Handling deaths in our stories

 Death scenes are difficult to pull off convincingly. I am sure that whenever a writer chooses to let one of the characters die, it’s an agonizing decision for him/her.

Killing a character in a series can be quite a hard task. I feel it would require a very strong reason for the character’s death. And the readers have to contend with reading the rest of the books in the series minus their favourite character.

Well, I shouldn’t be saying this, but when Dumbledore died in the Potter books, I cried. I also soaked my handkerchief when Dobby died. Even the characters in Hunger Games, the ones in the arena who had to die a gruesome death made me uncomfortable. I’m not sure I can put myself up to killing one of my characters.

For one of my Picture Books ( I have never written a PB, these are just short stories I hope to pitch as Picture Books), I did make one of the main characters die. My new Crit Partner Andrea Mack was appalled. She thought small children would be distraught at the character’s death. In the new version the death was eliminated. 

So far I have been extremely lucky that I have not had to kill a character in my Middle Grade books. Though in the Zespirit Trilogy I am writing, there are a few characters the villain kills. But I show them as flashback scenes. And the readers never meet these characters. They just hear about them.

A writer I met told me that when she doesn’t know what to do with a character she kills them off. I thought that was weird and sheer laziness. There has to be a better reason to kill a character. Killing a character and starting the story in flashback is taking the easy way out. But it’s a workable idea.

 I feel that the death of any character should be crucial to the plot. The character’s death should literally turn the story upside down. There should be a strong plot twist, a few revelations and secrets that tumble out of the closet with the death of a character. 

 Have any of you killed a character in your books? Do you plan to kill a favourite character in one of your stories? How will you go about it? The death of which character in a book made you feel sad? Any killing advice you can give us?

Do our Personal Beliefs Colour our Stories?

 I have realized that most of my personal beliefs (the values I have been taught from childhood) affects my writing in a big way. Whatever values have been inculcated in me colours my characters and impacts my stories.

It’s scary because my sense of right and wrong has always been very strong right from childhood. The one and only time I lied to my mother as a child, I was awake the entire night with guilt. The next morning I sat outside her bedroom and the moment she emerged I confessed the truth and was engulfed in a tight hug.

The reason I use the word scary is because as I write Middle Grade fiction, I need to add gallons of naughtiness and spice in my stories. No child will like reading stories about good kids who drink their glass of milk, eat spinach, obey their elders, do their homework on time. Children will find these kids pretty boring.

I do create naughty characters, but I have noticed that even these characters of mine have their intrinsic good qualities. I became aware of this when toying with the idea of my protagonist Rahul, the MC of my Paranormal Middle Grade Trilogy who develops   the  ability to do Spirit Magic decides not to use magic to excel in his maths exams. This would be something I personally would have done.

If it came down to a choice, I would have preferred failing than using my new found magic abilities to pass an exam. I don’t know why I made that decision for my character. Not as a writer, but as a person. When I realized this, it made me a bit worried.

Should I have let my character Rahul decide whether he needed to use magic to pass an exam and make his parents proud. Rahul’s low marks always get him into trouble at home. This was a perfect opportunity for him to shine in his father’s eyes. Why did the writer in me not grab that opportunity?

I am wondering why did I make that decision for Rahul? Does this happen to you? Have you made decisions for your characters? Have you let your personal beliefs cloud your writer’s or story telling decisions? How do you balance between your own beliefs and the need of the writing hour? Any advice for me? 

Potholes to Avoid While Writing

For most of us writers, our first drafts are bloated and full of errors. That should not be a cause for worry as first drafts are all about getting a story out on paper. If we worry too much, it can affect the flow of words. And we all know that first drafts are reworked upon several times until the manuscript shines.

There are certain traps we can avoid  when  working on our second, third and consecutive drafts.

1.      Weak Characters. This is one of the major flaws editors and agents can pinpoint. Characters who do not contribute much to the movement of the plot and Characters that do things without a justification can seriously hamper a book’s prospects. Strong characters, whether they ultimately succeed or not, drive the plot. The readers are watching the character’s every move. They are aware that the character is trying. Underdeveloped characters can be a major irritant. When a writer has not tapped the true potential of a character/s, readers are definitely left with a feeling of being cheated.

2.      Coincidence. Though coincidence is unavoidable in fiction, but an excess of it will soon provoke incredulity. Coincidence must be treated with caution and should never simply be a cheap and easy way to resolve a dilemma or conflict within the plot.

3.      Serendipity. Serendipity can be delightful. Too much of it will become syrupy and syrupy on any page of fiction tends to make things sticky and can be a huge turn-off.

4.      Chunky dialogues. Dialogues are an important part of writing and can definitely make or break a story. To get the dialogues right, we should subtly eavesdrop on conversations. A lot can be learnt just from listening to conversations. People seldom answer each other directly, but manoeuvre to steer the conversation back to their own agenda. Dialogues can be vital to give clues about characters. We can understand a lot from the way people talk.

5.      Descriptions. Descriptions are a wonderful way to explain things, people and places in our stories. But an information overload can seriously overwhelm readers. Descriptions that gently creep up on readers taking them by surprise is always an asset.

6.      Language. Words are always a writer’s asset. If clichés and the often used metaphors are avoided and replaced with new and unusual way of describing things, it works to the advantage of a story.

7.      Lame Endings. Endings that do not resolve the major conflict/s in a book and endings that have just popped  up out of the blue are major disasters that every writer should consciously avoid. Writers have to move towards the ending  by dropping few hints and foreshadowing a little about it earlier in the story.

What according to you all should writers avoid while writing. What do you feel turns off readers? What upsets you in another writer’s story?   

An Exercise for Character Study

I am sure, every writer desires, yearns and craves  to create believable, rounded,  and three dimensional characters that readers not just believe in, but also identify and follow through the pages of the book. Any exercise that helps us to develop characters is embraced by us.

I came across this exercise for Character Study in Writing Fiction. When we are trying to introduce depth into a character, we can use the following exercise.

1. Write a sketch of the characters as you see them: their physical attributes, their mental make up, their emotional needs and how they handle relationships and other problems.

2. Write a sketch of the characters as they would see themselves. What is the character’s opinion of himself/herself? How does he/she see themselves?

3. Describe a character that is opposite of the one you described in point 1.

4. Describe a character that is the opposite of the one you described in point 2.

5. Look at the four descriptions and underline the parts you find interesting. Amalgamate

    them.

This exercise is a wonderful way to analyze how our characters see themselves.  It made me realize that the way I perceived my character/s is different from the way they see themselves. It’s so true of life and people. We seldom see people as the way they see themselves. Once we know how our characters really see themselves, it makes it easy for us to tackle their core beliefs and  target their insecurities. We can add inner tension with more ease as we are privy to all the inner demons our character faces and tackles.

This exercise is also a wonderful way to give our characters plenty of  traits that can  make them more rounded, unique and individualistic at the same time.

Do you  write a sketch of your characters, about  their physical, mental and emotional  traits? Have you ever tried any technique to get to know your characters better. Please share your methods with us.

The Eight People You Meet in Your Manuscripts

Every book has a certain number of characters that take the story forward. These characters have various  roles to play. Its these characters that make a story interesting by adding their own drama.The main character’s interaction with these  archetypes brings with it a host of   emotions, clashes and scenes.

I read a book 'Writing Fiction'. The book talks about there being universal patterns and  archetypes in books and stories. The book says that understanding the function of each character  within the story can help a writer  utilize these characters fully and determine whether these characters are pulling their weight in the story.

The main character can gather aspects from each archetype and learn from them on his/ her journey. The  author of the book has listed 8 archetypes. Once we decide on a character in our story who will fit a particular archetype, then it will be easy to decide on the psychological role they would play and each archetype's dramatic function in our story.

              The eight archetypes are:

             

1.      Hero

2.      Mentor

3.      Shapeshifter

4.      Trickster

5.      Herald

6.      Allies

7.      Shadow

8.      Threshold Guardian

I have realized that not every story will have all of  these archetypes. Some may have  just few of them. We can consider  some of our  favourite novels and see how many archetypes  we can identify in them. I tried it with the Potter books. It was quite an eye opener. It made me see the purpose of the  characters and their roles were easy  to visualize. We can also write down our own descriptions of characters who  might fulfill each role in our stories.

What do you think of this archetype method? Do you think it can help a writer? Do you think it helps in giving each character their unique role to play in our stories. Do you think it is helpful?

Laughter is the Best Medicine Blogfest

 This is a part of Laughter is the Best Medicine  Blogfest hosted by Lydia  at The Word is my Oyster and Leigh T Moore at That’s Write. The best jokes emerge when we laugh at ourselves.

My Blog Fest entry is a  conversation between my eight year old protagonist Rohit and the Tooth Fairy Catherine. Both, Rohit and Catherine  featured in  a book I had written 14 years back. The book was sent to just one publisher who fainted seeing its length. At 55,000 words it was way too big for the target readers.

Read on to know  more about what Rohit and Catherine think of me.

          ‘I feel bad that children will never hear about your  story,’ Catherine turned to Rohit.

          ‘That silly girl Rachna, really messed up my story,’ Rohit grimaced. ‘The book sucked.’

            ‘I thought  she had worked hard,’ Catherine twirled her wand.

            ‘She wrote my story in 13  days. There was no brainstorming session, no plot outline, no character chart. Rachna just cut me out from a sheet of cardboard and pasted me into the story. My character was flat and one dimensional,’ Rohit shook his head.

              ‘She was young  and silly then,’ Cathy laughed. ‘She  put  more effort while working on me, forgetting that you were the protagonist.’

             ‘Yep,’ Rohit said. ‘Her stupid book had no antagonist, there was no sign of a conflict, no tension, no plot. The book was  full of clichés, the writing style sucked, it was an inflated story about a modern day fairyland. If I had written my own story, I  am sure  it would have been published.’

                 ‘Children nowadays don’t believe in fairies  or  fairyland. Perhaps witches or vampires would have done the trick,’ Catherine said wisely. ‘Maybe, her muse was on an extended holiday when she wrote about you.’

                 ‘When I see Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, Percy Jackson, Billy Bones, I feel jealous. I could have been famous, if that girl had worked hard on me,’ Rohit grumbled. 

                 ‘ I have heard  Rachna has plans of reviving that particular project,’ Catherine whispered.

                   Rohit shivered. ‘ I don’t want to become a laughing stock in the literary world. Do me a favour,’ Rohit pleaded with Catherine ‘make her forget about me; a few spells should do the trick. Just zap her mind or whatever it’s that you fairies do. I can live with jealousy, but not with  the criticism  she is sure to get if my story ever comes out.’

Hope you enjoyed my entry. I  am looking forward to reading all  the other entries.

Do Characters make a Story?

Recently I read a book  where I was  captured by the  story and the descriptions. The main character: an old man from whose point of view the book was written did not appeal to me much. His weak bladder courtesy his prostrate problems, his  nostalgia  over his wife (he was  a widower), his problems with his children ; who he felt  were cold and indifferent to his needs, were all regular affairs.

But what kept me hooked was the style of the narrative: the story moved from person to person,  where after the main character meets a person, the story then starts tracking the new entrant’s life: past and current.

The descriptions  in the book were amazing. The writer’s eye for detail was mindblowing. I am always fascinated with writing that encapsulates sensory details.

The main character’s  run of the mill problems :common occurrences of old age  were incorporated seamlessly  into the story;  at no point did I feel that the author was bombarding me with information. Infact, I felt  that I had become the old man’s confidante and he was confiding   his problems, little by little, to me.

That’s one thing I love about descriptions which gently creep in on the reader taking him or  her by surprise. It’s something I am trying to work at. I found both : the story and the story telling technique unique, though the main character did not  evoke any emotion from me: I  didn’t love him, nor did I  hate him, and neither did I sympathize with him, I just loved his story and had to read on, to know what happened next.

This got me thinking that I have become partial to the story, more than the  main character. I feel a good story will make even a weak character look appealing, the opposite is true of a not so good story, which will make the character look spineless.

To be able to create a world where a  strong character  is captured in a powerful story is what writing is all about. I feel stories make characters, and characters just enhance and take the story forward. I just go by my feeling when I have read a book. If I have liked a story, then even a not so great character gets my vote, but if the story has failed to strike a chord with me, then, however great the character, I  wouldn’t root for it.

What do you look for when you read? Do you tilt towards the story, or do you lean towards strong characters.  What do you think is important;  the main character  or the story? What would you concentrate on while writing your own stories: Character or Plot. Please share with us.

                 

Choosing Names for our Characters

The first time I sat down to choose names for the characters in my books, I disliked the task and frankly speaking did not pay much attention to it. The names were chosen at random without  much thought. That too only the important characters. The very minor ones like the watchman who made  just a single  appearance was left nameless. I tried to concentrate  on the story,  plot and twists.

But all this changed the day  I got a call from a publisher saying that they were interested in publishing my books. After I signed the contract, my editor and I sat down to brainstorm  names  for every   character, even characters whose claim to fame was a solitary appearance in  my illustrated books for children. My editor was very firm that  readers bond with characters and its absolutely vital to give them names. And nameless characters will never be befriended, or,  become memorable.                

     

When my story was commissioned for a  puffin anthology few years back,  the puffin editor called  me   to ask  for  few  changes in my story, before winding up she  asked  me why  I had not named the watchman’s cat. For me she was just the watchman’s cat : a nameless creature.  Not only was I clueless, but there was also silence  from my side. How was I supposed to think of a name during a phone conversation.  “Can I go with the name I have chosen, she asked ?” The name hater that I was   I  agreed to go along with the name she suggested. Anything to avoid that task.

But all that has changed now.  Perhaps the change has come when readers tell me that they identified with  Leo, Bunny, Nina,  or  Paro (the names of  the characters in my earlier books). This appreciation  has worked as a major  incentive.

For the two books I am currently working on, I took several days just to think up unusual names for each and every character. Full names, with the surnames included. It was difficult as both the books are based in schools and as we all know schools are swarming  with children and teachers and sundry staff.  So there were at least 60  to 70 names for each book, as well as surnames. This is no mean task for an Indian writer as we have  many  different communities and surnames typical of those communities. If I gave a child a particular surname, not only was he  tied to that community forever, he also had to follow their customs and beliefs.

I decided that just naming every  character  would not be enough. They were given individual personalities to match the names. Each name conjured up an image of the teacher or student fitting that name.  It was fun. I turned to different sources for the names: newspapers, magazines, movies, literature, religious texts,  arts;  dancers, painters and musicians (some of them have unique names). During the naming days  my ears were constantly  strained to pick up unusual names. At times I created few names  by combining two  names. This threw up many  original names.

What about you all? How do you all go about naming your characters? Do you  name your characters with the first name that jumps into your mind, or, are these names the product  of  a meticulous   research  and hard work. Do you have any tips to share?

How well do our Characters Grow ?

The characters ( the protagonist, the antagonist and the peripheral characters) are extremely important elements in our stories/books. All these characters take the story forward. Thereby it becomes  important  to not just  flesh them out in a appealing, healthy and wholesome way: without making them too fat or too thin, but also to breathe life into them.  As these are the  literary  people who will attract  readers into the make believe world we have created.

I have realized I had been indifferent  to not just the peripheral characters who dotted my story,  but also to the protagonist and the  antagonist in my  earliest work. No wonder then, its lying  in the lower drawer of my desk. When I revisited that particular book, I blanched at the flat characters I had created. Forget about bonding with them, a reader may not even like the one dimensional creatures, as flat as cheese trapped between two slices of bread, I had unknowingly unleashed   years back.

 I have realized that  for the characters in our books  to become multidimensional creatures with  rounded personalities that   readers will love, bond and  befriend, we  have  to make the characters grow.  By growth its not just the numerical or the physical growth, but also the emotional, spiritual, intellectual and  mental   growth. A growth that signifies  and symbolizes that life is  not only being lived  every  single moment, but also that its teaching us every single moment. This emotional, spiritual, intellectual and mental growth happens when we experience life in its entirety, when we battle everything that life is constantly tossing in our paths, and yet move ahead without giving up hope or the dreams we carry in our hearts. 

Character development is an important  ingredient of our story.  For a character to develop to it’s full potential,  character growth becomes vital. Not just the main  character, but the antagonist as well as other characters too must grow before the readers' eyes. This can only happen when they  experience the bitter sweet emotions of joy and sorrow,  meet  with  success and failure, adjust with guilt and regret. They  need to forge relations that may or may not blossom, undergo the  ups  and  downs and uncertainities that mark life, show their deepest  fears and darkest emotions,  reveal  their brave fronts as well as their vulnerable sides to the readers. Growth is one facet of life that is constant like change and it will resonate with the readers. Our characters are reflections of what we undergo in our own lives.

As humans we are constantly evolving and changing, sometimes for the better and at other times  for the worse. Though we may be unaware of it,  each and every experience:  whether good or bad contributes to our growth. Likewise for our characters.

When these varied   emotions  are  added to  the characters, its then that he/she/they  really start  living and breathing. The story literally hums into life and the characters develop flesh and bones, blood and skin.  

I am striving to make my characters grow. How do you all  bring about character growth? Do you have any special method to breathe life into your characters? Please share, we all will  surely benefit from your experiences. 

Bringing up the Protagonist like a Child

Writing a book is a lot like having a baby. The entire process from the conception of a story, nurturing it, feeding it with imagination, watching it grow little by little…..to the stage where it’s finally out is similar to pregnancy. The baby is ready to face the world. It is but natural then, that the protagonist becomes the child. Adopted or otherwise. And concern for its well being is foremost in our mind.

The time it takes for the story to unravel in our minds, an umbilical chord like attachment forms via our thoughts which constantly stray to the story, feeding it with nourishing plot structures, making the character strong and likeable, enhancing the scenes with juicy tidbits that hook readers, adding elements that propel the story forward, not only during our waking moments, but, many times during sleep too.

If my characters could talk they would definitely crib about me stalking them. I have done that for my middle grade fiction about a notorious prankster Nina. For the duration of time that it took me to write the first draft, I was obsessed with Nina. I had definitely become the overconcerned, anxious mother, constantly fretting over Nina, stifling her and seldom giving her the breathing space a ten going on eleven year old needed. I wanted my girl to be perfect, the kind of child every mother craved, the kind of child who would become a role model. But as the story progressed Nina developed a strong personality of her own, she baulked at her strict upbringing and loathed my interference.

The head strong spirited girl that I had created sat down with me to discuss her fate. She explained the injustice I had done to her, her personality had wilted instead of flowering. I had superimposed my likes and dislikes on her. “Yes, I am your creation, but not an extension of your personality,” she said, staring deep into my eyes. Her anguish and pain haunted me for days.

The moment I started the second draft, I shed the over protectiveness, dropped the strict attitude I had adopted, and allowed Nina a free rein. She had a right to decide her fate. The much deserved freedom enhanced the pre teenager’s life and she emerged not a shadow of me, but, an individual in her own right.

The process of creating a character works both ways, we learn as much from the characters as they from us. Before they set an example for the rest of the world, these literary children teach us ( their adopted parents) a lot about parenthood. The child \ protoganist does not have to move through the story carrying the enormous burden of our expectations on their shoulder. They are carrying the burden of the book’s success. Isn’t that enough?! We realize that as literary parents we can show them the different paths, but the one they choose, and the journey they undertake is their own. The mistakes and triumphs are solely their own.

How do you help your literary children  along their journey? By allowing them freedom or controlling them? Do you become the strict parent, or do you indulge your literary creation? I would love to know how the nurturing process affects you in your literary hemisphere and how you bring up your characters.

Imperfection : The New Perfection

Imperfection is actually the new perfection. The smudge of Imperfection in characters adds an unexplainable and undefinable appeal.

Characters in books mirror real life people. We all have our own individual idiosyncrasies, flaws, shortcomings and insecurities. So it’s nothing unusual if characters reflects these traits. Actually this quality (Imperfection) makes a character more real. Readers find it easy to identify with someone who is imperfect. Someone who makes mistakes, is swayed by emotions, is prone to mood swings, is more real  than a character who is calm and unruffled and who never makes mistakes. Though we look upto perfect people,  they do give us a temporary sense of insecurity.  We feel small in front of them. We may even secretly and subtly resent their perfection and larger than life image. But it’s the imperfect characters we bond with. In their presence we revel in our own imperfections.

Have you all noticed that more and more often our protagonists lead imperfect lives. As the story unfolds, these imperfect characters leading imperfect lives try to resolve the conflict by tackling their own personal imperfections first.

Aristotle called it Hamartia, which was seen as a character flaw. This character flaw can be a limitation, a problem, a phobia, or a deficiency present in a character who is otherwise quite normal. The character flaw may be a violent temper that may turn out to affect the character’s actions, abilities, or interactions with other characters. Sometimes it can be a simple personality defect which only has effect on the character’s motives and social interaction and nothing else.

Flaws or imperfection add depth and humanity to the characters in a narrative. For eg the mayor with a penchant for gambling, the hero with claustrophobia, the heroine with an alcohol problem. One of the most famous example is ‘ Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.’ 

Character flaws can be slotted into three categories.

Minor Flaws make the characters memorable in readers minds, these give the character individuality, but other than that do not affect the story in any way. They can be a scar, an accent, biting the lower lip, twirling the moustache, a girl constantly flinging her hair back. A protagonist can have several minor flaws, each having no effect on the plot.

Major Flaws are noticeable and important. They affect the individual physically, mentally, emotionally, morally or spiritually. Major flaws are not necessarily negative : they can be rigid religious beliefs or a strict adherence to a certain lifestyle. Major flaws like: greed, blindness, deafness, lust, often hamper and restrict the character in one way or the other. The major flaw is important for the character’s personal development and the story. Heroes and heroines must overcome their own major flaws either partially or completely, either temporarily or permanently, at some point in the story, very often by the climax, by sheer determination or skill to be able to solve the larger problem at hand. For a villain his major flaw is frequently the cause of his downfall. The protagonist’s major flaw defines the core problem, the entire journey to remedy this problem forms the firm backbone of the story, sometimes prodding the plot forward.

The last flaw is the Tragic Flaw, it’s the cause of the character’s downfall and eventual death. Tragic Flaw arises out of the character’s misplaced trust in another character, an excessive amount of curiousity that sucks him into problems, pride that plunges him into a world of loneliness. The fall that often arises out of the Tragic Flaw occurs at the beginning of a story.

Do you like perfect characters? Or Imperfection is the new perfection for you? What kind of character flaws do your characters have?

Bonding with a Literary Character

Though writing is largely a solitary activity, the writer literally lives on an island, scrawling away on sheets, or, typing furiously, isolated from family and friends for long and painful stretches of time, it’s also one activity that connects writers with a vast number of people (readers) instantly.

Our books act as the bridge that link us to people who bring their unique sensibilities to our work. I agree with another writer who said “books like water will find their own level.” Books are open to interpretations any which way. The characters that we have nurtured inside our feverish minds find other dimensions when they meet the readers.

Different readers glean different nuggets of wisdom from a literary character/book, depending on their personal perception. Whatever the reason for the bond between book\protagonist and the reader, the important aspect is that an emotional connection has been forged. A literary kindred spirit discovered. A relationship formed. These connections between reader and character are the barometers of the real success of a book. Not the number of copies sold, nor the clutch of awards won. Readers after all are the best critics, and their appreciation the real award.

To create a literary character that firmly entrenches itself into a reader’s mind is an extremely difficult task. A memorable literary character must appeal to each and every sense of the reader, not just tug, but play with their heartstrings, seduce them away from the million and one things clamouring for their attention, entice them into the world woven by the writer. Memorable literary characters leave strong traces of their presence inside a reader’s mind long after the book has been devoured. In the history of books there have been several such characters: Anna Karenina, Jane Eyre, Lata Mehra from Vikram Seth’s ‘ A Suitable Boy,’ Harry Potter to name just a few.

A character can achieve literary immortality if there is a strong sense of Empathy and Sympathy between the reader and the literary character. Because, when we empathize, or, sympathize with someone, albeit a literary character, concern for their well-being creeps in, a reluctant love develops. The warp and the weft of the reader’s life then entwines with the character’s. This ability of a character to attract the twin emotions mentioned earlier encourages the readers to be quasi participants rather than distant indifferent observers.

The character must invoke the feeling of oneness, there has to be a sense of similarity of experiences, similarity of emotions, of choices made, paths chosen, sacrifices done, between the reader and character. These aspects further cement the reader- character bond.

To create such characters is every writer’s dream. The character then becomes the voice of that generation of readers, a kind of a role model. There is a complete sense of identity between the reader and the literary character. “Hey that could be me, it’s is the story of my life,” the delighted reader nods his/her head. These characters are not only inspirational, they gently urge the readers to aspire for greater glories by acting as catalysts of change in the readers’ lives, and also, silently beckon the readers to visit them again and again.

Isn’t this a measure of a successfully created character?