Word: characterize
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
How much of a mental shift is involved in starting a new character that you think is going to be the foundation of a new series? How much of a character's life do you know at the outset?
Before writing this character, did you re-immerse yourself in hardboiled fiction?
Which is why as complex as your plots can be, it's such a delight to actually see what seems to be a fully fleshed out character. Leonid McGill goes well beyond the typical, fairly bland mystery novel protagonist. Do you try to focus on character over plot?
With a person like that, there can't be character development, so you actually give up one of the most important aspects of the novel. And that's problematic. The onus now is, How do I create character while also moving forward the mystery, the plot, the crime, the resolution...
People skip over names. But names have lots of meaning. I had troubles in the beginning. People were saying, "You're going to name a black character Leonid? How can you do that?" And I'd say, "Why not? Does it make any more sense to call him John? I...