Meeting Your Characters
By Donna McCrohan Rosenthal, East Sierra Branch
You don’t realize until you try to write fiction. You can research and conjure up a setting. You may create the plot. Whether you start with an outline or only a general idea in your head, you will have characters in mind. But as soon as you arrive at action and dialogue, it occurs to you that you only partly share control with the people you’ve set in motion.
The delightful Who’s writing this story? by Robin Newman and illustrated by Deborah Zemka for children ages 7-11 (Creston Books, 2024) spells out the challenge as the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf argue with an author over how to tell their saga. The first pig, a professor, asserts, “I’m crazy smart. And a crazy smart pig would never build a straw house.” Then come the second pig, the third, and the wolf. Each has an opinion that totally diverts the tale.
Newman and Zemka cleverly demonstrate what happens when you begin with one direction planned, then discover that it doesn’t work, ideally because you’ve devised such strong characters that they have more complicated personalities than you first thought.
Who’s writing this story? also briefly explains the five basic elements of a story: characters, setting, plot, conflict, and resolution. Youngsters will find this useful, but we should, too.
Do know where we want to go with our narrative? How we will get there? Most importantly, do we listen to the characters who will propel us along? Multi-dimensional and nuanced characters will talk back. Stick figures don’t.
Would one guy really show so little conscience? Does another respond as convincingly as bland oatmeal? Do they exhibit credible motivation, or not enough common sense? Do they ring true?
Think about it. What would possess a pig to build a house of straw?
If we did a good job fashioning our characters, they will make us look crazy smart as they carry us over the finish line.