"The Creative Process of Writing is a Liberating and Therapeutic Experience"
www.virtualwritingcoach.com
October, 2007
In This Issue:
1. Preview
2. Publisher's Note
3. Character Development: The Protagonist
4. Helpful Hints
1. Preview
The Writer's Connection explores the creative process of writing and the interplay between thoughts, feelings, and actions.
We are an interactive community of authors and readers who share ideas to enhance our knowledge, skills, and experiences in
writing fiction in any genre, but our emphasis remains mystery and suspense thrillers.
Published monthly, the Newsletter offers writing tips for authors, coaching suggestions, editing, and marketing information.
Topics are presented from the perspective of Keith Barton and represent only his ideas on producing your first manuscript,
and are provided to the general public. Because we are an interactive community of writers, other viewpoints are welcomed and may be
printed in future monthly newsletters with permission from Keith Barton.
2. Publisher's Note
October, 2007
Dear Writer's Connection Subscriber,
This month's newsletter features Character Development: The Protagonist
3. Character Development: The Protagonist
Let’s face it—a successful novel must have interesting characters. This is why John Grisham
has been so successful. His plots may be predictable but his characters come to life on the
page and there are many in each story. If you’re a mystery writer one must start with the
basics.
Your protagonist is Atticus Finch in
To Kill a Mockingbird; Sam Cayhill in
The
Chamber; or FBI agent John O’Hare in
Honeymoon. Some heroes are in serial novels
and one can follow their
escapades in multiple locations and plots. Your protagonist must be “bigger than life” such as
the archetypal or stereotypical sleuths who like Perry Mason always solve the case. Agatha
Christie was perhaps our most famous mystery writer at presenting the indomitable Mr. Poirot.
Clint Eastwood’s rendition of “Dirty Harry” is an example of a categorical role of a tough
police officer who bends the rules to capture the villain. Adding features and behaviors that
distinctly define the eccentricities of your hero will add richness to your story. In some
cases the anti-hero becomes the primary voice of your book; much the same for
A Time to
Kill by John Grisham.
Actions: All good fiction is in active tense. Your hero is “doing”
something. The more active verbs you use to describe your hero the better. Actions promote
excitement, tension, intrigue, conquest, etc. Passive voice is a “no-no” and your story will
be rejected outright by agents as dull and unimaginative. After all, we readers want to be
entertained by bigger than life heroes who try to do good at all costs.
Morality: Unless one is dealing with an anti-hero (like Russell Crowe in
3:10 to Yuma), your protagonist must have basic moral values of good to fight evil.
It’s an age-old theme that's worked for two thousand years. Many of us grew up with Zane Grey’s
westerns with good and bad guys. Just as Superman stood for Truth, Justice, and the American
Way, John O’Hara must bring Nora Sinclair (James Patterson’s
Honeymoon) to justice as the men
around her start dying mysteriously.
Vulnerabilities: Just as Superman needed his Kryptonite, your hero has an
intimate shadow side that only the reader gets to know. Typically first person novels allow
the reader to get inside your hero’s head (voice) to understand the doubt, fear, and insecurity
that hides beneath the armor and bravado. Other writers may refer to this trait as the “inner
life” of your character. As you depict your character in various scenes imagine what she/he
thinks about, dreams about. These sequences frequently become the “back story” to your novel and
provide a link to the past that provides the reason for the present action sequences in your
story.
Psychological traits: Perhaps your hero had an abusive childhood or overbearing
father where need for acceptance was paramount in his/her overachieving lifestyle. Perhaps guilt
from some past misdeed leads your hero towards redemption or sanctification.
Power and Sex: No doubt about it. Sex and power sell. Turn on your TV and watch
the ads for beer commercials that appeal to the archetypal Neanderthal male. Where else would
one see footballs for breasts except in the USA? Generally there is at least one torrid sexual
scene that captures the vulnerabilities of your hero, especially if the anti-hero or villain is
of the opposite sex. Sexual tension leads to arousal and temptation which have been around since
David and Bathsheba.
Social context: Your hero might come from a broken home, the wrong side of the
tracks and a Horatio Alger story develops; or your hero might be from the upper crust royalty
where class privilege is a prerequisite for protecting one’s character, morality, or name.
Increasingly, cross-cultural heroes become the savior for Everyman (Everywoman) whose mission
it is to save the world from some galactic implosion.
Beliefs: What beliefs does your hero have? To achieve hero status one must live
“above the fray” and epitomize virtues that border on sainthood. Is your hero conservative,
liberal, iconoclast, socialist, egalitarian, parental, childish, or benevolent? Core values and
beliefs underlie all human behavior and your reader should resonate with the hidden or overt
values and beliefs of your protagonist. One may not agree with the hero’s beliefs, but at least
your readers will understand the motivation for their actions.
Career: Pick an occupation for your hero. Many writers from Steinbeck (day
laborer) to Grisham (attorney) make their living on characters who work for a living. It’s not a
soap opera where nobody works. Your characters must be people your reader can relate to and the
more common the occupation of your hero, the more your readers will resonate with the character.
Helpful Hints:
- What do Grisham’s books have in common in character development beyond an attorney seeking
justice for those underprivileged who have no legal representation?
- Ian Fleming’s highly successful James Bond 007 series shares archetypal male values
with sex and power; why is this series so popular with males other than fantasy and action
sequences?
- Julie Christie gives a noble performance in Away From Her about an Alzheimer’s
patient who loses her relationship with her husband of forty years. The protagonist in this
movie (based on Alice Munro’s short story, The Bear Came Over the Mountain) is her husband,
the caregiver, who in an act of self-sacrifice must give up his relationship with his wife,
because she no longer recognizes him and has transferred her affections to another Alzheimer’s
patient. What character traits in the above list do you see in both these characters?
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About Keith Barton, Ph.D.
Dr. Barton received his Ph.D. in 1972 from the University of Texas at Austin and has been a practicing therapist
for over thirty years. He is currently enrolled in MentorCoach and is accepting new clients.
He has been an adjunct professor at the University of South Carolina,
consultant to Fortune 500 companies in executive development, founded
and managed Texas Community Living Ventures, Inc., in 1986 for providing
group home services to persons with mental retardation. Keith founded
and has been running a clinical practice in Northwest Houston since 1990.
He writes part-time with the goal of completing one novel a year. His desire to coach others derives from his passionate
interest in helping others become attuned to their creative powers of storytelling.
Dr. Barton has training in coaching, cognitive and family therapy and health psychology. He has published articles, made
presentations and conducted workshops about:
Anxiety and achievement
Stress management
Self-esteem
Communication skills
Marital/relationship enrichment
Wellness issues
The relationship between psychology and spirituality
