An essential question to keep asking your character

A phrase popularly associated with psychotherapy might be one of the best tools to developing a character your readers will consistently engage with. Keep it at the ready, especially when the plot thickens and action scenes become more frequent. Because those are the places where you'll be most tempted to leave your character's emotions behind. Places where your character is actually likely to have his or her most interesting interior world changes.

Call it your emotional pulse-check tool. Repeat after me:

Photo credit: anitapeppers from morguefile.com

"How does that make you feel?"

Your character has just met someone.
"How does that make you feel?"
The character's first impression might be fear, lust, or sudden peacefulness. Let that reaction come out in her posture, her attitude-filled thoughts, and/or her dialogue.

An obstacle arises. 
"How does that make you feel?" 
The character might react as decisively as you hope, but perhaps he naturally feels beleaguered at first. Unsure. Afraid. Wishing someone would advise or help. Moments like this separate realistic characters from the Mary Sues and Gary Stus, who never waver or falter--the kinds of characters who make readers roll their eyes and say "seriously? nobody really thinks like that."

An important battle is lost.
"How does that make you feel?"  
Watch where your character's heart leans in times of defeat. Is he first of all peevish because of wounded pride? Does his concern go first to his fallen or injured friends? Or is he righteously indignant that the evil ones prevailed and are free to continue hurting others? Don't assume a stock answer. Let your character reveal himself in all his complexity. Perhaps your hero is more narcissistic than he wants to believe, and realizing he over-values his personal pride could become a turning point in his emotional journey.

A love object declares his adoration. 
"How does that make you feel?"
If there have been numerous obstacles keeping your couple apart, let the heroine process them in a moment like this. Then the obstacles won't feel like annoying contrivances the mean author threw in their path for spite. Let her be stunned or tongue-tied, or even sarcastic and lashing out. No one believably does a 180 degree turn in an instant. The turn happens in smaller increments, often with some regression to old positions.

As I mentioned in the opening, be especially aware of incorporating emotion into action scenes. Clashing swords alone are not nearly so tense as when you can feel one of the sword-wielder's sweaty palms or icy surges of blood-lust. You wouldn't want to stop for a full-blown flashback, but flashes of back-story snippets can be extremely effective for making emotionally realistic action, especially when portraying a traumatized character.

Keep checking your character's emotional pulse throughout the story. Look for opportunities to work in
~physical responses, including gestures and emotion-based sensations
~attitudes, expressed in thought or speech
~processing, both logical and emotional

How might frequent emotional pulse-checks help you improve your story?

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Mary Sue's miserable cousin

I've noticed something of an opposite trend to Mary Sue characters recently, especially in YA and MG books published in the past 5 years. I guess I'd call them Poison Polly characters. The ones who have no friends, fight with their families and are generally miserable all the time. They're so negative, their lives are such an unending suck-fest, I really don't want to spend 200+ pages with them. Throwing them into dangerous situations doesn't make them more likable. You keep hoping the villains will put them out of their misery.


Have you come across some Poison Pollys? Am I being too harsh, or do you think I'm on to something?

This was a response to Nicole's post Mary Sue, I can't stand you

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Getting a wish, surprise and your character

I've had a few cool surprises in my lifetime: an engagement ring on Christmas eve when I was sure I'd have to wait till Valentine's day, the pink lines on the pregnancy test when a doctor told me I'd have to start fertility drugs in a few weeks.

I got another nice surprise like that after work yesterday, though not quite so life changing. This pretty half-Siamese stray kitten wandered into my life. She has been sleeping on my porch or in my flower garden for about a week now. My experience with the neighborhood strays has been mixed--some are as socialized as any house cat, and some are feral, more like a woodland fox than pet material.

This kitten not only let me pet her, she climbed onto me as I knelt beside her. She wanted to be held and went into a snuggle ecstasy when I picked her up. She was socialized, all right.

I called my family on the cell phone and asked them to come outside to meet her.

"I think our new kitten has found us," I said.

My daughter has been begging for a kitten for over a year now. While she had her heart set on a gray tabby, she's over the moon to have been "picked" by this blue-eyed beauty she's calling Rosie. I was sure we'd have to take several trips to local shelters to find a good fit, but Rosie is every bit the affectionate cuddler my daughter hoped for.

"Gifts from God are like this, aren't they?" my daughter said. "Never just the way you pictured it--usually better!"

So far, so good with our new feline friend. She gladly let us carry her into the house, ate the kitty kibble we gave her and used the litter box I showed her. Our elderly dog and cat are being aloof, but not hostile, so time will tell how those relationships grow. She's very thin and will need some veterinary care, so it seems unlikely anyone will start posting "lost cat" signs in the neighborhood.

When a wished-for thing happens, it's always a better story if it doesn't come about quite the way the you expected.

I think there's a lesson here about how to avoid the Mary Sue trap--characters to whom everything comes too easily, too neatly. When (and if) the happily-ever-after does come, give us a twist on the character's expectations, or even defy them. How the character reacts to that "gift"--with gratitude, fear, anger, sorrow, mute shock, hope--can make for a much more complex and satisfying ending. One we want to read.

What are some of your favorite fictional "got my wish, but not the way I expected" endings? How might a twist on character expectation improve your story?

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Trope versus cliché

My Tuesday post, "No Mary Sues: operating at maximum capacity," was intended to get you all thinking about ways to keep your characters perpetually striving towards goals, or at least pondering them, worrying them, feeling strongly about them--rather than letting characters give up and walk away too quickly when conflicts arise.

I'd used the term "Mary Sue" in my title, believing this to be the proper term for the coddled character. I linked THIS "Mary Sue litmus test" which seemed to take the term in a somewhat different direction. The testmakers identified Mary Sue as a "wish fulfillment character" who is not only coddled, but also too precious by half--too much fantasy, not enough reality.

Turns out this link was only very peripherally connected to my point, but it did generate some intriguing concerns and questions in your comments.

Susan Kaye Quinn @ Ink Spells said:

"I think you have to be a little careful with the Mary Sue generalization (like any sweeping definition, especially one with so many requirements). It is undeniably true that Mary Sue characters exist, just like any stereotype. But just because your character may have a "Mary Sue" type characteristic doesn't make them an egregious thing that must be banished from the face of the earth (I think the authors of the test even say this).

Ex:
Question 1.e. Does your character's name ...
Involve a noun or verb not usually used as a name, spelled normally or not?

Tally - MC in Scott Westerfeld's Uglies. Um, that's a verb (and a noun) normally not used as a name. It's a FANTASTIC name. Also a best selling series.

Question 54: Does your character have the ability to shapeshift?

Never mind that this rules out any story about werewolves, but Modo from The Dark Deeps is a a shape shifting quasimodo character in a steampunk setting. TOTALLY original, fun, and one of the most sympathetic characters I've seen in a while.

So.

The Mary Sue phenom is real, but also a trope itself...."

I think Susan brings up a very helpful distinction--trope versus cliché.

Here's a useful definition:

"Tropes are devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members' minds and expectations. On the whole, tropes are not clichés. The word clichéd means 'stereotyped and trite.' In other words, dull and uninteresting."
--TV Tropes wiki homepage

Think of a trope as a genre rule. An element your audience expects to be present to make your work a fit for the genre.

For example, it is a trope for YA novels to feature a teenaged main character. No one would dream of calling it cliché to have your protagonist be 16, even if ten million other YA books do. Make your protagonist 47, however, and you're going to have problems convincing anyone your story is YA.

I think one could easily go through the "Mary Sue litmus test" and find some aspects that the testmakers labeled "Mary Sue" traits are actually EXPECTED in some genres. To not include these tropes would put your work out of synch with the genre and make it harder to sell.

What do you think? Which elements labeled "Mary Sue" in the test would you argue are viable tropes and for which genres?

Are elements of wish fulfillment part of audience expectation for your genre? How so?

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