Making fictional characters real

Creating characters for a novel can be a challenge when it comes to maintaining consistency. For example, it is very easy to write a character with blue eyes in one chapter and in a later chapter describe the character as having brown eyes. I managed to get through writing Mine To Avenge with my editor finding only one minor character inconsistency which has since been corrected.

I have been making plans to prevent this altogether when writing the sequel and have really appreciated the wealth of information and help available on line from more experienced writers. I plan to keep character worksheets for each character in the new story, incorporating not only their physical traits but also such things as family background and how that impacts upon their character and personality, what their interests are, what they like and dislike, what their dreams are, strengths, flaws and so on.

Why is it easy for character inconsistencies to creep into a story? It’s because you are inventing your characters. You are making them up out of your head. It’s a well-known saying that you have to have a good memory if you tell a lot of lies, and it is similar for created characters and stories, because it is all make believe.

The way around this is to make your characters so real so that you can identify inconsistencies yourself when you see them. Visualise your characters' physical characteristics and sketch them if you can. Study features of people you know and add them into your characters, but mix them up to make interesting composites and do the same with character traits. Imagine your characters in events and circumstances beyond the story line and work out how they would behave in those situations. Do as much of this development as you can before you start writing, but leave room for surprises and changes as the story progresses. After all, people grow and change in real life too, and it is these character changes in a story that make the fictional character real and interesting.

There is one scene in Mine To Avenge that convinces me that the central character in that particular scene has become real to me, because it evokes a particularly emotional response in me each time I read it, as I weep for the character and his family and the circumstances that led him to that point in the story, but I will have to wait until the book is out to find out what other readers think. That will be the biggest test. 

Extract from Chapter 13 of Mine to Avenge

Landor was still sober when Nicholas entered the hotel. He had only arrived moments before and was buying his first drink for the night. Nicholas saw the man redden as he approached and realised that he had embarrassed him by unexpectedly coming into his personal haven. Nicholas knew he would need to handle this tactfully.

‘Hello, Landor, I need to talk to you for a moment if I may—about Linus. Can you spare the time?’

‘Of course, sir … Mr Galanos, sir … sit down.’

Nicholas sat down alongside Landor, trying to choose his words, but Landor spoke first.

‘What about Linus? He’s not in trouble is he? Has he been behaving himself at your place?’

‘Certainly. He’s a pleasure to have around, Landor. It’s just that he’s visiting a lot lately—since his mother died.’

Landor fidgeted nervously and Nicholas wondered whether this had been such a good idea.

‘If you don’t want him coming over, you just need to say so, and I’ll stop him,’ Landor said huffily.

‘No, Landor, please don’t think that. We love having him. We’re just thinking of your feelings. How do you feel about him spending so much time with us?’

Landor picked up his full glass and took his first sips. Nicholas knew now why Linus liked coming to tea with them on Friday nights, and guessed that Landor would be very drunk before finishing the evening.

‘Please, sir… no … honestly … I don’t mind. He misses his Mum, and … I’m not great company for him…’

Landor’s voice trailed away, and Nicholas knew that he was longing for the next mouthful. He decided to take a risk and be bold. He didn’t want to go to the authorities and accuse Landor of beating his son. Linus might be taken from his father, and Nicholas didn’t want to be responsible for that so soon after the loss of his mother. But he thought it might do the man some good to know that someone knew what was going on, and it might protect Linus from more beatings.

‘Landor—I need to say this. I’m concerned for you and your son. I … I’ve reason to believe you’ve been beating the boy.’

Landor’s knuckles whitened, and he picked up his glass, pretending not to hear Nicholas.

‘I’m happy for your son to spend as much time at my home as he likes, but if I have reason to believe you’re beating him, I’ll dismiss you from my employ and report you to the authorities. Do you understand? You need a job to support him, so think about it.’

Nicholas didn’t wait for a reply. He stood up, turned his back on Landor and left the bar.

Finding the title

Finding the title for Mine to Avenge wasn’t easy. It took me a long time to settle on a title, not finding one I was happy with until the novel was almost complete. The search began by exploring many different quotes about vengeance, being one of the central themes of the novel. I quickly found the following quote from Winston Churchill and settled on it for the first page of the novel:

 ‘Nothing is more costly, nothing is more sterile, than vengeance.’

The sentiment expressed in this quote encapsulates the thoughts of one of my central characters when he makes some personal discoveries as to the nature of vengeance and how it is perpetuated. I was writing from that particular character’s point of view at the time and the quote served as a springboard for some imagery I used to flesh out the thought a bit more.

However, I then spent many months playing with the quote - deconstructing it and trying to piece it together in different ways - trying to come up with a catchy title, but to no avail. I went back again to the quotes I had collected but had no success.

It was only when I was writing a scene towards the end of the story that the title finally came to me. I was writing of a showdown between two major characters when I suddenly remembered one of the most famous quotes of all to do with vengeance - “ ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay,’ says the Lord.”

Taking care not to give away any plot spoilers, this quote described the essence of the showdown between the two characters, and the title was suddenly very clear to me - Mine to Avenge.