Characters and Their Actions

I'm currently working on the characters in my WIP and my soon to be WIP.

One of the things I'm focusing on is the action my characters take when confronted with the obstacle that bars them from their goal.

A couple years ago I took a summer writing workshop with Jerry Cleaver, author of Immediate Fiction, a book on writing fiction that I am surprised is not recommended more. I think it's one of the best books on writing fiction I've read and Cleaver was very instrumental in getting me back to writing fiction after a very long time away from it.

In his workshoop and his book, Cleaver stressed that not only should a writer be concerned with his or her character's goal, their reason for wanting said goal and the obstacles they face, but the author should also focus on the action the character takes when confronted with the obstacle to their goal.

We never really know anyone, whether it's a real person or a character, until they take action. To quote Zoe from the movie Serenity "Talking ain't doing."

Until a character takes action we really don't know what kind of person that character is. For example, Characters A, B, C, could all want the same thing: to survive an armed hold-up. They could all want that goal for the same reason: to get home safely to their family. And they could all be confronted with the same obstacle: the robber is insisting he's going to kill them.

What what will distinguish the three characters from each other is the action they take in response to their goal, their motivation and the obstalce they face.

Character A, for example, will beg pitifully for his life, wailing that he has a wife and child.

Character B will attack the robber and try and wrest the gun away from him.

Character C will try to reason with the robber, reaching out to him in an attempt to find some common ground upon which she can establish connection and, hopefully, have the robber see her as a human being.

All three actions would be based upon the kind of person the character is; their background, their beliefs, their strengths and weaknesses. And that's where the author comes in as she goes about the business of creating her characters.

Jerry Cleaver told us over and over in the workshop that one of the purpoes of fiction is to reveal character, to show us who people are and why they are that way.

We can best show the truth of our characters by showing them in action.