“It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.” ~Roy Disney (1930-2009), longtime senior executive for The Walt Disney Company
Every day we make decisions. And if we stopped and really thought about it, we’d realize we made those choices based on our values – the things that are important to us. Or as Proverbs so aptly puts it: Everyone does what is right in his (or her) own eyes. (Proverbs 21:2)
Guess what? The imaginary characters in our books? They have to do the very same thing: make choices based on their values.
What: Values
Things we desire, whether we have them or not, such as forgiveness, honesty, money, compassion, power and trust
Why:
We don’t like it when we wander around aimlessly, not sure what to do. Wasted hours, wasted days. And we’re certainly not going to read (or write) a book where the hero and heroine spend pages and pages thinking, “What should I do? What should I do?”
If you know what your characters values are, then you can easily determine what they would do. How do you figure out a character’s values? Think about it for a minute: What formed your values? Your life experience. The same is true for your characters. This is why it’s important to know your hero’s and heroine’s Dark Moment, Wound and Lie – these experiences influence what they value.
Example: If your hero moved around a lot as a child, if he never really had a place to call home, what might he value?
Answer: You could play this several ways (It’s your book, after all.) Maybe he grows up to value home and roots because he never had that. Or maybe he values independence and being a loner – as a defense mechanism to protect his Wound.
Example: If your heroine was told she was ugly (and that her sister was the beautiful one), what might she value?
Answer: She might grow up to value external beauty – trying to prove everyone wrong. Or (once again flipping this) she might value brains (intelligence), trying to prove her worth that way, since she isn’t beautiful, or so people say.
Once you know their values, you can plot stronger scenes. You know that the hero who values home will clash with the heroine who is career-driven – and you know why. And you know that your “brainiac” heroine is really covering up a wound – and will reveal heartache as she interacts with the hero.
Looking for some resources on values? Check out:
http://www.values.com/teaching-values
http://www.stevepavlina.com/articles/list-of-values.htm
http://www.selfcounseling.com/help/personalsuccess/personalvalues.html
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MBT’s Skills Coach, Beth K. Vogt provides her readers with a happily ever after woven through with humor, reality, and God’s lavish grace. Her inspirational contemporary romance novel, Wish You Were Here, debuted May 2012 (Howard Books.) Her second novel, Catch a Falling Star, releases May 2013. Beth is an established magazine writer and former editor of Connections, the leadership magazine for MOPS International. Visit with Beth at her website bethvogt.com.