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Starting to Write Your Protagonist - Hallie Ephron
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Posted: 2019-12-10T03:24:00Z
Getting started writing your protagonist is one of the first challenges you face writing a mystery. The protagonist should be the one character with the most at stake, the one who takes a virtual if not literal journey. The protagonist’s goal, what she wants and needs, is the driving force behind the novel; the obstacles and setbacks the protagonist encounters in the struggle to reach that goal form the backbone of the plot. By the end, the protagonist should have been transformed. You want your reader to identify with the protagonist and to root for her success.

Often I have only a glimmer of who my protagonist is when I start writing a new novel. I want to put her on the page DOING SOMETHING that shows the reader who she is, but I don’t yet know enough about her to know what that would be. 

Careful What You Wish For opens with Emily Harlowe decluttering her closet while trying to ignore the fact that her husband is going to a yard sale and will probably return with more stuff than she can possibly get rid of. It’s a scene that shows who she is, and brings into relief the tensions in her marriage. It also introduces some of the themes that will be explored further in the book. But it took a while before I realized that closet-cleaning on a Saturday morning was a good place to start.

I often don’t know what the opening scene is going to be because I don’t know enough about who my protagonist is… not until I’ve written a few chapters. A useful way to put together my ideas for my protagonist (or any other character in your novel) is to write a character sketch. It helps me gather insights into that character’s presence and personality as I’m starting to write he book.

Here are some of the things to consider including in the sketch:
  • The character’s name and gender, job or profession
  • A description of the character’s physical appearance
  • A summary of what happens the first time the character appears in the novel
  • The character’s best friend
  • The character’s family
  • A conversation you might have with the character
  • A description of the character’s most treasured possessions and keepsakes, and what’s behind them
  • The character’s favorite book, flower, tree, food, drink, way of spending free time
  • The character’s habits, good and bad
  • A description of the character’s home or bedroom 

Here’s an example of a brief character sketch for Ivy Rose, the protagonist of my first domestic suspense novel, Never Tell a Lie:

Ivy Rose is a thirty-one-year-old woman about to have her first child. She’s married to her high school sweetheart, David. She’s been married for six years and has suffered multiple miscarriages. She desperately wants this baby to be born healthy. She has no siblings, and her father died when she was young; her mother, who is also dead, was an alcoholic. Ivy was always closer to her grandmother than to either of her parents, and her grandmother’s death a few years ago left her feeling very much alone. Her treasured keepsake is a charm in the shape of a hand, a good luck charm given to her by her grandmother. Ivy is tall and athletic. She moves like an antelope. She is dark-haired and interesting looking rather than beautiful. Her Victorian house, which she and David bought as a handyman’s special, is filled with special vintage furniture that she has picked up at yard sales. Her favorite book growing up was Madeline - she loves the little girl’s plucky courage.

As you can see, a character sketch rambles all over the place, inventorying the character and her past but not really telling a story. It’s a working document, for your eyes only, and provides a place to dump all of the miscellaneous thoughts you have about your character and what happened to her before the novel opens. Add more information to your character sketches as new ideas strike you. As your character does things that surprise you, add to her back story.

Find more about developing characters in Hallie’s Writing & Selling Your Mystery Novel: Revised & Expanded

Hallie Ephron is a NY Times bestselling author of suspense novels. Publisher’s Weekly called her latest, Careful What You Wish For, “outstanding” in a starred review. Reviewing it for TIME Magazine, Jamie Lee Curtis called it “thrilling and suspenseful,”  offering readers “the pleasure of unraveling the mystery in away they will relish.” SuspenseMagazine namedit a Best of 2019. Hallie is a 5-time finalist for the Mary HigginsClark Award. http://hallieephron.com
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