Character development is one of my favourite aspects of writing.  Characters should not exist merely to move a story along.  As a writer, you are going to spend a lot of time in these people’s company so you owe it to yourself as well as your readers to make them interesting.

It is not always easy to write knowing that what you are writing is not intended for inclusion in your finished work.  It almost seems a ‘waste’ of effort – as if every word that flows from our pens (or, more likely these days, is keyed into our computers) is of such value it must be shared with the whole world.  However, I would urge every would-be or improving author (in other words, everyone) to word-sketch, as a painter might sketch, in order to learn as much as you can about each and every character you create before you commit them to the final draft.

If four of your characters were having a conversation, could you tell who was speaking without identifying them by name?  In other words, does each have their own voice?  That might include different use of language as well as a unique point of view.

Test this out – write a dialogue about anything (this is just for you, remember).  Let them speak.  You might find one of them says something that can be incorporated into your story that you had not previously thought of.

Similarly, write a letter or a diary entry for several characters.  Write a shopping list, or what they might pack in a suitcase if they were going on holiday.  What would each one save if their home was on fire?  Why?

Incidentally, these are great exercises to do if you ever feel the dreaded ‘writer’s block’ coming on.  They free your mind and lead you away from worrying about where your story is going and you will, as often as not, suddenly write something that is the solution to whatever has been blocking you and off you will go again.

More basic but just as important, make sure you have a written physical description of each character.  If you have more than half a dozen in your story it is very easy to get muddled as to who has a beard and who is tall and who has twisted their ankle and who has a new tattoo.  I simply copy and paste any interesting comment I make about a character into a special file and then I have a complete record for future reference.  It also means that if I decide to change something I can find it easily.  Trust me, these sorts of thing really save time in the long run and you can see at a glance whose character might need fleshing out or how one might be the ideal person for a particular role or who might end up romantically involved with another character, and so on.

In Silvana, I was faced with the problem of having two major characters with similar physical characteristics, backgrounds and social position, of the same age, with the same dream who had to be very much ‘themselves’.  Fabiom and Lesandor – father and son – at age sixteen both dream of winning a Silvana as a wife; both are excellent archers; both love the wildwood; both are only sons being trained to inherit the Holdership of Deepvale, and so on.  I think it was this challenge that made me realise just how essential proper character building is.  And how satisfying it can be.

One of the key techniques is to use what are known as ‘hooks’.  These are special characteristics – to do with any aspect of a person – which helps make them stand apart from others.  So, for example, Fabiom loves poetry – both to read and to write:

Nalio was genuinely shocked.  “No one in Morene could be behind something like that.  It’s bad enough that a local trader was involved at all.  Selling amber, maybe.  Collecting it!  Never.”  He actually shuddered at the thought.

“Their tears flow like gold, from a well of deep sorrow.  

Our own are mere water, and dried are forgotten, 

While tears of gold linger and last and endure, 

Forever and then one day more and one more.”

Nalio snorted derisively.  “Well, it’s good to know Deepvale is in capable hands.  The heir to the Holding can quote at length from the most obscure poetry.  But, can he remember the date of the last uprising in Gerik, or the name of the last Gerish ambassador to Morene?  No, he cannot.”

“Yes, he can,” Fabiom muttered darkly.  “After yesterday, and the rollicking I got from Masgor, those two facts are inscribed on my mind for all time, believe me.”

“Daydreaming again, Fabiom!” Nalio mimicked their tutor perfectly.  He flung his arm around Fabiom’s shoulders, “Never mind, you only got a rap across the knuckles.  Our friend in today’s trial had his silk trading licence revoked, so he’s lost his livelihood, and he was fined and the court imposed two years extra Service on him.  Hard service at that.”

“Tarison made an example of him then.  Good.  It’s only a pity there are no marble quarries in Deepvale, as there are in some of the other Holdings,” Fabiom mused regretfully.

“Oh ho!” Nalio stepped away from him.  “I’ll have to watch myself.  You’re bound to be made a magistrate as soon as you’ve done your official Service, if not before.”

Fabiom shrugged.  “There are no guarantees.  It depends on whether I impress the Assembly with my knowledge of poetry, or appal them with my historical inexactitudes.  Anyway, what are you planning to do that will land you before the court?  Poison any of your patients who don’t pay you promptly?”

from Silvana - Book 1 - The Greening

Lesandor walked in Deepvale’s woods with Fabiom, revelling in the simple pleasure of being home.  Autumn had come late that year and the leaves were only just turning, soft golds and reds among the green.  The afternoon was warm and the breezes wafted delicate scents towards them.

“I used to take all this for granted,” Lesandor sighed.

“I too, when I was your age,” Fabiom chuckled.  “There’s nothing like a year away from home to make you appreciate what has been around you all the time.”  He plucked a sprig of honeysuckle laden with purple berries and studied it closely.  “Every single blade of grass, every flower, is unique and yet the whole never seems to change.”

Lesandor smiled at that, remembering Masgor complaining only that morning, “Your father still thinks like a poet rather than a politician.”  His old eyes shining with delight nevertheless.  

from Silvana - Book 2 - Midsummer

Petron did not believe Lesandor had saved his life.  But what he believed would not be held in much account if the matter ever came before a tribunal.  He knew he would have to tread carefully.  

In the days that followed, thinking to humour Lesandor, Petron asked him about the Silvanii, bemoaning his lack of knowledge and listening with interest to whatever Lesandor would tell him.  Not that he learnt over much.  Although Lesandor answered all of his questions he volunteered little besides.  Nevertheless, Petron was genuinely impressed.  He even read an old copy of The Chronicles of Lincius, Prince of Morene that Lesandor had found in the bottom of an old chest hidden away in a storage room.  In the chest had been many other books, including a copy of Fabiom’s first published collection of poetry.  The books had since been removed and now were all safely in the small study Yasdon had given Lesandor for his own use.

from Silvana - Book 3 - The Turning

“The historian Jerynn was right, Silvanan blood he called it.  Poetry is all very well but tears that are spilled can be dried.  Blood is another matter.”  Fabiom toyed with the amber paperweight on Ravik’s desk then replaced it carefully, holding out his hands palms upwards as he turned to face the prince.  “And my hands are dripping with it.  It will not wash away.”  

from Silvana - Book 3 - The Turning

Writing Hint # 2

Write what you know.  Every writer has heard the saying.  But what does it really mean?  Obviously if you’re writing non-fiction it needs to be taken literally.  But what about fiction writers?  

Bronwen’s Dowry was about a journeyman shearer and his seamstress wife travelling the land, scratching a living while he dreamt of winning a music contest.  Now I don’t pretend be be musical or any good at sewing and, at the time I wrote the story, I had had little hands-on experience with sheep. So what did I know that made me feel that this was my story to write?

Well, firstly, Bronwen’s Dowry is, on one level, a retelling of the Parable of the Talents.  Bronwen has a gift, a talent, that she uses to the best of her ability and it yields many-fold. I am a theologian and, furthermore, that parable – encouraging everyone to realise their full potential –  is my favourite. Secondly, I did actually know a little about shearing, just enough to make the story believable: for instance, I knew that, unlike many outdoor workers, shearers have very soft hands, because of the lanolin in sheep wool.  A simple fact like that can make the difference between bringing readers along with you, or losing them.

Of course, Bronwen’s Dowry was a short story (albeit a long, short story). So when I wrote Silvana, which has far more detail, I needed a lot more knowledge to draw from.  Fabiom is an archer, a poet, a magistrate and the somewhat reluctant owner of a silk mill.  His best friend is a physician who uses a wide range of herbs. The story is set in the woods and the trees and other life there play a huge part in the story. I am not an expert in most of these subjects either. Yet I do know some things. Fabiom is an archer and not a swordsman because I know nothing about swords – how they are made, how they are used – but I do know how to shoot an arrow from a longbow and I know how a wooden bow is constructed. And so on. The details in the book are things I have a keen interest in and some, even if limited, experience of.

My advice to any beginner-writer is to compose a list of ‘What you Know’: every temporary job; every adventure or misadventure you have had; every situation you have encountered that has impacted on your life in any way; any time you have stepped outside your comfort zone; every incident that you thought noteworthy enough to share with friends after the event – if you have ever said, ‘you’ll never guess what happened to me. . . .’ then whatever that was should go on the list. So should the funniest, saddest, most embarrassing things that ever happened. And don’t stop at yourself – if you live with someone who is always regaling you with stories of their working life then you probably know enough about that to set one of your characters up in the same line of work and make it seem real. You will be surprised at how long the list will be, unless you have spent your life in a cave or are under five years old. And don’t just think about it, do actually write this list. The exercise of itself will be inspiring. I defy anyone not to come up with at least 250 entries.

Writing hint #1.  

Words conjure images.  Just because something is correct doesn’t mean readers won’t be confused and get a somewhat different picture in their minds than you intended.

 “As her head came through the door, her eyes fell on the table.”

I wrote the first draft of Silvana rather more years ago than I care to admit.  I had daydreamed the whole story over about a fortnight - in the time between going to bed at night and falling asleep (I was single and childless at the time. . . .) During the day, I constantly thought about it and it wouldn’t let me concentrate on much else - it demanded to be written.  It was the first thing I didn’t write longhand.  Up until then I had been a ‘flow of consciousness’ sort of writer - a specific colour ballpoint pen (black) on a specific size notepad (A4) with specific line spacing (wide) and always with margins. I didn’t need that with Silvana as I knew exactly what happened and so I could go straight to the keyboard for the first time in my life.  I wrote for several hours each days for three weeks until I had the whole story down - all 34,000 words.  I could relax.

Of course, I had no idea what to do with a story that was just short of 100 pages.  I read bits out at the Wexford Writer’s Circle meetings and someone there read the whole thing and told me in a beautiful letter (that of course I still have) how much she loved it.  Beyond that, I was stumped.

So Silvana joined Minimus Goes to the Moon, The Binding, and The Bond Stone of Eishe in the filing cabinet and I returned to writing copy for local council calendars, travel brochures and car hire companies and doing the odd ‘arty’ interview for the local paper.

Little did I know then that I was only beginning a journey that would take so long to complete, or one that would be so much fun.