So when she did me the honors by agreeing to tell me about Charactersation, I could not let this opportunity pass. Here is what Adite Banerjie had to say about how important characterisation is for a story.
ADITE BANERJIE SAYS.......
The most fun thing about being a writer is creating characters that are engaging and likeable. But a Ms. Goody Two Shoes will make your reader fall asleep. While the reader may admire Ms. Perfection for a bit, a story about someone who is too-perfect will be intensely boring. So make sure you throw in a flaw in your protagonist’s makeup to keep things interesting. Flaws trip up characters and create conflict. And, conflict is what makes readers keep turning the pages. Also, a character without any flaw means she doesn’t change or grow through the story.
While visualizing my protagonist, Rayna Dutt, I knew she is attractive – after all she’s a fashion model – but she has a chip on her shoulder about her dusky skin. She is career-minded but she hasn’t quite conquered her small-town inhibitions. She is a bit paranoid about what people think of her because she is a well-bred middle class girl and scandals are a big no-no. So, “trouble” for Rayna really begins when she tries to cover up her recent breakup with her boyfriend by pretending to have a fake fiancé.
As for process—if you need to get into your character’s head, do an interview with her. A really rude, no holds-barred interview where you delve into every secret that she has. She may not want to answer all of your questions. She may try to hide behind evasive answers, or become offensive or just walk off in a huff… those are your leads into characterization. After all, characterization comes from every person’s unique response. The interview will be your key to finding your character’s flaw and give you clues to characterization. Have fun while you get to know your character!
FOLLOW THE TOUR .... AND ENTER THE RAFFLECOPTER DOWN ... :)
Trouble Has A New Name
by Adite Banerjie
The Blurb
“Will you pretend to be my fiancé for the next few days?”
Recently-single model Rayna Dutt does not feel like flying to her friend’s big fat Indian wedding. But she does - and when a mix up with room allocations forces her to share a luxury villa on Emerald Isle with the gorgeous owner of the hotel - Neel Arora - and best man at the wedding, things begin to look up.
Until Rayna’s ex turns up with a new girl on his arm!
Hitting the panic button, Rayna searches for a solution. Surely Neel wouldn’t mind being her fake fiancé…? In an instant the attraction they share is fever pitch, but when scandal comes calling, Rayna soon finds herself in more trouble than she can handle!
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Meet the Author
The Author's Thoughts
Adite Banerjie has been writing professionally ever since she graduated from college. After an exciting and fulfilling career as a business journalist, she turned to freelance writing, crunched numbers and wrote reports about consumer behavior and social development issues. Somewhere along the way she got on to the screenwriting bandwagon and wrote scripts for documentaries and spec screenplays for feature films. She was hired by a filmmaker to write a feature script based on a true story. When she penned her first romantic short story she won the 2012 Harlequin Passions Aspiring Authors Contest. Two of her books, The Indian Tycoon's Marriage Deal and Trouble Has a New Name have been published by Harlequin India. And she is currently under contract to write two more for the same publisher. She lives in Greater Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, with her writer husband. She loves to connect with readers and writers.
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Loved this guest post Adite Banerjie. Thanks for the clue about interviewing the character to get to the flaws. Is very useful. Will surely try it while penning my next :)
ReplyDeleteRubina, you make me blush! I have a long way to go before I can even reach anywhere near Ms. Jordan's penmanship. But thank you for your kind words. As for Zodiac signs...oh shoot! why didn't I think of that!! ;)
ReplyDeleteSundari, you don't need any tips from me on characterization. But you could try out the interview...it's great fun! :)
Hey I am always open to learning things. I loved the dialogue in Trouble Has A New Name. Kept telling myself that I need to learn from you Adite. And the interview does seem fun. Definitely working on that :)
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