Paper Dolls

[Darrell Case]

Remember when you, your sister or a friend played with paper dolls? Their clothes changed depending on the task or activity. However, their expression always remained the same. They were always happy and smiling, no matter what the circumstances. They were never worried, sad or fearful. They were fun to play with. No sorrow affected them. No tragedy touched them. You could leave a paper doll for a day, a month or a year. When you decided to play with them again there they were with the same expression.


Sometimes as writers we have a problem creating believable characters. The ones we thought were unique and riveting as we wrote them ultimately confound us by lying on the page as flat as paper dolls. Their depth and feelings elude conveyance. 

A person’s childhood colors how they react to a situation. Past failures make them leery of making decisions. They ache for love, yet are fearful of rejection. Perhaps they are driven by a desire for wealth or power. How does all of this affect their family life? Are they addicted to drugs and longing to be free? Are they hiding something in their past, terrified that the indiscretion will be exposed? Do they weep in the middle of the night when no one hears? If they are fired, lose a child or go through a divorce, do they react with the same feelings as your next-door neighbor? As you write, do their emotions touch you? Do tears come to your eyes as they weep at the casket of their loved one? Do you rejoice with them as they are united in marriage? As they face danger, does their fear touch your heart? As you write an action scene does your heart beat faster? Do you feel the excitement of the chase? Are you the hunter or the hunted? Do you lose track of time? Do you get lost in the story?


What about your villains? Who are they? What made them the way they are? What’s behind their actions? Are they mentally unstable? If so, why? Can your reader be repulsed by their actions and yet also induced to feel sad for them? Even the villain is human and loved by someone. No one is born with hatred in their heart; something has happened to make your villain this way. Find out what it is.


If your characters live and breathe, weep and laugh, your novel will come alive. If we as authors don’t feel the emotions of our characters, neither will the reader.