I have some of each in my books. A few of my characters are barely connected with real people. Paul Murphy is one of those. He isn’t based on anyone I know. Frankly… and gladly… he was a bit too evil. Same with Jack Dixon, especially the early Jack. He is the polar opposite of Murphy… just too innocent and good.

Nicole Dixon is completely different. And Terry Gates/Dirk Bryce. They are conglomerations of people I have known. I think it has given them more depth. I won’t say who they are… and they don’t know they were used. There are just too many people involved.

I have cropped up from time to time… usually through real experienced, fictionalized for the book. But I can definitely say I am not any of my characters… although some people think I am convinced I am Nick Tower. I know I’m not.

I think that in order to create a successful character, they need to be flawed. But they also need strength… for good or bad. They need a secret or two, and they need determination to keep it that way. They can… and maybe should… lean toward good or evil, but they shouldn’t be totally one or the other. That is too transparent. Although, there can always be exceptions.

Casting in real-life experiences and emotions can transform the character from one that is flat to one that is three-dimensional. A character we can identify with and feel for… or against. Nicole Dixon, the snarky and fun aunt. Terry Gates, the screwy geek with a good heart. They provide flavor and depth to the story, and add comic relief.

And don’t be afraid to adjust them and let them grow as the story unfolds. They should. We grow and change from our experiences, and your characters should as well. Be careful of the speed and trajectory of those changes, they should make sense… but don’t limit them from growing into themselves.

Obviously, in those situations, things are wide open. And so, I would recommend having copious notes so that you don’t have anachronisms that are unplanned. Your main character (MC) probably shouldn’t whip out a laser when everyone else is using sticks for battle. Unless there is a reason.

But, if you are writing something more based in reality, that doesn’t mean you won’t be worldbuilding.

In the Dixon-Prince books, I stuck pretty close to Hampton, Virginia and some other areas… until I didn’t. I altered a few landscapes. I changed a few locations… added places that didn’t exist, or changed some that did.

An example, in You Don’t Know Jack, Amy drives her car around all four “leaves” of a cloverleaf intersection. In reality, there aren’t four at the intersection. If it ever becomes a movie, maybe they will build the other one…

Your worldbuilding might include dealing with historical events and people. There are a lot of ways in which we can record the world around us. Some of them need to be changed, others might not.

Names are always a tough thing. I tend to make them up on the fly, often using names of friends or family. Other times, I use names I’ve heard that I think are cool… or not, depending on the character. But, every once in a while I find myself stuck for a name. In those instances, I usually search out a name generator. You can use your favorite search engine (I use Duck-Duck-Go) to find a generator. But even them, I often mix it up.

BTW, I should note that my characters are fictional. They aren’t real. People are always trying to figure out who a character is… There are VERY few that are based on real people, and even then, they are often based on several people.

There ARE real situations portrayed in the stories, but they have been fictionalized. In some cases I have taken a lot from the real event. In other cases, almost nothing. But I have almost always expanded it beyond reality for the purposes of making it entertaining. At the very least, I have had to create conversations and the emotions behind them.

The first time I wrote a book, I had a plan. But it crashed into my characters, and they won. They didn’t want the story I had planned. That was how I became a “pantser” instead of a “plotter”. I wrote “by the seat of my pants” rather than to my plan.

That’s ok. But I have wanted to write to plan ever since.

As we speak, I have a rough outline for my next book. I have a couple of the characters set (they are from other books), and an idea on timeline. I have worked out several of the major plot elements, and made a plan for them. This time, there will be a written outline.

The next step is to write the book.

There are lots of experts out there that tell us that we should write the first draft without self-editing. Worry about nothing… just write the book. And that may well work for some people. I can’t do it, though. I have to read back over the story after I’ve taken a break… sometimes even a short break. I have to get back into the story. Inevitably, I change something… a better phrase or altered language. I’m ok with that, though.

Exposition…

The “Exposition” starts the story. It sets the place and introduces us to the characters. It sets a tone for the story. Some also call it the “hook” for the story. The idea is to lure in the reader and give them a desire to keep following the story. Building relationships with the characters as we create an enjoyable world.

It can be several scenes or it can just be part of a scene. Some of the decision regarding the length may be determined by the overall length of the work. A 2,000 word short story will have different needs than a 90,000 word novel. I have spent a couple hundred words setting up the story, and as many as several thousand.

But, as we are setting up our story, we should NOT just list off characters and describe the world. We need to tell a story. Oddly, the same six elements are needed to the scene or scenes we are building out as our exposition.

This is why I wish I were better at plotting as opposed to pantsing my stories. And that it why I am working hard to design my next story. And partially why I am writing this series…

Inciting Incident…

If there is a story, something has to happen. And that something will start the ball rolling. You can’t skip it. A story without an inciting incident is boring.

We were sitting on the couch watching TV. Nothing happened. The end.

That just sucks as stories go. Who wants to watch, read about or listen to someone NOT doing anything. Nobody.

We were sitting on the couch, watching TV as we usually did. It was a normal night until…

That has tension. Something is happening in the story. We don’t know what it will be yet, but there will be something. There might be a car wreck outside or there could be an explosion. A long lost love of one of our characters may show up… or a long lost grudge may resurface. Regardless, it will make the rest of the story happen.

Of course, there are a few rules for the inciting incident, as well. It must: be early in the story, an interruption to the characters normal life, out of the protagonist’s control, life-changing, and it must be urgent.

It will likely only take a single scene to stage the event. It isn’t a series of cascading events. It is a moment. It is the beginning of the ball roll. It is immediate and something that REQUIRES the main characters attention. It isn’t a can that can be kicked down the road.

Rising Actions/Progressive Complications…

Here is where the dominos can start to fall. The inciting incident leads to more and more problems. Perhaps they seem overwhelming to the main character. Perhaps they are daunting. The problem gets deeper and deeper for MC. Perhaps these aren’t as drastic as the inciting incident, and they may also not be as immediate.

But there is a very important purpose of this plot element. The problems facing the main character become increasingly focused on forcing him or her to make a decision. Which will be covered in part 4…