What Problems Just Won’t Go Away?
Sometimes beginning and expert writers alike get an idea for a character that is thorough and detailed, but doesn’t have any sense of a problem. The emphasis on character is so strong with most books and writing classes that writers begin to think all a story needs is a well-drawn character. They make detailed profiles, answer questionnaires, know exactly what clothes their characters wear, what their favorite foods are, what their rooms look like. The problem with all this is that you end up with a character sketch, which is only half of a story. In fact, it isn’t a story at all, it’s just a writing exercise.
So you’ve got your character. What do you do next? It’s time to think about what kinds of problems will actually drive a story. Problems that aren’t enough to fill a story include a straightforward breakup, death of an aged family member, death of a pet, and hating one’s boss. All of these could be small things that add to the tension of a story, but they’re not good enough to be the only problem in a story. Instead of falling on these trite standbyes, it’s time to think about what problems just won’t go away.
Some problems are really only annoyances or obstacles. The problems that really drive stories are the ones that seem to get more daunting and complex the more you look at them. The ones you try to ignore, but just won’t stop invading your life. It’s the ones that a little change of attitude or a bit more money won’t fix. It’s the ones that force your character to re-evaluate who they are and what they’re striving for. These are the problems that make stories worth reading. It matter much less whether the problem gets solved, as long as it gets your reader turning the page, wondering what possible solution could be found.
For your story, try looking at your character again and asking yourself what kind of problem would really rock his or her world. If you haven’t shaken him or her to the core, you haven’t gotten the right problem for your story yet.
Great post. I read Stephen King’s advice long ago about not giving too much description about characters. Just let them start doing their actions, because the reader will fill in their hair color and shoe size, etc.
Sure enough, I’ve given friends my stories to read and they’ll swear afterward that I described so and so because they “saw him so clearly.” I point out that I didn’t describe so and so at all–they fleshed him out themselves.
I described a sheriff in one story only as being “an honest man who expected to die in his own bed.” Several readers were sure I’d given long detailed descriptions of him, but that’s all I said about him. Still, to them he was vivid–but only because they filled in the rest.
I’m sure the actions my characters took told much more, but I’m in the ‘less is more’ camp. Readers, I think, prefer to create their own ideas about what characters look like and what they wear.
The biggest thing we authors must do is continuously create obstacles for those characters to overcome. Give them problems, big ones, and just torture them all you can. They love it.