Mia Jo Celeste comes from a family of writers and English
teachers, so it was no surprise when she chose to pursue both careers. She grew
up watching horror movies and reading romances. To her, the two genres go
together like salty and sweet in kettle corn. If you’d like to connect with
her, you can find her at these links:
Amazon author page amazon.com/author/miaceleste
Facebook fb.me/
Mia.Jo.Celeste
Five Ways to Deepen Your Characters in Fiction—Plus a
Look at Other Than
Want to write fiction that sells?
You’ve got to create
stories around compelling characters—heroes and heroines that are complex, deep
and quirky enough to capture and hold a reader’s attention. Classic writing
guru Jack Bickham says authors do this when they, “Figure out whose story it
is, get inside that character and stay there.”
Simple, right, but sometimes, it’s hard to crawl inside
your heroine’s head. If you’re having trouble, here are a couple of suggestions
that have worked for me.
1.
Put your character on the hot seat or the
therapist’s couch and interview her. Become her arresting officer or
psychologist. Ask questions like:
a.
What’s your deepest fear?
b.
What would you never do?
c.
What’s your job? What do you enjoy about it?
What don’t you like?
d.
Why is that your job? Why did you become
a/an______?
e.
Where were you when the crime went down or
what is your biggest problem in your relationships.
2.
Let your character journal. What does she
think of her past or her current situation? I like to use the journal questions
in Story Genius by Lisa Cron for inspiration.
3.
Give yourself to write one to ten pages of
your character’s back story, a first chapter or prequel only you will ever read.
Later, you might dribble little snippets of this back story into your novel,
but just knowing this history will help your character seem more real.
4.
As you write and your character does or
thinks something, ask why? Then consider sharing that why with your readers.
5.
Look at other author’s heroes and heroines
to jump start imagination. What flaws or good qualities could add spark to your
narrative? When I wrote Other Than, I looked to the classics. I used the Bronte sisters’ heroes,
Heathcliff and Mr. Rochester, for inspiration for Victor Lowell while
Evangeline Woods is a lot like Jane Eyre.
Want to see what I mean?
Check out this excerpt.
He
materialized in the inky shadow.
Or
rather his apparition did. His ghostly frame hovered before her, sinuous and lithe.
Against his shadowed form, the string glimmered like liquid silver. Slowly he
unwrapped her, tossing the spectral bands to the floor until a coil lay between
him and her.
Something
inside her chest fluttered. “You followed me.”
An
accusation.
He
nodded. With a slight shrug, he spread his hands. “You shouldn’t be alone.”
She
wanted to turn, giving him her back, but her betraying gaze remained fixated
upon him. When he paced around her, she waved him away. “Don’t.”
He
caught her hand and placed an insubstantial kiss in her palm. “Let me help
you…please.”
A
gallant gesture, perhaps, but her skin-slider sensitivity noted the rigidity of
his stance, the twitch along his jaw, and the slight narrowing of his eyes. How
could he think of helping her when he was in so much pain?
Ordinarily,
she might be grateful. Might…if loss hadn’t hollowed her.
She
ripped her cooling flesh from his spectral arms. “I don’t deserve kindness.”
“Good.”
He gave her a rakish smirk. “Because I’m not kind.”
She
shook her head, biting back the emerging smile that had no place on her
countenance. She couldn’t be civil, couldn’t risk the involvement. “I can’t go
on like this—stuck betwixt life and death.”
“You
must. Don’t you see, sweet dove? You’re beyond both. You’re immortal. Like me.”
Would
you like to know more about the plot? Here’s the back-cover blurb:
It only takes one drink from the Water of Immortality to kill Evie
Woods—halfway. Trapped in undead flesh, the world’s last skin-slider wakens on
an island purgatory where a cursed spring bubbles with immortality, and zombie
cannibals crave living flesh.
Her only hope of escape rests in the hands of the one man who
would see her fail. Bound to her by cords stronger than death, Lord Victor
Lowell is both the man of her dreams, and her darkest nightmares. Contrary and
intractable, Victor preys on others to maintain his angelic charisma and
preternatural prowess. Drawn to the compellingly gallant and vulnerable soul
behind his mercurial humors, Evie can only watch as protecting her forces
Victor to sacrifice yet more of himself to the ancient evil long tethered to
his soul.
Trapped in an ever-escalating war they
can’t stop, Victor and Evie fight time for a cure, but as the long days pass
blackness tears at Evie, ripping her thoughts from her one memory at a time.
Victor will to do whatever it takes to prevent her from deteriorating into a
rotting husk, even if it means dooming himself, but Evie won’t surrender his soul without a fight. Battle lines
drawn, the soul mates resolve to find redemption or die trying.
If you’re interested in reading more Other Than follow
these links:
Thanks for the wonderful advise and sharing an excerpt,
Tina
