Dear Katherine D (Part I)

You must be wondering who Katherine D is.

Well, here's what I know: she is smart, a fine writer, and will be starting high school in Montreal this fall. Also she was at a camp this summer, where she met Emily, one of my former students... and they got to talking about writing and books for kids. Then Katherine D sent me an email, asking all sorts of good questions about writing -- so I thought, rather than answering in a private email, I would use her questions as the basis of a series of blog entries.

Katherine's first question had to do with finding a publisher and getting published. Just about every aspiring author has this question on his or her mind... but it's a little soon to worry about that. First comes the writing -- and lots of it!!

So, I'm skipping to Katherine's second question, and here, I'll quote from Katherine's email so you can see for yourself what a talented writer she is: "Next, characters: after a good story, they're the most important thing. How do I make them fleshed out, and interesting? Trust me, I hate dull, useless characters that are boring as beige paint."

Don't you like the bit about the "beige paint"? I do!!

Okay, so here come my anti-beige paint tips!

First of all, you really need to know your characters. You need to feel them inside you -- as if they are real people. You need to see them and hear them, not to mention smell them! An exercise I do with my creative writing students that you may find useful is to make a long long list of questions -- and answer them for each of your characters. How old is she? What colour hair does she have? Who's her best friend? What's her relationship like with her mom? What does she have nightmares about? .... Get the idea?

Perhaps most important of all is the character's voice, especially if you are writing in the first person (which I happen to like and recommend). Is your character cheerful or crabby? Hopeful or cynical? Naive or experienced... or something in between?

Here's another tip you might find useful -- look through magazines or brochures ... and try to find pictures that make you think of your character(s). I've even heard of authors who make bulletin boards using all the little clippings they can find that remind them of their characters.

Especially important questions to ask about your character(s): what does she most want? what does she most fear? what obstacles prevent her from getting what she wants?

All right then, Katherine D., I hope I've given you some tips you'll find useful for developing characters in your stories. My main advice is simple and it's just one word: WRITE! Write a lot, write often. I know I can't stop.