Blog Post #3

Well, the title of this blog is 'I will write this novel', so I'm going to do it.

Day 3 was free writing, but I skipped it in an effort to catch up on the exercises. That absolutely did not work - it's Day 9 and I've only just finished Day 4.

Day 4 is 'create a secret and a goal for each of your characters and use it to motivate them'. I was pretty happy when I saw this exercise - I thought it would be an easy one.

Spoiler alert: I was wrong. This exercise was really quite hard. Especially picking one secret and one goal for each character.

It got easier once I realised that the goals didn't necessarily have to be realistic or achievable. They should reveal plenty about your characters (and if they have un-achievable goals, that says a lot about them). They should also reflect the path the character will take - and they will, giving an idea of the conflicts they will face. Their secrets and goals should relate to each other. Deciding whether or not your character will achieve their goal/s is also valuable - it will indicate their place in the story, and direct the action.

I ended up picking more than one goal for the main characters, and only one for the less main characters. The main characters obviously change over time, and so their goals change. Their secrets stayed consistent, however, at least until they were revealed.

The secrets and goals should cause both internal and external conflict for the characters. They should also be revealed at some point. Not all of them need to be revealed in a dramatic way, of course - the more important the character, the bigger the effect on the plot.

Another thing I noticed while doing this exercise is that I had real trouble coming up with goals for the main male characters. And, when I did come up with them, they were often related to their love interests or to other female characters. I realised this was because I hadn't really thought about the male characters as much: none of them play a main role in either Imogen or Nell's plotline. However, this exercise was well worth doing - it meant I had to think more about what the 'minor' characters were doing and why they were involved in the plot. One way to ensure your characters are believable is to make sure they have realistic goals and secrets. Not achievable ones or reasonable secrets, just ones that real people would have. And vary them - everyone values different things, after all, so everyone's goals and secrets are different.

Creating goals and secrets for every character also meant thinking in detail about the plot in more detail. This is great - it means your plot has more depth to it. It also means you'll have to re-plan parts of your plot. However, I think this will only make my novel stronger, so it's all to the good. I haven't looked at what the last exercise is, but if I catch up I might include a 'plan your plot in detail' exercise later on.

Secrets and goals are also a great way to set your story up for a sequel. Secrets and goals create internal and external conflict, so ending the novel with the creation of new ones sets up the next stage of the story. If you're certain your story will have a sequel, create new secrets and new goals, and hint at them at the end of the novel. If you're not certain, or you want to leave the ending a bit more open, just create new secrets. This hints at a further plot, and, if you do decide to write a sequel, you can create new goals related to these secrets at the beginning. It also leaves the reader curious, especially if you've dealt with the secrets and goals well in the first novel.

So now I've got a better idea of who my characters are and what they want, it's on to creating tension. Let's see how long this exercise takes me, shall we?