C is for Characters

Character: a person represented in a drama, story, etc.


I used to be a romance writer; therefore part of my job was to create characters. My favorites were Sam (Samantha) and Wade, hero and heroine of The Great Chili Caper, a mystery spoof I wrote for Harlequin Temptation a number of years ago. Imaginary characters, of course, but they have to seem realistic, so they need back stories, faults, interests, careers, traits that will make the reader relate to them and enjoy their stories.

Quite different is the memoir I've finished and am shopping, because now I'm the main character. All those traits I had to create are already there, but in fiction, if one of them doesn't work as the story progresses, I am God: I can go back and change it. In a memoir I must tell the truth. But here's the problem. How much of the truth? And what truth? Mine is different from my husband's, the other major character in the memoir. Can I rearrange the truth? Once in a memoir course I mentioned that a scene I'd written in which I accompany my husband into the cancer hospital didn't exactly happen that way, and someone accused me of being a liar. But many times I did walk into the hospital with him, so was I lying or just rearranging to make a better story?


And is what I remember the actual truth? Some things I know I'll never forget: the cold voice of the doctor who spouted out Ralph's diagnosis of acute myelogenous leukemia, the smell of the hospital, the incongruity of tuxedo-clad "waiters" delivering unappetizing lunches from "Room Service." But some incidents and bits of dialogue are blurred in my memory so I write them as best I can. Still, I hope the story arc makes sense and (someday) readers will identify with the main character (me).