characterization

I wouldn't say a first draft with thin characterization is 'doomed' to failure. It depends on your writing style - I've heard of people who do very sketchy first drafts and flesh things out on their second pass, while others (myself included) prefer to have the bulk of things like characterization in place by the time they write The End.

However, I would be a bit worried if you feel that your characters only exist in order to further the plot. I'm speaking from personal bias though, since I generally dislike books where something like that is too obvious.

If you're worried about it, you should probably change it. But don't worry about it too much in your first draft, especially if the plot is yelling at you more than the characters are. get that down first, and you might find the characters start to be become more rounded as you go anyway.

My story is very strongly plot driven, but it does have characterization. And I've learned some interesting things along the way (especially since I didn't know it was plot-driven in the beginning!). I remember one person asking me what my character arc was, and I had to sit and think about that for a while. I didn't have one, because the story is plot-driven, and a character arc wasn't appropriate for it.

Give your characters motivations for what they do beyond the obvious plot ones. Okay, yeah, the bad guys stole something and main character is chasing after them--but what motivation does he have to risk his life beyond an occupation? When I did mine, I was pretty good with the main character, but I had a lot of trouble with the bad guys. I didn't pay attention to the motivation, and now I'm pulling it in under revision.

Same thing with character reactions. Each character is going to have a different reaction. Suppose your characters are stuck in an ice station with a monster lurking nearby (a book I just read called Terminal Freeze). How do each of the characters react to this? Motivations can come into play here to add to the characters reactions.

But the biggest thing is to stay true to the nature of your book. Mine is an action-adventure thriller set in a urban fantasy (treasure hunt with magic), with a political thread through it. I've wrestled with subplots for the entire book, and it's only been recently that I realized I was using the wrong kinds of subplots for this book. The last thing I want to read in an action-adventure book is a subplot about personal problems. Just didn't match the story. Yet every how-to book gave only examples of subplots like that, not the ones I needed. So I'm really having to think about what I need to do to make subplots happen.

And be aware characterization may not be your best skill. James Rollins, a thriller writer, related that his reviews said he wasn't poor in characterization. So he started adding in all these details to bring out the characters. His editor asked what he was doing. When Rollins revealed what he was doing, the editor told him to stop and focus on what he was good at.

Its the final that matters, not the draft. To me the first draft provides the structure and framework for now covering your story in the fabric someone finds appealing, something that will wrap them themselves in. I am not stretching it when I say my first and second MS was revised, edited and altered twenty to thirty times. I'll also admit that by my fifth novel, I do find I tend to construct living characters sooner in the process, but the real meat, what makes me love (and hate) them as real people comes in subsequent revisions.

Relevant to building realism in your characters, I just wrote a post on a blog with 20 other authors, and it discusses that very thing. Be warned, you have to read to the end otherwise you'll think I'm a fruit cake (and you'd probably be correct [g]).

Here's the link TheWritersVineyard.com and the article is titled "Perspective" posted 7/17/09 (last Friday)

Hi - I had/have a problem that is somewhat related. In my case it's not a lack of character/personality, it is inconsistent character. When I'd go back and read what I'd written it seemed that some of my characters had drifted. Someone told me that I should write biographies of all the important characters. Where they were born, what their parents were like, siblings, growing up, problems or experiences during their youth, etc. Virtually none of this gets into the book, you do it just to get the character set in your mind. In that way you may find yourself more able to bring the characters more forcefully into the story. While I think plot is important, I like stories that are character-driven. If I start reading a new book and can't find a likable or interesting character within the first bunch of pages then I lose interest quickly.

Not at all. Sounds like you're just getting the plot down first, and after you have that, you can flesh out your characters and layer your story as it needs.

There's no right or wrong way to write a novel, there's only the best way for you. If this is working for you, don't worry about what the first draft doesn't have. You know what it's missing, so you can go back later and add it.

When you revise, look at your characters and their histories. Find their flaws, their weaknesses and look for places to exploit those in the story. For example, if they're afraid of dogs, put a dog into a scene so it's harder for them to accomplish their goal. If they have strong feelings about something, tweak a situation so those beliefs are tested. Look for all the places where characters are just following plot, and find a way to rework it so they're acting from personal motivation that matters to them in some way. Why someone does something is usually far more interesting than how they do it.

Pretty soon they'll start deepening and you'll see more and place places you can flesh them out even more.

I don't think it's "doomed for failure" at all. That's what revision is for. The farther you get into the first draft and the more you see your characters in various circumstances, the better you'll get to know them, and you'll gain an understanding of what you can add in the beginning to flesh them out and make them come across earlier on and with more strength.

I was having a similar problem with one of my MCs. FINE, I ADMIT IT. *weep* With both of them.

Are you happy now???

Anyway, I read the Fire in Fiction, by Donald Maass, and one of his suggestions was to write down the motivations of your character in a scene. Then write more of them. And basically just to list and list and list his/her motivations in that scene beyond the point when you'd usually stop. Then cool thing is that you end up seeing sides or aspects of your character that you hadn't thought of, or that you hadn't seen come to the surface before. Or, at least, I did.

It turned out my male MC had been given the wrong economic background and parents by yours truly. So he felt so stale and passive, it was killing me. Now he has a reason behind his actions and his thought process is clearer to me. I still have to develop him--and I really do--but I've got him down much better, and he's working perfectly with my antagonists.

For me, at a certain point, I needed to go back and fix them (the empty/drifting characters) because their POV affects how they cope with circumstances...which is basically the plot.

But that's just me, and I'm a total beginner here.

Good luck

ps, congratulations on being so close to done on your first draft!!! 58K, right?

In general, I'm not a big fan of writing exercises, but here's one that I like:

Write a letter from your character to you that starts with "You think you know me, but you don't." Just let the character talk about himself/herself. It sounds a little silly, but I've had good experience with it.

Good luck!

I enjoy interviewing my characters, and making sure that their answers are consistent with their personality.
One ended rather quickly, with my MC telling me to leave him alone.

I highly recommend reading Characters & Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card. Great book on character development. Also The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass.

Keep writing the way you are. There's no problem with a lean, bare bones first draft. In fact, I envy your position.

You might actually do better by your characters by waiting until you have the first draft finished if your novel is plot motivated. This way, you already know what role each character plays in your story.

Once you know what each character does, the time has come to ask yourself why they do it. Like everyone else is saying, it doesn't really matter what the character does, as long as their motivation makes sense. Really get to know them and figure out where else their quirks might liven up the story, get them in trouble, or even save the day. You need to be open to the possibility that this may change important plot elements, anyway, especially because you are going to start to get really attached to these people now that they are 3d.

Anyway, good luck with the writing!

I wrote 110k in a book and only at the end did I know my characters. I am rewriting it and, like those above, discovering that they changed as the novel progressed. They were hollow to me at the beginning.

I thought there was a questionnaire, like those lame ones teens put on their blogs, but more about your MC. I'd like to do that.

I like to think I know my characters this time around. Though the MC is still a worrying male.

I've always felt that at the bottom of even the best characters is a cliche. I also think the best way to write a book is never to say exactly what you mean, but keep the stable cliche alive. Obsticals are about controdicting cliches opposing each other. If the proper characters and situations are interacting, somehow the magic will happen. The book I am writing is about "home and family" opposing "the yearning to be free."

Obviously there is a plot. The plot is a time line. But it is not what the book is "about." The book is never "About" the plot. The plot is simply a means of telling that particular story. So is the journey about the path? or the journey from one place to another. The destination is usually some realized place found after the journey.

The sort of writing you describe is what is called Melodrama. I'd just reccommend studying literature a bit.