a few problems with character traits

[shamguy4]

Ok so I have my main characters parents die... (actually I dont know what else to do with them... there not really a part of the story, but I cant just ignore them... so I decided to make it sad that his parents die in the beginning..... I know im horribly cruel))

and I have it that my main character always thinks back to his last conversation he had with his mom right before she died and he uses her words to help him get by (how sweet!)

problem is, because I knew I was going to kill them I didnt really plan into how they would act or how their attitude would be... they die by the third chapter so I felt they werent worthy of a lot of attention.

so I made it that the mother was a loud always talking mother whos always busy and stuff and spreading gossip religiously...

problem is if his mother is like that, I realized later on, its not going to look as sad if his mother dies... she just seems like a funny character... how can the reader feel for him especially when he thinks back to there last conversation (which I have not written yet) and its just not serious...

unless I somehow make her a very round character with many attitudes and even though she is loud and gossipy and loves a good chat maybe sometimes she can get very serious... but I would need time to develop such a character with such a personality... its actually a more real personality because there are mothers like that.... and every mother knows when to be serious with her son no matter how wacky she is...

so what should I do? should I make her a flat boring character who super serious? or do I somehow see if this wacky character will somehow work out?


(a quick fix I had was to make all the lines the mother says - I instead gave them to the family robot who now seems like some funny maid who gossips all day as she cleans the house, problem is I already decided the family robot would be a guy.... lol! I now have a confused gendered robot which I think is hilarious!!...
but I'm not sure... is that appropriate for my age readers... 14 and up?.... this is a totally seperate issue... Im not sure what age my book will end up being for, and I feel like I shouldnt think about that now and I should just write and afterwards see how it comes out...)


well Ill thanks you now for future replies... thanks!

 

[Peter Graham]

Don't worry about it. Everyone (or nearly everyone) loves their Mum, so readers will be able to draw a distinction between what the character thinks about the old girl and how she presents herself to everyone else. And there's no reason why gossips cannot have hearts of gold, even if it isn't immediately obvious to the casual observer. Characters don't have to be totally "good" or totally "bad", any more than real people do.

Regards,

Peter

 

[shamguy4]

thanks, well I guess I can use your advice and see what happens.
sometimes I have a character and I want him to say something and I feel that theres no way this character would ever do or say such a thing. and then I make them do it and somehow, it fades in perfectly with their personality. lets hope that happens here.

and what about my wonderful robot idea? should I cut that out or leave it in.... hes a messed up robot who wasnt programmed ...'correclty'....

 

[Xwing Mom]

love the robot...but then I've got a soft spot for robots. Just go ahead and write out your story. You can fit it in the audience you need to later. Most of us cross age barriers when we're reading anyway. I still tell librarians that when adult literature is as well written as juvie, I'll switch to reading adult books!

As for fleshing out minor or even secondary characters, there are a couple of mechanical things you can do (works well with main characters, too)
Just fill out a check list. Here's a small sample. You can add to it.
favorite color
favorite food
favorite music
greatest strength
greatest weakness
strongest character traits
weakest character traits
family history
education history
physical description
hobbies
dislilkes
likes
best friends/enemies
motto
philosophy of life

We were given a similar list in a college creative writing class and it's very helpful.

 

[shamguy4]

thanks!
Im just really scared it wont fit her description....
I have her already acting funny and loud.
she walks into my main characters room to wake him up.
He already had his alarm beeping and he threw a book at it from his bed and it shut up.

wheh she walks in he 'wonders' if he throws a book at her if she'll shut up cause she just keeps rambling about how the room is messy! He picks up another book and thinks about throwing it (its his sense of humor) and automatically she says "ahh yes! well start with the books! I think they would look nice on this shelf..."
and shes just funny and seems very innocent and I cant see anyone feeling for her as a mother when she dies. rather the reader will feel sad cause she was so funny and it would have been great if she would have lived...

maybe I will just give her attitude to the robot..... and make her serious...

I will check out the list first!
thanks

 

[Xwing Mom]

you can try writing her the amusing way first. After all, if her funny little ways and mannerism develop a sense of irony in the main character or an appreciation for a skewed perspective of the universe, then mom is going to be sadly missed. Not every mother's impact on offspring has to be serious.

 

[The Pelagic Argosy]

It might seem counterintuitive, but how your readers will feel about the events in your story, including a certain character's death, shouldn't be your concern. You want readers to feel sad over this death, and you're trying to bend the story/characters around that. That's manipulation and contrivance. You're approaching this backwards. Just tell your story as it happens.

Your readers will decide how to feel about the death, and readers, just like customers, are always right. Your job is to portray the mother as she is, and you already know how she is -- loud, gossipy, wacky, sometimes serious. Obviously she is very clear in your mind. Don't sell her out.

Mostly your readers will take their cues about how to feel from your main character, regardless of the mother's personality. Everyone loves their mom, of course, even if they are annoying harpies. Don't try to write a "sad" situation. Just write what happens, and it will either be sad or something else. "Something else" isn't necessarily a bad thing.

As for your funny robot idea: It is funny. (But, I wonder, what makes a robot male or female? Maybe that's what's funny about it.) I don't think the idea of a "trans-gendered" robot is automatically inappropriate for kids, unless you start cracking a lot of Will and Grace-style gay jokes. But would your main character take heart-felt "motherly" advice from the family robot? That's for you to decide.

Btw, just typing "family robot" made me laugh, so it's obviously funny.

 

[shamguy4]

thanks for all the answers!!!
I guess I will just have to decide now how to go about this...

@The Pelagic Argosy
I havent based the story around this event I just feel it would be good if he could look back at his mothers death and use it to strengthen him in some way. but he cant do that if his mother would just make me and you laugh.... but well see Im sure itll work out... its just a tiny problem...

also after the list you gave me I remembered a page i once read... it was a really good page for writers and it has a huge resume for filling out for your characters

here:
Advice on Novel Writing
interesting...

 

[Laerten]

How does your own mother (or in-law) act? If you have an idea of what makes you love them or what drives you round the bend, wouldn't it be easier to base your character on this? After all they have played a big part in your life - just don't let them know you have based a character on them if you think it would offend!

 

[shamguy4]

yeah thats the problem... my mother is a very very round character in that she can act all happy and wacky at times but then she can change almost immediatley into a mean mother and thats when I run the other way...

But being able to do that to a character is very hard, especially in the first few chapters that my main character's mother lives in.

I have come up with a theory that every character in a book is a piece of the writers personality or at least it comes from my mind and is somewhat related to my personality or rather my understanding. if I meet someone who I think is odd, chances are I wont be able to write about a character like that cause I cant understand it...


I can change attitudes of my characters and try hard to make them very different making up their personalities, but i feel its not going to seem so real to see a character go from funny to serious, (except over time I guess if the story changes the character's mood and mind set) except in real life... in real life it somehow works.....I think it has to do with psycological stuff and Im not a psycologist

than of course my theory is probably something to laugh at and is totally wrong...
the only way to see if I can do this... is to write!

 

[The Curious Orange]

sometimes I have a character and I want him to say something and I feel that theres no way this character would ever do or say such a thing. and then I make them do it and somehow, it fades in perfectly with their personality. lets hope that happens here.

See, that I can relate too. I had a character, and a plot, and when I wrote the scene where she made her big "plot decision" it just didn't seem right. She wouldn't have acted that way, she wouldn't have made that decision. The scene did not "ring true" with me, so there was no way it would ring true with a reader.

So I had two options - Firstly, to change the character and make her less headstrong and less independently-minded so that she would make the decision that I wanted and the plot demanded her to make. Only by this stage, those were the qualities that I liked about her.

So the other option was to change the plot. Now she makes the opposite decision. Now she's on a different path. The plot went out the window, but my character's integrity remained intact. I had to do a lot of work to take that character back to the place where she was meant to be and change her circumstances and outlook to the point where, when presented with the opportunity to change her decision, she makes the original choice and proceeds with the plot.

If you have the confidence to look at your work and think that something isn't right, then you have the knowledge with you to know how to fix it. I often come on this board to post problems with my writing and appeal for help in solving them. I find that by the time I've finished typing out the problem, the answer has already presented itself, usually through asking myself "If I read this, what advice would I give?" I seldom press submit.

 

[shamguy4]

you know that this little problem stopped me from writing for one whole week?

Yeah... well now I'm trying to get back into it... Annoying how these little things can get in the way adn mess you up so bad....

Well time to start writing

 

[Laerten]

Try reading some books that deal with developing characters such as Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card. I found this book good reading.