If you hang around the My Book Therapy writing community long enough, you’ll realize we love words. Not just the words that fill our novels, but also the ones that help us learn the craft:
- Dark Moment
- Black Moment
- Boy Scout Moment
- The Ds
- Y’s in the Road
- Noble Quest
- Noble Causes
All of these terms — we seem to have a number of “moments,” don’t we? – help us break down the key elements of a compelling story.
While I was at the Deep Thinkers Retreat last week, savoring the Florida sunshine and delving into all-things story with a group of talented writers, another term came up: essence. I’ve gotten comfortable with a lot of novel essentials, but “essence” tripped me up a bit as Susie and Rachel and I tossed the term back and forth.
What:
At the beginning of a novel, a character starts out in his identity – who he thinks he is. By the end of the story, if you’ve developed the story correctly, he ends up in his essence – who he really is.
Why:
Character change, character change, character change. Every book starts with chapter one, page one. Okay, sometimes there is a prologue, but work with me here. Your character starts out at the beginning of the book with a set of beliefs about himself and people and God. By the end of the book, you, as the author, have used action and reaction scenes (events) to change him. You’ve altered his view of himself. Of people. Of God. The lie, or lies, he believes have been invaded – shattered – with the truth, a.k.a. an Epiphany.
In my upcoming eShort, You Made Me Love You, we catch up with Seth Rayner, the jilted groom from my debut novel Wish You Were Here. At the end of Wish You Were Here I gave the slightest hint that Seth could change.
In the novella, I have to show you how Seth has changed since his bride-to-be left him at the altar — and have him change in the story too. And I do this by throwing him up against a fun heroine in a “do opposites attract or do they combust” romance. (My answer? Yes, yes, they do!)
Ask these questions to help create the essence of your hero and heroine (with thanks to MBT Therapist Rachel Hauck who discussed essence in a previous MBT post):
- How are you hero and heroine alike?
- How are they different but complimentary? List character and personality traits that they have in common, but can cause conflict.
- What is the story goal for each of them?
- What are the common threads in their work, homes, town, family and backgrounds?
- How have past loves disappointed or delivered?
- What characteristics does he have that she admires?
- What makes him think the day isn’t right without seeing her?
- What issues do they call each other on?
- How do they challenge each other? Don’t let your hero and heroine cover for or enable each other.
So … what is you character’s essence?
The What and Why of Writing: Essence Click to Tweet
The importance of developing your character’s essence Click to Tweet