“Honest writing cannot be separated from the person who wrote it.” - Carl Jung
We, writers, create the best characters when we know ourselves—the depth of ourselves—and tap into that depth when we write, using all our senses.
Writers often have trouble creating believable, unusual characters.
Instead, we make them cookie-cutter, stereotypical people–and bore our readers.
Even though we might conduct extensive research, we resist the elements that end in helping us develop multi-faceted, exciting characters.
Research by itself won’t fix the problem. Why?
Because the most important element for creating characters with emotional and psychological depth—wishes, feelings, passion, depth, and vision—resides within me, the writer.
For me to write meaningfully, I must connect my inner world with the outer world of my creation. It takes more than just structure to make our writing and our characters come to life.
Before our characters can stand out from all others, we must tap into our inner self while we create that character.
We must be present inside our characters, and in our writing, or our story will not be successful, for it will lack depth.
Our readers must hear our voice as the narrator—not some detached fact teller.
We must create different characters that express all the various voices we have within ourselves.
WE, the writer, make the difference between a lackluster character and a character with a fresh, unique voice.
HOW DO WE DO THIS?
We must make ourselves vulnerable.
If we are not willing to do this, we cheat our character out of a real-life personality.
We must take risks.
We must explore our inner selves.
We must delve into the parts of ourselves that are the most vulnerable—our own life experiences, particularly those painful or delightful parts of our childhood.
When we approach that most vulnerable part of ourselves, we must not stop—we must not blink.
Instead, we write right through that part of our history, thereby giving life to our characters.
The search into self can’t be accomplished by our ego.
We need to confront feelings and desires long hidden from our conscious thoughts.
When we try to create a character without doing so—our characters become cookie-cutter.
For instance, many people feel a lack of spontaneity in their lives, so we look around at others, jealous perhaps, or even feel ashamed at our own repressions.
So, then, when we write, we try to capture that trait in our characters, but rather than being able to release our characters to spontaneity, we end up creating characters that only imitate what we are trying to create—much like we do.
When we learn to be honest with ourselves—warts and moles and all, we:
Unlock our own sensory recall and transform our experiences, feelings, highs, lows, pain, and joys into unique, powerful, believable, original characters who are capable of touching the hearts of our readers.
Easy to say—not always easy to do.
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