Writing Tip 9 - Write with Love in Your Heart

Each character (if real enough) was once a baby, a small child, an adolescent (maybe they still are). Regardless of what terrible (or good) things a character might do as an adult, fully-fledged character in a work of fiction, I believe he or she will work best if the writer deeply understands the things in their life that have brought them to a certain point. In order to deeply understand something, my feeling is that it is best to approach with love (which is an open, accepting attitude) rather than with cynicism and judgement (which tends to close off possibility). The writing can still be gritty, edgy, unapologetic, if that's what is wanted, but along with that will be the sense of complexity that suggests a real person.

So this is my tip for this week. For fully rounded characters, aim to be better than tolerant. Fall in love with your characters - every last one of them. Judge the action, not the person. (Some clichés have an element of truth, n'est pas?) Help the characters to grow and learn, or to try, and fail, to grow and learn.

Writing prompt:

Choose your least favourite character. Imagine them (with your own strong maternal or paternal feeling of love and protection) as a newborn baby, then as a small child of three or four.

Create a deep history for them, significant, life-changing events that shaped the 'person' that they became. Try to really get inside the character's thoughts, feelings, and motivations.

Now sit back and think about what, if anything, might change in how they are currently portrayed in your manuscript.