Won Me

Before you even begin writing your novel, you need to know who your characters will be. Minimally, you would want two major characters, the hero and the heroine. They will interact mostly with each other throughout the novel. How they interact with each other will determine the outcome of the story. Will they resist each other in the beginning of the story and by the end, fall in love? Or will they fall in love in the beginning of the story and then be driven apart by conflict? Once you’ve chosen them, then you need to decide what age they are, their personality traits, and their names.

AGE

Age-appropriate actions are paramount to development of the character. If the heroine is in her teens, she will react differently to situations than if she is in her late twenties. The same goes with the hero. In a romance novel, the typical heroine is in her early twenties, while the hero is older. If he is in his twenties, he shouldn’t be shown as a tycoon, unless of course, he inherited the wealth. If he is in his thirties, he shouldn’t be shown doing activities that are immature for his age.

PERSONALITY TRAITS

A character in your novel needs to have distinct personality traits that make them unique. By distinguishing them from the other persons in the novel, you can create all kinds of situations based on those traits. Personality traits are typically revealed in the story through actions, dialogue with other people in the story, and sometimes through flashbacks that may reveal how that person became the way they are.

If you are not familiar with personality traits, you can begin by studying the psychology books that describe them. Some examples of personality traits are introvert/extrovert, obsessive-compulsive, Type “A”/Type “B” personalities, etc. For example, an introverted person would appear shy, doesn’t speak much, and shuns being in social situations, whereas an extroverted person would be gregarious, out-going, and usually a partygoer.

There are many types of personalities that you can choose from for your heroine, but typically, a “romantic” female would include the following: kind, young, nurturing, loving, warm, single, sensual, doesn’t fool around, and attractive. For your hero, the characteristics could vary even more, and usually include being: older, decisive, powerful, kind, caring, single, gentle, and handsome.

Typically, you should have well-rounded characters. However, beware of making them too perfect. Readers prefer reading about realistic people, and yet at the same time, want to escape a little. Leave some room for improvement to allow character development to take place. As a writer, you will have to do some mental gymnastics to allow this to happen. Maybe she is stubborn and headstrong, and doesn’t listen to other people’s advice. Maybe he doesn’t trust anyone, so he is wary and cautious. That’s fine. Once you decide on the traits of each character, then the next step would be to envision how they would react to certain situations. For example, an impulsive person would probably react differently than a cautious person to the same situation. Be prepared to get into the shoes of your character and feel what they would feel. When a hero and heroine get together, they may help each other overcome their character flaws by the end of the story. Through their love for each other, they help each other grow as human beings, and at the same time, accept each other’s flaws and imperfections. Of course, there will be some type of conflict in attaining their love. What story exists without conflict? But by the end of the story, they realize the importance of each other in their life and cannot live without the other, no matter what the price. Ahhh, true love!

NAMES

Once you have the age and personality trait of each character, then you need to give them a name that fits them. If the male character is a warrior or has a tough-minded personality, you wouldn’t want to give him a name that sounds feminine, like Jean or Francis. Also, be sensitive to the setting, locale, and the time period, when deciding upon names. In addition, the names of your other characters should not overpower the hero/heroine’s names.

OTHER CHARACTERS

Once you have your main characters, then think about whom else will be in the novel. What role will these other players maintain to help the hero or heroine go forth? If you just add someone in the novel because you like him or her, but they don’t help the story, then rethink on how they could be useful to the story. Maybe they know something that might be useful to the hero or heroine, then add that into the story.

Cardboard characters are a result of focusing on one dimension of a character. The cardboard character can be either totally evil, good, funny, sad, etc. They don’t waver much from that description. Sometimes they are added in the novel to prove someone’s character. For example, an evil cardboard character makes the hero look good by battling with him. That’s the only purpose the evil character has, to show the hero’s good side. We don’t try to develop the evil person’s character so that he/she is less evil. However, in recent literature, one sees more sympathetic looking evil people doing their bad deeds, yet somehow managing to make the reader feel sorry about them. Those complex types are not considered cardboard characters.

BALANCING ACT

No matter how well you think you are writing, always go back and double check your work for consistency. Make sure that if your hero has blue eyes in the beginning of the story, that he still has blue eyes by the end of the story, etc. Also, make sure you know your characters before you write. If you don’t, it will show up in your writing. Throughout the story, you have to carefully describe the real person in all their glory, as well as their character flaws. When I went back and read the first draft of my romance novel “Lipsi’s Daughter, I found that I tended to lean more towards making my characters too good. I then went in and deliberately inserted a fault or two. Those faults also help with the conflict. Conflict drives the story forward.

The final balancing act will come at the end, where you will have created, or synthesized a whole new person that has evolved into a better human being from the lessons they learned in the story. So now that you’ve read this section, go ahead, write your characters. Make them come alive!

Patty Apostolides is the author of the novel Lipsi’s Daughter. She is in the process of writing a poetry book and a second novel. For more information, visit her website: http://www.geocities.com/10500bc/index.html

liendou@Writing.Com

Do you need some wedding decorating ideas? Not exactly sure yet how you’re going to wind up decorating for your wedding reception? Hopefully some of these ideas will spark your imagination so you can have the wedding of your dreams.

Before we get started I have one important tip for you. You may be somewhat limited by how much you can decorate your reception area. Be sure to check with the management of the reception hall to see what is allowed and what is not allowed as far as decorating goes.

The most common wedding decorations are flowers. Most people know that, so I won’t spend a whole lot of time discussing flowers. Look for a complete article soon on this website about choosing wedding flowers, but for now, if you have some questions, simply go to Google.com and type in “wedding flowers” - from there you can choose the images tab and look at hundreds of different flowers.

Now, some ideas for decorating your wedding reception:

1.) Figure out your budget for decorations. Then when you meet with potential wedding designers, let them know your budget. This will save you all some headaches.

2.) Check with a local nursery to see about renting big plants like a ficus or a palm. These can usually be rented relatively cheap and will hide a lot of drab spaces in your reception area.

3.) Take a long, hard look at the lighting of the room. The right mix of light could greatly transform the room from something ugly to something spectacular. Go to the reception hall at the time of day(or night) that your wedding will be and check out the lighting situation and play around a little bit. Can you dim the lights some? Can you bring in other lights to brighten the place up?

I could go on and on about wedding decorating ideas, but that would take far too much time and space. So look for future articles on more decorating. My only hope is that some of these ideas will send your wedding decorating in the right direction.

Every bride would agree that her wedding dress should be perfect
- not only does she want to look her best, on her special day,
but her wedding dress also is the center of everybody’s
attention. But how would you select the best one for you? Here
is advice about selecting the best dress for your wedding.

Your wedding dress style should much the wedding style

Do you plan a very formal wedding in a cathedral or is it going
to be an informal beach ceremony? Before deciding on the dress,
you should decide how formal your wedding is going to be. A long
and puffy princess style wedding dress is no longer your only
option - informal weddings and beach weddings are progressively
becoming more popular. So now you can find all kinds of cheap wedding
dresses - short or tea length dresses, colored wedding
dresses and even white sarongs, for a Hawaiian wedding.

One advantage to an informal wedding dress is that it is much cheaper and
more comfortable. Also, while a formal wedding gown almost
always needs serious alteration, an informal dress is much
easier to fit. So if you don’t have that much time left before
you wedding, an informal dress could be a good choice.

How to chose the right bridal salon.

If you want to find the best dress, you will need to spend a
couple of days visiting different salons. However, before you
visit a bridal shop it is a good idea to call them and ask a few
questions - this will save you trips to places that would only
waste your time. When ringing a bridal salon you should ask:

• Can you just come to the shop or is an appointment
  required?
• What dresses styles do they have and what is
  the price range?
• Are alterations free and, if not, how
  much do they cost?
• If they don’t have dresses in your
  size, can one be ordered?
• Do they also carry bridal
  accessories, like hair decorations, veils and shoes?
• Can they hold a dress you like for a couple of days?

When you get to the shop, try as many dresses as necessary,
until you find the perfect one. Don’t listen to the sales
person, when they say that the first dress you try on is great
and you should take it. Remember they want to sell the dress and
it is their job to say it looks great, even if in fact it is
hideous.

When you finally find the dress that you always dreamed of, ask
them to put it on hold; don’t let them convince you that you
should buy it straightaway. Return to the shop the next day and
look at your dress again - you would be amazed how often
something that seemed perfect, after trying on 10 different
dresses, won’t impress you when you see it with a fresh eye.
However, if you look at your dress again and feel “yes this is
the one”, than it is time to buy it.

The Hero’s Journey is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. Understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters.

The Hero’s Journey:

• Attempts to tap into unconscious expectations the audience has regarding what a story is and how it should be told.

• Gives the writer more structural elements than simply three or four acts, plot points, mid point and so on.

• Interpreted metaphorically, laterally and symbolically, allows an infinite number of varied stories to be created.

The Hero’s Journey is also a study of repeating patterns in successful stories and screenplays. It is compelling that screenwriters have a higher probability of producing quality work when they mirror the recurring patterns found in successful screenplays.

Consider this:

• Titanic (1997) grossed over $600,000,000 - uses the Hero’s Journey as a template.

• Star Wars (1977) grossed over $460,000,000 - uses the Hero’s Journey as a template.

• Shrek 2 (2004) grossed over $436,000,000 - uses the Hero’s Journey as a template.

• ET (1982) grossed over $434,000,000 - uses the Hero’s Journey as a template.

• Spiderman (2002) grossed over $432,000,000 - uses the Hero’s Journey as a template.

• Out of Africa (1985), Terms of Endearment (1983), Dances with Wolves (1990), Gladiator (2000) - All Academy Award Winners Best Film are based on the Hero’s Journey.

• Anti-hero stories (Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990) etc) are all based on the Hero’s Journey.

• Heroine’s Journey stories (Million Dollar Baby (2004), Out of Africa (1980) etc) are all based on the Hero’s Journey.

The Romantic Challenge

The Hero’s Romantic Challenge follows a pattern in most stories and films:

a) The challenge is a challenge because it is not easily gained. Initially, therefore, it is not unusual to see a degree of conflict between the hero and the romantic challenge. In Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000), Jen fights and resists her desert lover. In Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Marion punches Indy in Nepal.

b) The Romantic Challenge is most often conquered as a Reward for having Seized the Sword and undergone the Rebirth. In Star Wars (1977), Luke gets to kiss Leia after he has rescued her from termination and been reborn after the Trash Compactor sequence. In Dances with Wolves (1990), John Dunbar marries Stands with a Fist after he has helped the remainder of the Sioux tribe defeat the Pawnee.

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author’s name and site URL are retained.

Learn more…

The Complete 188 stage Hero’s Journey and FREE 17 stage sample and other story structure templates can be found at http://managing-creativity.com/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

**********************************

Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. His specialities include Knowledge Management and Creativity and Innovation Management. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached at http://managing-creativity.com/