No matter which genre, authors strive to create interesting and relatable characters. If your readership can’t empathise with your main character, they’ll put down the put. There are many ways of improving your craft and walking away from the keyboard is one of them.
I encourage authors to take writing lessons, join writing associations, and form critique groups. It’s important to have a community of practice around you who understand the struggles of stringing together words into compelling sentences. These are all critical behaviours to success. Let’s not forget time management to ensure you have a regular writing schedule.
The often-overlooked component of excellent writing is understanding human behaviour. You might not be writing about humans, but observations of domestic animals, wildlife, and humans can help flesh out credible characters.
Through interactions and experiences, writers gain content for their characters, the punchline of a joke, the subtle mannerisms that shape a character, and the push-pull of conflict. Conflict drives character growth and the plot.
Realistic details into speech patterns, facial expressions, how people move about, the inflexions of their voices, and behaviour provide an author with material for compelling writing. We can all write: he chuckled. However, that gets boring and tired. An author observed someone might write: he chuckled, the same shy chuckle he had when he was put on the spot. The author can add context to the chuckle because they have insight into someone’s personality.
Here are some things to observe:
Body language (position of torso, legs, feet, how they walk, how they sit, where they place their hands)
Language (word choice, degree of vulgarity, type of accent and if it thickens if the person is emotional or drunk or interacting with someone from the same region)
How often the person speaks, what they speak about, how long their sentences are, how confident their voice is
Interactions that made you laugh
Interactions that made others laugh
I’d like to distinguish between research and non-writing experiences. I, like many authors, will spend hours reading about historical events and technical terms for a profession and watch how-to videos on Youtube. Some authors will also take a course or interview an expert. These are critical components to creating a realistic world and showing the competence or incompetence of a character.
Low-cost ways of doing research:
Library (books and documentaries and guest speakers)
Youtube (verify the credibility of the presenter)
Ask people around you for subject matter experts to interview or spend time observing what they do or as expert critique partners for specific passages/excerpts
Follow experts on social media for advice and insight. It doesn’t hurt to send them a message with a question. They may or may not respond, but at least you reached out
In addition to this research, I encourage authors to have activities other than writing. Such activities may mean sports, other creative pursuits, spending time with family and friends, and travel. If you’re always in writing mode, it’s hard to gain perspective on a tricky transition, a flat character, or a plot that lacks tension.
Allow yourself to walk away from the keyboard and roll those observations into your writing. Your characters will be more interesting, the world more developed, and your readers will thank you.
If you enjoyed this piece, please follow Renée Gendron on Twitter @ReneeGendron.