Welcome to Character-ology, I’m your blog host, Samara King. 
In the months to come you will find in-depth character studies, profiles and we’ll be getting started with the 5 KEY ingredients to developing characters over the next several blog posts.
Creating characters is my favorite part of the innovative journey of putting a story together. Story people come to me in flashes, displaying minimal facial features, dialogue and haunt me in the middle of the night. I guess it only fair that I get some sort of revenge and exploit them on my blog column. Building characters is for me, is comparative to what actors/actresses may go through in acting out a character role. Once completely ensconced in my hero/heroine’s world, I become attached. That’s when I know I’m in the right place within my creativity. Mind you that doesn’t always happen when confronting a blank screen, but I try!
One of the meanings for the word “Character” is:
10. a. A person portrayed in an artistic piece, such as a drama or novel.
b. Characterization in fiction or drama: a script that is weak in plot but strong in character.
One of the most KEY ingredients in developing a strong character is: description! Adjectives reign supreme and if not wielded carefully can become a deadly tool!
So how much description is too little or too much? I tend to liken this writing skill to applying seasoning to food. Too much salt kills the taste of a good steak and just the right amount, highlights the aroma, the cut of meat. It accentuates and accessorizes any detail deemed necessary. Description gives a reader enough information to whet the appetite. After all, no reader will see the same book alike. Two people could study the same photo, close out their eyes and recount what they remember about it. The recollection will come in different pitches, varying attributes will be distinguished while others ignored. When building a character you want the reader to be courted by your words and the character remembered long after the final page is read.
One of my favorite books is Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. Hurston’s voice is very distinctive as is her description of Janie Crawford in this passage:
“The men noticed her firm buttocks like she had grape fruits in her hip pockets; the great rope of black hair swinging to her waist and unraveling in the wind like a plume; then her pugnacious breasts trying to bore holes in her shirt. They, the men were saving with the mind what they lost with the eye. The women took the faded shirt and muddy overalls and laid them away for remembrance. It was a weapon against her strength and if it turned out of no significance, still it was a hope that she might fall to their level some day”.
(Hurston 2)
You get a good sense of Janie’s physical description, her body shape and her state of dress all embosses an imprint on the reader’s mind. What you didn’t see was an endless stream of adjectives to describe one part of Janie, or an overabundance of colors to describe skin tone, eye color. Also, Hurston’s word usage and language true to the time frame she lived in shine through and color Janie’s scene vividly.
It’s important to remember that, less is more when it comes to description. Readers like mind candy, its part of the ride we, as authors, take them on as they flip through the pages. Concise description is a part of good storytelling and a portion of creating memorable characters.
Until next time…
Samara King
REFERENCE
Neale Hurston, Zora. “Their Eyes Were Watching God” New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1965.
ABOUT
Author Samara King has penned 8 novellas and 1 novel in the multicultural erotic romance genre and has added her passion for poetry and contemporary women’s fiction into the mix. She strives and endorses diversity between the pages of her books and poetry.
Samara wrote her first love story in the 8th grade and has been addicted to romantic fiction every since. She lives in Chicago with her precocious son and indulges in people watching, dancing, singing, and catching up on CSI and Ugly Betty.
Currently writes for Cobblestone Press, Loose Id, Changeling Press, Total E-Bound and will be adding the title of Publisher under her belt for herself publishing company, Eclectic Soul Press and her BlogTalkRadio segment; SoundNOff with Co-host Chamsil (The Writer), a showcase for Poets, Spoken Word artists and all spectrums of poetical prose. The creator of inCHARACTER, a striving writing resource, in which she serves as a columnist of Character-ology.
Readers may contact her at: Ms_Samara_King@yahoo.com
