Dining Like a Character

When we writerly sisters gather, we bring along a few delicacies to nibble while we ruminate on plots and protagonists. This month I suggested that we bring a food our main character would eat. Mine was easy. Since my WIP is set in the Great Depression on a small east-central Indiana farm, I made chicken 'n' dumplings from scratch. Knowing that my MC's fifteen-year-old brother takes off to ride the rails, Kathi baked Hobo Bread in a tin can. Delicious! And since she's working on a children's story about a dog, she also baked another bread that she makes for her own dogs: Spinach Peanut Butter Bread. Sounds strange but it wasn't bad.

Kathy, a multi-pubbed writer of historical romances, brought a delicious Apple Crumb Pie, something many of her characters surely would  bake to entice their love interests.

Lori, who contributed a platter of tasty toasted sandwiches filled with fried bananas and peanut butter, is crafting a tale about a character who is a loyal fan of Elvis Presley.

Finally, I come to Natalie. Frankly, I was a bit anxious about her offering. I warned her in advance, "If it tries to crawl off the plate, I'm not eating it." You see, Natalie writes high fantasy. I needn't have worried. Her presentation was exotic enough for a fantastic repast, but familiar enough to arrest anxiety. Each plate was lined with red lettuce leaves topped with roasted mushrooms, toasted piñons, steamed asparagus spears, chive blades, steamed artichoke leaves, lemon-pepper tilapia, and "grubs" (sculpted from string cheese). Since her MC lives in a desert, Natalie served a luscious layered dessert bar made of figs and dates atop a graham cracker crust and spread with a sweet cream-cheese layer.

This delicious idea provided one more way we each connected with our characters, and we won't soon forget what our cohorts are writing.

Your turn: Have you had an interesting writers' meeting? Do you ever utilize themes for your meetings? Share the fun by leaving a comment. Thanks!

Write on!
Because of Christ,
Sharon

What's in a Name? You'd Better Find Out!

Though this entry is a short one, it carries an essential message for writers. Simply put, be careful what you name your characters. Check potential names on the Internet.

While sipping my Plantation Mint tea this morning, I learned about a middle-grade novel--published by a Christian house--that sounded interesting. Since I write mg, I try to stay alert regarding that genre. I clicked on the blog link that had the author's interview. When I saw the protagonist's name, I was startled. No. Shocked. It was the name of a 1980s sit-com actress who was released from the show because of her heavy drug usage. Further, in a tell-all biography, the actress wrote of a long-term incestuous relationship with her father. Not exactly the baggage you'd want your pre-teen main character to lug around--Christian or not.

Exactly what is in a name? Check it out before your character gets stuck with it, and you have to be reminded of your oversight every time you crack open the cover.

Getting to Know You, Getting to Know All about You

Leah Bright Maxwell and Trevor Aldrich Logan

That's real characters, as opposed to real people. But they're real to me, now that I've interviewed them.

I happen to be blessed to know author Ramona K. Cecil (Sweet Forever, Everlasting Promise, and Charity's Heart--all from Barbour Publishing's Heartsong Presents). We both are members of Southern Indiana Writers' Salon and American Christian Fiction Writers. On multiple occasions, Ramona has adjured SIWS writers to interview our main characters. I did that with my latest WIP and was amazed at the difference it makes in the writing. It shows.

If a writer has not taken the time or made the effort to get to know his characters well, that shows, too. It's hard to write in deep POV if one doesn't know what that POV would be or how the character views the world.

In the case of my protagonist, Leah Bright Maxwell, I knew her pretty well; much of her is me. Whereas I interviewed her, I didn't uncover any major information. Some minor things, but nothing big. On the other hand, I didn't know much at all about the neighbor boy, Trevor Aldrich Logan. His personality was ambivalent. He showed up, spoke a line or two, half-smiled, and stepped into the background. Then I interviewed him. Everything changed. Now, he will have a much larger role in the plot. He will be a co-conspirator.

Here is the interview I conducted with Trevor:

SKC:  What is your full name?

Trevor:  Trevor Logan.

SKC:  Middle name?

Trevor:  Aldrich. It was my gramp's name, but everyone called him "Al." [I didn't know this before.]

SKC:  That's a good solid name. Do you know what it means?

Trevor:  Mom looked it up once. She said that the Trevor part means "large village." Aldrich means "old king." Some place else said it meant "spear wielder."

SKC:  So you're the old king of a large village who carries a spear? (chuckle)

Trevor:  (smiles) I guess. A soldier. Like my dad. And my gramp.

SKC:  Is your gramp still living?

Trevor:  No. Neither is my dad.

SKC:  Oh, Trevor. I am so sorry. How did they die?

Trevor:  Gramp was old. He had a stroke and died. [I didn't know this.] I was a little kid. Dad was a brave warrior.

SKC:  Oh?

Trevor:  He died in Iraq. He. . .

SKC:  I know it is hard to talk about. You don't have to--

Trevor:  No. I want people to know, because I'm proud of him. He threw himself on a grenade to save his buddies.  [Nor did I know this before the interview.]

SKC:  Oh, Trevor. He was a very, very brave man.

Trevor:  Gramp died shortly after we heard about Dad dying. Mom says Gramp died of a broken heart. 

SKC:  What about your grandma?

Trevor:  Grammy lives with us. [This also surprised me.] Actually, we live with her. It's her house. She and Gramp built it a long time ago. The front part used to be a little gas station, back before Gramp decided to retire. It's kind of an odd house, with old gas pumps still out in front. [This was all news to me.]

SKC:  It has character.

Trevor:  (chuckles)

SKC:  So how did you and your mom--what's her name?

Trevor:  Wilhelmina. But no one calls her that. She might bop 'em if they did. Everyone calls her "Willie."

SKC: So how did you and your mom come to live here? Where did you live before?

Trevor:  North Carolina. After Gramp died, Grammy called Mom and said, "Wilhelmina, why don't you and Trevor come to Indiana and live here with me? We'll take good care of one another." So we did.

SKC:  She's your father's mom, isn't she?

Trevor: Yep.

SKC:  Are your other grandparents, your mom's folks, still living?

Trevor:  Yeah. They live in Illinois. Close to the Mississippi River.

SKC:  What's your Grammy's name?

Trevor:  Fern. I like that name. The woods around here are full of ferns, and I think they're really pretty.

SKC:  I like ferns, too. Have you met the girl who is spending the summer up on the hill?

Trevor:  With Miss Becky. Yeah.

SKC:  What do you think of her?

Trevor:  I don't know her much. She's from Chicago, so she's probably uppity.

SKC:  "Uppity"?

Trevor:  Yeah. You know. Snobbish. Big city. Miss Becky said her dad's a college professor or something like that.

SKC:  Her name is Leah. You and she have some things in common.

Trevor:  Like what?

SKC:  Well, she's only a little bit older than you. And she has lost a parent, too. Her mom was killed in a car wreck. She was hit by a drunk driver.

Trevor:  That's sad.

SKC:  Yes, it is. Do you know Miss Becky well?

Trevor:  Yeah. We go to the same church. She was my Sunday school teacher in third grade. I like her a lot. I go up to her house a lot. She let's me help out. Do chores. That kind o' thing.

SKC:  Don't you have a garden at your house?

Trevor:  Yep. We all three work in it. But I really like to grow things and take care of them, so I help Miss Becky, too.

SKC:  I would think that would keep you pretty busy.

Trevor:  Yep. But I like to be outdoors, so it's fun for me. Dad did, too. He was a first-rate woodsman. He taught me all sorts of things about the woods and how to survive in the wild. Like Brian in Hatchet.

SKC:  Oh, so you've read that book?

Trevor:  Yep. Pretty good, too.

SKC:  Do you read a lot?

Trevor:  Not really. That was a book we read in school. Mostly I read to find out stuff. You know. Not made-up stories. Books about nature, an' stuff like that. Dad used to get me them kind o' books just about every birthday. I have a bookshelf in my room--well, it's part of my bed--that Mom calls my Lewis and Clark shelf. You know. After the explorers. [All of this is new to me.]

SKC:  Yes. I've heard of them. So what kinds of books are on your Lewis and Clark shelf?

Trevor:  Dad got ma a lot of books about how to identify stuff. Trees, wildflowers, medicine plants, birds, mushrooms, butterflies, insects, snakes, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, dragonflies--you name it.

SKC:  I might not be able to name it.

Trevor:  Then we'll look it up in a book.

SKC:  Those are important things to know.

Trevor:  Yep. [He says "Yep" a lot.] I know the woods around here real good.

SKC:  You miss your dad a lot, don't you? I can tell. When do you miss him the most?

Trevor: When I'm out in the woods and I see something special and I want to show it to him or ask him about it and I can't 'cause he's not there. And at night. He used to read to us from the Bible and we'd talk about it. What it meant. That kind o' thing. Sometimes we'd talk a looooooooong time. Till Mom said I had to get to bed. Oh, and when the mailman comes. I know there's no need expecting a letter from Dad. There's another time, too, when I really miss 'im.

SKC:  When's that?

Trevor:  When Mom cries. When she misses him so much she just cries. And I don't know what to do to make her feel better.

SKC:  Do you cry?

Trevor:  (almost inaudibly) Sometimes.

SKC:  Trevor, may I ask some not-so-serious questions?

Trevor: Yep.

SKC:  These are about your favorite things. What's your favorite color?

Trevor:  Green.

SKC:  Ice cream?

Trevor:  Butter pecan.

SKC:  Meal?

Trevor:  Grammy's homemade chicken 'n' noodles with mashed potatoes and corn-on-the-cob and tomatoes from the garden. Watermelon for dessert.

SKC:  Subject in school?

Trevor:  Hmmmm...art. And science. I like social studies pretty good, too.

SKC:  Book?

Trevor:  Well, Hatchet. And I really like the Chronicles of Narnia, too. Are we about done, 'cause I got some things I need to do?

SKC:  I think so, unless there's something else you'd like to tell me.

Trevor:  Nope. I want to go see if I can help Miss Becky.

SKC:  Thanks for talking with me.

Trevor:  You're welcome. See ya later.

SKC:  Count on it.

Want more on the subject? Visit Linda Glaz' blog.

Bringing the Dead to Life

Pictured above: The working images I've chosen for Trevor, Johannah, and Leah.
Fellow writer and good friend Ramona K. Cecil suggests that fiction writers "interview" their protagonists and principal characters before beginning a new manuscript. I wish that I had done that with Camie in Up the Rutted Road, but instead I got to know her the hard way: word by page by chapter by triumph by danger.

The Second Cellar will be different. Though I've written 104 pages, I've learned so much during the revision of Rutted Road that I know I must begin again. But first, I'm taking Ramona's advice; I've interviewing Leah, my protagonist, as well as Trevor (Leah's neighbor for the summer) and Johannah (Leah's nineteenth-century friend). I may also interview Leah's father, Byron, the English professor.

It's amazing what a writer can learn from character interviews. All right. I can hear you asking, "Since you invented the characters, don't you already know them?" No. There is much to be discovered in an interview. For example, I had no idea that Leah's middle name was Bright. Nor did I know that she went for two weeks after birth without a middle name. Until Trevor's interview, I didn't know that he and his mother lived with his paternal grandmother, Fern. Further, his father died a hero while serving in Iraq; he threw himself on a grenade to save his buddies. Who knew?

I join Ramona in advising writers to talk to your characters. Get to really know them before you write their stories. Know their back-stories, as well. Don't be shy about prying into private matters. If they blush, let them blush. If they fidget, make note of that. Once you know them, you can write about them authentically.