Workshop Your WIP — Introduce Your Protagonist with ONE Line
Cultivate clarity in characterisation with feedback from the Community Corner
Hey, writerfolk!
This month’s Forever Workshop is all about applying copywriting techniques to creative writing to make our words more efficient, more emphatic, and more emotionally engaging (yes, the principles of wordy persuasion work on fiction readers, too!).
And I’m stealing this nugget of wisdom from the first lesson to get us thinking about how to make every word count:
On prioritising ‘substance over style’ in fiction:
“You could write stylised prose with beautiful imagery and motifs. But if the substance is missing, if your story is slow, or your descriptions are richer than your characters, your story will feel flat.”
— Copywriting Principles Every Writer Should Steal by Sophie Campbell
That line about characterisation really got me. Because there’s nothing more glorious than when a fictional character feels completely real. Aaand nothing more meh than when a fictional character feels like a cardboard cut-out.
So, let’s do some characterisation clarification...
Specifically, I want to get to know your protagonist in a way that’s efficient, effective, and full of personality. Substance over style. Clarity over cardboard.
Find a sentence from your WIP that encapsulates your protagonist perfectly.
Perhaps it’s a description from an omniscient narrator
Perhaps it’s an internal thought from inside your protag’s head
Perhaps it’s an observation from another character
Perhaps it’s one of the very first times we see this character, or perhaps it’s from right at the end of the story
Whatever it is, pick something that makes you think:
“YES, this is who my lil imaginary guy/gal/nonbinary pal really is.”
And hopefully, in turn, your reader will immediately ‘get’ who they are, too.
(Note: I usually don’t give much of a crap what a character looks like, unless there’s a particular physical attribute, gesture, or way they move that helps show who they are. So dive deep and look for a line that gives us a guts-first impression of your fictional person.)
Found one?
Excellent. Let’s see it, then…
Workshop Your WIP:
Share a line from your WIP that *perfectly* sums up your protagonist
Go on, drop it in the comments, so we can all meet your character and say hi.
Feedback Friends Forever!
We are a writing community of thousands and this little Community Corner is a great place to get — and give — feedback. (You also get to meet some genuinely lovely writers here!)
PLUS, practising your objectivity skills on other people’s writing is one of the most useful ways to hone your own self-editing chops.
+PLUS, reading through the variety of different approaches to this seemingly simple exercise can be fascinating and inspiring — and may even give you some new ideas on how to explore your characterisation.
So, while you’re here, please take a minute to share your feedback on one or two of your fellow workshoppers’ characters in the comments.
You don’t have to be a literary critic to add something useful — just give your thoughts and your honest response, eg:
What do you like about the character?
What kind of person do you think they are?
Which details stand out to you? Why are they so effective?
And what makes you want to know more about this character/story?
It’s always super valuable to get fresh eyes on our WIPs, so throw your eyeballs (and your protag) into the mix:
She called him “Mister Marie Kondo.”
My first line and it sums up my MC perfectly:
'Never trust anyone who doesn't read books.'