How Many People Hate Your Main Character?

Tip of the Day: It's Meet our Agents week at MiGWriters. If you're looking for an agent, you'll want to read these four in-depth agent interviews.

I've been doing a lot of reading lately, and I figured out something about myself. I'm not crazy about books where everyone likes the main character. It's kind of like that quote: "If everybody likes you, you're doing something wrong."

I re-read Stephen King's Needful Things, since I had last read it in high school. The main character is a small town sheriff. There are people who don't like him. Some people don't like him because he's a cop. Some people don't like him because he's nosy. One of the first lines in the book is how the townspeople think he does an alright job but he's no Big George (his predecessor). Is it me, or do you immediately like this guy hearing about who dislikes him?

Naturally, your Big Bad Villain will dislike your main character, but is that enough? I don't think so. And what if you're writing about a character who is naturally nice? That's what I'm doing. My main character Kiri has been trained since early childhood to be pleasant and helpful. Nobody has any reason to dislike her. But she finds out that because she was pleasant and helpful, nobody really believed she was smart or capable. Even the people closest to her didn't think she was capable of more. They don't dislike her, but they don't respect her. (If you're a Game of Thrones fan, think of Sansa Stark. She's always polite and she gets no respect, but watch out future!) I'm still worried that she's winning too many people over too soon, but I'll put that question to my critique partners.

This is also a YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary) opinion. Some people don't mind a book where everyone likes the main character, where she goes through life with everyone going out of their way for her, and of course she acknowledges their kindnesses with gracious, meaningful thanks. If that's you, there are plenty of books out there for you. That's not me, though. I mean, check out my picture. Nobody in the books likes Sansa and the Hound, so of course they're my favorites. They have no friends. They create tension. But they are essentially good people (well. probably good, in the Hound's case).

What kind of characters do you like?

-- Kate, Miss Perfecting the Pages

Creating Memorable Characters

Tip of the Day: Check out Literary Agent Kristin Nelson's vlog on the difference between YA and MG.


I've been researching how to create memorable characters and finding snippets of information that I think would be useful to share. 


Easy on the Names


Like from this site the author Lee Masterson says, "The name must not only suit the character, but must also be easy on your intended readers. If you decide the name Xzgytgml is the only name that suits your character, bear in mind that the reader is forced to stop and stumble through the unfamiliar word, which means he is no longer engrossed in your story." And, yeah, this happens to me all the time when I'm reading. I can't get past some of these crazy names and they pull me from the story each time.


Use Tags


Glen C. Strathy says we should use tags to make our characters stand out. "Tags are things which identify a character and set him or her apart from other characters."


"Tags can include physical traits, clothing preferences, hairstyles, habitual mannerisms, facial expressions, speech habits, noises the character makes, or even scents - anything, in fact, that a person interacting with the character would notice about him. The combination of a character's tags should set him or her apart from all other characters in the novel."


This is a problem I've seen in various novels (including my own) where the characters might talk too alike or use the same lingo or have the same ticks. It confuses the reader and might pull them from the story to backtrack and see who is talking.


Show, Don't Tell


Author/Agent Mandy Hubbard wrote a great blog post about creating memorable characters here. In it she talks about how we need to discover a character like pulling back the layers of an onion, a little at a time. " For instance, if your character is shy/awkward, please, please do not have her think, “I do not feel comfortable in crowds. I would like to avoid them. I am a shy person.” Instead, have her wipe her sweaty palms on her jeans. Let her stomach lurch when the teacher calls on her in class."  I ran into something like this just the other day when I was compiling a reading list. I was reading the first few pages of a particular book and the main character said on page two, I have ADD and that means I have a hard time sitting still and paying attention to the teacher and so on. I gave up on the book right there. I knew I wouldn't be able to sit through a whole book with a character just telling me things about himself.


Make Your Characters Three Dimensional


Susan Denard makes a great point that we must not forget about our bad guys in our books. They need to be memorable too. "The key to crafting a good villain is all how 3-dimensional he/she is–the villain isn’t simply bad to be bad. He’s bad for a reason, and readers need to understand what that reason is."


Avoid Cliches


Libba Bray talks about avoiding the typical stock character everyone's seen a million times. "Question assumptions, stereotypes and stock characters. Round characters aren’t black and white. Villains don’t think of themselves as villains. They aren’t all good or all bad."


Know Your Characters Inside and Out


Lucia Zimmitti says, "If your readers don't care about your characters, you're sunk. Readers don't necessarily have to like all of your characters, but they have to care about what happens to your main character, or there's no reason for them to keep reading." And it's the truth. It doesn't matter how awesome your plot is, if the reader doesn't care about your character the book won't be memorable. That's why it's important to work on the backstory of your characters and know as much as possible about them. There are character charts all over the Internet but Lucia has some interesting exercises to try once you're tired of the charts.


Kristina, Miss Author in Action

Where Are Her Parents? (or Make Her Behave Creatively)

Tip of the Day: Check out kidlit author Kate Messner's blog for a photo recap of the amazing Children's Book Festival held this past Saturday in Rochester, NY!

I've been reading a lot of middle-grade novels lately, and something I've noticed that I've loved in them -- especially compared to recent YA novels -- is the Parent Involvement with the main characters.


For example, in THE AVIARY, even though Clara's father is missing, her mother notices when Clara sneaks around and she calls her out on it. The author could have easily let Clara get away with her secret curtain signal to her new friend, for example, and made Clara's mother be completely oblivious. But in reality most good parents, like Clara's mother, are *not* oblivious and I appreciate the way this was portrayed. It also ups the creativity that Clara -- and the author -- need to have in order for Clara to get what she wants.


In the middle-grade novel SPRINKLES AND SECRETS, Sophie lies to her best friend at one point, but her mom quickly finds out about the lie and confronts Sophie, telling her that she needs to correct her behavior. Again, life would've been a lot easier for Sophie if she was able to keep her secrets and lies to herself, but because her mom is an attentive parent, she corrects Sophie's behavior. Sophie is forced to deal with the truth and reality because it's the right thing to do, which adds more tension and conflict in the book.

Meanwhile, I'm 1/3 of the way through a YA novel that takes place in a boarding school. The MC's parents live a few hours away and when a serial killer leaves his victims in the vacinity of the boarding school, the MC's parents are casually mentioned as asking her to temporarily move back with them. The MC refuses and her parents apparently drop it, though they are said to call her frequently.

Now don't get me wrong; I am really enjoying this book. But it seems that the potential conflict that caring parents can add to a plot is abandoned. Overall I have seen this omitted more easily in YA novels; the parents just need to be removed from the MC's life/physical location so "things can happen." When the parents are cast as good parents, though, it is less believable and it lets the MC -- and author -- more easily find "solutions" to her problems that won't be checked by an adult. I find that this "absent parents" tactic only truly works in instances where the parents haven't been made out to be "good" parents to begin with.

I love how in MG novels, attentive parents can be good for the main characters' morals and family life, but bad for their ability to sneak around and behave "badly" or in a way that a good parent would not approve of. I love that parents are obstacles for kids in MG novels that they need to work on the up-and-up to get what they want.

What are your takes on parental involvement in YA and MG fiction?

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

When characters don't fall from the sky, what do you do?

Tip of the day: If you happen to be in the Portland, Oregon area, I'm reading and signing my new picture book, LITTLE CHIMP'S BIG DAY, at the Beaverton-Tanasbourne Barnes and Noble on Saturday, 10/16 at 10:00 am!

My YA novel-in-progress has lots of characters. Sometimes characters come to me fully formed, but just as often, they don't. I have to work at them.

When I was writing IT'S RAINING CUPCAKES, which also has quite a few characters, I didn't have much trouble. Stan the barber wanted to tell knock-knock jokes. So I let him. Isabel's grandma loved hats. Okay then, hats are nice. Characteristics just sort of fell from the sky, and each time, I'd grab them, smile, and whisper thank you.

Well, it's not as easy with this book. Things aren't falling, dang it. So I'll sit there, wanting to write the page, but I'll be stuck because unless I can show who the character is, I can't move forward. And what I really want are characteristics that will add something to the story. You know, bring depth and meaning to the theme and all of that. Okay, at this point, I'm not sure I even know what the theme is, but still - I don't want just any characteristics, I want cool ones. Unique ones. Brilliant ones!

One of my favorite books this year is SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR by Matthew Quick. One of the characters is a Vietnam Vet who writes haiku poetry. And the poems become important to the story. Even more important is the relationship that forms between the old guy and the main character.

THAT'S the kind of thing I want. I mean - a quiet war veteran who writes haikus? BRILLIANT! And I don't think those type of brilliant characteristics just fall from the sky. I don't know, maybe they do, if you're open to them? I'm open to them, I swear (in case anyone up there is listening).

I love it when a character appears and he/she is perfect and there's not a lot of thinking that has to go on. But with this book, that's just not happening. So... any suggestions as to what I can do or resources I can turn to for cool characteristics?

~Lisa, Miss Crafting a Career

That Character Had a Name? (or I Swear It's Not Personal...)

Tip of the Day: Stuck for what to read next? Ask a YA or Children's Librarian for suggestions -- they will be so excited to point out their faves to you!

I am terrible with names. Unless we are friends, there is no way I will remember your name after the first time we meet. Maybe not after the second time either, unless we've had lots of face-to-face contact in between. I don't know why; it's just the way I am.

But don't feel bad! I do the same thing to novel characters! Unless the main character's name is in the title of the book a la Lisa Yee, I do not remember it. Even when I blog abbout a novel I finished right after I put the book down, I still need to read the blurb again to remember the main character's name.

Does anyone else have this problem?

I think the reason this happens to me when I read is bc once I establish early on what the MC's name is, I skim over it through the rest of the book so I can get to the exciting plot. I read quickly, so this is not unusual for me.

What have I learned from this? Is it a) I better come up with fantabulous names for my MCs so others with my name memory problem can no way forget my MCs' names, or b) if my plot is so great that it makes a reader forget the MC's name, who cares? Right now I'm leaning towards (b), but maybe that's bc that's already how I read!

Or perhaps my memory just sucks.

How about all of you?

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Partials vs. The Book

Tip of the Day: if you are having trouble with any aspect of your book, I’ve found that giving a good hard look at your main character often helps iron out the problem.

Do you ever feel like your work-in-progress and you are running in circles and getting no where? That's exactly how I feel lately, and for the life of me I can’t figure out how to focus or jump off the wheel.

Remember when I said I couldn’t write first chapters? At least not until I tried everything, wrote the book, and then went back and worked on the beginning. I wasn’t kidding. Yesterday, I went to organize all the beginnings in a single file to mull them over and determine if one of them stuck out at me more and pulled me in. By the end of searching through all my files, I found 13 different beginnings, and I’m not entirely sure any of them are correct.

Normally I would just put the book down for a week or so, come back to it with fresh eyes and see if my mind has worked out the sticky situation. Or continue writing the entire book and then rewrite the first chapter a few times. But I’d like to get this partial done for someone, and I also would like to rewrite the beginning of another book for the 13th time to get it sent off by the end of the week for a contest. Neither book are finished, but both have been outlined.

Maybe it’s because I’m stressing about two different books that it’s hard to focus on one?

Or more probable, is that generally speaking when I can’t write a chapter it’s because I don’t know my character well enough. Usually it takes me an entire book to figure my character out. I know there’s writers out there that automatically click with a character and everything gels, but that’s not me. I have a good idea about my character, but it takes me a whole book to really understand her and her motivations. Then it takes me an entire rewrite to figure out my secondary characters. And skipping the entire step of writing the book makes it harder for me to show my characters subtly in the first chapter.

So tonight, I think I’m going to sit down and really look hard at my characters and try to figure them out.

Does anyone else have a suggestion on polishing up partials without having the book finished? Especially if you are the type of writer that takes you awhile to get into the head of your character. I’m curious if people end up changing the partial after they’ve finished the book itself.

--Emily, Miss Querylicious

Picture borrowed from: www.daviddeesauctioneers.com/services.htm

Name! That! Character! (or Hollywood Schmollywood)

Tip of the Day: When you're feeling the burn of the writing world, watch the Olympics. Those athletes didn't build those muscles overnight -- success takes time, patience, and practice!

Often, blogging authors will discuss which actors they would pick to play their characters. Many of them seem to know the *perfect* actor to play everyone in their books, and say they picture so-and-so being Just Like their character. And then they pose the question: Who would play the characters in YOUR book?

And honestly, I don't know!!!

Is that weird???

I feel like EVERYone knows who would play their MC but me!

OK, I know part of my problem is I don't retain names well at all, including the names of actors. So that makes the task a bit more difficult. But even if I were to describe the movies/TV shows the actors were in, I'd STILL be at a loss.

Because my characters are just themselves. They are not characters to be played. That'd be like asking me who would play my boyfriend or best friend in the movie adaptation of my life. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so that would bomb in the box office on opening night, but that aside, I couldn't picture ANYONE but the ppl themselves playing themselves.

Am I totally posessive of my characters? I don't know, bc if Hollywood came knocking and offered me some cash to make my book into a movie, I'd sure as hell say, "Hell yeah!" But if Hollywood asked for my input on who to play whom (as if), I'd say, "Uh, that...blond...chick?"

OK, let me take some deep breaths here and just try to think. Who would play Joanie, the MC in SOMETHING STRANGE ON STAFF ROAD? She has brown hair, brown eyes, is 13, wears saddle shoes, has a ponytail.... THAT COULD BE LIKE ANYONE!

Maybe Abigail Breslin? (And for the record, I only know her name bc I looked up LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE in imdb.) She is a good actor.
Phew. That exhausted me. I'm done. Does anyone else have this problem?

Deena, Miss Recently Repped



P.S. Make sure to check back the last week of the month for A2A's School Days Giveaways!

A2A: The Teen Years (or A Page About A Page)

Tip of the Day: Be extra nice to working teens. Remember when that was you serving up coffees and checking out groceries to grouchy grown-ups.

Part of me wishes I had some wacky job in high school, like my girlfriends who bussed tables at the Old Country Buffet and had to dress up like the Buffet Bee and wave to kids. Sure, it incited some screams, but now I would cherish those memories (right Nicki and Manina? Are you cherishing?)

But no, I was a Library Page. Makes me sound like I lived in a book. Maybe I pretty much did! I shelved books here:


There were pluses and minuses to working at the Parma Public Library in high school.

Pros:
1) Close to home and the high school
2) Could wear jeans
3) No uniform
4) No smell of grease
5) Got to help with children's summer programs and story hours
6) Erased all my late fines
7) Worked with my mom

Cons:
1) Crappy pay
2) Could get boring
3) The library was a good, innocent place for stalkers to hang out
4) The library attracted every burnout in town
5) No other teens worked with me
6) Finding food, chewed gum, used kleenex, and unwrapped condoms in the shelves
7) Worked with my mom

My novel #4 (currently shelved) had an MC who was a Page in a law library. While I liked that book and the MC's job, it wasn't as good as it could've been if she worked at a public library. There's so much great fodder! Creepy old men asking where the books on changing bodies are located, the Churchy People challenging the library's collection of "racy" (aka PG-13) movies and mentioning it in their Sunday sermons, impossible reference questions relating to the makeup of Jesus's DNA.... I mean, those could each be a novel in themselves!

I think I might try to use my high school occupation again in a book, and now I'll base in on my experiences AND what I witness happening with the teens I now supervise in my library. (Though in all honesty, the patrons require more supervision than the teen workers.)

Any other library Pages out there?

Deena, Miss Recently Repped

Characters based on real people

Tip of the Day: for more realistic characters, you might want to try people watching and picking out a few unique mannerisms or actions.

Some of you may have seen those t-shirts that read something like: "Don't make me mad, or I'll write you into my novel." But I'm actually curious, how many people do this.

A book idea I'm playing with in my head right now would feature three people I know in real life as main characters. The only problem is, I'm not sure where you draw the line on how realistic to make characters. On one hand, some people might be flattered you would incorporate them into a book, and others might not. I'd imagine there are several pros and cons.

Pro: basing a character on someone you know could make that person come to life on the page.

Con: if you are too accurate, you might loose a friend or family member in the process.

Pro: it would be easier to get the character right, because all you'd have to do is think of characteristics or even exaggerated characteristics of the person you know in real life.

Con: someone might not understand you were exaggerating his or her characteristics.

Pro: your friend or family member might actually be honored you put them in a book. Kind of like how celebrities want to be on Saturday Night Live, even if they are poked fun at.

Con: they might not.


Some of the cons would be hard to deal with. I guess that's why many authors pick and choose characteristics of people to put in their books, so it's hard for people to figure out a character might be based on them. Which I am also considering, but I still think it would make for a better book in this case if the characters were modeled almost exactly after a few people I know. Especially because I actually really like the people I'd put in the book and think other people would like them as characters as well.

How about you, would you like to find yourself on the pages of a novel?

--Emily, Miss Awaiting an Agent

Eighth Grade Hilton Hay Days (or When Our Village Made It On the Map)

Tip of the Day: If when you hit puberty your hair starts to turn from straight to curly, do NOT randomly hack off layers of the intermitant frizz.

Thank you for joining us for another post on A2A: The Teen Years! Let me share with you the map that my hometown of Hilton, NY made it on when I was 13.


http://www.fastfoodmaps.com/static.html

Yes folks, these are all the McDonald's across the great US of A! GO AMERICA! (Yes, I'm feeling very Stephen Colbert right now (and yes, I swear he's the funniest man alive).)

If you squint real hard at the Western NY part of the map, directly south of Lake Ontario where it looks like north of the thruway had an itchy breakout of hives, there's a Micky D's dot for Hilton, NY! WOO HOO!

When I was in eighth grade and this "restaurant" was brand spanking new, it was THE hangout for after school. Where else could you go for cheap fries, free sugar packets, and bi-annual chances to win $1,000,000 with the Monopoly promo game on the super sized sodas? We slurped our drinks with visions of Hawaiian vacations and dropping out of school to become beach bums with our McD's winnings. Yes, those were the days.

Marching Band practice was in the Hilton High School, which was even CLOSER to McDonald's, so it was also the place to be before and after those practices, not to mention lunch breaks during all day marching sessions. All the teen girls who were cool and cute would get a Happy Meal, then carry the empty, semi-greasy box around with her as a purse, and show off her toy prize inside.

As a bonus, McDonald's borderd the parking lot to the bowling alley, Pleasure Lanes, which was the perfect place for skateboarding, too! So many activities in one geographic location. What the heck did us Hiltonian teens DO before 1992?

The teens in my novel that's being shopped hang out at the soda shop in the insane asylum community. They can't really go anywhere outside the walls of the community, so it's the best they can do. Yet I find it ironic that in both my real life and my characters' lives, the hang out involves a location that serves food. Hmmmm....what does this say about me?

Where do your teen characters hang out?

Deena, Miss Recently Repped

Boy Books (or Girls Who Are Boys Who Like Boys to Like Books*)

*with apologies to Blur

Tip of the Day: Take Airbone when you take an airplane. It's worth a shot to not end up with plane plague.

What books do boys like? From polling wise LJ friends and recent observations of my library patrons, it appears that it depends on the age of said boys.

1) Middle-grader boys like graphic novels, and series books like THE MAGIC TREEHOUSE and STAR WARS.
2) Tween boys like manga, graphic novels, and some popular adventure novels like THE LIGHTNING THIEF and THE GOLDEN COMPASS series.
3) Teen boys like manga, graphic novels, and "adult" books on subjects they are interested in.
*Please keep in mind these are EXTREME generalizations.

Notice in (3) above, I have not listed any YA novels! Gah! The AGONY! To try to remedy this, I did a display in my YA section: "Time for Spring...Time for Sports!" and I featured a bunch of YA sports novels that showcase a wide variety of sports (football to rollerblading to tennis) and MCs (girls and boys). I thought maybe this would catch some boys' attention.

Fortunately, some of my display books did go out -- but they were mostly the "girl" novels, like DAIRY QUEEN and OPEN COURT. So probably my teen girl population checked them out. Yay for those books, but what the heck?

Now don't get me wrong; I'm thrilled when guys come in and check out handfuls of manga or Stephen King or non-fiction on the philosopher they're interested in. But there's so many awesome YA books that I KNOW guys would like if they just gave them a chance!

I was THRILLED when a mom came in one day to check out YA books for her three teen sons. She saw my badge and asked while I was arranging my section, "Do you read all of these books?" I said I read many of them and could I help her find something. When she told me about her three boys, man I went NUTS! She went home with, among other things, TWISTED, THE WEDNESDAY WARS, and a handful of fantasy and contemporary books. It was AWESOME!

All that said, us writers STILL hear about the "need" for "boy books" by publishers. But how many of them are selling compared to books that more girls will likely buy and/or read?

And when I'm doing YA library displays, I try to evenly distribute the "boy" and "girl" books -- but with limited display space, obvious checking out of the girly books, and obvious lack of boy-y book circulation, should I bother making my distribution even?

What do y'all** think?

Deena, Miss Recently Repped

**I've been wanting to say that since I got back from Texas.

Character Confessions (Or, Where I Dig up My Characters)

Tip of the Day: Save copies of your book in several different places. You also might want to e-mail it to yourself just to have it in your inbox as well.

Characters are always one of the best parts of books. We like to identify with them, sympathize with them etc. Your characters may make or break your book. If you have a really sucky main character but a great plot people might not want to read it because they don’t feel for your character. So, how do you come up with your characters? Last week I confessed that I sometimes like to mush together characters from TV or film into one cool character. Here are a few more confessions:

Confession#1: Part of the reason I like to write in coffee shops is because all of the interesting people are in there! I can’t tell you how many innocent latte buyers came into Starbucks and ended up in one of my books. There is just too much material.

Confession #2: Lots of cute boys I’ve liked in the past have made it into my books. No, I’ll never tell you who they are and I doubt anyone would ever guess but it is like my own little tribute.

Confession #3: Sometimes I put a little bit of myself into a character in the book too. Stephen King always does a cameo in his movies so why can’t I in my books? Example—the school secretary in Revenge Queen that loved the gossip mags and was still trying to drop the 20 pounds after three kids? Uh huh. That was me. :-)

Confession #4: Yeah, sometimes I use people I actually know too. Shhh! But only a little bit about them and then I try to add some really different characteristics to them so that the real people don’t figure it out. Hopefully.

Confession #5: People I wish I knew. I like to think up people I wish I hung out with in high school (not slamming the people I did hang out with of course!! :-) ). I just try and make up really fun, cool characters.

Ok, your turn. How do you come up with your characters?

Kristina, Miss Soon-to-Pub

Reconnecting with your Characters

Tip of the Day: when having a writing day it is never a good idea to sit in front of the TV as a VH1’s 100 Greatest [insert anything known to man] Special is about to begin. Five hours later, you will have no writing done, be left wondering where the day went, and in my case wishing 80’s hair bands would be revived.

Yesterday I held my own: Getting to Know Eric Day. Eric is the main love interest in my current work in progress. Given the fact, I’m almost 2/3 of the way into the manuscript, I know Eric fairly well, but yesterday I felt like I needed to get to know him better on a more personal level, since he’s a major factor in the book and I was struggling with a plot element involving him. And I’ve found whenever I’m stumped, getting to know my characters more almost always gets the writing-juices flowing again.

So I set out to think about him all day yesterday in my Getting to Know Eric Day. I wanted to know EVERYTHING about him. His strengths, his weaknesses, what he eats for breakfast, how he combs his hair, what his favorite brand of soap is, etc. Some of this I knew, but some of it I didn’t. And most of it, I knew wouldn’t end up in my book, but I was hoping it would help me anyway.

There’s several ways I’ve gotten to know characters in the past or have heard about from others, which include:

• Creating a collage: I’ve used magazines in the past to make collages of my characters, and it’s been helpful.

• Create a cast of who’d play your character in a movie.

• Shopping for characters

• Creating a character list/sheet: I do this every time, but usually only at the beginning and it often changes.

• Creating a music playlist for your book or character

Since, I already knew about my character and had written 2/3 of the book with him in it, I didn’t really need to start from scratch. I’m also a person that likes visual clues to help me, so I decided to look through magazines and clip out some info. Hoping something might catch my eye and get me through the plot point I was struggling with. This time, I was also particularly looking for a picture of someone that resembled my character.

About half way through my search, I discovered there were absolutely no pictures that worked as Eric himself and little in the way of things that reminded me of him (sure this could have been because I was searching for guy-related things in CosmoGirl and Seventeen, but that’s beside the point). So I emailed Miss Recently Repped, Deena, to vent my frustration at finding no pictures of Eric. Her response to me was: “What does he look like in your head?”

I started to really think about her question. It was an excellent question and one that despite the fact I was having a Getting to Know Eric day I hadn’t really thought about, yet.

In the process of thinking about him and writing to Deena about my character something happened, I really felt more connected to him. I started to write about the physical him and a few things about him as a person. I think I was so worried about finding a picture that represented him and trying to find out new things about him, that I was forgetting everything I already knew about him and in the process trying to make him into something else. Instead, all I really needed to do was reconnect myself with who he really was and try to explain that to someone else. And remembering that suddenly made me focus and move forward on the plot point I was struggling with. So, thank you, Deena for your great advice of making me actually “think” about my character.

Does anyone else have any tips on reconnecting with character more than halfway through your manuscript? Or from the beginning?

- Emily, Miss Awaiting An Agent