Not long ago, I was wandering through my local library and found the book Getting Into Character: Seven Secrets A Novelist Can Learn From Actors by Brandilyn Collins. Unpleasant memories of my high school drama class came hurtling back to me. Two guys getting into a fight during our improv, and me standing there stunned, unable to utter a coherent sentence. Disaster 101.
I slipped the book back onto the shelf and bolted out of the section, leaving my painful past behind.
A week later, I returned to the library and checked the book out. By the end of the day, I was dying to try out the advice (some of which I already knew). I also developed a new found respect for actors. I didn’t realize how much work is involved in getting ready for a role. They really do know the character they play, inside and out. And depending on the role, they do tons of research beforehand to understand the character’s psyche. You can’t play a teen with a bipolar disorder if you know nothing about the condition.
I’ll admit, I’m a huge fan of pre-planning and research. I like to know my characters and the plot before I start writing the first draft. True, both develop further as I write, but it helps to know where I’m going before I start typing. I found the first chapter of Getting Into Character to be especially enlightening at this stage of my writing. You learn how to personalize your characters beyond the typical questionnaire. I have a pretty extensive one I like to use, but nothing prepared me for getting to know my characters better than the exercises in chapter one of Brandilyn’s book.
Through questioning, you’ll discover your character's values. From the values, you'll identify the character's traits. And based on these traits, the subsequent mannerisms will be developed. No more forming random lists or stereotypical characters. Plus your readers will be able to tell your characters apart. They’ll be vivid on every page of your novel. It’s a lot of hard work, but I promise the results are worth it. You’ll be shocked just how flat your characters were before.
And that’s only chapter one. The rest of the book is also bursting with great advice to help your characters leap off the page. And isn’t that what you want when you pick up a novel from the bookstore shelf? I know that’s what I’m searching for.
So even if drama wasn’t your strong point in school, you’ll find the advice in Getting Into Character invaluable. And your readers and characters will thank you for it.