Writing Your Character's True Feelings

by Gary Fearon, Southern Writers Magazine

A favorite couple of mine has a four-year-old who loves to role-play, so whenever I visit we play this little game.

"Make an angry face," I say. He frowns.
"Make a surprised face." His eyes and mouth open wide.
"Make a scary face." He narrows his eyes and shows his teeth.

We keep this going until I run out of emotions or Ninja Turtles comes on, but I always try to end the game with a happy face.

Even when it's not part of a game, it's easy to read what kind of mood a four-year-old is in. It's once we grow up that we are prone to conceal our feelings and make them less visible to others. Therefore, what you see isn't always what you get.

Writing a character's emotions via physical cues alone rarely hits the mark, especially if they are clichés. A character whose "heart leaps" at the sight of her beloved or who has "tear-stained cheeks" virtually leaps off the page with plasticity. Something as rich and personal as feelings deserves better.

We've all had supposedly true human interest stories forwarded to us in which someone was the recipient of a great act of kindness. We cringe from the sheer amateurism when we read that he responded "with a tear in his eye." These fake stories are so heartwarming, they're almost flammable.

So how do we express a character's emotions without resorting to clichés? By looking not at what's visible through outside appearance, but rather at what's going on inside. What is our character's reaction that makes him/her unique?

Everyone feels worry, for example, if they think they may have left the stove on after leaving the house. But going deeper, each individual has a thought process uniquely their own. One person may head back home in a panic, another may blame their spouse and start an argument, while another may eventually write it off and let fate decide.

What your character thinks and what he does in response to a situation reveals much more than a tear-stained cheek will. Instead of focusing on the obvious, use the moment to dramatic advantage.

Speaking of avoiding the obvious, take care to eliminate extraneous words in phrases like "tears in her eyes" or a "frown on his face". (Where else would she have tears, and where else would he have a frown?)

Whether or not a physical display accompanies them, feelings are a very internal thing. When writing emotions, seek out the more secretive elements of that very human experience.  Coming up with a scene that touches the heart authentically will elicit genuine emotion from your reader and put a smile (on your face).

How Many Characters Does It Take?

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine

Everybody knew everybody's name in Cheers.

No doubt you've heard the old joke, "How many (fill-in-the-blanks) does it take to change a lightbulb?" There are many variations, but one of my favorites is:

"How many mystery writers does it take to change a light bulb?"

"Two. One to screw it almost all the way in and the other to give it a twist at the end."

The question I will ponder today is one that writers face, whether consciously or subconsciously: How many characters does my story need?

I once attended a play performed by one solitary actress.  It was something about a trip to Europe, as I recall. What I remember most is that, as part of the story, she actually fried up some bacon and eggs on stage. I was glad I had eaten dinner beforehand or it might have turned into a two-person play.

Similarly, Hal Halbrook entertained audiences for five decades with his one-man show Mark Twain Tonight. From the above examples, it might seem as though only one character could be sufficient to tell a full-length story, and that can happen, but keep in mind that their narratives will usually include anecdotes that involve other people.

A sprawling Dickens novel, on the other hand, will weave in a generous cast of characters. David Copperfield and Oliver Twist, for example, include roles for ten major players each, with some sub-characters becoming more famous than the protagonist himself.

There are over fifty characters in the Lord of the Rings saga. Thank goodness we don't have to keep track of every one, but maintaining a working knowledge of the comings and goings of the main ten-plus while traversing the 455,125 words in this trilogy takes some doing. 

That said, from classic dramas like Twelve Angry Men and The Dirty Dozen to campy comedies like It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (which crammed as many celebrities of the day as they could afford), audiences have proven that they can handle a handful. The more recent The Hateful Eight and the upcoming Ocean's 8 might seem to suggest a trend toward slightly smaller ensembles, but who's counting.

The answer to our original question could well depend on how long the story is to be, and whether the length allows for some resolution for each of the major players. A short story only allows for one or two problems to solve, which can be accomplished with a very minimal cast.  If there are a dozen heroes, companions and enemies to address, more pages will be necessary to sort it all out and provide closure for each of the primary characters. (Secondary and incidental characters, of course, can slide.)

One important point, and it's amazing how often this is overlooked: No matter how many are in an ensemble cast, care should be taken to choose names that are distinct. A story that includes both a Carol and a Caroline is begging to confuse the reader.

Every character has their own story to tell, and each one you add becomes one more in the bigger picture. So as you may have already concluded, the simplest and best answer to the question of how many characters it takes to tell your story is: As many as it takes.