Falling in Love with Your Characters

I have to admit I don't start out in love with my characters.   Generally they present me with an intriguing scenario—a literary proposition, if you will—and I say, "Okay, let's see where this takes us."

During the initial test drive, they usually make me chuckle, but too often they exasperate me.  Usually it's when I can't figure out where they should go next, and they stand there, shrugging, as if to say, "You have the story GPS.  You figure it out."

This is the situation I found myself in with my current WIP.  I had come up with the hero and heroine a long time ago, and I felt like I knew them pretty well.  The heroine had starred in several important scenes in a different book, one in which her brother is the hero.  But I had never seen her interact with the man who is her hero in the current manuscript.

So I had a basic premise for the hero and heroine, and they dutifully played their parts as I racked up the daily word count for NaNo.

Unfortunately they weren't doing anything to make me fall in love with them.  That worried me.  Every writer-mama loves her ugly babies to pieces, but the real trick is to make readers fall in love with these same characters.

Yet how could I manage that if they weren't really tickling MY fancy?

I debated whether to set them aside, although it would have been tricky since I'd written about 15k words, so starting over with something else would have made it difficult to finish NaNo.  And I was determined to finish NaNo no matter what happened.

Luckily I discovered there's a reward for dogged persistence, which is a good thing, because I have a ton of dogged persistence in my system.

I was about to start writing a scene where the heroine is waiting, with her brother, at the hero's house.  She is planning on presenting him with a certain solution to his current problems, which is also something she wants quite desperately.  All of a sudden the heroine surprised me by being nervous at seeing the hero.  She is never nervous.  NEVER.  He is her brother's best friend, and she's known him forever.  Yet, in this particular situation, she completely loses her resolve.   (To be honest, I thought she should have done so a few scenes previously, and when she didn't, I could not help but admire her tenacity.)

When the hero enters the room, he sees her start to falter, and he rushes to help her.  That was definitely nice of him, since up to this point he's treated her more like an annoying little sister who is thwarting his plans (which truly are important).

He is used to seeing her handle every kind of calamity with aplomb, so he teases her, and instead of continuing to fall apart. . .she pinches him.  And the hero laughs.  It's something they've gone through with each other many times while growing up, and they have this whole history I'd kind of overlooked, because I had focused on where they were going rather than where they've been.  They had a fun, playful relationship that hadn't really exhibited itself until this scene, and it showcased their individual personalities as well as how they meshed with each other.

That is when I fell in love with them. 

Once that happened, I wanted to know how they were going to take this shared history and lifelong relationship and combine it with new challenges on the way to their HEA.

I'm not exactly sure why I fell in love with them.  Maybe it was because they revealed a certain vulnerability or a spark of humanity I hadn't glimpsed before.  Or maybe it was that intimate moment when they let down their guard about the pinching episodes that let me know they cared for each other and always had.

In any event, they had moved from an intriguing premise to people whose future I cared deeply about.  Now I just need to revise the opening chapters so readers can feel, much earlier than I did, the same level of caring about these characters.  I'm confident I can do just that, allowing me to continue falling for my hero and heroine as they fall in love with each other.

So, when do you fall in love with your characters?  What did they do to make you feel that way?

Comments

[Maureen]

I can see falling in love with your characters at that point! You remembered their past and let them remember it.

I'm currently in a tug of war with my editor about my heroine's past, so I can really 'get' why the past connection is important..

I'm the writer who loves my characters before I start! But I do find I fall in love with side characters as I go and then is when it all comes together that...they need a book of their own!

[Donna Cummings]

Maureen, I think their shared past helped me fall in love with them -- as well as the playfulness between them.

I agree about falling in love with side characters who need their own books. That is kinda happening here too, esp. with a character that is taking a bigger role than I'd given her initially. LOL

Hope the tug of war about your heroine ends with both sides happy!

[Jan O'Hara]

Too funny. I just had something similar occur and it was persistence that saw me through. I've been writing my WiP rather mechanically as I lost the character's voices for a while - long story. Anyway, just last week I found an emotional undertone to a scene between them that made the real for me again. I'd been too superficial. Too one note. When I allowed in the playfulness and tenderness and sexiness along with the angst they were both naturally feeling, I fell in love with them both again. I'm so relieved and so happy I just can't say, although I'm sure another writer would get it.

[Donna Cummings]

Jan, isn't it funny how writers seem to experience the same things (even thoughts) at the same time?

I like your description of how you found the character's voice again, thru the emotional undertone. And yes, another writer DEFINITELY gets it. :) There is so much magic involved to this process, so whenever it seems to retreat from us, it is scary!

I'm glad you fell in love with your characters again. Sounds like you will all be off on a lovely jaunt now.

[Terri Osburn]

I think I used to love my characters, but right now I'm not loving much of anything involved in this writing stuff. Most especially my ability (or lack there of) to do it. LOL!

I do enjoy those moments when the characters take over and you realize they're cool and funny and people you'd want to hang out with. Good to hear you're having those moments and here's to many more popping up along the way.

[Donna Cummings]

Terri, I've been in that exact position before with my writing. And boy is it exasperating! Especially when you know what you want to do, but you can't get the words to move to the right place. Grr.

I love those moments you described, and I'm sure you'll get back there too -- the characters will start to miss you and will lure you back. :)

[Melissa]

Fascinating blog! I loved to read about THE moment you fell in love with your characters. I'm glad your persistence paid off!

I guess I haven't had this happen...yet. I think my first two stories I had such a clear idea that the hero and heroine were the "stars" that I already loved them. Actually, in both they already love each other, so I think this "already in love but lots of problems" had something to do with already loving them. But I have ideas for a romance between secondary characters who don't even like each other. That is so different (for me) that I could see needing to warm up as they warm up. It should be interesting!

[Donna Cummings]

Melissa, there are times when being stubborn is a GOOD thing. LOL

With my other books I was kinda in your position, where I already loved them (which kinda made it hard to be mean to them -- LOL), so it felt weird to me to not have that same connection to these characters. I just had to get to know them better.

I can't wait to see what you do with the secondary characters who don't like each other! You will definitely have fun warming them up. :)

[Liz Fichera]

Getting to know your characters is a lot like dating. I think I start to fall in love with them when they reveal their vulnerabilities. If only they could bring me chocolate and flowers, occasionally! :-)

[Donna Cummings]

Liz, that's a great analogy! The characters do reveal their personalities, good and bad, as we get to know them over time.

And I'm with you on having them bring goodies! It's only fair after the headaches they can cause. LOL