by Terry, Mark
I love research. I love history. I love the science of why people do what they do. I think that’s the most important part of any story. What motivates people? Why do they act and respond the way they do?
I chose the characters that I did because they were the most interesting I could find for that period. My next novel has two main male characters and a heroine just like this novel. That is a coincidence. I come across the characters in research and they stand out as ideal for what I need. That’s the only criteria I follow.
When I have a problem in my storyline, I will write out a character arc for a subject in need of some tinkering. Once I have the character arc, it always shows the path forward.
If you’re a writer, that’s about as much wisdom as another writer should pass along. What they do and how they do it. Any other damn nonsense about “that’s the proper way to do it” should put you to sleep like diagramming sentences.