Flawed Characters

I tend to have hopelessly flawed characters. And my flawed characters tend to do stupid things like; staying in love with ex-girlfriends instead of letting it go (I’m looking at you Fluffy), thinking they can get away with everything (ahem Speckles), and making big mistakes such as stopping at nothing when they have a mission (*coughsOzzycoughs*).

If you really have a good character on your hands they are going to be real. Just like real people, characters should be messing up and falling down flat on their faces. They shouldn’t be perfect people living perfect lives.  Now I’m not saying to have your main character turn into a serial killer (although those are always fun), rather I’m saying that it’s ok to give them issues. It’s ok to mess up their lives. It’s ok to have THEM mess up their lives.

Even the smallest crimes such as a minor sneaking alcohol can be used against characters. The lie your character tells in a moment of panic? You or another character can later use that against them. Not to mention it’s simply hilarious to watch a bratty character (that thinks they can get away with everything) have the tables turned on them. Plus who doesn’t love reading about characters who make mistakes and become better people for it?

Don’t let your characters become perfect Mary-Sue’s and Gary-Stue’s. Let them mess up, even if the consequences are huge. In life I’ve found that things often come back and bite you later. It should be the same for characters. That person your anti-hero killed years ago? Maybe their loved one wants revenge. That ex-Reaper-boyfriend that your FMC dumped because she’s scared of commitment? Maybe he comes back around to haunt her. Or it could even be something as simple er complicated as a girl not telling her best friend how much she cared about him.

It all depends on your story or character, but I personally love flawed characters the best. I love reading about their mistakes, their triumphs, and watching them fall flat on their faces and become better people in the end.

Do you have perfectly flawed characters?

Finding Names

First things first, Happy Valentine’s Day! I could write a post about romance and such, but Leah’s already got that covered for the next few weeks. Though, perhaps, keep an eye out on my blog for a post of my own. 😉

You may remember that last week I wrote about The Importance of a Good Name. 

At the end of the post, I promised to blog about how to find names. This post may be a bit shorter then the last, depending. On my favorite writer’s group on Facebook, people are often asking how others figure out names for their characters. I might post my answer now and again, but I also read what other people post. So I’ve come up with some of the answers, and I’m going to give my view on them.

Here are a few good ways to find names, listed in random order.

1. Baby Name Books.

This is a commonly used way to find names. I don’t always use this method, but it can be a nice resource since most name books also offer the meaning of the name. Most names to be found in baby name books would be good for modern stories, though there are a few names like Charlotte, William, John, etc. have withstood hundreds of years, and can be used for historical writing.

2. The Bible.

If you look at what people name their children, some of the most common names come from God’s word. Ruth, Mary, the aforementioned John, Peter, Hannah… all these names come from the Bible. And I think the book has some truly great names in it. The history goes so far back, some names in the Bible are even suitable in fantasy works. For example, in Jill Williamson’s Blood of King’s series, her main character’s name is Achan. If you look in Joshua Chapter Seven, you’ll find a man named Achan. In Hebrew, this name means troublemaker as it does in Mrs. Williamson’s book. This takes me to next on the list.

3. Using Other Languages.

This is one of my favorite ways to find names. My go-to languages are Greek and Hebrew- some of these names fit really well for fantasy, which is the genre I write. Here’s a site with some Greek Baby Names, and here’s one for Hebrew Baby Names. If you click on the name the meaning will pop up. These can also be used for historical fiction if you’re writing a story based in Israel or Greece. You can also use other languages like Irish, Egyptian, or Italian. Just about every language has some great names to choose from. Which leads me to number 4.

4. Changing letters around or making up names.

This generally works well for fantasy names, but I can see it being done in modern stories as well. If you take a name from another language, like Adelina from Italian, you could replace some of the letter. Adalin, Abelina, Adelia. Some of these may be actual names, though I’m not sure, I just switched letters, added, or took away. Or you can just make up names. I do this quite often as well. It’s interesting, though, how your fake names can turn out to be real names later. Some names I made up: Fanic, Cairn, Rior. I’m not sure if any of these have name meanings, but those are just an example.

Finding names isn’t too hard, and it’s certainly nothing to stress out about. This can be a really fun part of your novel writing journey if you let it. I hope you enjoy this post. I hope it doesn’t sound rushed or hurried- I’ve written it while in pain from wisdom tooth surgery, so that’s why. 😉 So next week I’ll be blogging about writing from experience!

How do you come up with names for your stories?

Photo Credit: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

On Killing Characters

Killing characters is something I enjoy. I’d like to think I’m talented at it too, but I’m still attempting to make my death scenes less like an Asian drama, and more realistic and emotional……..

My love for writing overly dramatic scenes aside, today I want to talk to you about not being afraid to kill characters. JUST DO IT. Maybe I’m getting carried away here, but I guarantee you killing characters will add depth and side plots to your story.

For example; In my current WIP Echo (book one in my fantasy series) my main character has a problem with letting things go. He just really struggles with moving on from a bad relationship, losing a family member, or overcoming anything really.

So what do I do?

If you guessed take more away from him, you got that right.

In this current re-write of Echo I took someone very dear to him away. *coughs* More like banished her to the underworld. What can I say? I get inspiration from mythology.

In the end everyone (ok maybe just me) is happy. First, my story has more depth then before, secondly my main character learned a valuable lesson and matured, and thirdly the story is more real because of it. In real life people don’t stick around or live forever. You may just find yourself a new reader all because they can relate to the emotion of losing a loved one.

Don’t be afraid to kill off a character if it would add depth to your story or fix a plothole of some sort. Just don’t turn into the Queen of Hearts. Killing characters off for no reason only angers the reader and makes you look rather silly. Yes, I may have done that in the past…..don’t judge.

-Bobbie