Tag: character

Make My Day

May 14, 2025 /

It seems the media  headlines are nothing but bad news these days. The constant stream of worry and stress and fear weighs on my spirit. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised when I had to spend a day on foot in my home town. It began when a teenager paused and held a door for me. He could easily have been on his way without that little gesture of kindness. I was at least six feet away.

I did a little shopping, so had my hands full when I approached another door. A mature woman jumped up and opened it for me. She even offered me a spot at her table, but I wasn’t staying. Still, it was nice to be asked.

Then I went to an outside table with my cup of coffee and a workman leapt forward to pull out a chair for me. 

All of these small courtesies were performed with a big smile, a cheery wave and a “no problem” reply to my thanks. These people turned what started out as a grumpy day (I had to take my car to the garage. Hence the “on foot” bit) into a lovely day. I enjoyed my book and my coffee so much more with a bouyed up frame of mind.

I had two takeaways from my day. The first was on a personal level — smile every chance I get! A smile, a kind word, a cheery wave cost the giver nothing and work wonders on the receiver. We seem to live in a soup of anger and distrust and disdain. Even a tiny bit of good can make a difference.

My second reaction was as an author. How could I use this bit of serendipity to enhance my writing? I’ve been mulling over a “nice” character in my WIP and looking for ways to make her more interesting.  So, if she’s the one holding the door, she’ll bring cheer to others but will remain as a “nice” but boring character. If I make her the one sneering in every utterance, I make her more of a villain than a heroine. 

It is hard to make pleasant characters interesting. Perhaps that is why I have more fun with secondary roles. I’m not that invested in the sidekick so I can make him silly or eccentric or stupid or annoying . . . there are no limits. But for my main character, the hero or heroine, I want the reader to like them, to want to get to know them, to want to spend time in their company. As a  result, the protagonist in my work is often afflicted with “niceness,” and readers and editors quickly dismiss the story.

So, back to my day. The workman with the big smile spoke a language I didn’t know. If I put my “nice” heroine in that situation would she be offended by the “foreigner?” That would be a not-nice reaction but maybe she could recognize her own prejudice in the encounter. This might set her down a path of discovery. That might lead to personal growth, a character arc. Maybe my “nice” heroine has some not-so-nice secrets that make her more interesting to the reader.

Maybe she has been trained to be nice but is sick and tired of being the cheerful one in every relationship. Hmm.

I’m still happy I encountered “nice” people on my day out, and I hope my heroine is the type of person who makes the reader feel happy. I just have to work on that “nice” thing.

What Makes a Heroine?

May 12, 2021 /

 

 

   A lone woman alit from the caboose of an early morning freight train.  She stood, silhouetted against the pale dawn, a tumble of black curls cascading down her back, a shabby valise crumpled at her feet.  She was the kind of woman who drew men to her like foxes to a vixen.  Yet, when they looked into her eyes, they averted their gaze and slunk away.  She saw too much, this ripe, fecund female; saw the hunger in their bellies, the lust in their loins and the evil in their souls.  In her charms were both rapture and damnation.  Few men would risk their souls to claim the promise of her full hips and overflowing breasts.

   Exiting the school house Kirsten Swendsen narrowed her eyes to study the stranger who looked so at home in Glenrose, Saskatchewan. As the truth dawned, animosity shattered her schoolmarm serenity. Runaway, adulteress, unfit mother, indecent, wanton . . . the list of Kathleen Walden’s sins filled many a gossip’s chatter. Kirsten had no doubt the woman at the train station was Kathleen, come back to damage the lives of her children and husband again. Rage jolted along her veins. Without weighing the consequences, she stepped into her gig and turned the horse for Walden farm.  

 

   Here is the question. Which woman should be the heroine of this book? Kathleen has lots of baggage from a previous novel. Can a woman who has abandoned her children and disgraced her husband be convincingly rehabilitated so that the reader believes her wronged husband can love her again? 

  Kirsten is a schoolmarm in every sense of the word. Can an opinionated, rule-ridden, super-achiever be a romantic heroine? Can a man who has loved Kathleen love her antithesis?

  As a reader, which woman would you root for?

  All comments gratefully received.

19 Things I learned from Laurie Schnebly and Zoom

September 30, 2020 /

My writer’s group, VIRA, held an all day workshop on Sept. 19, 2020 with Laurie Schnebly. The day was planned a long time ago — before Covid-19.  Since then our border closed, so Laurie could not come in person. Instead, we did a virtual workshop using zoom.  Here’s what I learned about zoom workshops.

  1. Commuting from one room in my house to another room in my house is really quick and easy.
  2. Showing up for a workshop in jeans is really comfortable.
  3. Seeing people only on screen is lonely — especially when many of them turn off their video.
  4. There is virtually no conversation between participants.
  5. The “chat” feature is really useful for catching up on missed information.
  6. A full-day workshop, even at home, is tiring. My brain was reeling by the time we signed off.

So, that’s what I learned on the technical side. On the creative side, the workshop confirmed what I already knew. Laurie is a terrific teacher. Here are some highlights from the day.

  1. From “Putting the Joy Back in Writing” I learned I’m not alone in finding publication can steal the joy I felt when I first put pen to paper (literally, I’m that old.)
  2. Determining why I write, either for myself or for others can put me back on the “joy” track and away from the “have to” track.
  3. Letting go of the results of writing and focusing on the process of writing frees up creativity.
  4. I should re-read Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. It is on my bookshelf.

 

From Braiding Your Book I picked up pointers on

  1. Genre Expectations and the need to fulfil those expectations for readers.
  2. Plot – it’s all about goals and conflict, with the love story added in for my genre.
  3. Plot has a shape — the writer must build hope, then dash those hopes and build them again.
  4. Character is the third strand in the braid. 
  5. A character’s origin (backstory) is an invaluable aid in figuring out who your character is and why (s)he acts as (s)he does.
  6. A character’s belief system is key.

 

From Blurbs & Promotion to Suit Your Personality I learned

  1. I’m not the only one who is really poor at promotion because I dislike it.
  2. Laurie’s background is in advertising so it’s not surprising she suggests a blurb is an ad.
  3. Seeing promotion as an advertisement for a product makes it less intimidating than seeing it as a judgement on my worth as a human being!

 

As you can tell, we had a very full day. I was exhausted from listening, I can’t imagine how Laurie kept up her enthusiasm and humour all the way to the end and then took questions.

As a bonus, she held a draw and I won free admission to one of her courses. With so many wonderful choices I had to wait over the weekend until my brain had returned to full function before I made my pick. In March I’ll be taking Plotting Via Motivation.  It’s one of the earliest courses on offer, so I can still take some of the later ones too. 

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