Working along in the Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass, now that I’ve supposedly gotten a good grip on who my characters are and what they want, the next exercise is to figure out how to make them larger than life and discover the one thing they’d never say, never do, or never think.

And, you guessed it, find places for them to do just that during the course of the story.

So, I’ve got this mousy heroine that I’m working on and I need her to become a lioness. The thing is, I feel her character arc has had a decent treatment and she’s already doing and saying some things she would never consider at the beginning of the story. I probably need to do some work on the “thinking” part, but I’m not unhappy with her development at this point.

The hero’s another story. He’s the one I need to closely examine and shift from his table-top cardboard display cut-out existence to something more on the level of Allison Hayes in her role as Nancy Archer, an abused wife who takes revenge in a way that is both literally and figuratively larger than life. We’ll just hope he doesn’t come out more like Darryl Hannah. *ahem*

Ok, so maybe Attack of the 50-ft. Woman was too corny of an example to use. But who hasn’t daydreamed about taking revenge for something in some over the top manner, if only to make ourselves feel better. I think some of the best characters exhibit these larger than life behaviors and it’s part of what makes us follow their stories. What are they capable of, that we’d never be brave enough to do. All through their character arcs, they keep doing things that you wouldn’t to expect them to do, but each time that surprise just seems inevitable, even if we’re just a bit jealous of their pluck and rapier wits.

The nice little twist that Maass includes in this exercise is to find a place where the character forgoes one of these larger-than-life actions. When and where they back off from (to borrow a phrase from Michael Hauge) living in their essence and retreating behind their identity.

I think it’s important to see this hesitation, because without it, you don’t get the impact of their final decision to fully exist in their true form as a larger-than-life decision that is validated by their motivations and rewards their sacrifices and suffering through their inner conflicts and growth during their arc.

Today’s exercise that I’m working on from the Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maasshas to deal with choosing defining qualities. What makes your characters who they are and not someone else? While you may take the easy route ( I seem to do so often enough! ) and choose an archetype that represents all that’s heroic about my characters, it may not be enough. You don’t want cardboard cutouts of people populating your stories. You need to find ways to show the reader the other sides of their character.

How can you show the human side of the arrogant and unfeeling rake or villain? How can you show the strength of the shy and demure heroine? Hmm… I seem to be dredging up a lot of opposites here, but what better way to create dimensionality and plant the seeds of inner conflict according to Maass?

I’m sure we can all name an absolute defining characteristic for all our favorite characters from books and movies. The question is, can you name more than one and how they also demonstrate its opposite during the course of the plot? Can you name three? Four? More?

What’s the point? Why bother? The more life and realistic contradictions you can put into your characters especially your main characters, the more realistic, human, and sympathetic they can become. You can’t just rely on plot points to provide opportunities for these extra qualities to emerge, though it will happen if you keep an eye out for them, but use these additional sides of your character, perhaps in unexpected places. Say your hero hates cats, but the heroine’s green-eyed ball of fluff is caught in a tree. You might have painted him as rude and insensitive rake, but what does it say about him if he rescues the poor stranded kitty?

Tons, depending on how you show it.

And really, that’s the point, make each character a distinct individual that can’t just be interchanged for another piece of cardboard in your story. Honestly, aren’t the characters the real reason why some books stay on your keeper shelf and others don’t?

I got the Workbook that goes with Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass. I read the main book a while ago, and I haven’t had a chance to read much beyond the first chapter of the workbook yet, but what I’m seeing looks like a lengthy, but worthwhile endeavor.

The first exercise asks, “Who are your personal heroes?”

I have to admit I sat there dumbstruck for the longest time. This isn’t something I think about on a regular basis. How am I supposed to come up with someone off the top of my head. And just one person? C’mon, I’d much prefer to say all those single mom’s out there who make it look so easy (heck, any mom out there that makes it look easy!) than narrow my answer down to a single person.

Besides, won’t it matter who I pick and which protagonist I’m writing about? Won’t different characters require different heroic qualities to be focused on? Shouldn’t it matter who I name based on if I’m looking at a heroine or a hero for my story?

These are the questions I wrestled with yesterday. So did I arrive at any answers? Sorta.

You see, I’m going to run with the idea that it’s going to matter which individual I pick as a personal hero based on which character I’m trying to focus on. Juliet Gordon Low isn’t going to fit for every heroine I write. Jim Henson won’t work for just any hero or even likely ever more than one I write.

The other thing is, someone I see as a hero, no one else ever will. Things I see as heroic qualities may be no big deal to someone else. I think the series, The Greatest American Hero covered that quite well since much of the time they focused on every day situations instead of save-the-world type scenarios. Not everyone can be superman. Not everyone can afford Batman’s toys. Not everyone lives in such dire straights.

I can’t wait to see what other thought provoking questions the book holds in store. I mean, really, how often have you thought about who your personal heroes were since you had to write some corny essay about it in school?

Who would you name today? Why? Do you even remember when you first realized this person had that particular heroic quality?