Bravado Publishing - Tips For Writers
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Novel Writing Tips - How Characters and Plot Work
Together
by Kristen Bailey
A great novel has a great storyline and great characters. Sounds easy
enough, right? It can be if we break it down. Let’s start with characters. If
they’re unique, fully developed people, they’ll help shape your novel by
providing some of the conflict. Take those driven people and throw them
into a set of circumstances that’s dangerous, or/ and pushes them to the
limit emotionally, or forces them to change in big ways, and you have a
plot to start with.
Character tips - Paint a colorful picture of people
First, make sure the people in your story are different. They look different
so you have strong visual tags. During conversation, Vicky can flip her
long, black hair over her shoulder. Ben can scratch his red beard. The
lead man is stocky from working out while his brother is tall and skinny.
You’re giving your readers a picture of each person which makes them
seem more like individuals and less like different sides of you, the
author.
Names a big deal as well. Make sure names are varied. You don’t want a
Lucy and Linda having conversations the reader’s mind will see those
two Ls and mix them up. You also don’t want very similar names.
Your characters can be different on many, many levels. Careers, martial
status, life stage and hobbies are all surface characteristics. They need
very different motivations, even if they want the same thing in life.
Motivation can come from childhood: the dream they’ve always worked
for. Maybe they lost someone and are afraid to love. They’re working to
earn someone’s love. They want something disparately. Give them a big,
driving goal and several small ones. Make them complex, flawed, and
gifted in some ways too. If you think of the liveliest person you’ve ever
met, you want your character to be like that: interesting on many levels
so that you want to spend time getting to know them. (Like 400 pages of a
novel.)
A character, like a real person, probably has career goals, life goals,
family and relationships, hobbies, and problems.
Plot - BIG problem with BIG emotional stakes
Some of your conflict will naturally arise from the characters. If they
want something so bad, they’ll kill for it, that’s the start of your plot. If two
very different men, both with good and bad qualities, want the same
woman, you’ve got a story. But don’t stop there.
A strong novel has a central conflict that creates other conflicts. The
characters are fighting some physical force or other kind of challenge,
and then they also have all kinds of emotional stuff to work through. The
physical struggle keeps the book moving forward so they’re not just
sitting around, discussing the emotional problems.
This is sometimes referred to as external and internal conflict, and you
should have both to some degree in your novel.
By looking at your favorite books and movies, you can study the
characters and what makes them strong hero and heroines. You can pick
apart the plot and see the central struggle (like trying to stay alive, hunt
down a tornado to study it, save the family farm) and then the other
emotional issues that need solved. I’m going to discuss one of my own
novels so show you how I did what I’m talking about.
In a Cowboy For Christmas, I have Missy and Brent. She’s from the city
and lost her job when her boss ruined her reputation. Her half brother
dies before she gets to know him, so now she owns his interest in a horse
ranch in Oregon. Since she’s out of a job and money, she flies out hoping
this will fix her money problems.
Brent has been on the ranch all along, working his butt off to get it going.
He just lost his friend and business partner. Now some woman shows up
and expects to jump into things without any knowledge about horses or
running a ranch. Things aren’t great for him financially either because
they opened the stables just a couple years before. He also has his own
emotional baggage because his fiance left him because she didn’t like
the ranch life.
Brent expects all woman to take off when things get touch, and Missy has
learned men aren’t trustworthy. There’s smaller conflicts, too, over the
death of the brother. Brent feels survivor guilt while Missy feels bad that
she didn’t get to know her brother.
Both characters are caring people, but they’re very different. They each
have flaws and good qualities. And they each assume things about the
other from the start. The circumstances of the plot force them to work
together and keep the ranch going, which gives them something to do
while they fight about any and everything. Having the ranch provides a
beautiful backdrop and secondary characters as well.
This example is from a short romance novel, so it’s easy to see how I use
the characters and plot. Some novels are much longer and more
complicated, but you can take the basic formula and build on it, layering
more conflict and characters.
When I write a novel, I start with an idea of the plot and characters
forming together in my mind. I get the idea down and then see more
possibilities to add a quality to a certain character or another plot twist.
For me, the plot and characters start working together to provide more
ideas and strengthen the book.
Together
by Kristen Bailey
A great novel has a great storyline and great characters. Sounds easy
enough, right? It can be if we break it down. Let’s start with characters. If
they’re unique, fully developed people, they’ll help shape your novel by
providing some of the conflict. Take those driven people and throw them
into a set of circumstances that’s dangerous, or/ and pushes them to the
limit emotionally, or forces them to change in big ways, and you have a
plot to start with.
Character tips - Paint a colorful picture of people
First, make sure the people in your story are different. They look different
so you have strong visual tags. During conversation, Vicky can flip her
long, black hair over her shoulder. Ben can scratch his red beard. The
lead man is stocky from working out while his brother is tall and skinny.
You’re giving your readers a picture of each person which makes them
seem more like individuals and less like different sides of you, the
author.
Names a big deal as well. Make sure names are varied. You don’t want a
Lucy and Linda having conversations the reader’s mind will see those
two Ls and mix them up. You also don’t want very similar names.
Your characters can be different on many, many levels. Careers, martial
status, life stage and hobbies are all surface characteristics. They need
very different motivations, even if they want the same thing in life.
Motivation can come from childhood: the dream they’ve always worked
for. Maybe they lost someone and are afraid to love. They’re working to
earn someone’s love. They want something disparately. Give them a big,
driving goal and several small ones. Make them complex, flawed, and
gifted in some ways too. If you think of the liveliest person you’ve ever
met, you want your character to be like that: interesting on many levels
so that you want to spend time getting to know them. (Like 400 pages of a
novel.)
A character, like a real person, probably has career goals, life goals,
family and relationships, hobbies, and problems.
Plot - BIG problem with BIG emotional stakes
Some of your conflict will naturally arise from the characters. If they
want something so bad, they’ll kill for it, that’s the start of your plot. If two
very different men, both with good and bad qualities, want the same
woman, you’ve got a story. But don’t stop there.
A strong novel has a central conflict that creates other conflicts. The
characters are fighting some physical force or other kind of challenge,
and then they also have all kinds of emotional stuff to work through. The
physical struggle keeps the book moving forward so they’re not just
sitting around, discussing the emotional problems.
This is sometimes referred to as external and internal conflict, and you
should have both to some degree in your novel.
By looking at your favorite books and movies, you can study the
characters and what makes them strong hero and heroines. You can pick
apart the plot and see the central struggle (like trying to stay alive, hunt
down a tornado to study it, save the family farm) and then the other
emotional issues that need solved. I’m going to discuss one of my own
novels so show you how I did what I’m talking about.
In a Cowboy For Christmas, I have Missy and Brent. She’s from the city
and lost her job when her boss ruined her reputation. Her half brother
dies before she gets to know him, so now she owns his interest in a horse
ranch in Oregon. Since she’s out of a job and money, she flies out hoping
this will fix her money problems.
Brent has been on the ranch all along, working his butt off to get it going.
He just lost his friend and business partner. Now some woman shows up
and expects to jump into things without any knowledge about horses or
running a ranch. Things aren’t great for him financially either because
they opened the stables just a couple years before. He also has his own
emotional baggage because his fiance left him because she didn’t like
the ranch life.
Brent expects all woman to take off when things get touch, and Missy has
learned men aren’t trustworthy. There’s smaller conflicts, too, over the
death of the brother. Brent feels survivor guilt while Missy feels bad that
she didn’t get to know her brother.
Both characters are caring people, but they’re very different. They each
have flaws and good qualities. And they each assume things about the
other from the start. The circumstances of the plot force them to work
together and keep the ranch going, which gives them something to do
while they fight about any and everything. Having the ranch provides a
beautiful backdrop and secondary characters as well.
This example is from a short romance novel, so it’s easy to see how I use
the characters and plot. Some novels are much longer and more
complicated, but you can take the basic formula and build on it, layering
more conflict and characters.
When I write a novel, I start with an idea of the plot and characters
forming together in my mind. I get the idea down and then see more
possibilities to add a quality to a certain character or another plot twist.
For me, the plot and characters start working together to provide more
ideas and strengthen the book.
| Six General Novel Writing Tips 1) Don't start with just description of the city/ setting. If you need the description near the beginning, mix it into action or dialogue. 2) Try starting right where a problem pops up. 3) Make the central conflict large enough to last the entire novel. 4) Make your climax believable. This is the darkest moment of the book, and you want it to logically come from the story's conflict. If some awful event comes out of nowhere, readers will get jarred out of the story. 5) Make sure the characters can solve the big issues themselves. 6) Fulfill your promises. Resolve the big issue. Answer your questions. Let us see that the character will go on after the novel with new understanding of some sort. |
I'd like to offer tips that have helped me with my writing, so note these are my own opinions. I'll update and add to this page, so send me feedback or questions if you'd like. Thanks! |