Author: Brynn Chapman
Publication date: June 17, 2014
Publisher: Month9Books, LLC.
Arabella Holmes was born different and raised different. After it became apparent she wouldn’t fit the role of a proper 1900′s lady, her father, Sherlock, called in some lingering favors, and landed her a position at the Mutter Museum. The museum was Arabella’s dream; she was to become a purveyor of abnormal science. What her father called a BoneSeeker.
Henry Watson arrives at the Mutter Museum with a double assignment–to become a finder of abnormal antiquities and to watch over and keep Arabella Holmes. An easy task, if he could only get her to speak to him instead of throwing knives in his general direction.
But this is no time for child’s play. The two teens are assigned to a most secret exploration, when the hand of a Nephilim is unearthed in upstate New York. Soon, Arabella and Henry are caught in a fight for their lives as scientific debate swirls around them. Are the bones from a Neanderthal … or are they living proof of fallen angels, who supposedly mated with humans according to ancient scrolls?
Sent to recover the skeleton, they discover they are the second team to have been deployed and the entire first team is dead. And now they must trust their instincts and rely on one another in order to survive and uncover the truth.
How to Make Your Characters Believable
So, how to make characters believeable?
There are so many aspects to this subject, and the answers as individual as the author’s themselves.
First, I think you have to go back to the Deb Dixon, Goal, Motivation, Conflict.
Who are they? What do they want? What do they need to feel complete?
Once you have that affixed in your mind—and this concept drives the entire story—then you tackle each major character.
After I have written the story, one of my editing layers is to examine facial expressions and mannerisms.
Let’s face it—we all have them, they make us unique. So do your characters.
Here is an exercise. Pick a scene from your favorite movie—it can be any emotion you are going for: comedy, romance, drama.
EVALUATE the actors every move. Every twitch of their eyes, the pull of their mouths, what are they doing with their hands? How does the other person in the scene respond to them?
There is your template. If that scene moves you, chances are you can recreate a scene of similar emotive quality.
Vocal tics, expressions, obsessions, the driving force of who they are. How they think in terms of analogies. Ie The thought process of a chef will be different of that of a scientist etc.
All of these facets should be considered once your bare bones story is on the page.
There are many layers to editing—but what I have covered here is a good beginning on how to make your characters believable.
Happy writing. And reading. Like BONESEEKER (lol shameless plug) Have a look at my characters Henry and Arabella and feel free to drop my an email about character development.
