What I Learned about Character Development from Vicki Delany
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Recently, I attended the Sisters in Crime - Grand Canyon Writers’ presentation featuring the fabulous Vicki Delany on Character Development. If you haven’t checked out her multiple series yet, you need to add them to your to be read pile. (She also writes as Eva Gates). Here is some of her great advice.
A series is a chance for characters to grow. When you start, you’re in the head of a new character for the first time, and it takes time to learn about him/her. You don’t always have this luxury in a stand-alone novel.
Trust yourself as a writer.
Read all the time. Curiosity and reading are important for writers.
In many cozy mysteries, authors introduce a lot of characters at once. This can be tricky. Make sure that the characters’ names don’t look or sound alike. You don’t want to confuse readers.
In fiction, writers often drop or call out names in conversation more than what happens in real life. This is often done to make it clear to the reader who is talking.
Be careful if you write dialogue with an accent. It can easily be overdone.
Names are a strong indicator of age. Use online baby name lists from specific years to see what names were popular during an era.
If your sleuth has friends or sidekicks, their likes and personalities should be different. They should complement the traits of your protagonist.
In mysteries, sidekicks give the sleuth someone to talk through the case with, and while they don’t solve the crime, they often offer suggestions that puts the protagonist on the right path.
A sidekick also offers the author a way to break up internal dialogue of the main character.
