Creating Character: Bringing Your Story to Life PDF
Preview Creating Character: Bringing Your Story to Life
Creating Character Bringing Your Story to Life Creating Character: Bringing Your Story to Life First Edition Copyright © 2013 William Bernhardt Writing Programs Published by the Red Sneaker Press An imprint of Babylon Books All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions. Creating Character Bringing Your Story to Life William Bernhardt The Red Sneaker Writer Series Other Books by William Bernhardt Red Sneaker Writer Series Story Structure: The Key to Successful Fiction Creating Character: Bringing Your Story to Life Perfect Plotting: Charting the Hero’s Journey The Fundamentals of Fiction (DVD) The Ben Kincaid Series Primary Justice Blind Justice Deadly Justice Perfect Justice Cruel Justice Naked Justice Extreme Justice Dark Justice Silent Justice Murder One Criminal Intent Hate Crime Death Row Capitol Murder Capitol Threat Capitol Conspiracy Capitol Offense Capitol Betrayal Other Novels The Code of Buddyhood Paladins of the Abyss Dark Eye The Midnight Before Christmas Final Round Double Jeopardy Strip Search Nemesis: The Final Case of Eliot Ness The Idea Man Shine For Young Readers Equal Justice: The Courage of Ada Lois Sipuel (biography) Princess Alice and the Dreadful Dragon (illustrated by Kerry McGhee) The Black Sentry Edited by William Bernhardt Legal Briefs Natural Suspect Dedicated to all the Red Sneaker Writers: You can’t fail unless you quit. Action is character. Aristotle TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Chapter One: Character is Critical Chapter Two: Character as Metaphor Chapter Three: Character and Characterization Chapter Four: Character is Choice Chapter Five: Character and Contradiction Chapter Six: Considering the Protagonist Chapter Seven: Viewpoint Chapter Eight: Making Readers Care Chapter Nine: Character Arc Appendix A: Character Detail Sheet Appendix B: The Writer’s Calendar Appendix C: The Writer’s Contract Appendix D: The Writer’s Reading List INTRODUCTION Welcome to the world of the Red Sneaker Writers. If you’re familiar with this outfit or you’ve read other Red Sneaker publications or attended Red Sneaker events, you can skip to Chapter One. If you’re new, let me take a moment to explain. I’ve been writing a long time, and I’ve been speaking at writing workshops and conferences almost as long. Every time I take to the stage I see the same tableau staring back at me: long rows of talented people, most of whom have attended many conferences, frustrated by the fact that they can’t sell a book. And wondering why. Yes, the market is tough and agents are hard to find yadda yadda yadda whine whine whine excuse excuse excuse. But when aspiring writers do the work, put it out there, but still don’t publish…there’s usually a reason. Too often enormous potential is lost due to a lack of fundamental knowledge. Sometimes a little vigorous instruction is all that stands between an unpublished writer and a satisfying writing career. I always do my best to help at conferences, but the large auditorium/general information lecture is not terribly conducive to writing instruction. And sometimes what I’ve heard other instructors say was not particularly helpful. Too often people seemed more interested in obfuscating writing and appearing “literary” than in providing useful information. Sometimes I felt speakers were determined to make writing as mysterious and incomprehensible as possible, either because that made them sound more erudite or because they didn’t understand the subject themselves. How is that going to help anyone get published? After giving this problem some thought, I formulated the Red Sneaker Writing Center. Why Red Sneakers? Because I love my red sneakers. They’re
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