Writing a Character's Backstory
So whilst we're in Covid-19 lock down, I've been tackling a variety of projects around the house. That's what I'm telling folks. But honestly, I've just been baking, eating, cooking, eating, playing with the puppy, eating, ignoring housework, eating, helping out the in-laws while my father-in-law recovers from heart surgery, eating, watching television, eating, making a couple of baby quilts (which are a super duper cute), eating, dealing with pesky doctors and MRIs, eating, and mulling over some background plot ideas for Book 2.5, the love story between my main character Jack Diamond and the love of his life, Claire Wilcox. Oh, and eating.
So several people along the way have asked me how I come up with my characters' back stories. And honestly, the majority of the time I truly don't know. They just sort of come out. I'll be merrily writing along, and the next thing I know, I'm jotting down info about where Nick Buchanan went to school, and the fact that he had a baby sister, and his football career, and so forth. It just writes itself, and I don't really think about it. Honestly. Things just write themselves right out of my fingertips, and sometimes I'm just as surprised as you are when you read them.
But I've been mulling things over about my sweet Claire, and I have to give her back story a great deal of care and thought.
I know how Claire met Ron Wilcox and his daughter. That much has been obvious to me since the very beginning. I know why Ron Wilcox is an alcoholic.
I know where Claire and Jack Diamond meet.
I know what Claire does for a living, and I know one of her co-workers.
But I had to think about Claire and her house where she grew up, and her folks and wondering if she had any siblings.
And I had to think about why she decided to become a cosmetic surgeon, specializing in pediatric facial reconstruction.
And this morning as I was lounging about in bed, not wanting to face the world because today is housecleaning day, I started thinking about Claire's background.
And several scenarios started making their way through my thought processes.
To take it back a step, Jack Diamond had a very violent past. Much of this is hashed out in books 1 and 2, so I won't bore you with it here. And when I was writing Book 2 I had to reconcile the problems with Jack's violent past with Jack's adorable and lovely Granini. How did she not know? Why didn't she try to fix it? Was Granini Jack's father's mother? or his mother's mother? That reconciliation caused a great deal of time and grief and tender care when writing Book 2.
So now it's time for Claire's back story. I don't even know if it's going to appear in Book 2.5, but I have to know what it is in order to figure out who she is, and how she came to be that way.
Do I want her to have an equally challenging childhood so that she can Jack can bond over trauma?
Do I want her to have an innocent and carefree childhood free of all the drama? Would someone like that be someone strong enough to be a mate for Jack?
And how did she get interested in facial reconstruction?
So I started playing out several different scenarios in my mind:
*Abusive father:
Mother gives birth to baby boy with a cleft palate. Father is livid at his son's 'deformity.' He kills the boy, kills the mother, and goes to kill Claire, but she kills him.
Too violent.
*Sexually abusive father:
Mother gives birth to baby boy with a cleft palate. Father is livid at his son's 'deformity.' He kills the mother, strangles the boy with his own umbilical cord, and goes to kill Claire. BUT, Claire's older sister, whom the father has been sexually abusing for all these years, grabs a pair of scissors and kills him first.
And as much as I love the evil thought of the horrible man strangling his own 'defective' son with his umbilical cord, trying to pass the murder off as a 'natural' accidental death, the whole scenario is just way too violent.
And honestly, blech! Who wants to read about child sexual abuse?!!!? It's bad enough that it happens in the real world. Why does it have to happen in my books?
*Accidental death
Claire's mother gives birth to a baby boy who is born with a cleft palate. The birth is quick, and at home in the middle of the night. There's so much blood and it happens so fast, that everyone is caught of guard. Claire's father runs out of the room to grab a pair of sharp scissors to cut the umbilical cord. Claire's older sister wakes up. She asks her daddy what's wrong. He quickly tries to explain that everything's okay and he tells her to go back to bed. Claire sleeps through the whole thing. Claire's mom cries out for help. Claire's dad turns to run to get back to Claire's mom. He trips on the rug in the hallway. He lands on the very sharp scissors he's carrying and bleeds to death in the hallway. Claire's mom bleeds to death in the bedroom. And Claire's baby brother dies before medical attention can arrive.
This super sad story may be the one I go for.
It serves multiple purposes.
1. Both of Claire's parents are dead. Both of Jack's parents are dead. Even though Jack's father was horribly abusive, and Claire's was not, being an orphan does connect them to each other in a way that most young 20 somethings don't have in common.
2. This storyline means that Claire now needs to be raised by someone other than her parents. I don't know if it will be a family friend, an aunt, or a grandparent. But being raised by someone in a loving home is truly important to both Claire's and Jack's positive upbringing. Without the positive influences, both Claire and Jack could end up having significantly different personalities. I want these two to have complicated childhood backgrounds that gives each of them compassion and a mission to do better. This positive upbringing by someone other than her parents also endears Granini to Claire, which adds to the benefit of this story line.
3. Claire's baby brother being born with a cleft palate could easily become the motivation that Claire needs to become a surgeon who repairs birth defects. She has a soft spot for babies and young children with birth defects, or those who suffer from facial deformities due to accidents, and for the parents and siblings who care for these children. These two facts will then explain how she becomes motivated to become a surgeon and why she falls in love so dearly with Ron Wilcox's daughter, and has a soft spot for Ron, himself.
4. This story line now gives Claire an older sister. Which I didn't even know was a possibility. An older, lovely sister. And now I get to go and mull about Claire's older sister and find out how she turns out. Will she be a lovely person? Will she be productive and amazing and inspirational? Or will she be sad and depressed and go down a dark hole and be someone Claire is embarrassed to call her sister? Oh, I say let's go positive. Today I'm in a happy mood. I don't want any more darkness. There's soooo much darkness in this world.
So.
That's how I start thinking about characters' backstories. It's long and complicated and will end up being given more thought along the way. But this is how it starts.
And that's it for today. I'm going to go eat some strawberries.
* * * * *
So whilst we're in Covid-19 lock down, I've been tackling a variety of projects around the house. That's what I'm telling folks. But honestly, I've just been baking, eating, cooking, eating, playing with the puppy, eating, ignoring housework, eating, helping out the in-laws while my father-in-law recovers from heart surgery, eating, watching television, eating, making a couple of baby quilts (which are a super duper cute), eating, dealing with pesky doctors and MRIs, eating, and mulling over some background plot ideas for Book 2.5, the love story between my main character Jack Diamond and the love of his life, Claire Wilcox. Oh, and eating.
So several people along the way have asked me how I come up with my characters' back stories. And honestly, the majority of the time I truly don't know. They just sort of come out. I'll be merrily writing along, and the next thing I know, I'm jotting down info about where Nick Buchanan went to school, and the fact that he had a baby sister, and his football career, and so forth. It just writes itself, and I don't really think about it. Honestly. Things just write themselves right out of my fingertips, and sometimes I'm just as surprised as you are when you read them.
But I've been mulling things over about my sweet Claire, and I have to give her back story a great deal of care and thought.
I know how Claire met Ron Wilcox and his daughter. That much has been obvious to me since the very beginning. I know why Ron Wilcox is an alcoholic.
I know where Claire and Jack Diamond meet.
I know what Claire does for a living, and I know one of her co-workers.
But I had to think about Claire and her house where she grew up, and her folks and wondering if she had any siblings.
And I had to think about why she decided to become a cosmetic surgeon, specializing in pediatric facial reconstruction.
And this morning as I was lounging about in bed, not wanting to face the world because today is housecleaning day, I started thinking about Claire's background.
And several scenarios started making their way through my thought processes.
To take it back a step, Jack Diamond had a very violent past. Much of this is hashed out in books 1 and 2, so I won't bore you with it here. And when I was writing Book 2 I had to reconcile the problems with Jack's violent past with Jack's adorable and lovely Granini. How did she not know? Why didn't she try to fix it? Was Granini Jack's father's mother? or his mother's mother? That reconciliation caused a great deal of time and grief and tender care when writing Book 2.
So now it's time for Claire's back story. I don't even know if it's going to appear in Book 2.5, but I have to know what it is in order to figure out who she is, and how she came to be that way.
Do I want her to have an equally challenging childhood so that she can Jack can bond over trauma?
Do I want her to have an innocent and carefree childhood free of all the drama? Would someone like that be someone strong enough to be a mate for Jack?
And how did she get interested in facial reconstruction?
So I started playing out several different scenarios in my mind:
*Abusive father:
Mother gives birth to baby boy with a cleft palate. Father is livid at his son's 'deformity.' He kills the boy, kills the mother, and goes to kill Claire, but she kills him.
Too violent.
*Sexually abusive father:
Mother gives birth to baby boy with a cleft palate. Father is livid at his son's 'deformity.' He kills the mother, strangles the boy with his own umbilical cord, and goes to kill Claire. BUT, Claire's older sister, whom the father has been sexually abusing for all these years, grabs a pair of scissors and kills him first.
And as much as I love the evil thought of the horrible man strangling his own 'defective' son with his umbilical cord, trying to pass the murder off as a 'natural' accidental death, the whole scenario is just way too violent.
And honestly, blech! Who wants to read about child sexual abuse?!!!? It's bad enough that it happens in the real world. Why does it have to happen in my books?
*Accidental death
Claire's mother gives birth to a baby boy who is born with a cleft palate. The birth is quick, and at home in the middle of the night. There's so much blood and it happens so fast, that everyone is caught of guard. Claire's father runs out of the room to grab a pair of sharp scissors to cut the umbilical cord. Claire's older sister wakes up. She asks her daddy what's wrong. He quickly tries to explain that everything's okay and he tells her to go back to bed. Claire sleeps through the whole thing. Claire's mom cries out for help. Claire's dad turns to run to get back to Claire's mom. He trips on the rug in the hallway. He lands on the very sharp scissors he's carrying and bleeds to death in the hallway. Claire's mom bleeds to death in the bedroom. And Claire's baby brother dies before medical attention can arrive.
This super sad story may be the one I go for.
It serves multiple purposes.
1. Both of Claire's parents are dead. Both of Jack's parents are dead. Even though Jack's father was horribly abusive, and Claire's was not, being an orphan does connect them to each other in a way that most young 20 somethings don't have in common.
2. This storyline means that Claire now needs to be raised by someone other than her parents. I don't know if it will be a family friend, an aunt, or a grandparent. But being raised by someone in a loving home is truly important to both Claire's and Jack's positive upbringing. Without the positive influences, both Claire and Jack could end up having significantly different personalities. I want these two to have complicated childhood backgrounds that gives each of them compassion and a mission to do better. This positive upbringing by someone other than her parents also endears Granini to Claire, which adds to the benefit of this story line.
3. Claire's baby brother being born with a cleft palate could easily become the motivation that Claire needs to become a surgeon who repairs birth defects. She has a soft spot for babies and young children with birth defects, or those who suffer from facial deformities due to accidents, and for the parents and siblings who care for these children. These two facts will then explain how she becomes motivated to become a surgeon and why she falls in love so dearly with Ron Wilcox's daughter, and has a soft spot for Ron, himself.
4. This story line now gives Claire an older sister. Which I didn't even know was a possibility. An older, lovely sister. And now I get to go and mull about Claire's older sister and find out how she turns out. Will she be a lovely person? Will she be productive and amazing and inspirational? Or will she be sad and depressed and go down a dark hole and be someone Claire is embarrassed to call her sister? Oh, I say let's go positive. Today I'm in a happy mood. I don't want any more darkness. There's soooo much darkness in this world.
So.
That's how I start thinking about characters' backstories. It's long and complicated and will end up being given more thought along the way. But this is how it starts.
And that's it for today. I'm going to go eat some strawberries.
* * * * *
I not only bake and cook, I write murder mysteries too!
Both books are available in paperback and kindle versions
Diamonds for Diamond
(Book 1 in the Jack Diamond Mystery series)
and
No One Noticed
(Book 2 in the Jack Diamond Mystery Series)
Diamonds for Diamond
(Book 1 in the Jack Diamond Mystery series)
and
No One Noticed
(Book 2 in the Jack Diamond Mystery Series)
Currently writing:
Book 2.5: Yet to be named: Jack and Claire's love story
Book 2.5: Yet to be named: Jack and Claire's love story
* * * * *
No comments:
Post a Comment