Character Driven Novels

I'm drawn to character driven novels in which the plot and tension revolve around the main character. Some of my favorite character driven childrens authors are Sharon Creech (won the Newbury for Walk Two Moons), Katherine Paterson (author of Bridge of Teribithia and many other beautifully written award winning novels), and Kate DiCamillo (Because of Winn Dixie among others). These authors skillfully develop incredible child protagonists with such wonderful detail to personality that you feel you've known them all your life. As I attempted to write my own character driven novel, DON'T LOOK BACK, I found myself developing tension through additional storylines rather than through the character herself, a flaw Claudia Mills (who has created her own delightfully dazzling characters in the 40+ books she's published) immediately honed in on. I could see it so clearly as we discussed it, and I'm now in the process of getting rid of one (and possibly two) entire storylines, and working on developing my character's personality more fully, down to her little habits and innermost feelings, and centering most of the tension around her motivation, goals, setbacks and growth. It's quite a challenge but so satisfying when it starts coming together. Character development is crucial in any novel, but when you're not writing a mystery or an action-packed sci-fi, and the tension in your story centers almost entirely on the character herself, it's imperative that the author know this character as if it were her own child, or maybe even herself, an incredible challenge since the character is actually a figment of her imagination.

My Mentee Experience So Far

I'm into my second month as a mentee in the Rocky Mountain SCBWI's new Mentoring Program. Claudia Mills is a terrific mentor. First she makes me feel like a Newberry winner by identifying the parts of my book she loves. Then she hones right in on problem spots and is so good at voicing what's wrong with them, I wonder why I ever wrote it that way in the first place. It's up to me to fix the problems, of course, but Claudia remains so positive that after our discussions I can hardly wait to tackle the changes. My first chapter is now 3 chapters. Many writers are told to do just the opposite and start the book at a later place, but my new beginning feels so much richer. My character and the setting came more alive in those earlier chapters. I'm about a third of the way through my novel, and even though I've revised this story several times, I'm excited to work on it again, almost as if it's a brand new book. I have some hard revisions coming, though, and it'll be interesting to see how these go.