I came home from the ACFW conference, anxious to dive back into my current project, but knew I had to take some down time to digest some of the nuggets I’d ingested during the workshops. One class on characterization really made me think about where my characters are in their emotional and spiritual journey. If my characters are struggling with a lie—not necessarily a lie they have told, but a lie they believe is true—their circumstances will color their goals and the means they utilize to navigate those goals.
I decided I needed to have a heart to heart talk with my characters because I realized there were things about them I did not know—things they weren’t willing to reveal to me, but issues I needed to drag out of them if this story was going to work.
So I poured myself a cup of coffee and sat down with Carly Austen—the protagonist of the story I’m currently working on. Carly is a young woman who lives with her mother in a small community of Smoke Rise, Missouri. The year is 1877, and the residents of Smoke Rise are still reeling from the losses they suffered from a recent diphtheria epidemic, as well as a grasshopper plague that destroyed the crops two years in a row. Carly’s family was hit hard on both counts. When I look into Carly’s face, I see a secret–something she hasn’t shared with anyone, and I wonder if she will share it with me.
ME: Carly, you have an incredible talent. Some of the embroidery 
and intricate handwork you design is breathtaking. The unique appliqués and fagoting you create on cuffs and bodices, handkerchiefs and shawls is gorgeous. So why do you relegate yourself to wearing such drab dresses?
CARLY: I’m in mourning. It wouldn’t be proper for me to wear frills and lace.
ME: With all due respect to your grief, you have such a special skill 
with a needle and thread. You could certainly create a garment more befitting to your profession and station, and still maintain the solemn dignity expected of a woman in mourning.
CARLY: The decorative stitching and embellishments I design aren’t for me. I’m a plain woman. I would feel … foolish wearing fancy ribbon embroidery and scallops.
ME: There is nothing foolish about displaying your handiwork. After all, it’s your business.
CARLY: But it’s proud and vain, and I don’t des— I don’t … have time to sew such frippery for myself
ME: You started to say something else. What is it, Carly
CARLY: [silently shakes head]
ME: You don’t deserve it? Is that what you think?
CARLY: I didn’t say that.
ME: No, you didn’t, but I suspect that’s what you feel. Why, Carly?
CARLY: You don’t know. You wouldn’t understand
ME: Try me.
CARLY: [shaking head again, and whispering] I let my mother down.
ME: Your mother doesn’t act like she blames you for anything. How do you come to that conclusion?
CARLY: [still whispering, in such a small voice I can barely hear her] I haven’t told her. I can’t tell her. She would hate me.
ME: Your mother would never hate you, Carly. I think you know that deep in your heart. But that doesn’t answer my question: Why do you dress in such drab colors and shapeless dresses when you spend your days creating such beautiful handwork for other women?
CARLY: {drawing in a deep breath] I have work to do …
ME: Carly, wait. Come back. We have to talk about this.
(~sigh~) . . . Sometimes characters can be so stubborn!!
♥