Friends, I'd like you to help me welcome a new contributor to the blog: Author Melanie Slaugh. Melanie contacted me recently with a list of great blog ideas, and I'm very pleased to share her first one with you.
Methinks, she hears her characters arguing with her in her head just like most of us do! Enjoy!
3 Reasons to Let your Characters Write the Story
When I first started writing stories, I thought it was all about the plot. I wrote elaborate stories that had many, many twists and turns… and ended up being about thirty pages long. Talk about frustration! But when your characters are nothing more than faceless pawns, how can you write a long story? That’s only one of the reasons that characters are so important. Here are three reasons to let your characters write the story.
1. Flow –If you are so focused on the plot, you lose track of who your characters are and what they are doing. However, when you know your characters inside and out, the story just flows. What do I mean? Well, the characters write the story. Instead of sticking them in situations where you have to fight to get them to react the way you need them too or explain why they do or say what they do, you simply let them be themselves. Just like people in real life, characters can be odd, strange, and often do things that are inexplicable. When you are comfortable with the characters, you no longer feel the need to explain. It will eventually be revealed just by who they are.
2. Dialogue –This is something I know a lot of writers have trouble with. How do you write dialogue that doesn’t sound forced or trite? Know your characters and let them speak. They will astound you with their communication skills. And remember that not all dialogue is words. The pauses, the gaps, the unfinished sentences, they all add up to real life sounding dialogue.
3. Complexity –Last but not least, your stories will gain new complexity. Not just plot, though that will come up, but depth of characters, of feeling and emotion. The important things that make a book readable and memorable. When the characters drive the story, they will interact and connect in ways far more complex and real then you could have ever plotted before you started. Go with the flow and let the plot resolve itself. It will.
There are many reasons to let your characters do the writing; these are only three of them. I have found that I love my stories far more when I love my characters. They may be bad guys, good girls, or chaotic freaks, but when you know them, really know them, and let them loose, you come up with a story you could have never imagined.
Author Bio
Melanie Slaugh is enthusiastic about the growing prospects and opportunities of various industries and writing articles on various consumer goods and services as a freelance writer. She writes extensively for internet service providers and also topics related to internet service providers in my area for presenting the consumers, the information they need to choose the right Internet package for them. She can be reached at slaugh.slaugh907 @ gmail.com.
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