by Ruth Harris
Male or female, good guys or bad girls, famous or infamous, VIPs are the Very Important Persons who go their own way, do their own thing, make their own rules and don’t give a damn about your plans, your ideas, or your outline.
You create them but they have a life of their own. They bust in and take over and they give your story sizzle and zip and make it pulse and throb with energy and reader appeal.
They can be realistic or fantastical, aspirational or ordinary, nuts or normal. The VIP can be the protagonist or antagonist, a sidekick or bff, or the bit player who’s a scene stealer. The VIP can be a toy, an alien or an animal, a vampire, a wizard, a zombie.
They live in a penthouse or the hood (or even be homeless). They hang out on the “right” side of town or the wrong side of the tracks. They have too much/not enough sex with Ms or Mr Right (or Wrong). They can be adulterous or monogamous, gay or straight, drunk or drugged, billionaires or unemployed, on the make or on the lam. We’re talking the housewife-spy, the accountant-assassin, the foul-mouthed teddy bear, the superhero in tights.
VIPs never do the expected or the conventional. They can be the foundation of a long-running series or a larger-than-life character in a standalone. They can be aspirational, admirable, too-good-to-be true, psychopathic, repellent, murderous but they can—and will—rescue you from the plot blahs and bail you out of blocks, glitches and dead ends.
You know who I mean but, to name names:
- Mrs. Danvers, the spooky housekeeper with no first name in Rebecca, is devoted to her dead employer, the first Mrs. Maxim de Winter. She is steely, intimidating, manipulative and willing to drive the second Mrs. DeWinter to suicide.
- Bond. James Bond is the suave, sexy, sophisticated, super-spy who always gets the girl while he is busy saving the world from yet another megalomanic villain.
- George Smiley, is the spy as a mild-mannered civil servant with an unfaithful wife and a prodigious memory who works in the grey areas of British intelligence and compels his Russian nemesis, Karla, to defect.
- Jane Tennison, the DI in Prime Suspect, is a “woman of a certain age” as they say in France. Her wrinkles are in plain view, her love life is on the gritty side, she drinks too much and it shows. The men she works with give her a hard time and she returns the favor while she solves a crime.
- Alex Forrest (Glenn Close), the murderous seductress in Fatal Attraction, lives alone, has no family that we know of, is predatory and psychopathically determined to get what she wants—another woman’s husband.
- Hannibal Lecter, the creepy psychiatrist has only a few scenes in Thomas Harris’s Silence of the Lambs. This oddly sexy cannibal is an example of the scene-stealing bit player who becomes the nemesis around which the entire story revolves.
- Jack Reacher, the protagonist of Lee Child’s bestselling series, is a West Point grad, an ex-military cop, a loner, a drifter, a hitchhiker, a caffeine addict. He has no steady job, is mathematically inclined, a superb shot and fights not to win but to “piss on the other guy’s grave.”
- Tony Soprano murders, steals, cheats as he heads up his fractious and untrustworthy crew. He is violent, sociopathic, brutal, an unfaithful husband, a good family man and father who suffers panic attacks and depression. The women in his life include a psychiatrist, a vicious mother, a greedy, murderous, sister and a complacent wife who sees-no-evil.
- Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest employs humiliation and unpleasant medical treatments to control her patients.
- Annie Wilkes, the nurse in Stephen King’s Misery, cuts off her favorite writer’s foot with an axe and cauterizes the wound with a blowtorch.
- Frank Underwood, the sleaze-ball politician in House Of Cards, and his flinty, ambitious wife are Washington VIPs who lie, kill, cheat and connive to get what they want: power and the presidency.
Realistic? Uh-uh. Unforgettable? Absolutely. Likeable? Sometimes but not always. Relatable? Mostly not. Admirable? Only now and then. But are we interested in them? Do we want to know what they’re going to do next? Of course we do.
Memorable, vividly drawn characters like these are the VIPs who create the forward motion that makes a book a page turner. They are the writer’s best friend and there are, obviously, no hard rules about how to create them. How can there be when they are distinctive and original and, sometimes, even the opposite of each other?There are, however, guidelines that will help you get started to create characters readers can’t get enough of.
- Author and film producer Rebecca Tinkle, lists six hero-types. These positive role models include the teacher, the warrior and the leader along with their super power and super flaw.
- Not sure exactly what your VIP should be like? Writing a letter to him or her will help sharpen your focus. Here are examples of real-life letters to give you some ideas: http://www.hearttouchers.com/hero_letters (sorry you’ll have to cut and paste that link. For some reason, WordPress has decided it doesn’t like the link, although it works just fine…Anne.)
- Writing a superhero? Whether you’re writing a novel, a comic or a graphic novel, here’s advice about how to name a superhero, how to write a good sidekick, day jobs for superheroes, and superhero flaws, fights and gadgets.
- The script lab suggests 10 rules with expanded explanations about creating your VIP, his or her dreams and goals, the differences between sympathy and empathy, and growth vs change.
- Since every good guy/girl needs a bad guy/ girl, writing the villain is as challenging as writing the protagonist. Here are 9 examples of the villain archetype that includes an interesting discussion of the internal and external villain.
- Brian A. Klems at Writer’s Digest does another take on archetypes, male and female, heroes and villains from the messiah to the matriarch to the mystic and beyond.
- When it comes to villains, just being crazy isn’t enough. From Gordon Gekko to Darth Vader, their backstories, motivations and psychological profiles are what make them believable—and memorable.
- Here’s some wisdom from sci-fi author and editor of Fiction Factor, Lee Masterson, about how to create villains people love to hate.
- When evil has a friendly face: NYT bestselling suspense novelist, Lisa Gardner, tells how to develop the diabolical villain.
- Novelist, screenwriter and game designer Chuck Wendig pulls no punches in his list of 25 things (including a voice, a look, and secrets) that a great character needs.
- David Corbett’s advice on the how-to of creating a compelling character includes an excellent list of suggestion about where and how to begin.
- They can be friends, family, coworkers, roommates or classmates, but the well-written sidekick can move the story along, give the reader deeper insight into the protagonist and/or add intriguing sexual tension.
VIPs can—and will—do the shocking, the unexpected and, as a consequence, will give you—and your story—an immediate jolt of energy.
You bring them to life, you fret about them, you get them into—and out of—trouble, you bail them out when necessary and save them from their own stupid mistakes but there is one thing above all you must remember about VIPs: they will never, ever, not once, say thanks. 😉
by Ruth Harris (@RuthHarrisBooks) March 27, 2016.
Ruth Harris is a NYT million-seller and former Big 5 editor.
Happy Easter, Everybody! We hope that by next Sunday, we will be back in our old home on Blogger. If you have trouble finding us, the url is “annerallen.blogspot.com.” If you have linked to this blog in the past four months, your link may need to be changed to the Blogger address.
So what about it, Scriveners? Do you have a VIP in your WIP? Have you ever had a character march into your story and take over? Tell us about your favorite VIP.
And if you want to know what Anne’s been up to this week, you can find her at her book blog, talking with Canadian author Debbie McClure about who should self publish, why write funny mysteries, and more…
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Interesting. In my latest book, the Inspector is a teacher as well as a leader. To some extent cops might be considered to be of the warrior class as well.
Louis—Great observation. Just today a friend whose Dad was a firefighter made that point. He added that first responders are also included in that group.
That’s a lot of good information on the VIP character – and all in one place. Awesome!
You and Anne have a great Easter.
Thanks, Alex. Hope that VIP Easter Bunny was super good to you today!
Unique post – I’ve not seen one like this before. Now, I’m going back over all my own books to see the fit! Funny how we can incorporate things almost on instinct, without realizing it. Of course, by instinct, I mean decades of reading, writing, and studying what works and what doesn’t. (grin)
Melodie—”Instinct” as in “overnight success.” Same thing, right? lol
So true, Ruth 🙂 (says she, who won her first award in 1989)
Thanks again for a completely non-meh post!
CS—Thanks! 😉
A superb post as full as a box of Easter chocolates. Thank you for posting. A great big Easter hug from the UK wings it thanks across the miles.
Ellen—Thank you! Easter chocolate and hugs always gladly welcomed—and reciprocated—chez Ruth and Anne!
This is absolutely fabulous. Great description and ideas (I’m totally writing a letter). Thanks for the links. Love your VIP list, too.
Thanks, Sarah. Was lots of fun coming up with the list. In fact, the list kind of gave me the idea for the post when I realized the thru-thread. All VIPs.
As soon as I saw Mrs. Danver’s photo in my inbox, I knew this would be a doozy of a post. You don’t disappoint, Ruth. Loved it–as always. So much info and so many great links. Your research skills and knowledge are truly remarkable. (Okay, enough kissing up.) We love you. Keep ’em coming. Happy Easter to you and yours from the Nipomo Mesa, home of Dorothea Lange’s iconic photo during the Depression of Migrant Mother. I kind of think Caroline, a character in my WWII Lovers and Liars series, is a VIP. She started out as a supporting character in the first book and simply wouldn’t stay in that minor role. She was so insistent, I put her front and center in several of the subsequent novellas. But I had the last laugh. She only had one scene–the second to last– in the final episode in the series. Who says you can’t get even? Needless to say, she’s not talking to me. Paul
Oh, come on, Paul, never enough kissing up! 😉 hope the Easter bunny is bringing you lots of goodies even tho you *were* quite mean to her. No wonder she’s not talking to you.
Absolutely I have VIPs in my latest thriller…a cybercrimes specialist by day, cat burglar by night, whose foul mouth is hilarious when paired with her librarian best friend. Hopefully readers will enjoy her as much as I do once the book releases, because she’s my Jack Reacher. I’ve written four novels with her as the protagonist, and have never tired of writing her. Good thing too, because three of those novels need total rewrites to bring them up to par. 🙂
Sue, I love foul mouthed characters! Don’t forget: rewriting/revising/editing is the name of the game. Separates the pros from the wannabes.
Thanks so much for this great post Ruth. As I’m about to start doing some re-writes, it’s making me look at my characters in different ways. So many possibilities! Happy Easter! 🙂
Thanks, Debbie. Here’s a cyber chocolate bunny to help you celebrate!
Interesting post! I had a “compact” female cop in my first novel who was supposed to have just a bit part, as the “police protection” for my protagonist but who was really supposed to spy on the protag. She waltzed in, wrote herself a much bigger part in that book, and by Books 4 and 5 in the series, she was one of the central characters. And she’s one of my favorite characters in the series!
Cassandra—Amazing, isn’t it, that we don’t even know what we create until the characters we invented come to life. The cop’s journey you describe is a perfect example of the VIP in action. From bit player to star—I love it!
Her name is Rose (although she is anything but a fragile flower) and she hates it if anyone says she’s petite. She prefers the protag’s description of her as “compact.”
Don’t forget: roses have thorns. 🙂
Stupid auto-correct misspelled your name. Thanks, auto-correct! 🙁
Thanks for the links and tips, Ruth. I need to ratchet the stakes up for my VIP and see what happens.
Tina—Thank *you.* Yeah, we have to give our characters lots of grief to find out who they really are and make them work for us. Have fun thinking up new challenges! 😉
What a fun post and an interesting perspective. I think you’re totally right. Hmmmm, now to figure out who my VIPs are. Thanks for giving me more work to do. LOL
Tam—Thanks. I guess. No rest for the weary (writer). lol 😉 Seriously, your VIPs will be your best friends…they supply the energy, the will, the go-for-it attitude that will end up doing much of the work for you.
I’ve been thinking about what my next book should be about. I’ve never had a VIP similar to a Tony Soprano. After reading your post, I’m interested in creating one. Thank you for the links. I haven’t gotten to them all yet, but I know they’ll help me out.
Patti
Patti—Thanks! Good luck with TS! He’s a fascinating character.
I have some VIPs; I love writing unlikeable but interesting characters.
Dolorah—Thanks for taking the time to comment. Sounds like you’re on the right track!