September 5, 2007 • Print This Post

Here’s what I believe: Novels that involve the reader are about characters. Special characters. Characters who, through the course of the novel, go through a transformation. In romance novels, the characters transform because of their involvement with the other primary character (as opposed to, say, finding Moby Dick). I also believe that the only reason for plot is to force our characters into situations that make them have to chose. To transform.

I believe that, too. But I wasn’t the one to say it. That brilliant observation is courtesy of Jo Leigh. Well, duh, you say. Novels being about characters is obvious. Okay, I say. Then why are so many characters described as cardboard? Why do they come across as stereotypical cliches? Or seem to have been plucked out of central casting and plopped into a scene?

That would be because they’re not real. They don’t exist on the page as people, as vital living beings, but as puppets manipulated by the author who is pulling their strings to make the plot go her way. By doing so, she’s pulling the reader’s strings, too. That’s not the way a book should be written. Not if a reader is going to take it to heart, laugh and cry with the characters, fear for their safety, believe every step of their journey.

Don’t you want to write with a true depth of character? Then why not let Jo show you how. She’s teaching a class, and is going to make sure one of you reading this gets a chance to learn how via the following:

The Core Decision is all about creating characters. It’s about using your own life, the joys, the tragedies, the love, the desperation that made us who we are. It’s about breathing life into your hero and heroine and your villain so that each of them leap off the page and into the reader’s heart. In this workshop, we will cover:

The Core Decision

* The Child’s Interpretation
* The Decision
* The Fallout
* Reinforcements
* Recognition
* The New Decision
* Actions = Transformations

The Process of Discovery

* Remembering
* Writing it out
* Shame
* Pain

The Fatal Flaw

* Character Arc and Emotions
* Transference — how plot reveals character
* Multiple Levels of Interaction — All the Yous of You

Jo is generously giving away one class tuition to a reader of my blog. Post to the comments that you’re dying to take this class, and on Saturday night, September 8, 2007 at 8:00 p.m.ish CDT, I’ll pick a winner.

If you’d like more information, visit Jo’s blog , or if you know you want to take this class whether you win it or not, head to the source and sign up.

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