WEDNESDAY( 27 JULY, 2016)

TALK 2: Gaby Cabezut(gabycabezut) on Creating Unique Characters

Hello, everyone!

I'm honored to be your guest speaker today at the Summer Conference 2016. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Gaby Cabezut. I've been on Wattpad since 2010 and when I posted my first story, I had no idea that my life would change so much.

Six years later, I'm an ambassador, part of the Wattpad Stars program and I have two published books and a third one coming out in January. That being said, I believe, with all my heart, that Wattpad is one (if not THE BEST) writing community out there. There are thousands of successful soon-to-be, or published authors that have started within this platform.

However, when you start to write or post a new story, you can feel a bit overwhelmed. Some people don't know where or how to start at all. Even if you've been writing for a while, this talk might come in handy, there's always room to learn something new, right?

As writers, we all know that a story starts with a conflict, mostly when our character takes a bad decision, leaving her or him in an emotional or physical rollercoaster. We've planned the plot in our heads, taken notes and maybe created an outline.

Most of us, have one or more endings in sight and that helps us plan the rest of the story. Some of us are total pansters; others, have planned up to the minor detail and the rest, are a combination of the two.

Is there a magic formula to writing a best-seller? I don't think so. If there is, I still haven't found it (and I'll promise a lifetime of fudgy brownies to whoever solves the formula and shares it with me!).

So, we have our plot, but what about our characters? How can we write compelling, addicting characters that people want to know more about?

If you're thinking that the only thing you need to worry about is plot...

Guess again.

A character is as important as the plot. In romance, for example, the main point is to get two people together. Over and over again. It's the same in every story, yet, not every story is the same.

Studying the concept for your story and creating different characters is what makes a difference. Even if the main point is to get two people to fall in love. Circumstances may vary and the way the characters react is different, too.

How to achieve that? By creating a backstory to each and every character. I've made a simple list to keep in mind when mapping your characters.

1. Basic Personality.

Well, duh. I know, you're shaking your head right now because that's pretty obvious huh? That's like, the main point of this rant, I mean, talk. But honestly, other than the fact that your character has an insane need for chocolate at the most unusual times (run with it, it's just an example!), what else does she or he likes to do? (I usually write about girls, so let's go with a she scenario). Is she religious? Does she like tea, instead of the overused coffee? What is her favorite color? What kind of music does she like? Does she like to read, sports, etc.?

The main point is to get to know your character!
You have to plan ahead to have consistency in your story (and maybe add a few twists that people didn't expect by the middle, for example).

It also helps if you find yourself creating a second novel, since you have your character all planned up.

2. Need/Purpose.

As I said before, every character has to need something, otherwise, why are we writing this story? Take our chocolate-driven girl. She needs chocolate so bad that she might run into trouble with the guy on the corner's shop because he doesn't have her favorite brand.

Why does she need it, though? Is it because she suffers from low sugar in blood? Is she an emotional eater? Did she have a bad day? Is she anxious? What is she capable of doing to get it?

There are many questions that can help us create our story, from a need as simple as wanting chocolate.

3. Flaws.

We're not perfect, are we? The same applies to our characters. In order to create real-life personalities, we have to make them flawed. They can be explosive, introverted, selfish or proud, the list can go on and on. Either of those can get them into trouble. And guess what? We want them to get them into trouble! Because writers are in reality evil! (Joking. Sort of).

To be honest, if we don't cause havoc in their lives, how can we keep the story alive? Most novels have to be around 70K words, depending on the genre; yet, imagine reading a story without adventures, funny or emotional moments. That would be so boring!

4. Past history.

We know our character, we've defined their name, their looks and how they act in some situations, but do we know why our character needs chocolate in the first place? Is it because it reminds her of the time she was living with her grandmother in France and it makes her feel at home? Does she miss those times? Why?

Our past molds how we react today. We have learned from bad choices or we might have a childhood trauma still engrained in our mind. Whichever the case, our past is important, it's essential to the character's map, in order to know more about how they can react in different situations.

5. Conflicts.

We've established our character needs a conflict. In our previous, somewhat lame example, is the lack of chocolate; but in depth, it could mean that our main character, let's name her Sophie, feels lonely and wants something that reminds her of her grandma. Putting it in a simple way, the lack of chocolate could be the external conflict and her loneliness, the internal conflict.

When we start to tell a story, we need some sort of a breaking point, something that happens to our character that makes her step out of her boundaries, do something risky. Not always with the desired result, but that's how the whole plot begins. That's external, it's something that happens that makes us do something different. Yet, how we react to it, due to our past experiences, talks a lot about our character. It's much more emotional, it's about what sort of thoughts we have and how do we feel about it.

In my opinion, internal conflicts can make or break a situation. Two characters can have the same external conflict, but they can react differently depending on how they feel through it.

6. Habits and quirks.

Just like with the flaws, it's important to establish some habits and quirks for our characters. Why? Because those set them apart, they make them unique and that's the whole point, right?

In most of my stories, my characters roll the eyes. Why? I admit to doing it on a normal basis. It's annoying and sort of rude, but I kind of have it etched in me. Of course, now that my kids roll their eyes at me, it's not so fun. Yet, for the purpose of this article (sorry for rambling away on a Mommy moment), this is a quirk I have transmitted to most of my characters. Also, their love for baking, or insane obsession with the sexy British accent, or purple color, or blueberry muffins...you get my point. We add this little details because we want to set them apart. Plus, people can connect with them, too!

7. Make them shine through your own writing voice!

What's a writing voice? Well, I've been hearing this term over and over, not with the best conclusions, until I was asked to write this. I googled, ahem, researched through different articles until I came to my own conclusion.

Write your characters through your own voice. I don't mean your deep, sexy voice (I'm so buttering you up!), but how you see the world. That's one of the most important things. You are unique. You see the world in a different light than the person beside you and you're comfortable with certain topics or freaked out about another. Use that. Channel your own personality through your characters. I don't mean that you need to make a copy of yourself, but add a few little details here and there, something that makes you have a thing in common.

Why? Because being you is pretty awesome!

You're unlike anyone else and you can add a diverse perspective to your fantasy world. Even if you use situations where you'd be freaked out or that you wouldn't want to live through, the way you see it, it's different.

Writing a new story requires courage and passion. You're doing it with your heart, loving it and being passionate about it. That makes all the difference in the world.

If you think about J. K. Rowling and her Harry Potter characters, you'll see that you fall in love with each and all of them because how different they are. There are specific details to all of them and that affects the way they react to different situations. Throughout the plot, they all grow up, they conquer their fears and evolve. However, at the end, it was the usual good vs. evil story. It was different because of the way she studied and mapped her characters and set her fantasy world.

I'm not saying that I know more than Rowling herself, or any other writer for that matter, what I want you to understand is that mapping your characters is as important as setting your plot. The two complement each other, they come hand in hand.

Now, it's your turn to get to work and create those characters through your own writing voice. Write with your heart, feel happy about your story and enjoy the writing process.

Thank you so much to @The_Write_Place for inviting me to give this talk. It was really a lot of fun and I learned so much through the process as well!

Best of lucks to everyone writing and posting stories on Wattpad, you're awesome!