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This is the first in a series about character development for characters in Young Adult Contemporary Fiction. In the series, we'll talk about their drive/motivators, goals, research, and more. These are simply my tips and tricks of the trade. Every writer has a different process, and I want to learn about yours!
Today, we'll talk about my first step in getting to know my characters. --- On Instagram (stephanielogue_writes), I’ve been talking about my characters in The Right Kind of Light and my current WIP a lot. A lot. So much, in fact, that I’ve had people commenting and asking questions about Ginny, Lou, Greta, and Annabella. The questions have all been fabulous (I feel so famous!), but the most thought-provoking question for me, as the author of these four women, is: how did I develop them? Friends and fellow writers: I named them first. Ginny came to me in a hazy idea at an Ed Sheeran concert in 2015. Its the last summer before college, my subconscious said. Missing her best friend. Fell in love with best friend’s ex. Works at a place like Storybook Land. Got it. Got it. Got it. Brett drove us home after I finished fangirling over Ed, and I grabbed the first notebook I found and wrote down as much as I could remember from whatever I saw during “Photograph”. Somehow, even in that moment, Ginny’s name was Ginny. My paternal grandmother’s name was Virginia, and I always knew that I wanted to name either a daughter or a character Ginny. That one was easy. The remaining three girls were…(mostly) easy too. Here’s how Lou, Greta, and Annabella came to be: Lou: As Ginny’s ex best friend, I knew they were polar opposites. The kind of people who would push each other to be their best, and maybe bring out each other’s worst when they weren’t cohesive anymore. She needed a harder name. Something with implied edge. I’m a sucker for a.) old school names and b.) names that belong in a traditional sense to a man or a woman. Louise = Lou. Bad ass, strong, take-no-shit lady. Greta: I knew she was sweet as pie and desperate to find her first love, but with a spine of steel. “Pearl of a girl” is a phrase that I heard in a song lyric a gazillion years ago. I don’t remember what song (and now its going to haunt me all night.) Turned out Greta means “pearl”. Its ALSO an old name. (Double check in the pro column: Greta is a name for a supporting character in a series of stories I wrote in junior high and high school. A tip of the hat to my…self, I guess.) Annabella: AB for short, but only her best friend Ed calls her that. Annabella is a Latina and comes from a traditional Catholic family, so I wanted something respectful but fitting that I could see her parents perhaps choosing. The name means “grace” which is a larger plot point in my WIP. Here’s the thing about characters though: They’re gonna tell you what’s actually up about everything, including their names. Lou, for instance. She’s the most delicate little sunflower I’ve ever encountered in my life, and I have a golden retriever that’s afraid of laundry baskets, empty storm sewers, and open refrigerator doors. When I was writing The Right Kind of Light, I didn’t realize how her motivators would evolve past Ginny. And Annabella: this woman has had two name changes, her direction changed more times than I can recall, stripped of her nickname only to get it back, and her girlfriend’s name changed too – when I realized their names rhymed and that was just too weird in all the “ella”. My only goal for all these four women is that I continue to channel honesty and sincerity into their hearts. Girls aren’t rainbows and butterflies. We’re eye rolls and loud voices and periods. We drink too much alcohol and coffee and we’re vain and go to sleep with toothpaste on zits. We say stupid shit to our best friends, we cheat on our boyfriends, and we hook up in backseats at parties by lakes. But we’re heart, and we’re hope, and I will be damned if I contribute to any conversation about young adult girls and women in college in any way that isn’t as truthful as I can make it. So when I write a line that seems to manufactured or trendy (or wannabe trendy), it hits the slush pile. I can usually hear her, whoever’s head I’m inside at that very second, tell me they’d never say that. And my god, as a writer, its so helpful. Yours in Devotion to Voices in Your Head, Stephanie PS – there’s SO MUCH more to character development. Another trick I like is to make playlists for each book or piece I’m working on. Head on over to my Instagram to learn more.
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Post-inauguration and I’m still riding that high. I’m probably always going to ride that high. I took the morning off to watch the ceremony, and I can’t lie – when Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris walked in with Mr. Doug Emhoff I started crying immediately. Tears flew out of my eyes horizontally, I swear. My face looked like the side of a windshield when the wipers turn on and squeegeed water soars off the edge.
As our VP-Elect became our VP, my deck door was open, and it’s a miracle our neighbor Dale didn’t come running over to check on me and my howls of relief and happiness. Buddy, my beloved golden retriever, who has comforted me too many times to count, once again nestled his head in my lap and didn’t move until the sobbing stopped. (If for NO other reason than Buddy’s mental health and anxiety, can we have a calm year or ten now?) All this to say: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS for POWERFUL, DRIVEN, WOMEN. And ALL women. To that, and to honor my beloved Leslie Knope, Galentine’s Day is in a few weeks. Christmas can sometimes sneak up on me. Lord knows Valentine’s Day shocks me on the calendar every year. (Sorry, dear husband.) But Galentine’s? Nope. I am prepared. Name a thing that’s better than celebrating the women in your life who support you, drive you, inspire you, and lift you up? I’ll wait. You just made your list of who to celebrate, right? Me too. Because this is a blog about writing and celebrating the written word, and because I’m a proponent of forcing things I love on people I love (Leslie Knope resides deeply in me), I made a list of book suggestions to gift your Galentine. These are books I read this year that made me feel close to my friends, my mother, the girl I was in high school, and the kind of friend I want to be. 2020 stole a lot, between literally taking our family and friends away to making us feel distant from ourselves in our own hearts. 2021 is about reclaiming those pieces. This is my small way of helping the women I love. (Fun fact – I get no $$ from these links, but they do all link to bookstorelink.com that allows you to purchase these books from your locally-owned bookstore - or pick one and get mail from, say, Georgia.) FOR THE FRIEND WHO: LOVES HER YOUNG ADULT CONTEMPORARY Holding Up the Universe, Jennifer Niven. On the outside, Libby and Jack are the most unlikely duo. But are they? Your Galentine will love the equal parts of romance, self-discovery, and self-acceptance. It also might mend together a crack or two in her heart. DIGS ON RELEASTIC HEARTBREAKING ADULT ROMANCE The Dive from Clausen’s Pier, Ann Packer. Carrie is already falling out of love with her college sweetheart when tragedy strikes. Packer explores how much of yourself you must give to the people you love in your search for yourself, and what that sacrifice looks like…or doesn’t. IS YOUR PRO-CHOICE BESTIE Unpregnant, Jenni Hendriks and Ted Caplan. A roadtrip woman-focused buddy story about getting seventeen=year old Veronica to the nearest abortion clinic three states away. Shenanigans ensue, a broken friendship hangs in the balance, and the story holds fast to the truth of the terrible decisions women are forced to make, about their bodies, but also their lives. DOWN FOR A MYSTERY AND GORGEOUS PROSE We Are Okay, Nina LaCour. This book is a devastating piece of art, best for your Galentine who loves getting her.mind.blown. It’s the story of a set of best friends, one of whom lives with her grandfather, and you think its pretty cut and dried (and gorgeously written), but then wham! Third act! I wouldn’t blame you if you read it and then gifted this one. LOVES CONTEMPORARY, ACCESSIBLE POETRY Swimming Lessons, Lili Reinhart. Reinhart looks at the exquisite and untouchable joy of falling in love, and how it all just goes to shit. She doesn’t hold back but remains clear in her prose and in her respect for herself, as well as the person she was in love with. Balancing both is a feat, and I’m here for it. PS – Reinhart is a fierce fighter for mental health and body/self image initiatives. Her star is only rising. THE PARENT WHO HATES PARENTING BOOKS This is How It Always Is, Laurie Frankel. We all know (or are) that mom who’s striving to up her game and is ALSO convinced she’s not good at parenting - when you know damn well she’s the very best. Frankl’s prose is spectacular and fairy-tale-esque which is appropriate given the plot thread that pulls the entire book along as this unique family navigates the needs of their youngest kid. YEARNS FOR BEST FRIENDSHIP STORIES WITH SATISFYING ENDINGS Little Do We Know, Tamara Ireland Stone. I picked up this book because I had to do research on how a religious teen interacts with the world outside her church. I was shocked to find I loved it as much as I did. Stone interweaves two former best friends’ stories, happening concurrently, over one event, while laying the framework for why their friendship fell to pieces. By the end, I was wishing I’d written it. IS A TRUE CRIME JUNKIE Catch and Kill, Ronan Farrow. Is there a more timely and relevant true crime snapshot than Farrow’s magnificent story of how he wrote his damning and industry-changing Harvey Weinstein story that finally allowed so many survivors to be heard. (warning: parts are intense and get into Weinstein’s crimes quite explicitly. Keep in mind as you think about gifting.) KNOWS HERSELF Little Weirds, Jenny Slate. Perhaps your Galentine marches to her own beat and is mostly secure about it but wouldn’t mind a little representation. Slate structured her tale in a series of short stories and vignettes of her journey to accept that of which she cannot change, and that she has no desire to tamper down her weirdness. It’s a true, deep breath of fresh air, particularly her work on the last several pages, picturing her life near death. Grounding and simultaneously uplifting. I focused this list on books that didn’t get a TON of press coverage (save for Catch and Kill because Ronan Farrow is a household name he very well should be, and this book is a must read). I sincerely hope you and your Galentine love these recommendations. What would you add to the list? I need recommendations too! Yours in words, Stephanie PS - Down for online book shopping, curb-side pick up, or responsible in-person shopping with your mask? Hit your local indie bookstore: Indie Bookstore Finder | IndieBound.org. |
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