I feel it’s important to point out that none of the characters that appear in Under Construction is based on specific people, dead or alive. They are a medley of the behaviours of random people I have observed in my daily life and the overall whole is a complete figment of my imagination.
Observation is the key to creating characters that have a multi-dimensional depth. Flat, cardboard cut-out characters just won’t work with readers, who will very quickly lose both interest in the story as well as faith in the author. Watching how people live their lives, and then adding one’s own twist on the character’s development, are the elements that help to bring the characters to life for readers. The ultimate compliment is when a reader says: “I know someone exactly like that” or “that could be me”.
When I started writing Under Construction, I had two characters completely mapped out – the protagonist, Adine du Toit – and the antagonist – Willem van Heerden. As the novel developed (refer back to Blog Part 1 in this series – https://www.allysonkoekhoven-writes.com/post/meet-allyson-koekhoven) I met the other characters and thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them.
Without exception, the characters often took me completely by surprise with their unplanned actions and their spontaneous interactions with one another.
While I said above that I had the two main characters completely mapped out, this did not mean that they did not quite frequently act in ways that I had not planned. Willem, especially, is very enigmatic – both to Adine and me. I still don’t quite understand who he is and what his goals are. But stay tuned, he may well appear in the Adine Investigates Cosy Mystery Series currently in the planning stages!
Coming next....Part 7: Kill your darlings