Today on the Go Teen Writers Book Club, we’re discussing the chapter titled “Attitude,” which was chapter twenty-two of Story Trumps Structure by Steven James.
Chapter Recap:
I found it strange that this chapter was so close to the end of the book. I suppose it was so far back because Mr. James means for these things to be dealt with in edits. I prefer to know many of these things before I start writing. I suppose every writer is different, and I certainly do look to bolster these things and make them clearer in the editing stage. That said, this chapter still felt a little like it was filled with some leftover topics that didn’t fit anywhere else.
We start out talking about how Mr. James dislikes character charts. It is our job as writers to create characters that are interesting enough for readers to want to spend hours with as they read the book. He wants us to make sure our characters are in the pursuit of something that they believe will make them happy. He goes on to talk about character quirks, habits, hobbies, reversing quirks, habits, and hobbies, and whether your character is introverted or extroverted and when. He talks about giving your character fears and flaws, doubts, frustrations, secrets, passions, and anger. So while he doesn’t like character charts that list things like favorite breakfast cereal or pets, he does like the idea of you knowing all those idiosyncrasies for your character.
I think what Mr. James is getting at is that too often you never use all the things on a character chart. Sure, you might plan that he had a pet snake in high school, but it might never come up in your book. Better to spend your time brainstorming the information that matters to your story than a bunch of things you will likely never use. This makes sense. However, the list maker in me still says, why not make a list of those things I will need, then? It might look a little something like this:
Quirks:
Habits:
Hobbies:
Traits:
Fears:
Flaws:
Doubts:
Frustrations:
Secrets:
Passions:
Priorities:
Attitudes about situations in the story:
What makes him angry:
What makes him happy:
He is thankful for:
Mr. James is not a fan of detailed backstories, either, but he does say it’s important to know the whys behind the things in that NON-LIST I made up above. For example, if I created a character who doubts that he will ever succeed in life, that belief has to come from somewhere, and it would be important for me as a writer to have some stories from my character’s past to back up that belief. He might have had a parent tell him he’ll never succeed. He might have had a teacher or a coach do the same. Or maybe he was working with a partner on a school project and he lost his half of the project, causing them both to fail. Whatever it was. I would want to know a few of these things as the writer to be able to write this character well.
The next section of this chapter feels out of place. It is all about the difference between a character’s motivations and his intentions, which is something I think should be thought about very early in the writing process. The gist is this: A character might be motivated by greed, but that alone doesn’t move a story forward. The character must make some intentions that stem out of his motivation. Perhaps his intentions are to rob a bank. Now we have a story. This seems very like semantics to me. His point is that a writer doesn’t need to know every motivation behind every decision a character makes in a book. As long as the reader understand a character’s intentions, you’re doing fine.
Even more randomly, the chapter ends with a final section on setting. I love that Mr. James says to treat your setting like another character. I wrote about this very thing once upon a time in the post Setting as a Character. Your setting should make your characters feel something. It should be living in some way. Your characters should be able to interact with it. They should have feelings toward it. Do they like it? Hate it? Why? Knowing these things will make your setting feel real, which goes a long way toward immersing your reader in your story.
Tip of the Week:
“A character with attitude is always more interesting than a character with a history.” ~Steven James
Go Teen Writers Archived Articles to Help You Go Deeper:
Character Merits, Flaws, or Fears Lists
Character Hobbies and Skills Brainstorming Lists
Setting as a Character
Coming Up with a Setting that Feels Real
How To Make Your Setting Come Alive In Edits
Discovering My Setting
Internal and External Motivations
Questions/challenges:
• Do you use character charts? Why or why not?
• What did you think about Mr. James’ opinion on motivation vs. intentions? Is it just semantics? Or is he on to something deeper?
• How do you make your setting feel real?
• Any questions?
Ooh, rarely do people use the word “idiosyncrasies.” I think that’s my new favorite. ?
I have a google sheet that I fill out with things like my characters fears, goal, quirks, traits, etc. Your list has given me more ideas of things to add! I’ve never thought about planning things like doubts, and what makes my character happy/angry/thankful.
I am horrible at writing setting, and I don’t enjoy it. (I love reading a good book with good setting, though.) What is your opinion on working on setting most in the edits?
Well, I’m a storyworld first author, a term I sort of invented due to my obsession with map-making and worldbuilding. So I usually know a lot about my setting before I start writing. That said, I usually don’t describe hardly anything in my first drafts. Not even people. So my first drafts grow in editing since I’m adding a lot of information about people and my setting. All that to say, I think it depends on the genre and how much the setting is part of your plot. Some settings matter more than others in regard to the plot. If you’re writing a story that really could happen anywhere, you can definitely add in the setting later on. My two cents. 🙂
Thank you for the answer! This if quite useful, and I’ll be keeping it in mind.
I also like ‘idiosyncrasies’! ?
I don’t have my complete planning system figured out but I think I’m in the middle on character charts. I like to know some things but some charts are so extensive it feels like too much.
It’s so true. I love the idea of charts, so I’ve been guilty of making so many of them. But I’m always changing them up to try and perfect them. And it never works. I think what’s really important is that process of brainstorming and building your story. If charts help, great, but a blank notebook is often just as useful too.
Thanks for the post, Jill!
Right now I’m trying to find a balance. I tried to make character charts for the characters that I’m working with, but I feel like when I really get into the deeper parts they aren’t as real. I’ve loved working with your character charts, but for some reason these characters in specific simply feel hard to work with. Do you have any tips on how to do this? Thanks!
Well, for me, I have to know what they care most about, what they most fear, and what motivates them to get out of bed each day and do the things they do. Those internal motivations inform all their other decisions. That way, if I can try and make them choose between two things they hate, when they debate that, it will make sense because the reader will know those things about the character. If you want to email me privately and tell me more about your character, I might be able to give some specific ideas.
Thank you so much, Jill! That it really great advice. I’m excited to get to work on singling out those ideas for my characters.
I have a love hate relationship with character charts. I love them because they keep all the information I need to keep straight easily accessible, and I hate them because most I find are super extensive. Personally when I’m making a character chart it’s a list of externals: age, name, grade (if the character is in school, that is), since I assign colors to people and ideas what color they are, what their favorite outfit is, what their goals are, what their hair and eye color is. And everything else falls by the wayside because everything else I discover as I’m writing. ?