Creating Real Novel Characters - Go To The Dark Places

One of the best writing talks I've ever heard was delivered by romance novelist Jennifer Cruisie at the Spring 2003 Writers Retreat Workshop. She gave the same talk again at the Romance Writers of America National Conference later that summer, and it was just as inspiring the second time around. She talked about going all-out in your writing. Digging deep. Living in your story. Bringing your characters to life. And she talked about something I'd never thought about before: going to the dark places.

"You have to go to the dark places," she said, "to bring the story back to your people."

What does this mean: go to the dark places?

As a novelist, every story you write, every character you create is part of you. That doesn't mean your characters are just like you, or vice versa. No one wants to be like their "bad guys." Half the time we don't even want to be like our good guys. They're crazy, going off on all these adventures, getting themselves into conflict at every turn. Who wants that!

Even though your characters are unique individuals and they aren't exactly like you, there's a part of you in them. You draw on parts of yourself to create them... even the bad guys. Part of what contributes to their conflict comes from something in your experience, or in your thoughts and feelings.

That's the icky part of novel writing. Not many of us enjoy dredging up these emotions. Sometimes we don't even know where they come from, they're buried so deeply. You'd pay a psychologist good money to walk you through this process, and at least there, you'd be in a safe space! With novel writing, you're on your own.

To access the proverbial dark places, you need to quiet your mind. You need to reflect on who your characters really are. Draw from deep within yourself to bring them to life. Sometimes writing in a journal, asking one of your characters some tough questions and writing the answers in your character