Ten Steps to an Emotionally Engaging Character

Literary agents pass on submissions for all sorts of reasons. For me, it usually comes down to the writing, more specifically, the characters themselves and how well I am able to connect with them. Having that emotional engagement with the characters makes me care what happens to them and keeps me turning pages.

The most common reason why I cannot connect with a protagonist is because the character does not seem “real” enough for me to relate to him or her. In other words, the character must have a certain degree of complexity, and a deeper or more layered way of thinking and acting to comes off as authentic and unique. Otherwise, the character will appear shallow and one-dimensional. He or she will seem more like a stock character pulled out of a TV show or movie, or worse, a caricature of a person.

The key to creating a more complex and convincing protagonist is to understand your character on an intimate level. Below is a 10-step writing exercise designed to help you dive deeper into the inner workings of your character’s personality:

Step 1: Create a tagline for the character. This is similar to what you would see in a personal profile of someone on social media. Just like a social media profile, it should be relatively short, reveal a main aspect of the character and her interests or what she desires most or aspires to become. 

Step 2: Write up a personal history of the character. Start with the basics and leave room to add more as more about the character comes to you. A good place to begin is with the character’s family history, including cultural and social roots. Then expand further. Are there any family issues or secrets? What about significant or pivotal childhood events? Think of what events or relationships might’ve influenced or shaped the character’s decisions in the story – perhaps an alcoholic or abusive parent, or a sibling that drowned or was murdered.

Step 3: Identify in general terms, your character’s type. Think in categories, archetypes, and even in stereotypes. Commercial fiction will often require a character to fill a role that fits a category – like the nosy mother-in-law or the funny, buddy sidekick or the recovering alcoholic detective. Once you have a generalized aspect of your character, make him or her more interesting and unique by adding traits and behaviors that might emphasize, stretch, bend or go against type.

Step 4: Describe the character’s morality make-up. Is the character principled or is he untrustworthy?  Is she thoughtful and logical about her decisions or impulsive and irrational? Is he empathetic and kind or indifferent and cruel to others? Is he honest to fault? Or perhaps ruthless and ambitious? Or maybe ethical and heroic?

Step 5: List what your character’s dreams and aspirations are.  Include not just career or life goals. Also include personal goals. For example, you might have a character who wants to stop a terrorist plot but he also wants to some day make amends with his estranged brother.

Step 6: Describe difficulties in the character’s life. What inner demons are making him or her struggle to get though the day, or deal with others? These difficulties might manifest themselves in the character’s life by making him drink too much or make her unable to commit to a relationship or contribute to his depression.  

Step 7: List the strengths and weaknesses of the character. What skills does she utilize the best or what traits help her the most?  What are the weaknesses or deficiencies in skills or behavior that come out most often or at the worst moments?

Step 8:Write about an incident, relationship or anything from the character’s upbringing that either directly or indirectly creates a behavioral or personality issue for him or her now, such as a debilitating shyness as a result of being shamed or dismissed as a child, or an underlying anger because of being abandoned by a father.

Step 9: Identify the cultural or environmental elements that might influence your character.  What ethnic or cultural traditions does he practice? What kind of sports does she play or watch? What television shows are on his DVR? Does she prefer to be in nature or the city? Is he conservative or liberal? Does she go to ballets and symphonies or rock concerts and baseball games? 

  

Step 10:After you have completed the nine steps, take stock of what you’ve written down. You should now have a better, more nuanced vision of your character. Continue to add to what you have written about your character, as you work on your story. Your notes will help you make decisions in what your character will do or think when situations arise in the story, identify the character’s personal stakes and bring out your character’s arc.

By the end of this exercise, you will know your character on a more meaningful level.  He will have a broader range of actions and reactions, because you will have a better understanding of his beliefs and morality, and his personality flaws and strengths. Your character will have a compelling inner life with tangible fears and real aspirations. He’ll have interesting quirks and eccentricities. Most of all, you’ll have a more emotionally engaging story that will keep readers invested in seeing your character’s journey to the end.

Make Your Manuscript Stand Out: Tips for Better Beginnings

No matter how interesting its premise, or how skillful the use of language, getting a literary agent to notice your manuscript in the first place, depends on how compelling is its opening. A novel's beginning is one of the most difficult writing feats to pull off well. I say this because the beginning has to flex more narrative muscles than other parts of the novel. In a short amount of space, it sets up events of the story, introduces characters, situates the reader, and immerses him deeply enough to  keep him turning the page. From the many manuscripts I've read over the past couple of years, I put together some tips on writing a better beginning for your novel.

Establish story goals and stakes clearly and promptly. Does your reader know what to expect from your beginning? If not, it needs to be revised so that it clearly shows what stands to be gained if your protagonist succeeds and what would be lost should she fail. These stakes need to be worthy of the reader’s investment. The higher the stakes, the more a reader will care about seeing the protagonist succeed. To avoid melodrama and help the reader understand how close or far the protagonist is from reaching her goals, both external and internal stakes need to be defined with concrete language and specific imagery. This should be revealed on page one, preferably within the first two paragraphs. If not, then they should be revealed no later than the second chapter. Bear in mind, the longer you wait, the greater the risk of losing your reader.

Begin in media res, or in the middle of the action. A story with a dramatic opening is an almost guaranteed hook.  The reader is brought into the story in the middle of a scene with characters in movement or taking action. This scene should carry meaning throughout the rest of the novel. It can be an inciting incident that creates the story’s conflict. It can be where the character changes direction in pursuit of the story goal. It can be a scene that exposes old wounds. By showing (external) conflict in action, the protagonist’s inner goals and struggles can be revealed. It is a way to effectively introduce the story problem and plot while hitting the ground running. The aim is to lay the foundation of the story’s forthcoming crisis, so make sure that this scene does not overshadow the rest of the novel.

Begin with a hook. A narrative hook is a powerful way to begin and the quickest way to pull a reader into a story.  It reveals something of significance that is related to the central conflict, theme or the protagonist’s desires. Effective narrative hooks are outside of narrative time and place. They reflect the style and voice of the piece. They can identify a turning point and highlight larger life themes such as love, hate, birth and death. Ideally, the hook hints at the character’s struggle or need and engages the reader on an emotional level. A well-written hook is layered with characterization, story conflict, theme, or something from the story that is tantalizing, raising questions and suspense.

Immediately orient place and time. Within the first paragraph, make sure to orient the reader to the story’s time and place. A scene that happens nowhere will have an affect of not having happened at all. Failing to establish a sense of where and when a story takes place will leave readers bored or confused. Narrative time and concrete setting help a reader to more fully engage in the story and invest in its characters. While time frames the protagonist’s life in a larger context, it also provides perspective to the story’s events as they unfold. Setting then grounds the story in a particular place at a particular moment of the character's life. 

The importance of a novel’s opening should not be underestimated.  This is not to say that sustaining the tension and energy level of your story through to the end is just as vital. But a beginning that hooks,  has high stakes, situates the story's time and place and hits the ground running gives your manuscript a competitive edge. And that might just be enough to make it stand out among the thousands of other manuscripts that are competing for a literary agent's attention.