The key to compelling characters 🔑
Do you ever feel like your characters take on a life of their own?
Do you hear their voices in your head even when you aren’t writing? Your characters are a product of your imagination, sure, but they should feel real — not only to you, but also to your reader. After all, the characters in your novel are the ones bringing your story to life on the page.
Sometimes, writing involves getting out of your head and into your characters’ heads!
But conveying the headspace of another person — especially a fictional character — can be hard. Things that are obvious to you, such as their motivations and their intentions, might not be so clear to the reader.
In today’s interview, author Kyla Zhao goes over the questions she asks herself to make sure her characters are as dynamic and authentic as possible.
OUR SPECIAL GUEST TODAY IS…
Kyla Zhao
Author
Her debut novel, The Fraud Squad, is available for preorders!
A working-class woman infiltrates high society with the help of friends to fulfill her dreams of working at Singapore's poshest magazine. But as her fraud deepens, so do her fears of being exposed—especially with a mysterious gossip columnist on the prowl for dirt—forcing her to reconcile her pretense with who she really is before she loses it all.
What is the most memorable writing tip or technique that you have heard, and how did it influence your process?
Character agency is the most important thing. When I'm writing, I always ask myself: are things happening to my protagonist, or is she making things happen? Making a character an active driver of their own story is what makes them exciting, interesting, and someone readers would want to root for. And the most straightforward way to give a character agency is to flesh out their goal (what they want), and then create conflicts that prevent them from reaching that goal easily.
How do you personally get over writer's block?
I tell myself "done is better than perfect." Even if what I'm writing isn't great, at least getting the words down on the page gives me something I can make better.
Admittedly, this is hard for me to do as a perfectionist, so I come up with all sorts of little ways to trick my mind into remembering this isn't the final draft and I still have plenty of time to refine it. E.g., I'll draft in a very un-official font, such as Calibri font size 11. I'll name my first draft document "Playground" (the idea of playing around with words rather than committing to perfection).
And reading other books also help me snap out of a funk! And not just books in the genre I'm writing. I love seeing how creative other authors can be, and that usually sparks some inspiration for me too.
How did you get your literary agent? What was the querying process like for you?
My agent, Alex (from Creative Artists Agency), actually slid into my DMs on Twitter haha. Before she reached out, I'd already received other agent offers and had only 3 days left to decide which offer to accept. And to this day, I thank my lucky stars that I happened to check my Twitter inbox (which I'm not great at keeping up with) and saw her message. Alex said she's heard quite a bit of buzz around my manuscript and asked if she could still read it. I sent it to her and the day before my deadline, she made me an offer!
At that point, there was already another agent I was sure I wanted to go with, but I decided to hop on the offer call with Alex anyway. And we connected really, really well. So that put me in a dilemma (a happy problem!). In the end, I asked all my offering agents for another week to decide, and ultimately my gut instinct led me to Alex. One of the best decisions I've made in my publishing journey. :)
What is one thing you wish you had known about the publishing process before going through it yourself?
How many people are on my publishing team! Going into it, the only roles I was familiar with are agent and editor. But I've since come to realize that it truly takes a village to bring a book out into the world, and the village is much bigger than I'd thought. In addition to my editor and agent, I'm also very grateful to my managing editor, production editor, copyeditor, publicists, marketers, art director, cover artist, interior designer, and the sales team. They all work so tirelessly on my (and other authors') behalf behind the scenes, and I wish they would get more recognition for what they do.
What is one piece of advice you would give to a writer who aspires to be published?
Write the book you want to read instead of writing for the market. Getting published is hard no matter what, but you will have more fun and enjoy writing a lot more if you genuinely love what you're writing.
I think that it would be nice to see an interview with Charity Alyse, author of 'Other Side of the Tracks', and hear about her issues with the distribution of her debut novel.