It's time again for another Literary+ Blog Tour! Today's lovely Guest Blogger is A.K. Flynn.
Literary+ is a writer based project brought together and lead by Shen Hart. It brings together passionate, quality self-published writers to help each other promote their work, bringing more readers to every member. It was sparked by the simple fact that there are many top quality self-published authors being over-looked because they do not have the time and resources to efficiently and effectively market and promote themselves. With ambition and passion, Literary+ will take its members to the heights they deserve through a tight-knit community of like-minded writers.
Interactive
Character Relationships
You've read it before, and you have
questioned this exact question over and over again; why in the heck did this
author put this inconsequential character in here it’s ruining the novel! I
know I have read it, and I have written it, but I mostly kill mine off to get
the plot back on track and keep my characters happy. (I think sometimes my
characters talk to me in my dreams telling me to kill characters, or else they
will haunt me.) Can you imagine a relationship with your friends that consist
of incoherent babbling with lackluster interactions for a year! Well that’s the
anguish you place on your readers when you have a character that is purposeless,
and yes it can feel like a year when reading these types of characters. I often
picture them being tormented in an incongruous way, which makes me tingle with
vengeance for butchering an otherwise great novel.
To a huge degree, the art of character is
really the art of characters in relationships. That means that writers need to
think carefully about those crucial interactions between characters. Not only
do the characters need to be fresh, quirky, and lifelike; so do those moments
of meeting and interaction. If you have two key characters, the first meeting
will be charged with significance. The choices you make there will echo through
the rest of the book.
The characters you choose for your novel
will help create conflict and make it easier for your audience to understand
the resolution of the story. Furthermore, they create the dialogue and tone of
the novel. I will admit some stories do not need dialogue, but I find that
dialogue benefits many to understand the type of relationship each character
has with one another. Remember that all fiction, and some non-fiction, requires
drama to retain the reader’s attention. Writing dramatically means getting
readers to wonder “what next?” as the story progresses. Do not confuse dramatic
effect with melodrama. Effective
dialogue advances the plot and reveals information to create a unique story. So
your characters interaction needs to be placed strategically and not
haphazardly. Strategically placed characters that interact with the main
character will encourage the parasocial affect in your readers which is crucial
to keep them amused and invested in your novel.
You will also need to keep track of your
characters throughout your novel, and I highly suggest you create a character
map of each and what roles they play within the novel. The characters need to
be consistent so that reader is able to make an emotional connection with them;
instead of becoming frustrated with inconsistencies. You must know your
character inside and out in order for them to interact with the protagonist,
and know if they are they going to create a subplot, or add to the main plot.
You need to be aware of many aspects of these additional characters in order
for them to create a pragmatic and dynamic storyline. Remember that every
sentence, piece of dialogue and interaction in your novel must serve a purpose,
and if it does not then delete it or save it for a different novel.
Moreover, be vigilant about how your
characters interactions change over the course of the novel. The changes could
strengthen or weaken the reader’s interest in the additional characters. This
may include circumstantial, environmental, subtleties, emotional, physical or
psychological, and these changes can impact or influence the dynamics of the
relationship with the main character. Think about how these changes impacted
the characters; what did this relationship look like in the beginning of the
book? What does this relationship look like now? What events or other
characters caused the change in the relationship? How did the relationship
change impact the characters? These key questions will aid you in keeping the
story consistent and less frustrating for your reader’s when they follow each
character’s storyline and interactions. Also keep in mind your audience and how
simple or complex you want to make the relationships. Too simple can mean your
novel will sit on a shelf; too complex and your novel might be thrown out of a
window. So try and keep things balanced when it comes to these delicate
relationships by keeping your audience in mind.
Your characters will take on a life of
their own and it is up to you to breathe life into them. Do them justice by
giving them the opportunity to be worthwhile to your readers, as characters
need to interact and their pragmatism and authenticity dwells in those
relationships. If you get those interactions right, you’ll be on your way to
writing a brilliant novel.
Well I’m off to eradicate a few of my
characters in unfathomable ways, because for me “A procrastinator’s
work is never done!”
Salutations! My Name is A.K. Flynn, I'm a 27 year old bright eyed bushy tailed Child and Youth Worker to be, who is very ambitious and absolutely in love with writing all sorts mind perplexing Fiction. I also tend to pour my emotions out on the screen as it is the only thing that keeps my hectic life sane. As of right now my website and second novel seems to be a major focus and writing is my major outlet so it all pans out perfectly. Oh did I mention I was a redhead? Well now you know! So you know my writing has got to be good, because redheads are very spontaneous... (runs off into the distance babbling to herself)
About Lucid Dreams:
In dreams we are anyone we want to be, they are our escapes, our hopes and our will to thrive. Dreams are a pathway from one proverbial world to another; a safe little realm where we can explore and not be harmed, or so we thought... Ishya is a dreamer that suffers from insomnia, she finds herself questioning if her visions are real, or simply a lucid dream of which she controls. She slowly drives herself to the breaking point, and believes her sanity has truly left her. She uncovers the puzzling pieces that help her come back to the real world, but is it a dream or is it real? The lucid dream state is a rift not easily found, but once the gateways are open, a vivid dream is no longer a dream...
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