Writers are omniscient, at least within their own worlds. They know who\u2019s doing what to (or with) whom and why, what the probable outcome will be, what price will be paid by those involved, and where all the action is taking place. Ask any author about the city where her story takes place. She can tell you without hesitation where the seedy dives are located, where the upper crust population shops, where you might find black market bargains, and which streets are safe to walk after dark. Not that all those details ever show up in a story; most likely, they won\u2019t. But the writer has to know them, nonetheless. Just in case.<\/p>\n
When I put that same principal to work on my characters, it was love\u2014the same sort of love I imagine any creator has for her creation. I know each of my characters intimately; all their flaws and secrets lay bare before me. Their accomplishments make me proud. Their quirks make me smile (or make me want to smack them silly, depending on the sitch). Sometimes they surprise me but for the most part, I know which ones will be strong, which ones will falter and where or how. I understand their motivations, whether or not they are acting in accordance with what I would personally do. Even my antagonists have reasons for their foibles.<\/p>\n
Years ago, a friend gave me a canvas tote that says, \u201cPlease do not annoy the writer. She may put you in a book and kill you off.\u201d While I haven\u2019t done that (yet), I can sympathize with the idea. Many of my characters are a conglomeration of real-life people, usually (though not always) friends or family members\u2014this one\u2019s musical ability and happy-go-lucky attitude and that one\u2019s philandering, wrapped up with criminal tendencies and a dark streak a kilometer long make up Bardo, one of my favorite lovable bad boys who is actually one of the good guys. Mix one friend\u2019s hedonism with another\u2019s desire to ignore problems until they bowl her over, sprinkle in a generous amount of surprises hidden deep beneath the surface and voila! Magdalene appears! Even people I have never met are fair game; in fact, if you see me sitting back sipping my coffee in a public place and staring at someone, I\u2019m probably watching for stealable traits.<\/p>\n
So yes, it\u2019s true. I love all my characters, even the ones you will (hopefully) love to hate. I can\u2019t help it; they\u2019re real to me. They have to be, or I can\u2019t make them real for you. I wrestle with showing their strengths and weaknesses through words on a page, even though I <\/em>know what they are by virtue of the fact that I created them. That struggle fleshes out each character even more for me, making her that much more solid, so that when the plot bits come together and dictate that one of them must die, it\u2019s a sad day for me, even if they \u201cdeserved\u201d it. That\u2019s part of the omniscient writer package. Sometimes, no matter what I do or how I twist the details, there\u2019s just no other way it can reasonably end. (It makes me wonder if the Universe has the same problem sometimes, laying out the threads of our futures. Things that make you go \u201cHmmmm\u2026.\u201d)<\/p>\n In the long run, the characters in my current storyline will take a back seat, and new ones (like the budding characters in a future crime drama or dystopian future tale) will shift to the front. The inhabitants of the Umani\u2019s universe will never leave me; they\u2019re my first created beings, and will always have a special place in my heart. Besides, their stories are ongoing, and hold fodder for a lifetime of tales. I hope I\u2019ll have the privilege of all their Tellings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Writers are omniscient, at least within their own worlds. They know who\u2019s doing what to (or with) whom and why, what the probable outcome will be, what price will be paid by those involved, and where all the action is taking place. Ask any author about the city where her story takes place. She can…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-posts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8n0kX-1S","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":180,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2017\/04\/09\/why-bad-things-happen-to-good-characters\/","url_meta":{"origin":116,"position":0},"title":"Why Bad Things Happen to Good Characters","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"April 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019ve heard it stated over and over at conferences, in blog posts and articles, and from my editor, Paula. Good writing isn\u2019t about a character, or group of characters. It isn\u2019t even about those characters doing things. It\u2019s about those characters being prevented from achieving a goal. The whole point\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3393,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/02\/grave-covenant\/","url_meta":{"origin":116,"position":1},"title":"Grave Covenant","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"July 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"By Tobias Youngblood \u00a9 2023, Riposte Press, LLC ASIN: B0C9W7SPTV Kindle version; file size 2817 KB Ilyana is an insectile shapeshifter with a dangerous interest in humans. Ridley is an amateur boxer with a death wish. Iris is a knife-wielding nine-year-old on a mission to find her father. Separate characters,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/GraveCovenant-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3822,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/09\/the-wayfarer-series\/","url_meta":{"origin":116,"position":2},"title":"The Wayfarer Series","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"February 9, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet ISBN-13: 978-0062444134 Kindle Version, file size 3004 KB; \u00a9 2015 Paperback, 464 pages; \u00a9 2016 A Closed and Common Orbit ISBN-13: 978-0062569400 Kindle Version, file size 1251 KB; \u00a9 2016 Paperback, 384 pages; \u00a9 2017 Record of a Spaceborn Few ISBN-13: 978-0062699220\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Wayfarer-683x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":891,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/02\/know-your-characters\/","url_meta":{"origin":116,"position":3},"title":"Know Your Characters","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"July 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"If you are writing fiction, you must know your characters better than anyone else does. It\u2019s helpful to get a good start on that before you plug them into the plot. Why? Because you can\u2019t use them to their (and therefore your) best advantage if you don\u2019t know everything there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Character-232x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5323,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/31\/after-the-party\/","url_meta":{"origin":116,"position":4},"title":"After The Party","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"December 31, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Wedding Dress Promise Series Book 2 By Ronnie Roberts \u00a9 October 24, 2014, Pajama Therapy Books ASIN: B00OVJIJFY Kindle Version, file size 1670 KB I don\u2019t usually read romances. Yet here I am reading my second romance in less than a month. It\u2019s all Author Ronnie Roberts\u2019s fault! She has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A woman with brown hair stands in the foreground, hands over her face. In the background, against a pink cover, three others decorate a room for a party. Text reads, \"Ronnie Roberts. After The Party. A Wedding Dress Promise Sweet Romance Book 2. A Secret Past Romantic Suspense.\"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/AfterTheParty-188x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1958,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2020\/06\/07\/the-overstory\/","url_meta":{"origin":116,"position":5},"title":"The Overstory","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"June 7, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"By Richard Powers W.W. 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There\u2019s really no other adequate way to summarize the plot of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Overstory.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116\/revisions\/117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}