Last time I introduced the importance of choosing characters wisely. Hopefully you have a fully formed character now—one who is so unique to your story that the reader won’t be able to imagine anyone else fulfilling that role. But that is only part of the picture.
The circumstances in which we place our characters can either make the reading turn the page, or throw your book down in disgust! Or worse, cast it aside in boredom… Yikes! So, to avoid your book falling into that particular problem, how does one choose a character’s circumstances wisely? By asking a series of questions. The first one is: why now?
Why start here?
Yes, why choose this particular time to start your story? Did you catch your character at that particular moment to create conflict? I hope so, because that’s exactly how you should be choosing your timeframe. Avoid boring moments, especially your character waking up and getting ready. Even if you believe that is specifically the moment of conflict, please try to avoid that particular cliché!
In the picture accompanying this post, I’ve included a woman in handcuffs. That would be a great start to a story. We don’t have to see the arrest—that can all be gently unfurled as the story progresses. But here she is, in cuffs, about to make her legally allowed single phone call. Who does she call? Wow, now I want to know more!
What has led up to this moment?
While you won’t info dump the whole backstory up front, you need to know exactly what led up to the moment. Not just the current situation, but everything. How have your protagonist’s personality and life choices led to this moment? What chain of events had to occur every step of the way? You don’t even have to write it all down—though that will help. So long as you, the writer, know enough to shape the narrative. This knowledge is equally helpful during character development.
Elements of circumstances
Drilling down to ask some specific questions can help when you’re stuck, most importantly: what is at stake? The stakes for your protagonist show your reader what’s important to the protagonist and why they should care about them. Finally, as you consider the circumstances of your protagonist, remember that in fiction if not in real life, character is defined in conflict, and what your protagonist does is who your protagonist is.
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