Amazing tips for creating characters for your novel.
Picture famous actors in your mind as you write. place yourself into the story.
Are you having difficulty coming up with characters for your novel? Not knowing where to begin. Do you find your characters too empty and wander around?
In this blog, we will be looking at amazing tips for creating characters for your novel...
AMAZING TIPS FOR CREATING CHARACTERS FOR YOUR NOVEL
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The last thing you ever want to do when writing a novel is to stare at your computer screen waiting for ideas to come to you. If you stare at a blank screen that’s all you will see in your head, nothing but a blank screen.
No ideas will come to you. So how do we get out of this problem?
If you ask any new writer they’ll tell you the biggest problem they have when starting a new novel is weak characters. They find their characters to be lifeless and faceless.
They feel as though they want to quit. But a seasoned writer will carry on, knowing the characters will come to them in time. They know if they keep on writing the character will shape into their own personality.
YOU CAN WORK THIS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE
Of course, because of “Murphy’s Law” the characters come to life with great clarity in the writer’s mind at the end. Because that’s how it always happens. However, a seasoned writer will work this to their advantage. They will not finish their novel with strong characters at the end and weak characters at the start and just leave it.
The seasoned writer will go back to the beginning and rewrite everything with the fully developed new characters in mind.
This is the drawback of being a writer. It’s only in the last few lines of a long novel does the character come to you.
Causing massive rewrites, but if you wish to be a great writer this has to happen.
HERE IS THE TRICK YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR
However, some new writers, cannot start a novel because they do not have any characters in their mind to start with. They simply stare at the screen waiting for ideas to come to them.
When they do write characters they end up being lifeless and fake.
But here’s the trick you have been waiting for. You can use this trick when writing new characters or scenes. When starting your novel picture in your mind a Hollywood actor.
See that famous actor in your mind as you write a scene. It will help you move faster when starting out.
THE WRITER WILL MAKE CHANGES AS THEY GO
You’d be amazed by how many famous writers do this. If you were to ask a famous writer who inspired the character in their famous novel they will mention a famous actor in a movie.
Of course, a great writer will not keep the actor in mind throughout the entire novel. The writer will make changes to the protagonist’s personality as the book moves on.
By the time the book is finished the protagonist how has their own personality and appearance. They will then go back to the beginning of the novel and make the necessary changes to the character’s appearance and personality to match up with the new character they developed.
SEE SOMEONE FAMOUS IN YOUR MIND
The change will be to a point where you as the reader would never know the protagonist in the book was inspired by the famous actor in a well-known movie.
The writer used the actor to start off with to get the book going.
When the writer was starting out they could see the famous actor in their mind saying dialogue as they would in a movie. The writer would write down what they heard in their mind.
Amateur writers stare at the blank white screen on their laptops waiting for inspiration. But famous writers will use characters from other novels or movies to get going.
THE TWO SONGS ARE DIFFERENT
Songwriters have been known to do this as well. they will hear on the radio and play it as though they wrote it. They’d make a few changes here and there with the melody and chords.
Then make more and more changes each time they play. By the time they’re ready to record the song it sounds nothing like the song that inspired. They have made enough changes to the original song that the two-song are nothing alike.
When you hear the song and ask the writer what inspired them. After they tell you the original song you listen to both and can’t believe one song inspired the other. Because they’re so different.
THEY WERE INSPIRED BY OTHER SONGS
Amateur songwriters will try coming up with a new song while strumming a guitar leaving them frustrated because they can’t come up with anything.
But you’d be amazed by how many famous songs were inspired by another famous song.
Some might ask is it stealing. But the songwriter calls it inspiration because when you listen to the two songs side by side they sound nothing alike.
One song inspired the other, but the songwriter made countless changes.
USE AS THE BACKDROP TO YOUR NOVEL
Just like how a writer will think of a movie and use that as their backdrop for their novel. You’d be amazed by how many well-known novels were inspired by other well-known novels.
A writer goes to a theater and watches a movie and loves it. Replaying it over and over in their mind. Relieving it as though they were there.
Seeing themselves as the star. While daydreaming they make a few changes to the movie’s storyline. As they daydream about the movie over and over they make more and more changes.
Until they have a brand new story. They will then write the book based on that new story.
THE TWO STORIES ARE NOTHING ALIKE
You read the book and love it, wondering how the writer came up with an amazing story. The writer tells you the name of the movie that inspired them.
You look at their book and movie and can’t see any similarities. Wondering how did that movie inspire the book. But the writer made so many changes while daydreaming the two end up being nothing alike.
This is how some great writers work, they see a movie and daydream themselves in it until it comes to life as a new story.
They can see the background in detail and know what the characters look like and sound like because they’re picturing famous actors as they write.
SEE YOURSELF IN EACH SCENE
It’s a technique an amateur writer can try out. When starting your novel picture a movie you liked and see yourself in it. Maybe a movie you’d like at the beginning but the movie went in a direction you didn’t want it to go in.
Now is the time for you to write a new story in which that story flows in the direction you want.
See yourself in each scene talking to the other actors. See the background and everything going on. Now you can start your novel based on the new storyline.
Add all the changes you wish the movie had made. Now is your chance to tell the story you wished it had been.
YOU CAN NOW GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING
By the time you’re done with all the new changes, the story is nothing like the movie you started off with.
Your novel might start off the same as the movie but as you write the character’s personality changes the storyline changes, the ending is completely different.
Now you can go back to the beginning and make the changes to the characters and locations that now match your new storyline.
START WITH A FAMOUS ACTOR
By having a famous actor in mind throughout your novel it helps you stay on track with the character having the same personality throughout the story.
Instead of creating a character only to have them change appearance and personality throughout the story. After a few times of trying this technique, you will learn how to create a character right from the start.
Seeing yourself in the story helps as well. It’s like a virtual reality video game. You’re not a writer sitting at a desk typing on a keyboard staring at a white screen.
Some of the greatest writers live inside their story they see themselves alive as though the story is happening to them. The lead character might have a different name than you but the lead protagonist in fact is you.
THE PROTAGONIST IN DANGER
If you were to study an author’s personality you’d be amazed by how it matches up with the protagonist in their stores. As a new writer, you can place yourself into your story to get it going.
Just remember to put your hero in danger, don’t make things safe for them or the story will be boring. The more danger for the protagonist the better the story overall.
Some writers n Hollywood will write a script with a certain actor in mind. Hoping the actor will play the role. When they do the actor gets nominated for an Oscar.
But that was helped by the screenwriter thinking of them while writing the script.
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