Understanding Characters

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

                                   Romans 5:3-5

 

Characters in books, like real life people, have personalities, interests, fears, hopes, dreams. They are complex and often do not reveal who they are until far into the book. As a writer that does not plan out my stories it takes me many pages to truly get to know my characters. They whisper who they are, little by little, scene by scene, until I know them as well as I know myself.

But sometimes there comes along a character that truly stumps me. Generally speaking my female characters are tough. They’re a bit mouthy, sometimes sassy. They’re capable and face life as it comes, handling problems when others might back away from them. These heroines are all different but most have had an inner strength that comes through when needed.

Because I do not plan my manuscripts before I write them, the story is as much of a surprise to me as it will be to everyone that ever reads it. Most times my manuscripts reach 75,000-100,000 words and I put very little thought into what they are going to be about. I do, however, often pray over the words I am writing.

The way I write is a gift the Lord has given me. I did not go looking for this ability, did not have any real desire to be a writer. But the Lord had other plans for me and He used my daughter to nudge- okay, push- me into something I never dreamed I could do.

It has become something I truly enjoy and spend hours at. But even still, when that character I can’t get a handle on pops up…it stumps me. This is what one of my most recent heroines has done to me. Her name is Kayden. She is a mix of different things that at first sight don’t seem to add up. At 26 she is still facing life with a scar left from a tragedy that happened when she was 16.  That scar is affecting her life in ways even she can’t see. She is living on the fringes of the kind of life she loves but not fully engaging.

At the same time she has a very deep faith in God and faces life and that faith with a childlike acceptance that few can understand. She is, quite simply, an anomaly. And she stumped me. 40,000+ words into the manuscript I stumbled. I did not know where to take her, what to do with her. The words although still flowing and fitting with the story weren’t working for me. My scenes are good, the story is good but there was something I couldn’t quite grasp.

So…I did what I do not like to do. I set that story aside, quit working on it because I couldn’t figure out what was happening and started another one. In one way I knew I was having a hard time connecting with the story, but in another I couldn’t figure out why that was. I could have pushed through, continued until I completed the story and chalked it up to being one of those that I just didn’t connect with- I have done that before. But I did not want to do that with this one.

Now I understand. Kayden was the problem. She was a person I could not figure out. She was acting one way, thinking another. Running hot and cold at the same time. As the writer I could go back and change her personality, make her into what I want her to be, but I won’t. This is where the gift comes in. I write what the Lord gives me, and he gave me Kayden. She is an intricate person that acts in a way that lets the world see only a small part of who she is. The woman inside is someone only a handful of people ever get to see. Even those closest to her never see that side of her. The more her inner character came out, the more I struggled with her story.

Until now.

 Because now I understand who she is.

Dear readers, I am sure that some of you can identify with Kayden’s personality. Are there things that you keep close to your heart? Things that you can’t or won’t share with others? What does it take to get a person like Kayden to open up, fully, to another person? And what kind of person would they have to be to accomplish that task?