Inklings: Dialogue, Bringing Characters to Life

Things were a little busy earlier in the week, so I decided to postpone my Inklings post to today. Thanks for being understanding! In an earlier Inklings post, I talked about characters and where they come from. Once you've identified your characters and what makes them tick, you need to be able to get that across to your reader.

How do you do this? Well, you could just tell them, like this:

Butch was a bully. He and his gang loved to take little kids' lunch money.

That's okay. It does the job, but isn't very entertaining or interesting. Now, let's take that same situation and try some dialogue instead of description:

"Hey shrimp," Butch bellowed at the small boy quaking before him, "Me and the boys here are kinda hungry, but we ain't got no money. I was thinkin' maybe we could make a trade."

"Uh, what kind of a trade?" the trembling boy asked.

"Give me your money and we'll let ya keep your teeth," Butch replied, grabbing the front of the boy's shirt with both hands and lifting him off his feet.

You've got a more vivid picture of Butch now. He's mean, tough, strong and maybe not overly bright. What he says, how he says it, the actions that accompany his words, and how the other boy reacts to what he says make Butch really come alive for the reader.

Another great thing about dialogue is that it can really move your story forward. When I'm writing a

What are these people saying?

great  bit of dialogue between two or more characters, it can seem like I'm listening to their conversation happening right in front of me and I'm like a court recorder, taking it all down. This is where those magical moments sometimes occur where the characters take on a mind of their own, saying and doing things that I hadn't anticipated.

That can be a really great thing. But be careful. if things start moving too quickly your story can get off track. You still need to be in control, guiding your characters. Still, dialogue can open new possibilities that you had not imagined.

Dialogue has to be realistic. During your day, pay attention to what people are saying and how they're saying it. Write down bits and pieces of dialogue that strike you throughout the day in your journal. Soon you'll have some good dialogue to use to spark something a character might say. Good luck!

What are some of your favorite characters? How do the things they say make them unique?

Inklings: Resolving Your Conflict

Your story got off to a great start. It has great characters and action. It moves along at a good pace and keeps the reader interested. So, can you celebrate your creation of a great piece of literature? Well, not yet. There is still something that needs to be done. Your story has to come to a satisfying conclusion. As an old ballplayer, Yogi Berra once said, "It ain't over 'til it's over."

Starting a story can be hard. Keeping it moving along and interesting in the middle can be a challenge. So after all that, how hard can writing the end of a story be? Try very hard. Think about it. You've worked hard to get your reader interested. You've got them wondering what's going to happen to your characters. They keep turning those pages to find out what happens next. The tension's building--and then the story just fizzles out. Nothing's resolved, no loose ends are tied up. The characters, and your readers, are left hanging.

Not good. As a reader, there's nothing worse than reading a book with a bad ending. It's like listening to someone tell a joke and forget the punch line. Ugh, I hate that, don't you? You feel like you've been cheated. As a writer, there is nothing worse. Whatever you do, don't cheat your reader!

How can you avoid doing that when writing your story? You can start by understanding what goes into a great ending. Here are a few things:

• Climax--All the tension you've been building up in your plot needs to reach a breaking point, the climax. Will the hero unmask the villain, or will evil triumph? Does the boy get the girl, or is he dumped? You find out at the climax, the high point, of the story. If you don't have a climax--if the hero never confronts the villain, or if the boy does not kiss the girl, then your story just fizzles out. Ho hum, who cares?

• Resolution--This is also known as tying up loose ends. After the climax, how is everything else resolved? Are there any subplots that have to be taken care of? Now that the boy has the girl, do they live happily ever after? If you've mentioned something earlier in the story, like the prince's cousin had been scheming to take the throne from the prince while he was busy wooing the fair maiden, you have to show how he was thwarted. Otherwise, the reader will be left hanging.

• Happy, sad or somewhere in between--You also have to decide if your story will have a happy or sad ending, or a bittersweet or funny one. Hopefully when you outlined your story you had some idea of what was going to happen. Sometimes, though, things don't go the way you thought they would when you started writing. That's okay. Sometimes a surprise ending is fine. Just be sure that everything makes sense. The prince can't decide that instead of marrying the princess he's going to marry the shoemaker's daughter if you've never said anything about a shoemaker's daughter in the story. Again, this confuses the reader and makes them feel cheated. 

A great ending is the icing on the cake of a great story. It's something that will make it memorable in the minds of your readers. What are some of your favorite endings? Share them in the comments.

Inklings: Middle, Keep the Story Moving

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about the beginning of a story. Once you've set the whole thing in motion, you need to keep the momentum building. This happens in the middle of the story. Middles can be tricky things. Sometimes, your plot can get bogged down or start to wander.

In the beginning, your characters are introduced to some sort of conflict. They're launched into the story and are raring to go. Then they hit the middle. One off two things can happen. Either they scale the mountain, facing challenges and obstacles and overcoming them, or they get stuck inn the mud and sit there going nowhere.

So, how can you avoid getting stuck in the mud? How can your characters climb the heights? Here are a few good things to keep in mind as your story unfolds:

• Keep challenging your characters--Don't let them relax for a second. Keep giving them problems to solve and obstacles to overcome. Maybe they don't always succeed. In fact, they probably shouldn't succeed all the time--after all who does? You don't want to set them up for failure, but you also don't want their journey to be a walk in the park. The more they struggle, the sweeter their victory will be in the end for them and the reader.

• Pick up the pace--Keep the story moving. This can be difficult. Sometimes characters like to talk about things. They can talk about their situation a little, but you want to keep the pace exciting. Shorter chapters that cut back and forth from the main plot to a subplot can help you achieve this. Lots of action is also a good way to keep things moving.

• Add details and history as you go--One of the great things about reading a story is to learn things along the way. Add in bits and pieces of characters' histories as the story unfolds. Sometimes it's tempting to divulge a character's entire life story right when you introduce them--don't. Save some of the good stuff for later in the story where it may have more of an impact. This will help keep the reader interested and provide an "aha!" moment. A reader likes nothing more than the feel they've put the pieces of a riddle together and found the answer. You want them to think "Oh, so that's why they acted that way. It makes sense now."

The middle is an important part of your story. In it you work to bring the characters and the reader through many twists and turns right up to the climax of the action of the story. When does that climax take place? We'll talk about that another time!

Inklings: Characters, the Actors in Your Story

Editor's note: Here's a post from yesterday that appeared on my other blog. I'm posting it again here, because I have decided to publish most of my posts on this blog. Oh, by the way, the new url for this site is www.deliverers.net. Your old bookmark will take you to this site automatically, so there's no need to update anything.


Once you've got an idea for your story, and you've captured some information about it in your journal, you'll need to develop some characters. These are the individuals who will act out your story. I am often asked where my characters come from. There's no easy answer. A character could come to you at any time, from anywhere.

It's rather an exciting thought, really. You never know when one will pop up. Sometimes, a character will lead to an idea for a story. This is what happened in the case of my fantasy series, The Deliverers. Stig, a talking owl, was a character in some short stories I'd written. It was when I decided to find out just who he was and where he came from that I got the idea for The Deliverers.

Other times, you might have an idea for an adventure, but have no real idea who will be taking part. So, where do those characters come from?  Part of being a writer is observing the world. You do it every day, although you might not realize it.

You meet all sorts of people during your day. Some are funny, some are quiet, some are smart, some mysterious. Others are creepy. When you notice someone interesting, pull out your journal and capture what was so interesting about them by writing it down. Maybe it was something they did or said. Later, when you get a chance, go back to your journal and flesh out that character by adding other little details. If he/she was funny, how did they get that way, what other traits might they have? Where are they from? Are they human or are they something else?

You'll find that you can build an entire personality from one or two bits of information. It can spark your imagination and voila--you've got the start of a living, breathing character. Over time, as you give them things to do within your story, they'll grow and change--sometimes in ways you don't expect. That's what's so fun about creating characters--the actors in your story. Give it a try.

What are your favorite characters? Leave a comment below. I'd love to hear from you!