Amy Sue Nathan

She’s quite a character!

You know the guy, the gal, who’s bigger than life…a little outrageous, maybe loud, usually funny, different from everyone else. It’s the person you’d refer to as “a character” either in a positive or negative way, but almost everyone would know that this person was not like the rest of us in one way or a dozen.

But when you’re writing a novel, everyone is a character and every character has to stand out like an odd Uncle Edward — whether it’s in a good way or a bad way. Even if it’s a secondary character, he or she needs a purpose, whether it be to deliver bad news or a pizza. And every purpose needs to take the story further either literally or in the mind of the reader.

In life – it’s the unique traits that make someone a character. In writing – characters evolve as a series of details and attributes, but they can be seemingly ordinary. Each character has elements that are engaging (not true in real life) even if they’re meant to make the reader angry. A good character is someone who strikes a chord, evokes emotion, and in mind, is believable as real. A good character can be quirky (always fun) but doesn’t have to be.

In real life characters often stay the same. In novels, at the very least the main character must change. Literary characters must show us what’s possible, even if not probable.

Can you imagine saying this, in real life?

“Oh, that Mrs. Black, she’s a great mom and a terrific baker. She drives a minivan. What a character!”

But in a novel, Mrs. Black as a great mom and a terrific baker who drives a minivan might just be a fabulous character — depending where she drives that van, what she puts in her brownies and what she says to her kids. And that can all be ordinary, but it will all lead somewhere. In it’s translation into written words, we might connect with her desire for cheaper gas, a moister center and a shorter carpool line. Her life, actions, thoughts and words might resonate with us. They might remind us of ourself or a friend, or allow us to peek into a life unknown. We’ll watch her become a master-chef. We’ll smell the cookies. We’ll watch as she trades in the mini van for a hybrid and makes her kids ride their bikes to school.

And all that would make her a quite a character.