Romantic/Suspense Author

Irene Estep

 Building Character Bit By Bit, Part I:  Using Attitude

By Irene Estep

A catchy hook may grab the romance reader, but to keep them reading you must give them interesting, well-developed characters. Defining character is a step-by-step process. Clothing, background, personal hygiene or health, profession, and attitude are some of the many ways you can develop and define your characters.

Beyond basic description, I think attitude is one of the most used elements to distinguish one character from another and/or make his/her personality come alive. Most think of attitude as hostility, as mentioned in the American Heritage Dictionary example above. However, attitude can also be exhibited by humility, indifference, arrogance, or any other "state of mind" or "disposition" you want your character to have. Once you’ve given your character a particular attitude, though, remember to stick with it unless there is some reasonable excuse or major event to cause change. Otherwise, you run the risk of having your character act "out of character" and lose believability.

In the examples below, see how easy it is to identify one character from another by attitude alone.

Example 1: The man snapped his fingers and pointed at his empty cup. Maisy placed one hand on her hip and jerked the coffee carafe off the table of the couple she’d been waiting on. She strode purposely toward the rude patron and dumped coffee into his cup, splattering his clean white shirt in the process.

Maisy’s attitude, placing her hand on her hip and jerking up the carafe, alerts the reader to her feisty, quick-tempered personality. She may be a little vengeful, too, since she seems to deliberately splatter coffee on his shirt.

Example 2: The man snaps his fingers and points at his empty cup. Charlene ducks her head and picks up the carafe. Apologizing to the couple she’d been waiting on, she hurries toward the rude patron. Very carefully she pours coffee into his cup.

Just the fact Charlene ducks her head shows her timidity. She apologizes to the couple she’s waiting on, so we know she’s also polite. The care she takes in pouring the coffee tells us she may be a little nervous, as well.

Example 3: The man snaps his fingers and points at his empty cup. Kathryn finishes taking the order from the couple she’d been waiting on. She picks up the carafe and refills other patrons’ cups as she moves down the line of tables toward the rude customer. She waits for him to indicate he wants a refill before she pours his coffee.

Kathryn acts more mature than the other two. The fact she completes the order she’s taking, then stops to refill other patron’s cups before approaching the man indicates her unflappable nature. And waiting for him to indicate he wants his cup refilled shows the reader and the rude patron she’s not intimidated.

See how many ways you can vary these characters’ attitudes to make them more interesting. Just remember to keep your characters in character at all times!

NEXT issue::

Building Character Bit by Bit, Part II: Apparel.

Irene Estep’s romantic suspense, PROMISES, PROMISES, is available at from Awe-Struck Publishing: http://www.awe-struck.net/ and other on-line bookstores.

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