The Conqueror; Creating Good Characters

Total word count: 15,079
Words written today: 1,005
Chapter(s): 12 & 13 (written in reverse order)

Last night I went to an event with John Green & David Leviathan for the release of their new book Will Grayson, Will Grayson and it was a great experience. I got to hang out with a lot of great people, discuss books and writing, and I got plenty of advice and got to hear from two experienced professional writers. One question that a fan asked was "how do you come up with such great characters, are they people you know or people you wished you knew?" John's answer was that it was a little of both, that when he was younger he would imagine conversations with people in real life that he never had the courage or opportunity to speak to. Sitting there in the audience I had this moment of connection, because I do that too.

I imagine every day "what would have happened if I said this?" or "If they were still here, what would we talk about?" I spend a large portion of my life imagining conversations and not actually having them. That's what I do with my writing, it's a very good way to do the same thing without sounding like a crazy person. And in addition to reimagining people in new ways, we authors put a little of ourselves in each of our characters.

Matt, one of my characters in The Conqueror isn't much like me, he's a detective and thinks everything through and I'm a lunatic writer who does things on impulse, but there is this one little part of me that became a part of him. Matt, like myself, is the farthest thing from a morning person. There is a section in chapter 13 where I bring this up and I think it's a part that makes him more real for the reader. Being bleary-eyed in the morning is not a tragic flaw, but it is a flaw, and it makes him more believable and relatable and I like that.