Hermione Granger Joins Biker Gang

...Ok, so that never happened. But if it had, imagine how wrong it would feel. Characters know who they are, even though sometimes we're not completely sure, or comfortable with what that means.

This is a subject that I imagine most, if not all, authors will have to deal with at one point or another: Character Integrity.

There is a line between making a character do what you want it to, and being true to who they are. Obviously, you're in control. You command if they live or die, are smart or stupid, etc. However, each character also is a complete being, whether or not the author chooses to accept that.

Exploring what that means to the character and who they are can lead to some fascinating discovering. It can improve your plot and your writing because you're working with a real person.

But you have to be clear. In the book I'm prepping for publication, I tried to obfuscate certain critical elements in my two protagonists. My agent called me on it, confused because I wasn't being clear. She wanted a love story that was actual, rather than implied.

I didn't want to write it in, even though I'd known it existed for 7 years, because I was afraid of the ramifications. I was trying to walk a fine line of innuendo. But I also wasn't willing to sacrifice my characters' integrity, because doing that depletes the honesty of your writing.

You're no longer dealing with a real person. You're dealing with a figment you made up in your head, and the character (in my opinion) becomes a puppet. They lose their reality and originality because the writer decided how they would act, instead of letting them react to the situation at hand.

So be kind to your characters. Let them be who THEY are, not who you want them to be. Your writing and your dialogue will thank you.
Topics: Writing , Author , Novel , Creativity