Characters

We had a great day Saturday signing books at Mudsock, a cute little book store up in Fisher. (We also have signings tomorrow night at Crestwood in Indianapolis, and at a shop in Muncie on Saturday.) And during a slow moment, one of the other authors, Diana Catt, who is president of our local chapter of Sisters in Crime, and I were discussing short story writing vs. novel writing. Diana prefers short stories because you can get into them quickly and be done. And she has numerous short story publishing credits.

I, on the other hand, prefer doing novels. It provides ample time and room to explore main characters and to develop a plot. But, Diana asked me, what about all those minor characters? What about their development?

I hadn't given it much thought.

In a full-length novel, there can be a couple dozen speaking parts, almost all of which requiring a character with a name. (And you know how I hate coming up with character names. I always struggle with it.) What are the motivations of some of those minor characters? Don't they also have lives?

Diana suggested I consider a minor character I have already created as the main character in a short story. And I said, "Wow! What a great idea."

I have dozens to choose from. Joel Covington, the spoiled rich child in FIGHTING CHAOS who only comes into himself after he abandons his family's career choices and joins the FBI; Marsha Norwood, the girlfriend of the main character in the book; Lyndsay Carpenter, the art museum employee whose murder in the first chapter is the catalyst for the investigation in THE DEATH OF ART; Tony Richardson, the stalwart friend in DEATH AT THE JUNGLE-BUNNY JOURNAL or King David Armstrong, the numbers runner from the same book.

All of these people could have most interesting lives worthy of exploration in a short story.

I may, in time, get to some of them. But last Sunday I started a short story on the life of an FBI profiler who is looking into a series of serial killings of young women in the Philadelphia area. The idea came from my friend Shonda, who has had civilian FBI training. Shonda suggested several areas to explore as the character, Kendall Hunter, helps in the probe for a killer.

My fiction tends to be character-driven and so this exercise in exploring minor characters through short stories can only help me when I am building characters whom I want and need readers to care about.

And, it's fun, which is also something quite important.

Thanks for reading and don't give up on writing.