How real are the characters you write?

This summer, I read a great story about a man trapped in a spiraling depression after learning that his teenage daughter had been killed in a car crash. He learns of her death while floating thousands of miles up in space. Back home, he struggles with guilt, loneliness and the will to move forward. He's a bit pitiful and annoying at first. He sleeps with his neighbor's wife. He doesn't take care of himself. He cuts his own adulteress wife off from their joint bank account. Then comes a moment in the story where he starts to show his true self, his possible self, and you really want him to be okay. This is the moment the character became real. ( I encourage you to read THIS book.)

People aren't one-dimensional. Possibly not even two-dimensional. We are multi-faceted. We are not equal parts good, bad and ugly. We are imperfect. Characters need to be the same.

This is not an easy task for the writer. Here are some starter tips to create real characters.

1. The Woody Allen Recipe. If your protagonist is insecure and lonely, add a likable quality. Sense of humor, compassion, trustworthiness.

2. The Martha Stewart Recipe. If your antagonist must be despised in the end, start her off being clever, kind and helpful. Then put her helpfulness to the test where she helps herself in spite of others. Let her get caught. Readers can pity her without rooting for her.

3. The OJ Simpson Recipe. If your antagonist must get what they deserve in the end, let it not be enough. Start them off as very popular and lovable. Put them in a situation where they hurt the protagonist (not physically, perhaps mentally or emotionally). They lose their popularity but maybe gain a sick notoriety. (This is a good recipe for a bully or mean girl.)

4. The Ebenezer Scrooge Recipe. If your protagonist is pretty despicable in the beginning but must transform into a lovable person in the end, reveal his Achilles heel early on. He's impatient and rude, but he has a niece he adores. He's cheap and critical, but he can't pass up a stray dog on the street.

You get the picture. Creating real characters is a lot like baking that delicious chocolate cake. Start with a good recipe then add some surprises. Not too much. And always find someone to take a small taste before you share it with a large group.

What are your real character recipes? Share them with us.

Write on!

This week, I respond to Charli Mills' invitation to answer the question: Why do I write? 

As the summer winds down and another new school year nears, I feel the shakes begin. My summer morning break of dawn habit is about to die out, hibernate for another 9 months, lurk and twist beneath my itching derma. My writing habit must quiet and slow. 

It's not how I want it; it's how it must be. I will certainly try to wake a half hour earlier, in the predawn darkness of my warm bed, slither out onto the floor and feel in the blackness for my one-eyed blinking laptop. Some days will merit worth, others will succumb to the nurturing folds of that maternal duvet.

I write because it is my soul's path. 

Back in the 70s when I was a school girl, I'd lay across my bedroom floor's pink shag carpet and scribble out verses and stories and diary entries. Any school assignment that required writing, I could do it in my sleep. (Math lessons left me in fits of tears at my father's feet.)

I write because it fills my being with joy.

As that same girl, I would also spend summers in the pool. When not in the pool, I'd be on my bike pedaling to the library. Reading filled my imagination, connected me to worlds I hadn't encountered, drew me into lives of wonder. Fueled by the ideas of Judy Blume, E.B.White, Roald Dahl, I soon found myself bursting with my own tales to pen. When my English teachers encouraged my work, there was no stopping me.

 I write because it helps me make sense of a senseless world.

Navigating through adolescence is never easy. It's the theme of most of my books. Again, my path cleared with the help of writers: Austen, Salinger, Lee, and the Bronte sisters. I soon understood that writers had a greater purpose. Writers help us find connections to ourselves and others. They provide us with a foundation when the ground beneath us is cracking. Writers open us up to worlds unknown and offer personal portals to the very confusing world we live in.

I write for the same reasons that I breathe. Without it, I'd cease to be.

I'd like to introduce you to three other writers whose pen has touched my heart. Please visit them. I'd love to hear your comments, too. Why do you write?

Natalie Corbett Sampson Natalie Corbett Sampson lives in Hatchet Lake, Nova Scotia with her husband, four school-aged Munsters and a menagerie of pets. Her day job is a speech language pathologist where she loves helping children improve their ability to communicate with the world around them. When she’s not working, writing or sitting in a hockey rink Natalie loves reading, photography and drawing. You can learn more about Natalie and follow her publishing journey on her blog: www.NatalieCorbettSampson.com.

Ruben Castaneda is a Los Angeles native and former award-winning journalist for the Washington Post. His first book, "S Street Rising", chronicles his time covering the 1980s and 90s crack epidemic in our nation's capital while battling his own addiction with the drug. Ruben mentored me on the Los Angeles Herald Examiner where we covered the outbreak of gang violence and innocent victims caught in the crossfire.

Samantha Williams's first novel is due out later this year.  She is the co-founder of PageCurl Publishing, a group of writers who publish and promote indie writers.

Write on!

I love to write, so people think it comes easily. It does, and it doesn't. When it doesn't, I rely on the experts. I need guidance and some instructions.

Writing is hard work, but I know why I do it.

Writing fills my heart. Writing allows me to make sense of the voices in my head, the poetry in my soul, the chatter all around me. Still, it is a craft, and it requires instruction. Lucky me, I have two amazing teachers.
Lamott and King. I obsessively absorbing their advice and analyze their style, word choice, structure and rhythm. I have read Stephen King’s “On Writing” and Anne Lamott’s “Bird by Bird: Instructions on Writing and Life” over and over. Each time, I find new ideas; each time, something I’ve read becomes clearer.

Writing brings me joy. It’s hard work, but I love it. 

If you love to write, then write. Everyday. Every chance you get. But don’t just write, read your writing, study it; read other writing and study that. Buy a book on writing. I suggest buying a live book as opposed to a digital download or library rental because you will want to write in it.

Both my books by King and Lamott have notes in all the margins, words circled, lines underlined, pages starred and dog-eared. They are my instructors, and I heed their words like notes on a treasure map.

Writing is not a 9 to 5 job. It’s 24/7. Make the most of it.

Here are some more recommended readings on writing:

On Writing Well by William Zinsser
Page After Page by Heather Sellers
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg

Write on!

Lisa Reiter is an amazing and brave woman. (You’ll need to visit her website to learn why I believe this to be true.). She is also a creative writer who is generous enough to invite us into her world and share our memories.

Friday, May 2, Lisa initiated a weekly writing invite on her site called, BITE SIZE MEMOIRS. Lisa wants us to spend a few moments reflecting on the past and recording those thoughts to share with the world. Telling your story is soul-cleansing.

Northern California Author Anne Lamott has spent nearly her whole life writing about her family and self. Kind of like running a marathon on a treadmill – you race hard but never reach a finish line. It can be exhausting, but it can also be exhilarating.

In Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, Anne says: “Just put down on paper everything you can remember now about your parents and siblings and relatives and neighbors, and we will deal with libel later on.” (Lisa asks us to be kind and leave out last names; she doesn’t want to deal with libel at all).

I’ve taken up this week’s challenge: Using the theme SCHOOL AT SEVEN, write 10 lines of “I remember” or 150 words. Check the website for the official unofficial rules. Whether you choose to share with the Lisa and us or not, you will enjoy remembering your childhood and all the crazy nonsense that comes along with growing up.

“School at Seven” by Ellen Plotkin Mulholland, b. 1963, California, USA

I remember my long blue flowered dress with the gathered bodice.

I remember swinging higher than my best friend.

I remember hearing the f-word from ginger-haired Tommy Something.

I remember creating Barbie towns and using our shoes as cars.

I remember recess and the large expanse of black asphalt, the kickball zone, the sandpit.

I remember sitting in rows, alphabetically.

I remember the green chalkboard and waiting for my turn to clap dusty black erasers on the pavement outside after school.

I remember waiting for my big brother and little sister at the chain-link fence.

I remember walking home and not taking candy from strangers and worrying about strangers and slow moving cars.

And I remember wanting to be 8 because that would be better than being 7.

We're a full month into spring, and I can smell summer's surf and sun already. What's on your reading list!

As a writer of YA, and someone who is more A than Y, I try to keep up with popular reads. If I want to write what young people want to read, I need to read what they like. Since I must also balance my life, and since I have so many books I want to read (adult fiction, biographies, books on writing), I am quite choosy on my YA.

Fortunately, the other day, I happened upon a lively discussion of YA books to read with writers, editors and readers on #StoryDam (Tuesdays at 5PST) via @StoryDam. I now have a whole collection on my Goodreads YAtoRead list!

Today, I'm sharing FIVE with you:

1. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein - a friendship forms amidst WWII (theme: friendship) Read if you liked "Flygirl" by Sherri Smith.

2. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - a foster girl steals to survive in WWII London (theme: responsibility, kindness) Read if you liked "The Diary of Anne Frank".

3. Mickey Harte Was Here by Barbara Park - a sister must deal with her brother's early death (theme: death, choices) Read if you liked "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Piccoult.

4. Freakboy by Kristin Elizabeth Clark - a boy feels more like a girl struggles to be himself - and tell his girlfriend (theme: sexual identity) Read if you liked "Forever" by Judy Blume or "Openly Straight" by Bill Knoigsburg.

5, Paper Covers Rock by Jenny Hubbard - Alex tries to deal with his best friend's drowning (themes: death, friendship, guilt) Read if you liked "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles.

Don't stop here...start reading! Share your reviews or other ideas for summer reads here or with me on Twitter.com/thisgirlclimbs.