Angel in Disguise

link to original here

Apparently Jennifer Nielsen is an angel in disguise. I needed what she had to say to help me get all amped up for diving back into writing. She presented one of my favorite workshops at the conference this last weekend titled, “The Psychology of Characterization.” Here’s an excerpt from the blurb describing the class: 

Okay, you’ve put your characters together, but do you really understand them…get inside your character’s heads, discover their fears, worries, and motives (hint: they might not be what you think!),…understand why they might not be cooperating with your plot.

And she had me at “Hello.”

The workshop was 45 minutes of non-stop information, starting with four basics of characterization. These are great tools for me, things to keep in the back of my head/notes to double-check when I’m struggling:

1. Personality is stable; traits may evolve or adapt (ex: Type-A personality vs. an angry temperament).

2. It’s not only the presence of a trait that matters, but how intense it is (ex: an angry temperament vs. a person so angry and out of control they are abusive).

3. People do behave out of character, but not very often, so their behavior needs to match their traits (ex: a shy young girl isn’t going to jump at the chance to do a solo on stage for the talent show, so if your character does this there’s got to be a good reason for it).

4. People’s issues tend to be reworked repeatedly throughout their lives, so when designing characters, it’s okay (better?) to have just 2-3 issues they’re hashing and rehashing as the story progresses, rather than many issues. Why complicate things more than you need to?

I loved these, but then she went into detail about a character building worksheet she created based on her long-time experience in work as well as what she’s done through her own writing. Since she made it herself, I’m not sure what the copy-right issues would be? At the very least, I think it’d probably be rude to just start handing it out without her consent. Instead, I’ll refer you to Jennifer Nielsen herself. It’ll definitely be worth your time to contact her…she has a couple of sites:

http://www.jennielsen.com/index.php

http://www.blogger.com/profile/00430312687904475709

Last, she’s compiled list of resources that can help writers understand their characters’ personalities and traits better…

click on image to enlarge

And her book coming out in April looks, in a word? Awesome. Intriguing. Fantastic. Take your pick. And then go check it out.

Total pages logged as of today: 183 but visit my Deadline Updates page for more info

Moment of Magic today:

Happy Spring Equinox! With this I give you? Music to relax into and pretty springtime visuals...
What did you do on your first day of Spring?