| When I was sixteen, during the Civil Rights era, as | | | | her a critical flaw.) On the other hand, sometimes |
| part of a one-way student exchange program (from | | | | you can use the bad guy as the lead character. They |
| the inner city of Detroit to suburban Traverse City, | | | | seem to inspire a lot of admiration from ordinary, law |
| Michigan), I lived with a white family. This was part of | | | | abiding citizens. Remember how in The Godfather, |
| an integration initiative. (For me, it was an escape | | | | more people loved the Godfather than they did |
| from the drugs taking over my neighborhood and | | | | Fredo, his wimpy son, who was not a murderer? So |
| some other demons in my life, but that's another | | | | don't rule out using anti-heroes as your lead |
| story.) | | | | character. |
| The mother of the family was also an artist, a | | | | 4. Things happen to people that can either build their |
| sculptress, who encouraged me to write when she | | | | character early in life or destroy them. One teenage |
| saw my love of the written word. Her name is Verna | | | | mother can go on to become a lawyer; another will |
| Bartnick, and when she prophesied that she saw a | | | | drop out of high school, become a welfare queen or |
| writing talent in me, I wasn't so sure. After all, if, at | | | | substance abuser. One child can grow up with a |
| the time, I had told my family I wanted to be a | | | | schizophrenic parent and go on to become a |
| writer, they would've laughed and said, "Go get you a | | | | self-fulfilled adult; another can grow up with a silver |
| good job." Well, as life rolled around, and I went to | | | | spoon in his mouth and become a serial killer. A |
| college, then became a social worker for the next | | | | character's backstory is important, but it doesn't |
| twenty-three years, while raising 3 children, I used to | | | | always determine what kind of person he or she will |
| wonder, when was my literary destiny going to | | | | become. The best early life experience does not |
| begin? | | | | always produce resilient, tenacious people, nor does |
| Ironically, by the time my writing did emerge, I had | | | | the worst early life experience always produce bad |
| buried my mother and become a grandmother, two | | | | people. That's why it's often said that hardship builds |
| milestones, which forced me to take action and | | | | character. |
| realize how transient this life is. From living, I gleaned | | | | 5. Life is often about compromise. Don't give your |
| many things about my journey, but this is one thing I | | | | books neat little happy endings. In my novel, No |
| can't say enough now-everything I learned about | | | | Pockets in a Shroud, Nefertititi reunites with her birth |
| building multi-faceted characters I learned as a social | | | | daughter she'd had as a teen and placed for adoption |
| worker. | | | | at birth, but she pays the price of always wondering |
| These are ten tips for building multi-faceted | | | | what would have happened had she opted to raise |
| characters. | | | | her child at a time when society was merciless to |
| 1. I learned that babies will die from maternal | | | | "unwed mothers." |
| deprivation if a process called bonding does not take | | | | 6. People generally grow during downward spirals. The |
| place. From that I'd like to make an analogy. I learned | | | | worse life experience can sometimes turn out be the |
| that, as a writer, you must make your reader bond | | | | best thing that can happen. The grandmothers who |
| or emotionally connect to your character or your | | | | had to take in crack grandbabies often looked |
| characters will die from reader deprivation. You do | | | | younger than their crack daughters and were really |
| this through reader identification, emotions and | | | | better mothers the second time around. Hitting rock |
| loyalty. The reader will then begin to root for your | | | | bottom is often where people grow or |
| main character(s.) | | | | discombobulate. Put this in your fiction. |
| 2. Even a "crackhead" has redeemable qualities and a | | | | 7. Show the dark side of your characters; this adds |
| motivation for what led to him or her becoming a | | | | to complexity. How about a man who works with |
| substance abuser. Give your villains (or antagonist) a | | | | children, then goes home and batters his wife? |
| motivation, a past, and some good traits. Also, I | | | | People are full of contradictions. Or, the flaw could be |
| learned, just like in life, that in fiction the best lines | | | | more subtle. Perhaps look at how people get stuck in |
| can come from bums and street corner | | | | bad relationships and refuse to move on-that is, until |
| "psychologists." In my novel, No Pockets in a Shroud, | | | | something happens (the death of a child) such as in |
| these are gems spoken from my character Poor | | | | Anne Tyler's novel, The Accidental Tourist, which |
| Boy, an alcoholic derelict. | | | | forces the characters into action. |
| "When you don't love someone, you just don't love | | | | 8. The line between life and death is tenuous. I buried |
| them. They can be ever so nice to you, but you | | | | AIDS babies and Down |
| can't make yourself love them. And vice-versa. I | | | | Syndrome babies. I witnessed the after results of |
| been in love both ways. The kind where I didn't love | | | | murder-a man had killed his wife-and I had to place |
| someone back, and the kind where the other party | | | | the children. Capture this dichotomy between life and |
| was just using me. I know this is sad to say, but | | | | death in your fiction. |
| graveyard love done killed a many people. Got more | | | | 9. Life is full of stories. My foster mothers used to tell |
| people in the cemetery than cancer." | | | | me stories. My clients told me stories. My clients' |
| 3. Also, just like in life, in fiction, being good is not all | | | | families called and told all the "family skeletons." I |
| it's cracked up to be. It'seasier to do the wrong thing. | | | | learned that everyone had a story. Everyone had a |
| The person, such as a "do gooder" social worker, | | | | secret. Show me the inner life of your characters. |
| who tries to do the right thing, has the hardest | | | | 10. The Ten Commandments were written because |
| struggle. Show this in your characters, particularly in | | | | man is essentially in need of God. How different men |
| your protagonist or main character. Fiction is about | | | | find their spirituality can be a rocky road such as Paul |
| struggle and the fight to do good in a world filled | | | | on the road to Damascus. Take me, as the reader, |
| with evil. Good intentions are generally what lead to | | | | on this journey. Walter Mosley does this in Always |
| conflicts in books. For example, a good mother, with | | | | Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, as we travel with |
| well-meaning intentions, can overprotect her children, | | | | Socrates, as he redeems himself for the murders |
| creating followers and people who make bad choices. | | | | that he committed earlier in life. |
| (So if your main character is a goody-two shoe, give | | | | |