I don’t think I could possibly get sick of watching the movie Love Actually. There are many things I love about this movie but the one I want to talk about today is characterization. While some movies take 2 hours to tell 1 story, this movie tells at least 8 stories in the same amount of time. Not only does it do that, it sets up all of the main characters in the same amount of time another movie might take to set up 1 character.

How does it do this? Let’s start by looking at the setup for 3 of the main characters:

1) Billy Mack. He’s a washed-up rock star whose manager is trying to get him some work. He keeps screwing it up but his manager keeps trying and keeps smiling. In this one scene, we learn what Billy needs, why he isn’t getting it and who is there to help him get it. This scene is also funny as hell which is why we are immediately engaged by his character.

2) Daniel. His wife has just died. He’s a mess and doesn’t know what to do about his step-son who may or may not be shooting heroin into his eyeballs. He turns to his only friend who tells him he needs to stop crying if he wants to get a girlfriend. So we know what his problem is, we know why he’s struggling and we know who is there to help him. In Daniel’s case, we are engaged because we feel sorry for him.

3) Jamie. He’s the ultimate nice guy whose girlfriend (and brother) are totally lying to him and, from what we can tell, they’re not the first to do this.  We like him so we are engaged in his story.

Each of these story lines uses a different technique to create engagement and yet they’re all equally successful. We want to laugh at Billy, cry for Daniel and become Jamie’s best friend (or girlfriend…cough). And this all happens in the first 20 minutes of the movie for all of the story lines. We see why Karen is so overwhelmed by the need to create a first lobster costume, why Colin will never get a girlfriend in Britain despite his big knob, why John can’t meet a nice girl in porn, why Mark is up Sh*t Creek without a paddle and not because he’s gay, why Sarah can’t just tell Carl she loves him and wants to have his babies, why Natalie thinks so poorly of herself and her tree-trunk thighs, and why the Prime Minister wishes he was Margaret Thatcher, the saucy minx.

So the next time you’re having trouble squeezing your novel’s setup into the first 20 pages, go watch this movie. Pick one character and watch their introductory scene. When it’s done, write down everything you know about that character and how you learned it and then use these techniques to tighten your own setup.

There are many things an author can describe while two characters are speaking to each other. These includes hand gestures, facial movements, and the one I want to talk about today: breathing.

People who are alive breathe constantly and most rarely notice they’re doing so. As long as it’s not done too often, there’s nothing wrong with a character doing the following:

1) Not breathing: A character can say they can’t breathe because they have been exercising or are panicked in some way. If done too often of course, readers might think the character has asthma.

2) Taking deep breaths. A character might take a deep breath in order to deliberately pause the conversation (for example, to collect their thoughts). If they do it too often, once again –> asthma.

3) Exaggerating breaths. A character can exaggerate an exhale as a way to show anger or frustration. Be careful with this one. If done too often, readers might think the character is a horse.

What is a problem is if your characters are doing this:

1) Taking a normal breath. Seriously? When is the last time you noticed that you inhaled normally?

2) Noticing someone else take a breath. Once again, unless that someone is gasping for air, YOU WOULD NOT NOTICE THIS unless, maybe, they were sleeping and you were watching their chest rise and fall in an effort to make sure they’re still alive.

3) Taking a breath while or immediately after swallowing. Try it. It’s impossible. You cannot breathe while swallowing and always exhale after you do.

4) Breathing out in a manner that causes a gale force wind effect. I haven’t seen this often but if your character breathes out hard enough to blow the bangs off his face, they’d better be hanging below his nose. Otherwise, it’s not breathing; it’s blowing.

Macy is in her rental car, driving to a wedding her mother made her go to because it’s supposed to have oodles of eligible bachelors and Macy must want an eligible bachelor, right? The wedding is at an elegant estate called Hillebrand Manor so Macy has worn a black silk sheath and Chanel pumps. As she drives to the manor, the gas gauge hovering only slightly above empty, something doesn’t seem right. To her left, she sees a field of cows. They stink and she can’t imagine how anyone could live near them. To her right, she sees a bug-infested lake with no signs of life around it. She reaches for the directions her best friend Tina prepared for her. She had told Tina that she’d get them herself but Tina insisted and Macy didn’t have the guts to tell her No, despite the fact that she knows Tina has the worst sense of direction on the planet and can’t use a computer to save her life. Glancing at the bottom of the directions, Macy sees the final destination: Hillgrand Farms. She slams on the brakes and then spends the next 10 minutes swearing about every stupid thing Tina has ever done. She berates herself for letting her mother talk her into another stupid setup and for not getting her own damn directions, going on to reaffirm that you can’t trust anyone with anything and should just do things yourself. When she has calmed down, Macy smooths her hair in the mirror, takes a deep breath and tells herself to continue. Because she can do it. She can find this damn wedding on her own.

The above snippet is a short example of the kind of thing you want to see in your setup (usually first chapter). Why?

1) It has action. The main character isn’t in conflict (to start) but she’s going somewhere. Note that she’s not going 200 miles an hour and isn’t lost initially. You don’t want to be doing #2 when the reader is too dizzy to keep up with #1. For my own stories, I try to limit the setup to one location (in this case, a car).

2) It is set in the best possible place in order to establish the main character (she’s single, can’t say no to people, was probably ill prepared for this trip, thinks she has to do everything herself if she wants it done right, hates farms and the country).

3) It provides a setup to the inciting incident. The main character is entering a new situation where you can slam her with an incident she hasn’t faced before. In this case, if the incident were something like she gets lost and ends up having to live on a farm because the people there say they will help her but then never get off their butts to do so,  we will feel the slam because #2 already established that Macy hates farms but can’t say no to people. Obviously, these flaws have been chosen because the climax of the story is going to force her to say No whilst on a farm and whilst letting someone else (possibly, an eligible bachelor?) do something for her. Presto, bingo, voila and POOF!

When writing your setup, my advice is this: decide which characteristics you’re going to “test” in your climax then backup and find a way to establish them in your setup (#2). If your climax is testing your main character’s ability to stand up for herself, your setup absolutely must show that she doesn’t stand up for herself. You don’t need to say why (that can come in the build-up).

I must start by saying that, if you don’t know what a love triangle is, you MUST read this post by Erica O’Rourke. I will not try to re-state her brilliant words, but let me just say that her main point about a love triangle is that the two choices must be equal. The main character must be torn between the two because they’re different, yet equally viable options. If you want to see an example of how this is done, read her book Torn.

What I want to talk about today is what I call a love teeter-totter. Often confused with a love triangle, a love teeter-totter is something you may have seen in books like Pride and Prejudice. It goes like this.

Stage One: Main character meets two new guys. At first, she may think they are equal.

Stage Two: But then something happens to make her think that the guy on the left is a dreamboat and the guy on the right sucks cheese.

Stage Three: Stuff happens to confuse main character. Now, both guys are equally dreamy and sucky. The main character is torn between the two. Note that this is the same as a love triangle except it doesn’t last for very long. In a love triangle, the two guys may go up and down slightly, but they’re usually well-balanced, which is why she is having difficultly choosing. In a teeter-totter, the guys do not stay equal for very long. The challenge is not so much the choice as it is the mystery of who is the good guy?

Stage Four: Main character realizes that the guy on the left slept with her sister and that the guy on the right is a dreamboat after all. In the end, there is no choice for the main character.

Before I had my son, I’d never seen a Star Wars movie. I called Darth Vader “Dark Vader” and I thought a Wookie was something you gave to someone you didn’t like.

Five years later, this is what a typical Sunday looks like for me. Note that we watched two Star Wars movies before this battle. Please also note that I asked for the blue lightsaber but was denied. Actually, that is not strictly true. I asked for the blue one, was allowed to have the green one but then that was taken away and I was given the red one (**cough, Dark Side**), at which point both of my children attacked me with two lightsabers and a Curious George bat. I digress…

The point of this post is not to tell you why I have a strange collection of bruises on my forearms, nor is it to tell you why my cat had to hide behind the couch for an hour. No, my dear Padwans, the point is to tell you something I have learned about Darth Vader, or more specifically, about Anakin Skywalker.

There’s no better antagonist’s character arc than the one you see for Anakin in the 3rd movie (Revenge of the Sith). 

Now, I know that Anakin is technically a tragic hero and does not become an antagonist until the next movie. Either way, I think the lessons from the arc apply to both. And here they are:

1) We have a reason to love Anakin at the beginning of this movie. The prophecy says he will put the universe in order and he’s a talented Jedi who is fighting for the good guys. Plus, we love Obi Wan and Padmé and they love him so he must be good, right?
LESSON HERE: A great antagonist needs to be likeable in some way, especially in the beginning.

2) Anakin’s motivations are good. He wants nothing more than to make sure Padmé survives.
LESSON HERE: On some level, we need to be able to understand if not agree with the antagonist’s motivation.

3) But he has flaws. Anakin has a hunger for success. He’s impatient and has a hard time trusting others. Both Obi Wan and the Council ask him to be patient and trust them, but rather than do so, he lets the Emperor convince him that the only way to save Padmé is to use the dark side. Because Anakin WANTS to be the hero and doesn’t want to wait, he’s easily convinced to take this path because his intentions are good, right?
LESSON HERE:  Usually around the midpoint of your novel, an opportunity presents itself which plays on the antagonist’s previously established weaknesses. At this point, the reader should still be able to understand why the antagonist is thinking what he’s thinking (although this is often when they start to think, Uh-oh…)

4) Then comes the choice. With every great fall in an arc, you will see a choice and this is one the clearest I’ve ever seen. The Emperor (dark side) and Mace Windu (good side) are trying to kill each other and Anakin can only help one of them. The Emperor says, YOU MUST CHOOSE ANAKIN. Anakin only sees what he believes is right and so he chooses. And he’s wrong.
LESSON HERE: There is usually a choice before the antagonist falls. Make it one that’s really difficult for him and you will create not just tension, but an antagonist that is truly sympathetic. If you are really talented, you might even create an antagonist that readers secretly root for.

5) Then comes the consequences of the flaw. Anakin cannot take back his choice and so he goes forward with the dark side. There’s still part of him that wants to be with Padmé and that still wants to believe he chose right. We haven’t totally given up hope yet because there’s still part of Anakin that wants to fix this even though we know he can’t.
LESSON HERE: The longer the antagonist struggles between good and evil, the longer the reader will stay entranced. If he becomes completely bad with the turn of a page, we will question whether he was ever good which means we will question YOU the narrator.

6) Time for the nail in the coffin. Obi Wan and Padmé still want to help Anakin but because Anakin doesn’t trust people, he’s easily led to believe that they have turned on him. Insert fierce battle and hot lava. Then the Emperor tells Anakin that he killed Padmé and Anakin has no more reason to be good.
LESSON HERE:  If you want to make your main character fall far and fall hard, take away his motivation (#2). And if you want everyone to think you’re brilliant, make him responsible for his own demise.

During my great quest to differentiate the dialogue of my characters, I’ve consumed a lot of ice cream. This hasn’t really helped with the dialogue but I thought I’d warn you of the side effects of this task. Anywho, one of the things I’ve done has been to create a diction list for each character. To do this, I asked myself some of these questions:

1) How well-educated are they? For example, I have a well-educated character in my WIP who says occurred (instead of happened), perhaps (maybe) and precisely (exactly). She rarely uses contractions and always speaks in full, unbroken sentences. At the same time, I also have several uneducated characters who use a lot of slurred words. So they say dunno (don’t know), coulda (could have), kinda (kind of), lemme (let me), woulda (would have), gonna (going to), lotta (a lot of) and so on. These characters sometimes conjugate their verbs incorrectly and they use slang such as ain’t (are not/is not) and got (have). In the case of my current WIP (where there is a great deal of profanity), every character uses different words when they swear. So one might say something softer like crap while another might pull out the F-bomb in every sentence.

2) How old are they? When referring to certain things, people of different generations use different terms. For example, I will give you a call implies the use of a phone whereas I’ll text you implies someone (possibly younger) who uses a mobile device. Some people say record or CD while others say track or song. Be mindful of this when your characters speak.

3) Where are they from? For example, I have a character who says y’all instead of you and another who says you guys instead of you. If you have a character from a certain area, do some research on the common terms said there and bring them into your character’s diction. Also, take into consideration the type of habitat they come from. A farmer might compare a screeching noise to a rooster while a city person would be more likely to compare it to a subway.

4) Do they speak slowly or quickly? I have some characters who abbreviate many of their words. For example, of course (‘course), between (‘tween). I also have characters who trail off their sentences a lot as well as characters who speak almost incoherently (going on tangents within tangents).

5) What are their common words? Every person overuses certain words or expressions and these should differ for each character. Some of these include: that, okay, just, like, totally, then.

The great thing about making a diction list for each character is that, if you’ve tagged their dialogue as per my previous post, you can very easily scan each character’s word choice or do a Find & Replace across their entire style.

If you have found any other methods that you use to differentiate your characters’ dialogue, I’d love to see them! If not, I will happily accept photos of ice cream.