Cooper
asked
Jodi Meadows:
How do you create such deep characters and character development throughout the story? I was a huge fan of Before She Ignites, and I fell in love with the characters. You are an amazing writer!
Jodi Meadows
That is a longer answer than we really have space for! But the short version is this:
I think of my characters as fully formed people, and it's my job to get to know them well enough to translate them to the page.
It's also my job to become a skilled enough writer to be able to put characters on the page in a clear enough way for people not living in my head (readers) to be able to understand what's happening.
Those, to me, are two different things, and they level up at different speeds.
While I don't have a full checklist of things I need to know about my characters, I spend a lot of time thinking about their goals, histories, desires, secrets, fears, reactions, skills, and other things that will help me in my drafting. Those all guide me in how characters will take action, how they will react to situations, and why they do what they do.
For me, characters drive the story.
I don't always get it right the first time. I'm working on FI2 right now, and a couple of early readers had to come in and tell me they didn't believe the way a character behaved, because it seemed inconsistent with her actions and mindset before. So I'm fixing it. Good writing is really just good revising. :)
I think of my characters as fully formed people, and it's my job to get to know them well enough to translate them to the page.
It's also my job to become a skilled enough writer to be able to put characters on the page in a clear enough way for people not living in my head (readers) to be able to understand what's happening.
Those, to me, are two different things, and they level up at different speeds.
While I don't have a full checklist of things I need to know about my characters, I spend a lot of time thinking about their goals, histories, desires, secrets, fears, reactions, skills, and other things that will help me in my drafting. Those all guide me in how characters will take action, how they will react to situations, and why they do what they do.
For me, characters drive the story.
I don't always get it right the first time. I'm working on FI2 right now, and a couple of early readers had to come in and tell me they didn't believe the way a character behaved, because it seemed inconsistent with her actions and mindset before. So I'm fixing it. Good writing is really just good revising. :)
More Answered Questions
Shelby Day
asked
Jodi Meadows:
Will you write more novellas to follow up The Mirror King? In particular: -Tobiah's view on his mistake with Meredith and his feelings about the outcome and coming to terms that he loved Wil and should have chosen her -A novella that brings together the secret we learned about James' true father and then his origins after the One Night War -An epilogue that explores the new world and Wil and Tobiah's place in it.
Raven Whitehorn
asked
Jodi Meadows:
I want to be an author, of both books and graphic novels (would that make me an artist in both senses? writing and art?) I would like to know if you have any advice for me that includes colleges that promote writing, or books that would expand my knowledge of how to get my work out there. I have a wattpad account, which helps, but I want to get my work out there. Any tips? Thank you in advance.
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