On Writing Romance_ How to Craft a Novel That Sells - Leigh Michaels [74]
There are a number of devices through which you can reveal character traits in a way that makes the readers feel they're right there—watching, listening, and making their own judgments about the people they're getting to know. The more personally involved with the characters the readers feel, the more absorbed they will be in the story.
And the more important the characters are to the story, the more crucial it is to show, rather than tell, the details that matter most. Each of the following techniques can be used alone or in combination with others to make your characters unforgettable. You can show a character:
• Through the character's own thoughts. This doesn't mean the character psychoanalyzes himself or thinks, "I'm a really considerate and intelligent person." The way your mind works illustrates the kind of person you are. If a character thinks compassionately of another person, the readers get the message. In her inspirational romance Deck the Halls, Arlene James's hero thinks about himself in a slightly self-deprecating manner, leading us to believe he's better looking than he gives himself credit for, but also that he's humble:
Vince didn't know about being "tall, dark and delish," but he didn't think he was a "bald warthog," either. He'd happily give up the single state the moment that God brought the right woman into his life.
If Vince had said to himself, "I'm good-looking and I'm positive God's spending his time finding a woman for me," we'd have an entirely different view of him.
• Through the character's own words. This technique isn't usually used directly—in the form of "I'm a charming and modest person"—unless it's to prove the opposite of what's being said. But what a person says about her actions, intentions, and history can be very revealing—often unintentionally so. And a person who defends another says something important about them both. In her romantic comedy Catch and Keep, Hannah Bernard uses irony to show the hero's female friend as anything but the Other Woman she's trying to sound like:
"You know what they say," she said as she grabbed her small suitcase and they walked together to the plane. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Someday I will get back at you for rejecting me. I won't rest until I find you the love of your life and bring you to your knees."
By showing this snippet of humor from the friend, the author also characterizes the hero, an unusual man to have a female friend close enough to talk to him like this.
• Through the character's own actions. If the character acts in a down-to-earth, practical way, chances are she's a down-to-earth, practical person. Or if she draws back a fist to hit a child, she's painted herself as a villain. In her chick-lit novel Can You Keep a Secret?, Sophie Kinsella shows her heroine as warm and caring, despite being somewhat ditzy, when she rescues a toy for a child she's never met before:
The guy with the laptop is still typing. Behind him is a little blond boy of maybe two, sitting with a beautiful dark girl. As I watch, the boy drops a plastic wheel on the floor. It rolls away, and immediately he starts to wail. ...
Suddenly my eye is caught by a patch of bright color on the floor. It's the wheel. It's rolled under a row of empty seats, right over to the window. ... I unbuckle my seat belt. Somehow I force myself to my feet. Then, with everyone's eyes on me, I bend coolly down to retrieve the wheel.
OK. Now I can't reach the bloody thing.
Well, I'm not giving up, after I've made this big deal about it. Without looking at anyone, I lie right down on the plane floor. ... I shuffle forward, stretch as far as possible ... and at last my fingers close around the plastic wheel. As nonchalantly as I can, I get to my feet, banging my elbow on a seat tray, and hand the plastic wheel to the little boy.
"Here,"