudonyms to protect others’ privacy, and including dialogue as best as they can remember.

What crosses the line from fact to fiction often creates controversy.

Of the three forms, I find memoirs go deepest into the point of view of the author/subject. Maybe for that reason, memoirs feel more immediate than either biographies or autobiographies.

Putting It All Together

Here’s why I feel reading people’s life stories helps me create more well-rounded characters:

• I love getting multiple takes on the same person.

That can come from multiple sources in a biography or from reading more than one book about the same person. It makes it easier for me to imagine the many different ways my characters will see one another.

• All three forms help me understand the points of view of people whose circumstances are very different from my own.

That makes it easier to write three-dimensional characters whose circumstances differ from what I know based on my own life and the people I’ve personally met.

• I like to shut my eyes and imagine stepping into the shoes of each character I write.

The more life stories I read, the easier it is for me to do that.

• Memoirs in particular expand the different ways of speaking and writing that I’m exposed to.

I find that especially helpful when writing first-person narratives. Or writing dialogue that’s unique to each character.

• Memoirs and autobiographies challenge me to figure out how honest or accurate I feel the author is being.

That in turn pushes me to truly understand each of my characters. And to remember that a character’s stated reason for doing something, even if the character truly believes it, might be very different from the real motive.

That’s all for today. Until next Friday–

L.M. Lilly

P.S. If you’d like some help with creating characters you can download my Free Character Creation Tip Sheets.

Sometimes having a good imagination and being a good writer can increase anxiety. My own busy writer’s brain tends to circle the same thoughts, ask a lot of What Ifs, and conjure worst-case scenarios.

But all that creativity can also help us become calmer and happier, which is the subject of a new non-fiction book I’m writing: Happiness, Anxiety, and Writing: Using Your Creativity To Live A Calmer, Happier Life.

Below is an excerpt:

Using Questions Proactively

In the past when I felt anxious I looked around until I found what I thought was making me feel that way. I tried to think myself out of anxiety by asking these types of questions:

• Why do I feel anxious?
• What’s going wrong that’s causing these feelings?
• What might happen today that I’m worried about?

Because it’s rare that life is perfect, there was always something that was a concern or might become one in the future. And sometimes significant things were happening that would cause anyone to feel anxious.

The problem with these questions is that if you ask them, consciously or unconsciously, you’ll likely spiral into greater anxiety. Similarly, if you’re apt to wake up feeling discouraged or in a depressed mood, these questions and their answers will likely sink you deeper into feelings of helplessness or hopelessness.

But what if instead you asked yourself:

• What can I do this very moment to feel just a little calmer?
• What can I do this very moment to feel just a little happier?

I included the phrases “this very moment” and “just a little” intentionally.

Those words stop my mind from pushing back and insisting that it’s impossible to be calm or happy given what I’m facing. Even in awful moments, such as after my parents’ deaths, I could almost always do something in the moment to feel just a little better.

Becoming Just A Little Calmer

When something you fear looms or you feel anxious regardless what’s happening around you try asking and answering those two questions.

To give an idea how this works I’ve listed common answers my mind gives me below.

• Drinking a glass of water (especially first thing in the morning when I’m apt to be dehydrated)
• Thinking of someone I care about and hoping that person will have a good day
• Stretching (hands, wrists, shoulders, feet, any part of my body)
• Reimagining a good moment from the day or week before
• Writing things I’m grateful for
• Reading a page of an encouraging book

Your answers will vary, I’m sure, from mine or from anyone else’s. But however you answer, the two questions about feeling better are likely to provoke answers of things you can do quickly. If you do them, you’ll likely feel a little calmer and happier than if you regularly ask and answer the first three questions in this article.

Sometimes you’ll find there really was nothing of concern and things are going pretty well.

You may have awakened unsettled, but the feeling was a holdover from a bad dream, a result of the chemicals that shift your body to wakefulness from sleep, or an ingrained and unconscious habit of scanning for trouble the moment you awaken (or throughout the day).

Regardless, once you feel a little better you can check in with yourself. See if there is any concern you need to address. In fact, if you make a practice of checking in it’ll reassure you that it’s fine to first get a bit calmer and then take care of whatever needs taking care of.

Happily, you’ll be more able to keep it in perspective and deal with it in a calmer frame of mind.

For example, let’s say you have a presentation that afternoon and you don’t feel fully prepared for it. Now that you’ve taken a few minutes to feel better you can decide when you can fit in preparing for that presentation. Even if you realize you have little time to prepare, you can ask yourself what’s the quickest thing that you can do to do the best job possible under the circumstances.

Intense anxiety, though, may require more than shifting your mindset….

That’s all for today. Until next Friday, when I’ll talk about how reading biographies can help you write stronger characters—

L.M. Lilly

If you’re struggling to start writing, or to finish what you write, you may fear failure.

Asking questions like the ones below is a clue that you may have this fear, even if it’s unconscious:

• What if I spend all this time writing and I never finish?
• Or I start writing and find out I’m no good at it?
• What if no one buys what I write?
• And what if people criticize my writing or write bad reviews?

If you suspect the fear of failing might be part of what’s keeping you from setting or meeting your writing goals, here are some thoughts about overcoming it.

Redefine

Let’s start with looking at how you define a failure, and asking whether you can revise it in a way that won’t get in the way of writing.

For instance, if you define failure as failing to try something you want to do, then you can choose whether or not you fail because you can choose to try. If you write something, anything, you won’t have failed because you tried.

On the other hand, if succeeding or failing rests on other people’s actions, such as buying or not buying your books, or their reactions, such as criticizing your writing, you’ve got limited say over that. That definition of failure puts success out of your control.

So why not choose a definition that gives you the most say over your own life?

Moving Forward Despite Fear

But let’s say in your heart it matters deeply to you what others think of your writing. Redefining failure may feel like semantics.

Success to you may mean people buying your books or selling a certain amount of them or getting rave reviews. Many writers, including me, set all those goals.

The key is not pretending those things don’t matter, it’s moving forward despite those fears.

Just as I don’t let feeling nervous my first day teaching a new class keep me from doing it, you don’t need to let fear of failure keep you from writing.

You can ease yourself into this by imagining yourself writing. Take a few minutes to shut your eyes and picture yourself typing, writing in a notebook, editing pages, or holding your finished book.

Next, in real life practice writing when you feel anxious about it. Start with a journal entry or list of favorite movies if you need to. Get used to feeling afraid and writing all the same.

Odds are the feeling will fade. Before you know it you’ll be writing your novel or whatever other projects you set your heart on.

Ask New Questions

Another approach is to look carefully at the list of questions above. Add any others that spark worry about writing or make you tense.

Now write out different questions, ones designed to ease your transition into writing.

For instance, you could ask yourself:

• Which writing project am I most excited about?
• What do I love about spending time writing?
• What three things can I do to improve my writing skills?
• How can I find ways to increase my chances of selling any book I finish?
• What do I hope readers will like best about my writing?

Each time you begin to dwell on your fears or concerns, you can ask yourself one of these types of questions. It will help redirect your mental energy toward enjoying writing and getting better at it.

Results Rather Than Failures

Finally, you can decide there are no failures, only results. (A view I’ve seen attributed to many different people, including Tony Robbins, and which has helped me the most.)

Most everything we learn in life is a process of doing something that doesn’t work, changing our approach a bit, and trying again. Whether it’s learning to walk, swim, ride a bike, or write a book that sells, most of us need to “fail” many times to learn.

For example, I published a novel, When Darkness Falls, in a genre I don’t otherwise write in. (Paranormal romance/gothic horror.) When I offer it free for Kindle it gets some downloads, but it rarely sells. In fact, it took two years before it earned back what I spent paying a service to convert it for Kindle and for a cover.

I could see it as a failure.

Instead, I value what I learned from it. I figured out how to publish a paperback using the KDP dashboard for the first time. It’s also the only novel I published in Kindle Unlimited. I use it to experiment with Kindle Countdown deals and free days. And it’s a good one to try out different ad platforms because any sales I do see almost certainly result from the ad.

In addition, it’s a book I wrote before my successful Awakening supernatural thriller series, though I published it after. I see a progression in my writing from that book to the Awakening series to my newest suspense/mystery series.

As another example, I once told my brother Keith, who has loved taking photos all his life, how my favorite photos of myself (and pretty much anyone else) were ones he took. I asked him how he did it.

He said, “You don’t see the thousands I throw away.”

This was back when all photos were taken on film, meaning he spent money on the film and processing for each one. He could easily have viewed all those thrown-out photos as failures and let that stop him. If he had, he’d never have produced so many images that have made so many people happy.

He also wouldn’t be the excellent photographer he is today.

By seeing the results of his efforts, adjusting his approach, and choosing the best photos, he succeeded in his goals.

That’s all for today. Until next Friday–

L.M. Lilly

P.S. This article is based on an excerpt from the latest draft of my new non-fiction book Anxiety, Happiness, and Writing: Using Your Creativity To Live A Calmer, Happier Life. To get a notice when it’s released (as well as a Free Story Structure Worksheet), join the Writing As A Second Career email list.

Below are a few things I’ve learned to omit from dialogue to make it sound more real.

I say “sound more real” because, as I mentioned in Improving Your Dialogue, the best dialogue gives the feel of true-to-life conversation, but doesn’t duplicate it.

If it did, it’d be pretty dull.

Leave Out the Uhs and Ums

Uhs, um, likes, and you knows are words and sounds most of us say some or all of the time. Consciously or unconsciously we use them to stall for time while we think, to fill pauses, to show we belong to a social group that uses them, or simply out of habit.

Just as professional speakers strive to eliminate them, most of the time so should we as authors.

That’s because while they certainly sound realistic, using them distracts and annoys most readers. They stand out in print, where we’re not used to seeing them. Also, these filler words and sounds can make your characters sound less confident, more hesitant, or younger than you mean them to be.

Which brings me to why you should use these vocalizations some of the time.

If saying “uh” or “you know” reflects something about your character (age, nervousness, discomfort in social situations), then by all means include it. Even so, you probably don’t want to put these types of phrases or words into your character’s conversation as often as they might occur in real life.

Let’s say you’re modeling your character after someone who says “you know” in nearly every sentence.

On the page, that will probably drive your readers crazy. So you might try “you know” in one out of three or four lines of dialogue.

If you’re uncertain, find some books where you love the dialogue. See how the author handles these types of words and how often they appear, and use that as your guide.

Don’t Say Hello or Good-bye

Pay attention next time you see a phone conversation in a movie or on a television show. The actors rarely greet one another with Hello or Hi or end calls with Bye. When they’re done talking they just hang up the phone.

In real life, we’d consider these characters rude.

That’s especially so because, along with greetings like Hi or Good-bye, most of us ease into and out of conversations whether in person, by text, or by phone. Rarely do we simply walk away or hang up.

Typically one person on the phone says something like, “I should let you go.” The other responds by agreeing but typically adding something about talking again soon, or having a good week. The other person responds in kind. There’s often some sort of “take care” or “be well” back and forth and finally both parties say good-bye and hang up.

The beginnings of many conversations are similar.

Usually both people exchange Hellos and How Are Yous that go on for a minute or two before they talk about anything significant.

If you included these types of interactions in every conversation in your novel, you’d massively extend its length without furthering the plot.

You may  get in a little character development, but your readers will likely miss it, as they’ve probably taken to skimming the beginnings and endings of all the conversations.

Here are a few ways to omit these types of exchanges without making your dialogue seem unrealistic:

• Start the scene when the conversation is already in progress
• Summarize the beginning or end of the conversation or both
• Include a word or two in one character’s dialogue to give the flavor of a Hello and Good-bye sequence: “Hey, Juan, I’m calling about the party.” or “I’ve heard enough. Good-bye.”

Eliminate the Is

In my Advanced Playwriting class in college (I got a Writing degree–did you guess that?) I read a scene in class. The professor, Paul Carter Harrison, wrote one of my lines on the board: “I’m sorry.”

When I finished, he said, “Nobody says ‘I’m sorry.'”

At first I was confused. I thought he meant no one ever apologized, which obviously isn’t true.

Then he explained that he meant that unless it’s a very formal situation or there’s some reason for emphasis, people say “Sorry” not “I’m sorry.”

As I started listening more to people and to myself, I realized how often we omit pronouns when talking about ourselves.

As an example, which of the two dialogue sections below sounds more realistic?

1. “I’m sorry I’m late. I had to stop at Starbucks because my mother wanted coffee.”
2. “Sorry I’m late. Had to stop at Starbucks–Mom wanted coffee.”

Two is probably spot on for most characters.

Of course you could have a character who speaks more formally or precisely, and that person might use the phrasing in One. Also, depending on your character’s speech patterns, you might write some combination of the two.

Further, the situation matters.

At a funeral a person might well say, “I’m sorry about your mother’s death” rather than “Sorry your mom died” because the latter sounds terse for the circumstances.

But I’d start with One as a default and go from there.

That’s all for now. Until next Friday–

L.M. Lilly