Sketching Characters

I’ve never been much of a plotter.  It’s hard to know exactly which way the plot is going which I’m not in the driver’s seat.

My books don’t exactly come from me, if that makes any sense at all. My books come from my characters—they are in the driver’s seat and always have been.  It’s why I’m always reluctant to say, Yes, this character will get a story…because it’s up to that character.  The bottom line, not every character has a story to tell me.  If they won’t talk, I can’t force them.

This method, sadly, ends in a lot of wrong turns, though, because I don’t always know the things I want to know.

So I’ve learned to get to know my characters in advance, as much as I can, and through that, I’ve developed my method of plotting.  I don’t know if it resembles anybody else’s, but it works for me.

Some of the best writing tips I’ve ever learned came from Lynn Viehl, aka, Paperback Writer.  If you’re trying to learn your craft, I’d like to point you in her direction.  Be sure to check out her blog, particularly the freebies she has listed on the sidebar.  Look for the novel notebook and her plotting template, in particular.  Although I’m not a plotter, these gave me guidelines as I developed my twisted form of plotting.

Which I call character sketching.

Character Sketching, for me, started the first time I saw a picture online.  I don’t even remember exactly what the picture was, or which book it inspired, but I knew when I saw it that I was looking at a character.

Over the course of the next few days, that character settled inside my head, as they do, and proceeded to tell me a story.  Now sometimes, it’s not an image—sometimes it’s a story.  Take, for instance, my latest contemporary romance, YOU OWN ME.  If you’ve read it…or even just the blurb, you might recognize something that could have inspired that story.  But my twist on the story came from Decker, the hero, who walked into my head, sat down and basically said, Okay…so I’ve got a story and here’s how it goes.

Once I get a concrete idea of a character, I have a few things I need to know first.

Who is this person…yes, their name, what they do, who they are…some of this is basically backstory, but for me, it’s also the story itself.  Because as I’m sketching out my worksheets, and yes, I have a worksheet, I’m also looking at what he wants, what he doesn’t want, what’s his mission… (what’s his purpose in the story…like Decker.  His mission was to get the woman he loved to finally look at him and realize the man she was looking for was standing right there).

Then we get down to the real heart of the matter and this is going to be key to the story and where my plot starts to unfold.

What does s/he want? Why can’t s/he have it?

These two questions are a variation of three found via Lynn Viehl’s novel notebook, and almost the plot of most, if not all, stories can be pared down to the answers to these questions.

Her questions were (if I recall correctly)

• Who are you?
• What do you want?
• What is the worst thing I can do to you?

They stuck with me long after I gave up trying to use Lynn Viehl’s novel notebook.  I love that woman, but her organizational skills kill me and she can plot her way to the grocery store, to the minute, while I get distracted on the way to the kitchen.

So…are you a hardcore plotter?  If so, let me direct you to the freebie page at Lynn’s blog.  Find the link to her novel notebook, which is free to download and share as long as you credit her.

If not…

Try my idea of plotting.  Start with a character sketch.  It’s below the line.

I leave a big blank space over on the left for an image if I have one, or wait until I find one or sometimes I just fill in the mental image I have because sometimes, nobody ever fits that mental picture.

Name:

Age:

Height:

Weight:

Build:

Eye & Hair color:

Occupation:

Education:

Hometown:                                                                         Currently resides:

Likes:                                                                                    Dislikes:

Hobbies:

Who is s/he?:

Mission? (a reason or being here?):

Any enemies?:

What does s/he want? Why can’t s/he have it?:

Shiloh Walker

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You Own Me

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