For someone whose a panster like me this can sometimes be difficult. It usually comes to me when I write it. Yes, we’ve all heard about character charts, interviewing your characters, story boards, etc. Sometimes I have an idea of what I want my hero/heroine to look like…sometimes I model them after someone famous. Sometimes, I really know the in’s and out’s of one or the other. But most of the time, it’s just an idea in my head.
Right now I’m working on the story where I really know the heroine. It was “her” story first. I just knew I wanted the hero to be a cop and that she’d fall in love with him. But I’m not sure “who” he is. He’s a good guy. He’s a “hero.” He adores her little girl. I’m not quite into his “psychi” yet though. I’ve just gotten to the part of the book (their first date) where she asks him why he’s not involved with anybody and he hasn’t answered the question yet. This was last night around 7ish and right now my time…it’s about 4ish and he still hasn’t answered the damn question.
So, help me out here people. Why is he single? Give me something? Anything?
Smooches!
February 25th, 2007 at 12:49 am
Just some random ideas for you…Have five other people in his life ask the same question, and see how he would respond to that…
His best buddy
His Mom?
The waitress at his morning breakfast diner…
His most recent ex?
Figure out how he might answer them, and in there, you might find the seeds of what he might tell a woman he’s on a date with.
Also to consider - is he still single, or again single? Has he ever had a serious relationship/marriage? How did it/they end? Has he ever been in love?
February 25th, 2007 at 2:29 am
Perhaps he finds it hard to give his ‘all’ in a relationship because he doesn’t want to hurt someone he loves if he ever gets shot in the line of duty and dies.
Perhaps the women he’s attracted to in the past find it hard to commit to a guy who has such a dangerous job.
He was once long ago badly hurt in a relationship and hasn’t found out how to forget about it enough to carry on and get into another relationship.
Perhaps he is secretly in love with a friend’s wife and knows to not step over the boundary of friendship.
February 25th, 2007 at 5:25 am
It could be anything really. Dedication to taking care of an ailing parent. Totally into his job.
I’m like that too. I’ve done character charts, but really they’re just not that much help. Some of the best advice I read, was in a book on characterization (God, don’t ask me the title, it was several years ago) The author said something along the lines of ‘write a character chart and then never look at it again’ it just gets an idea down on the page. But he’s right, I mean my characters never end up like the chart.
February 25th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
How old is he? And like someone else asked, has he ever been married? Is he a detective? Does he work nights? Does he work in any special units like Narcotics wehre he might have been undercover for a while? Being a cop esp in a large city esp if he’s been doing something like narc or vice or something has to be hard on a social life.
I threw in three ex wives for my curent hero and my CP asked me why–because it sounded good LOL but beyond that it gave me a lot on him.
February 26th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
Yes, give us more information about him. Is he divorced? Just out of another relationship? How old is he? How long has he been a cop?
February 27th, 2007 at 2:08 am
Ooh…you guys are so good! Thanks for all the advice.
But to answer your questions about him….he’s 27. Single - never married. He was the “nerd” in high school. Never dated. When he did venture to ask a girl out - she laughed. He’s grown into a “hunk” now….of course - he’s a cop and a hero, but that shyness and insecurity has never really gone away.
Is this enough to keep him “single?”
Thanks ladies! I really appreciate it!!!