My daughter and I were riding down the road in the car and she was chattering about one of her favorite subjects—birthdays and birth places. She’s very impressed with herself that she was born in a Charlotte, North Carolina, hospital since the rest of the family was born elsewhere.
“You were born in South Carolina,” she said. “In Anderson.”
“Actually, no. I was born in Fort Benning, Georgia.”
There was a look of great surprise on her face. “At a fort? Why?”
“Well, honey, there was a war going on—Vietnam. And Papa was in the Army.”
“Papa was in the Army?!?!?!” I can’t really overemphasize her statement, despite the ridiculous number of exclamation and question marks I just used. “What was he doing in the Army?”
“He was a lieutenant. He taught people how to shoot guns.” Big guns.
“Papa?”
It was a shock. She knows her Papa as a mild-mannered English professor in his early 60s. He writes extremely well, edits well, and makes astute analyses on English literature. To her, he was not some gun-toting, camo-wearing soldier during the Vietnam era.
We all have these different facets to ourselves. We wear lots of different hats. And in the past we’ve been different things—I’ve worked in a bank before. I didn’t like it, but it’s part of who I am. An unhappy part. :)
I try to show my characters as people with different facets to them, too. If you’ve got a sleuth who is just a crime fighter, then the reader gets a one dimensional impression of your protagonist.
All these little bits of our past contribute—in good and bad ways—to the person we are now.
Introducing the past can be done casually in a book, without dumping a lot of backstory. My protagonist, Myrtle Clover, is introduced as a retired English teacher. The reader isn’t surprised when she tries to force her book club to ditch chick lit. My protagonist Lulu Taylor, was raised by her aunt and spent her childhood at her aunt’s barbeque restaurant. Now she treasures her family and that restaurant over anything—and is prepared to protect them when some become murder suspects.
With a little bit of set-up, we can take our characters in different directions, and show a different side to them.
And, on a separate note, I’d like to offer a sincere thanks to all veterans as those of us in the States observe Veterans Day.
Thanks for the post, Elizabeth. Helpful reminder, as always. It intrigues me in my books how I discover little tidbits of my characters’ pasts that have more meaning than I first imagined when writing it. Do you ever experience that?
Reminds me of the time we were visiting my parents when the kids were young. They saw a wedding picture of me and hubby. When we married, he was clean-shaven, but they’d never known him without a beard. They asked who the man was in the picture with me, and I said it was Daddy. They said, “We had a different Daddy?”
Elizabeth – I think the most interesting sleuths have more than one facet to their character. It makes them more well-rounded and realistic. As you say, we all wear more than one “hat” almost regardless of what we do as adults. My own Joel Williams was a police officer before becoming a professor; that’s a whole different side to his character. Really thoughtful post….
The different facets of your characters are delightful and invite the reader to know them more. And remembering the veterans is very important.
So right, Elizabeth. We can’t understand a character if we know nothing of his past. My Willie character was a Vietnam veteran with PTSD but has mostly worked through his trauma with the help of his younger sister. It was their happy childhood that created the bond that made this recovery possible.
My mother was born in a little country town, really more a community, called Fields Store. For the longest time, probably until I was 10-12, I thought she was born in a feed store.
I think it’s fun to surprise your readers with some unkown facet about a character halfway through the book. It can make them look upon your character in an entirely different light.
Good post Elizabeth. I want to show the different facets of my characters and I want to show what changes them. I believe if my main characters don’t grow during the course of the story – I’ve floobed.
We also honour our vets in Canada today – we call it Rememberance Day and we wear poppies on our coats and go to cenotaphs and memorials. I like it although it always GLOOMY weather. Hmmm…
I was stuck on posting today and you inspired me! I had completely forgotten the fact that my husband is a Veteran! I know this sounds silly, but it’s exactly what you’re talking about. Now, he is a successful Financial Planner, father and husband, Chamber of Commerce member, Toastmaster officer, and more! But he served as an Air Force officer before that, and he’s also a pilot! And you are so right about characters, they have many facets. Thank you, Elizabeth.
And I finished your book last night!
Michele
SouthernCityMysteries
Another great analogy and good point about creating characters with dimension!
Very good point made here. It can be a nice “jerk” in a story to have something jarring be revealed about a character’s past. Just don’t devote a whole lenghty paragraph to it while stopping the story – hate that. But a subtle hint or insinuation of a “past life” totally out of present character – that can be sweet.
Marvin D Wilson
Nice story about your daughter and her “papa”. A perfect example of how we can get backstory in a novel without a pause for info dumping.
Going through some of the papers and letters belonging to my parents has left me as shocked as your daughter was on several occasions, but they also explained so much. The experience has reinforced the idea that fictional characters also need a past that helps to determine their actions.
I’d like to include my thank you to all veterans, too!
Glen–I do find that, sometimes. And I went to a book club meeting where they were discussing my book and they came up with all kinds of depth that I didn’t even realize I’d written! :)
Terry–Too funny! We’ve all changed a lot. My kids have a hard time recognizing pictures of their grandparents from when they were young.
Margot–Wonderful idea having a policeman become a professor! That would give him some useful real-life strategies for his sleuthing.
Jan–Oh right! I forgot that Remembrance Day was the same day. It’s celebrated in England and Australia too, I think? It’s gloomy here, too—that hurricane’s remnants.
Mason–The more the reader cares about our characters, the better.
Crystal–Thanks!
Marvin–I like that, too. Especially if it’s a secret past. Fun to slowly unravel.
Jane–That’s very interesting, too. To discover *why* people are the way they are. I just finished reading a book for the book club I belong to: “Those Who Save Us” that delved into that discovery. Very disturbing, in that book.
Elizabeth
Oh, your daughter´s amazement reminds me of one of my childhood shocks: I was stuck in a rather tall tree, and MY FATHER climbed up to rescue me! (He suffered from a bad back and migraine). I felt quite precious afterwards :D
Said something that stuck with me in this post—again. I get caught up in telling the story and can forget to deepen my characters. Since I’m revising, I can go back and sprinking in some things to add depth. Don’t think it will take much. Thank you.
Galen.
I always enjoy the multi-faceted personalities my characters have. Oddly enough, they usually come as surprises as I’m writing their stories. I like to add an shock moment too, have my characters discover something about one of their characters that, had they been paying very careful attention at the beginning, they may have guessed it.
Jen
I’ve noticed a trend in some art house movies, they don’t tell you anything about the character’s past, at all. So, without a single nugget of information to clue one in on possible motivation, their behavior just comes off as off the wall and unbelievable. As you pointed out so eloquently Elizabeth, (as usual), we don’t require too much back story, but a certain amount is necessary.
I know what you mean about finding out past information. I do genealogy, and have done so since 2002. I had different information on way back ancestors. It wasn’t until I started writing a history on my dad and mom that I didn’t know how they met. My dad died in 1982, thankfully my mom is still alive and I was able to ask her. Which prompted me to pull out our family pictures and make sure there’s something written on the back so I’ll know who, what, where and why. My grandson and granddaughter found out something about me they didn’t know. I had posted a Veterans day tribute to my nephew and dad as well as shared pictures of myself when I was in the Air Force during Viet Nam. Being 7, he wasn’t aware I had been in the Air Force. His class had a tribute today for veterans, so he printed off my post to share with his class. Thanks for your words to veterans at the end of your post!
I love when we tell our kids something that they never knew before. I can just imagine your daughter’s face. My children (and students) think they know everything about me. It came as a surprise when I told them that I have lived in several states even as far south as Mississippi. Shock factor can be great in real life and in writing.
Great post and very useful writing tip, as always.
Making our characters multi-layered is fun and makes them real people with interesting lives. It’s fun finding out tidbits about my fave characters when I’m reading. :)
Great post. Recently I’ve being doing deeper character sketches to breath more life into them.
Patricia—Sometimes when I read cardboard characters, I think it’s because we’ve not gotten enough background on them. I like your character–he sounds really intriguing.
Carol–Oh, that is TOO funny! I can just see you telling your teacher at school that your mom was born in a feed store!
Alan–That’s a great way to introduce it…later in the book where it’s a surprise. Too much at the beginning isn’t quite as interesting. Sort of like going on a date where you learn too much about the person at the very first.
Michele–He sounds like an amazing guy! And you’re right…all those parts of his past contributed toward making him who he is today!
Hope you liked the book. :)
Elizabeth—I don’t like that technique, either. I like to be able to empathize somehow with the protagonist. Otherwise, I don’t care really what happens to them. I think it’s okay to dole out small bits at a time or have the character be a mystery to a certain degree, but I’ll only follow along for so far.
Maryann–Thanks! Yes, dialogue is great for that.
Chary–They DO think they know us, don’t they? I love surprising them. After all, they know us *well*…but only in our mom role and only the years that they’ve been alive to see!
Dorte–That is so sweet! He just ignored his discomfort to help you out. I love that.
Galen–I think it’s a quick and easy add, since it’s just a little bit here and there. But it has a cumulative effect.
Jen–THAT is always amazing. I love those surprising moments in books. I saw one in an Inspector Lewis movie a few weeks ago on PBS that was like that. We *thought* we knew the character, but we really didn’t.
Carolyn–That’s a great exercise, too. I’ve done a bit of that…character likes and dislikes, how they react to different situations. I frequently don’t use the material except to make the character more rounded.
Judy–Genealogy is really amazing, isn’t it? Particularly when you bring genetics into it and think that we might share different traits with the people who’ve gone before us. My grandmother wrote on *every* picture’s back and also the relation of the person to us. It was wonderful. I wish that, on my husband’s side, I’d asked his mom more questions. Her death was a surprise to us and I felt terrible about not getting more information on his side of the family.
And Happy Veterans Day to you! And a big thank you for your service. It’s wonderful that your grandson was proud and wanted to share your story with his class!
Jemi–Especially when it’s a series. I love getting little bits doled out to me over the course of several books!