#Ammteasers Ok! So I have a pretty long list of craft topics people want addressed, and I'm trying to group some of them together because I don't think I can chat about everything in long threads.
So, let's talk about characters and how to make them really come to life! 1/12

#ammteasers
Whether you pants or plot, my guess is most people's stories begin with the idea of an MC who is going to journey through your pages and hopefully land you the book deal of your dreams. Getting to know that MC is different for individual writers
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#Ammteasers I know some writers weave the story and get to know their character as they emerge from your imagination. (I would say pants or plot, most characters will be refined as the story progresses, and that's fine. But for my brain, I must know some info up front
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#ammteasers One of the greatest changes to my writing occurred when I got my hands on the Thesaurus series by @beccapuglisi & @AngelaAckerman https://writershelpingwriters.net/2010/10/emotion-thesaurus-entry-collection-samples/ There's also a subscription website which has SO MANY RESOURCES if you can swing it http://onestopforwriters.com 
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#Ammteasers I like knowing some of the backstory of my MCs--whether it actually goes on the page or not. (Some needs to when it is important to the story--not usually in the opening pages). You are the totality of the events you've lived through. Same for your MCs
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#ammteasers Most people have a number of misbeliefs about themselves & their abilities based on experiences in their past. We react in the present w/all sorts of protective measures to try & spare ourselves from future grief/anger/discouragement based on those things.
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#Ammteasers So the same goes for your characters! Think of what lies they believe about themselves and figure out what character traits they've developed because of these lies. I like a sampling of good and bad traits so they feel really well-rounded.
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#ammteasers One you have this information, you can begin to hear how they sound, and know instinctively how they will react to any circumstance you throw at them! And it will be convincing to your readers because you've created someone who feels like an actual human
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#ammteasers Included in this would be patterns of thought and how they view the world and everyone they encounter. It also helps you, the author, figure out what sorts of dilemmas to throw at them, so you get the highest amount of TENSION
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#ammteasers Tension is what makes your readers stick with your story (we'll do a thread about this), so figuring out how to keep your MCs levels of tension stretched to the breaking point is imperative (tension can be built around positives, too--like in romance)
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#ammteasers If you create a character study of all the people in your book, you can *play them off each other* in ways that produce that page-turning tension. Whether they have happy relationships or not, fitting your characters together in a puzzle makes it so satisfying!
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#ammteasers And just as a reminder, here are some of the basic questions you can ask yourself about your characters! Hope this helps!
https://twitter.com/astarte73/status/1351688788284755971
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