This is Part 3 of a video series to help you prepare for NaNoWriMo. Often this month is known as Preptober among writers.

If you’re not participating in NaNoWriMo in November, no worries. I hope these videos will still help you to understand the process of figuring out your novel.

So, today we’ll chat about how you can dig deeper into your character’s backstory to help you write relatable characters.

You have characters and most likely you have sketched out each of their profiles: physical descriptions; location; setting; clothes they wear; interests, etc.

But you need to go deeper than that to write a story that is really going to grab readers interest and hold it until they read “The End”.

You want readers to really experience your story. You want them to feel. That’s why readers pick up a novel. They want to feel and experience emotions that will help them in some way with their own lives.

This is why it’s so important to write relatable characters…

 

How to write characters when you’ve dug deeper into who they really are. Do a deep dive into your character’s backstory.

It’s especially important to understand your main characters and your villain.

Here’s something I made a mistake on when I first started writing my novels and brainstorming my characters and story.

I would research at least 5 to 10 writing craft books on how I should write a character and try to do things exactly how they said to do it.

The result was that my characters were like cardboard cut-outs. They were uninteresting, didn’t have much of a personality and most of all — they didn’t make the reader FEEL much of anything.

It’s important to relax as you’re brainstorming and later on as you write your characters and your story.
The brainstorming of your characters needs to come from someplace deep within you… as you think about their backstory.
Why?

 

“No writer in his right mind writes by a set of rules. At least not by somebody else’s rules. Why not? Because rules start from the wrong end: with restriction; with form; with mechanics; with exhortation about things you should and shouldn’t do.Where shoe you start, then? With feeling. Your own feeling. A story is like a car that runs on emotion.” ~ Dwight V. Swain

 

So when creating your characters — your own feelings as the author of the story — is that which brings the full fire of emotion in the reader.

FEELING for your Characters/backstory and for the story itself — much FIRST form itself inside of you the writer.
If you don’t have feelings and emotions about your characters and the life they’ve lived up until the point that your story begins — then you can’t write about it.

So, the question is how do you search and find that deeper feeling for your characters that your readers will really relate to.

 

I believe it comes from brainstorm and doing a deep dive into the two points below:

Brainstorm and understand your character’s backstory: What are the fears and wounds and false beliefs that drive your main characters? What happened in their childhood that would have caused some of these reactions and actions?

Exploring the backstory of your characters will answer essential parts of your character’s past. It will bring to light the real reason why your character’s believe what they believe in the present day when your story is set.

Uncovering these details will give your story more meaning and depth. This is really why your readers will stay up late reading your book — because when readers understand your characters’s backstory — why they are the way they are — they will CARE so much about your characters.

1. Character Backstory:

Brainstorm and dig deep into your character’s backstory because it will help you understand why they have these fears and false beliefs in the present.

This is sort of like having a therapy session with your character. Your GOAL in brainstorming backstory: What happened in their past to make them who they are today?

For example: If your character fears falling in love – why does she have this fear? Did she grow up with her parents fighting all the time and so she equates love with constant conflict? OR did her mom die when she was a little girl — and left her dad alone — and maybe she equates falling in love with abandonment?

Ask your character: What happened in the past to make you have these fears? Was it more than just your parents relationship that makes you fear falling in love? (Perhaps she was also dumped by a guy she was madly in love with — and has set walls around her heart because of that experience).

Ask questions of your character that will Uncover pivotal moments in their past that help you understand what shaped this current issue or struggle their facing today?

Take out a notebook and write down the backstory scene that changed everything for your character. That one event that really shaped their fears, misbeliefs that they struggle with right now in their present day.
Ask yourself these questions about your character’s backstory:

a)What is my character’s biggest Wound and the False Belief that emerged from that wound?
Answer this in the first 10% of your story — because by understand your character’s false belief it will help readers relate to your character.

b)How/why is my character unhappy with their life when the story begins — specifically because they have hung onto this false belief?
This is critical — this is the challenge your character will be forced to overcome or if they don’t overcome it — they will be destroyed by it. Your story’s plot must force your character to face their biggest fears and overcome them.

c)What does my character believe they need to do to be happy again?
This is the goal your character is chasing after in the first half of your story — before the midpoint.

e.g. maybe your character grew up in foster homes due to being taken away from drug-addicted or neglectful parents. (their wound)
False Beliefs that they might have embraced: I am defective: I am unworthy of love; I don’t know who I am; I will never find a place to belong or call home, etc.

The character is unsatisfied because they long for love and to belong, but deep down don’t believe it’s possible.
Character believes that they will be happy if they can become perfect enough, then someone will love them and they will belong (this is an answer to #4).

If the character really leans into trying to be perfect(as she embraces her false belief) this could cause the character to indulge themselves with their fear-based weaknesses and in the end — resenting themselves for their mistakes.

DO a deep dive into your Villain’s backstory as well — asking the same questions. Remember the stronger your villain is — the higher the stakes in your story — and the more compelled readers will be to read on.

 

2.Brainstorm your Character’s Goals, motivation and conflict. Do the same for your villain as well.

A GOAL is: What your character wants. It’s the prize or reward that your character wants to achieve.
Readers want to see your characters overcoming obstacles. They want to live vicariously through your characters — feeling the setbacks; the conflicts; and then also feeling the satisfaction when the character has finally reached her goal.

The best goals are: important and urgent. Important enough for the character to act against her own best interest and to endure hardship and struggle if necessary.
Your character wants to do all they can to avoid unpleasant consequences like: being embarrassed; danger; heartbreak; desperate financial problems (aka bankruptcy);
If there are unpleasant consequences if your character doesn’t reach her goal, then there will be a sense of urgency for your characters to reach their goal.

Motivation: This is your Character’s “Why”. Why do you characters want to reach this goal?
Motivation is what drives your character to achieve her goal. Characters in stories can have several motivations pointing towards the same goal — but if you’re a first time writer, keep it simple with ONE Good Strong Motivation.

Remember — if you don’t answer the question “why does your character want to achieve this goal?” Then it’s likely your readers will not be able to suspend their belief long enough to get submersed in your story world.
And they might stop reading your book.

We don’t want that.
So remember to have a good strong reason why your character wants the goal. The character wants to reach their goal because they are motivated.

Another important point: If you can tap into the reader’s subconscious and make the reader feel for the character — then readers will empathize in a big way with your character.

Conflict: Conflict is the reason your character can’t have what she wants. (Put another way: if your character could have what she wanted, then you would have no book).

This is the place where as writers you add the Roadblocks ahead sign for your characters.

Conflict is the obstacle in the way of your character achieving her goal.

Conflict is required. Without conflict there is no story.

Conflict is the same as disruption in your story — and readers want to anticipate disruption… this is what keeps them turning the pages.

As you explore your character’s Goal; Motivation and Conflict consider this: Imperfect heroes are often the most satisfying to readers because true courage is facing what you fear, trying even though the odds of failure are great.

Also important is for you as the writer to lay a foundation for conflict, create believable goals motivate the characters and nurture the conflict to its inevitable climax. Otherwise your book could become one long and uninteresting story.

It’s important to escalate the events in your book. Introduce conflicts more difficult each time and clues and uncertainties that pile up for the character. That when when you finally reach the climax of your book, readers will think to themselves: I wondered if something bad was going to happen to this character. I was on the edge of my seat and worried about what would happen every time I turned the page.

But the big thing to remember is that Your Character’s Goals, Motivation and Conflict — will all tie back to their backstory.

That’s why it’s so important to brainstorm those questions we mentioned above.

To make it easier for you as you brainstorm your character’s backstory, I’ve added a PDF download for you in the description below. It will help you as you ask those important back story questions and help you write characters that readers will really empathize with — it will make your story shine.

I hope you found this process helpful as you brainstorm the characters of. Your story.

Next week — is the last video and blogpost in this series in preparation for NaNoWriMo. Next week we’ll talk how to stay inspired and motivated for each day to write those 50,000 words during NaNoWriMo.

Thanks for joining me today and I’m excited for you as begin your journey to write amazing stories.

Happy Writing! 🙂