32. Would she … ?
When you read these Advice to writers pages, you might be struck by the fact that so many of them are about character. Or about characters.
There are lots of clues to how to define, refine and keep
fresh the people that inhabit your novel. There is less about what
actually happens.
Of course, what actually happens is your plot. And the reason why these
things happen is … what your characters are like. So-and-so does
such-and-such because she is the sort of person that she is. When you
give your typescript to an agent or an editor,
they will often say to you:
'I don't think she would do that …'
or
'That doesn't seem quite in character …'
If you have a reader you can trust, this is very good advice indeed, because it comes from the reader's understanding of your characters, not just out of the blue.
And of course, although it seems we are talking about
character again, we are also talking about plot.
