August is Awesome Because of Ken Rahmoeller

People are awesome for more reasons than I dare try to name here, but you can always count on awesome people to be awesome in their own unique way.  Ken Rahmoeller is no exception.

Ken is writing his first book with what I believe to be the healthiest approach I've seen.  He doesn't intend to rake in millions from it.  He intends to rake in something far more valuable: knowledge and wisdom.  

Ken goes into detail about what he's doing, how and why on his blog's About Ken and His Book page.  I believe that if he's not careful, he just might discover the formula for success!

Ken's a chemist and can do more than stupify you with his awesome wand!  Give Ken a big, awesome welcome!

Peanut butter or chocolate?
Chocolate, of course.

Paper or plastic?
Plastic. It works better when I’m emptying the litter box.

Plot or character?
Hmmmm...

Which is more important to the success of a story? Opinions vary, but many experts will tell you the character is more important. I tend to disagree. I understand their point, especially in certain genres such as romance, but for me personally, it’s always been about the plot. If I have a choice between a story with a great plot and average characters or a story with an okay plot but really great characters, I’ll pick the one with the great plot every time.

Now I’m not denying the benefits of creating good, interesting characters. The reader is going to spend a lot of time with these people (or aliens, or animals, or whatever) and it can be a boring ride if you don’t care what happens to them. I’m just of the opinion that a great plot can help you fall in love with otherwise boring characters as you watch them struggle their way through the story.

But even if you’re one of those writers who think plot is more important, you still want to create great characters to go along with that fantastic plot you spent all that time creating. So what’s the trick to creating great characters? There’s no one perfect answer. Some writers fill out questionnaires describing their MC’s likes and dislikes. Others interview their MC. Still others work out huge backstories for each and every person in the story.

None of these methods work for me. They all require an intimate knowledge of my characters at the beginning of the story and I simply don’t have that knowledge until I’ve finished writing the story. I let my characters start out as blank slates and their traits evolve over the course of the book. Perhaps this is a consequence of being a first time writer, but I’ve found this technique works well for me and I’ll continue to use it until something better comes along.

When I began writing my story, my characters were startlingly bland. I knew one of them was going to be the bad guy and one was going to be a jerk and another was going to be supportive of the main character, but that was about it. But as the story progressed, I would often realize a particular subplot could be strengthened by having one of the characters behave in a certain way, so I simply gave that character the necessary trait(s) and ran with it. Not only did my subplot become stronger, but I’d also learn something new about one of my characters. Cool.

After repeating this process ad infinitum, I soon found my story populated with characters who were far more interesting than any I could have created on my own. Best of all, I was giving them the best kind of quirks – ones which have an effect on the plot. After all, if the quirks and traits you give your characters can be removed without affecting the story, you need better quirks and traits.

Of course, this method is not without its drawbacks. Creating characters in this manner often necessitated that I go back and revise earlier chapters. And I'm not sure how I would go about writing a sequel using this technique, since the characters will have already had their traits locked in beforehand, but that's the chance I'll take for now.

So what method do you use to create your characters?

I'd like to thank Jeff for allowing me to participate in his August is Awesome series.

About Ken Rahmoeller

Ken Rahmoeller is awesome!

I'm a chemist living in Detroit, Michigan who accidentally discovered he loved to write stories while fooling around with Harry Potter fan fiction. I enjoy castles, alchemy, and making stuff blow up for the amusement of my children (and myself).

Connect with Ken at:

His Blog: A Hogwarts Sabbatical

On Twitter: @ChemistKen

To Blazes With the Formula

So far this year I've critiqued four complete novels, dozens of chapters and a boatload of short stories.  I've also had my own novel critiqued by others in addition to it receiving a thorough inspection by a professional developmental (content) editor.  I think I've learned something through all this.

Forget the formula!  At least during the first draft.

(Yeah, that advice is worth exactly what you paid for it, but I'm almost sold on it.  Besides, that advice isn't aimed at seasoned, professional authors steadily pumping out a book or three a year.)

Is a formula needed to tell a good story?  I don't think so.  But a formula is needed to tell a story well.

So why forget it?  Because the purpose of the first draft is not to write a best seller.  The purpose of the first draft (for me at least) is to tell the story that I might one day be able to sell.

I wrote The Bonding with little thought to a three act structure beyond knowing I needed a beginning, a middle, and an ending.  But face it, little thought was required.  All stories have a beginning, middle and end.  My first draft would have suffered immensely had I focused on formula over story.  My first draft was never destined for Amazon's KDP, nor were its first three chapters queued up in my email's outbox.  

Once you've got your multiple book contract or you're writing to meet deadlines imposed upon you by your publisher, you've probably got the knack of storytelling down fairly well.  That means you probably already write to formula without the formula sitting in the forefront of your mind--where your muse should be sitting.

If, while penning or typing that initial draft, you're concentrating on the three steps of this or the seven points of that, you're not concentrating on what matters.  You can't just stop the creative juices and yell, "Oh crap! I forgot my faux resolution!"  Most of us who entertain a muse know a muse doesn't like to be stopped on a technicality.  Technicalities are for later, for rewrites and revisions--not first drafts.

I'm not advocating that you banish the time-honored building blocks of crafting a story, I'm saying craft the story.  I've never met an author who writes a perfect first draft.  Get the story out.  Let it flow.  Let it grow.  Let it be all it can be.  Once done, then examine its structure.  Mold it.  Massage it.  Perform surgery on it, whether it be a nip and tuck or an amputation or a transplant.

Give some thought to structure and formula while you plot and outline.  Weigh the draft once it's finished and see if it balances the equation.  Measure it against the markers of accepted storytelling practices once the muse has quieted and smiles in satisfaction.  Only then can it be fully and properly evaluated.

There is wisdom in choosing the right tool for the right job, but there is also wisdom in choosing the right time to do the job.