How I Create Characters

I was asked what the number one source is for my character inspiration ... and I realized it's kind of a cool process for me that I want to share with you guys.

I've never really thought about what inspires character creation in particular until that question came up. That's when I realized that it always starts with a setting. Always! A setting or a "what if" often strikes me first and the main characters always pop into my head after that. Faces, genders, their roles in the story ... a few basics like that. There are just given people that apparently have to accompany my ideas. 

I honestly have no idea how creating characters works for most people? But very rarely do I have to intentionally sit down and create a character because I have a huge hole. (Exception: Hayes Delaney in Behind the Act.)

It's really kind of neat to me that my brain associates the mood of a setting with a potential storyline. I think it's from there that the main character is born because their goals and arc have to fit the mood of the plot for there to be an actual plot ... When a main character's arc is a struggle, that's when I know the story really isn't ready to be written.

If you think about it, that odd spontaneous process is really rather cool. We judge people by their appearances all the time even though we shouldn't. Their mannerisms, attire, voice, smell ... everything points you to picturing them one way (sometimes correctly, sometimes incorrectly). I guess what my brain does is exactly the opposite of that for creating characters.

I take mostly mental notes on people I see around me for reference ... but when a particular idea captures my mind, I generate a character that seems to fit based on my experience. Try as I might (I've found from personal experience), it's almost impossible to tweak the "rough draft" of that character if you will. I develop them, sure, but I get stuck on their hair color, personality, etc. pretty quickly. Changing those details just seems unnatural! At least for the main characters.

Of course, I don't generate thirty characters when I see a castle postcard. All my other little side characters appear once I've planned the story some and begin writing. Sometimes I can envision them beforehand? But not usually. I wouldn't say they all write themselves per se, but some do!

So when people compliment me on my characters, I don't really know what to say. I do work on making sure they're unique (not too cookie cutter), distinct from one another, and important to the story. But other than that? Everything kind of just happens and gets revised ... Not that it isn't hard work; it  just seems like half the work is automatic.

At least that's the way it worked for Martin Hospitality, Andora's Folly, and Behind the Act. I really, really need it to happen that way for Martin Crossroads when I begin writing it again April 1st. I think the lack of new characters in it, since it's a sequel, has been one of my major roadblocks.

I know what I'll be working on until I begin writing it again tomorrow. ;)

And in light of characters and it being Easter weekend and everything ... can we just take a moment to appreciate God's creativity in making people and how amazing it is that He died to save his world of protagonists-turned-antagonists? I mean ... wouldn't you die to save your characters even if they made bad choices? Even your villains?

Am I super crazy? How does your brain generate characters? Have an amazing Easter weekend and I'll see you in April!

The Perks of Google Docs

My last post was on why hire an editor. When I edit, I've found that my favorite program to use is Google Docs. The good news is that while it's my editing tool extraordinaire, there are ways it can be beneficial for the writer as well!

In order to use Google Docs, all you have to have is a Google account since it's a Google app. For me, that came with signing up for a Gmail account since it's also under Google.

I don't even remember how I first stumbled upon Google Docs ... maybe through a friend using it. But it is the most helpful thing ever. It's basically just Google's version of Word, but it has several features that set it apart in my mind.

In days gone by I'd write all my ideas and then the draft of the manuscript itself in Word (not that I was finishing drafts in those days). So I have dozens of fragmented drafts saved to my computer. When I started writing in Google Docs, I wrote chapters in individual docs. I'm not sure why that seemed less extravagant than doing it that way in Word, but I really like having things separate for my early drafts.

Since I share my first draft with at least one friend, I love that I can just click share and input their email. Sending an email is basically the function, but because it's in-house, I know I'm not going to forget or put it off. No attachments they have to download or anything ... just opening up my shared file in Google Docs.

Though I'm only sending my writing to people I trust, accidents happen. I can prevent accidents through Google Docs. When I share a file, I can choose the person's level access: editing, suggesting, or view only. I always give people suggesting access. That way any changes they make display as suggestions instead of actually changing the document. So if they bump a wrong key or a cat walks on the keyboard the integrity of the document is not at stake.

Those comments and suggestions are the best part. Suggestions you just accept or decline and the change is implemented or dismissed. Comments are just that--little comment boxes with messages and input or what have you. If this is sounding similar to Word's track changes feature, it is. But the main difference is Google Docs is interactive, meaning I don't have to wait to share a Word attachment and wait to get it back completely edited. I get emails as people leave comments and I can open the doc and interact with the comments which will then generate them an email. That kind of interaction really keeps the process moving much faster and smoother as I share my drafts with alpha and beta readers. And it's so much fun to have a dozen people interacting with each other about your book ... it kind of becomes a virtual book club.

You can probably see why this is my preferred method as an editor.

Again, getting answers to my questions and uncertainties in the middle of editing is so much more useful than having to shoot clients email after email to hear back on preferences and such. Google Docs keeps all correspondence in-house and thus saves time. It's pretty useless for me to suggest all these minor changes if they're going to be irrelevant in the end. In Google Docs, I find things like that out sooner rather than later and can fine tune my editing to the client as I go.

I also feel like I get to know people better when I use Google Docs. Again, because the interaction is simpler, I get a lot more of it when people decide to use Google Docs with me. They'll explain themselves, discuss plot holes, clarify things ... all of which help me do my job better.

Using Google Docs also means I'm often given more time on a manuscript because the client can get to work editing on the beginning even as I'm still working on the middle or end. Letting the stages of receiving and applying the edit overlap condenses the timeline overall, but also takes some pressure off me if I need to take a little longer. I waste less time even if I take a day off because the client has access.

So in the end, I vastly prefer Google Docs even though Word's track changes is the only other thing I've tried. It's the next best thing to marking a hard copy with a red pen.

Honestly whether writing or editing, I can only think of a few downsides.

Most people don't write in Google Docs, so to be able to use it they're often copying things over and I think there are some minor things like emdashes and such that don't always copy correctly? To me that's a fairly minor con considering all the pros as I'll catch that kind of thing in an edit.

Also, Google Docs requires internet. This is rarely an issue for me, but it's a little easier to be handicapped for that reason. This also means that when I'm editing a manuscript that's a single file, it can take a minute or so for it to load the entire thing.  (This is one reason I share my manuscript as a file per chapter.) It's worth it, though, because it's more searchable as a single document.

That's literally all the negativity I can think of! Have you tried Google Docs?

Yes, I am aware that this post is two days late. My week exploded (and I had a manuscript to finish in Google Docs), so there ya go. :P What programs and apps do you use for writing and editing? Do you like Google Docs?