Breathing Life into your Characters

If you want your reader to care about your characters, you have to make them so alive that they will step off the page. Your readers should continue thinking about those characters long after they have closed the last page of your book. Think about some of the characters you've met in literature. Who are your favourites? Do you feel as if they are alive, or actually lived in some part of the world, even though you never physically met them? Why do or did they seem so alive to you? Character development is one of those elements of writing that you will need to master before you even begin writing your book.

Analysis is a tool every writers should be prepared to use during their apprenticeship. Look at the writings of your favourite authors and try to see what they did to make their characters come to life. What do you know about the characters? Make a list. Don't list what the author 'told' you, but what you deduced on some other level. Look at the clues you, as a reader, were given by the writer - the character's upbringing and traumas they or someone close to them suffered. Everything that happened to them before they stepped into your book will direct their actions.

Humans are moved to do the things they do because they are motivated by some force, either external or internal. You have to give your characters the motivation to act in the ways that they will do in your book. Your characters will have to be well-rounded and do only those things that would fit in with their make-up. Don't 'tell' your readers all about them; plant clues and let the reader fill in the blanks. This will make that character more real to them than if you had placed a photograph on the page. Descriptions are just that - words to describe - but actions, as we all know, speak louder than words.

Make your characterts luminous so that your readers will continue to wonder about their lives, long after the book story is ended.

Synopsis or Outline?

A synopsis is a way of outlining your story in a logical, chronological manner. The synopsis will show the high points of plot, the development of character/s, and the resolution. The outline is very different. An outline of a story tells what happens in a detached manner. It is often in point form and can be a dry rendering of your story.

A synopsis, on the other hand, is a narrative and it will show your story’s progress from beginning to end by describing how the plot and character development are affected by each other.

A synopsis is a tool, a selling tool. The synopsis will probably be your only chance to sell yourself and your writing, or your writing technique. Most publishing houses only want to see sample chapters of your work so the synopsis is your opportunity to demonstrate your talent for writing. If the editor reading your synopsis likes your writing style, and the sample chapters are as well done and in the same tone, then chances are s/he is going to want to see more of your manuscript.

That’s the whole idea of the synopsis, to get an editor interested enough to want to read all your manuscript, which will increase your chances of a publishing contract, so give the writing of your synopsis as much attention as you gave to your manuscript.

Bookmark these pages for coming posts that will give you some helpful tips on how to write a winning synopsis.