Write His Answer

Developing Characters

Donna Brennan Interviews Robert Liparulo

Part 2

Question: In all your books you manage to create characters we really care about. And your villains are drawn so well we understand their motivation and sometimes even sympathize with them. Is there a secret to making us care?

I always try to make every character human. Sounds like common sense, but I’m not sure every writer understands what that means. It means doing everything possible to put flesh on him, imbue him with understandable, human feelings, examining his qualities and flaws. What are the things that humans do? They love, they have regrets, they have their own understanding of the world around them, right or wrong; they eat, sleep, desire companionship. I always look for tiny details that make up each character: scars, bad eyesight, kinky hair . . . anything that tells the reader, “Look, this person isn’t made of cardboard, he’s not a figment of the writer’s imagination (though, of course, he is)”-it all goes toward making him or her someone the reader can relate to. I spend a lot of time “being” my characters before I start writing. I encourage them to be different from me, to do things I wouldn’t do and think differently from the way I think. Because they become unique, I think readers forget they came from the writer’s mind.

Question: Are any of your characters based on people you know? Are any of them based on you?

Most of my characters are an amalgam of people I know and have read about or seen in interviews and me. Hutch from Deadfall and Deadlock is the character who comes closest to a person I know. He was modeled on my best friend, who’s a game warden in Wyoming. He’s the kind of guy who can be dropped into any wilderness in the world and not only come out alive, but probably drive out in a vehicle made of twigs. I wanted to know what he would do in a situation that seems hopeless. How would he cope? Where would he find the strength to survive?

All of my characters have traces of me, of course. Some of the heroes are acting in ways I hope I’d act in tough situations. But the character closest to who I am-or whom I used to be-is David from the Dreamhouse Kings. I was very much like him at his age, twelve. I was the mediator between my older brother and my parents, as he is; I was fairly adventurous, always getting into trouble by giving into my curiosity. I didn’t realize I was writing about myself until my mother read the first two books in that series and said, “That’s so you!” and she went on to name all the ways David was me.

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Next – Tips on writing screenplays, research, and words of advice.

There’s still time to register for the May 15-19 Colorado Christian Writers Conference and to sign up for Robert’s continuing session. Click here. Robert is also teaching a continuing session at the August 1-4 Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference.

How to Write Suspense Books That Readers Can’t Put Down
(And That Hollywood Producers
Want to Turn into Feature Motion Pictures)

Donna Brennan Interviews Robert Liparulo

 Part I

It might sound like a dream come true, but nine of Robert Liparulo’s thriller / suspense novels have been optioned for film and three are currently in various stages of production. And since so many young adults were reading his suspense thrillers, he wrote a whole series for them: Dreamhouse Kings. Of course, lots of his adult fans have read that series as well. Fortunately for us, Robert is teaching a continuing session, Writing Suspense and Thrillers, at both the Colorado Christian Writers Conference (May 16 – 19) and at the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference (August 1 – 4). That’s six hours we can spend absorbing knowledge and wisdom from this critically acclaimed and very successful author.

I contacted Robert to ask him about the session he’ll be teaching. Here are his answers.

Question: Can someone really be taught how to write a successful thriller suspense story? Or is it a talent that some writers just seem to “have?”

It helps to have an attraction to thrillers in the first place. I’ve been reading thrillers since I was a kid, so I have a pretty comprehensive understanding of the genre’s tenets from a reader’s perspective. After a while, what works and what doesn’t becomes intuitive, which lets the writer focus on character development and his or her writing, instead of the structure and devices of the genre.

I’ve read the works of some writers who aren’t naturally attracted to suspense, but wanted to try their hand at it; what tends to come through in their stories are clichés or twists that they think are clever, but they’ve been done to death. That’s not to say it can’t be done, but it takes a lot more work than these authors believed.

Question: Your earlier books didn’t delve too much into the faith arena, yet there was a Christian worldview present the whole time. But now your latest book, The 13th Tribe, has a strong biblical basis-the tribe consisting of some of the Israelites, from Moses’s time, who had worshiped the golden calf. It seems like two opposite ends of the spectrum, and yet they both work. What are your reasons for the big shift? And where in the spectrum (if anyplace) do you advocate your students let their stories fall?

I’ve always tried to follow God’s leading in how I tell my stories. When I started Comes a Horseman, I prayed and fasted about how much overt Christianity to put into it. One morning, I was looking at Pikes Peak and I heard God speaking to me. He said, “Do you see me in that mountain.” I said, “Of course, I see you in everything.” He said, “Do you see my name carved into it?” “No.” “That’s how I want you to write your story.” So, I believe God is in my earlier books in ways that I could not have possibly written Him into them. And readers have responded, telling me that scenes comforted them and got them thinking about God-and none of it was intentionally written into those scenes. In fact, if the Holy Spirit weren’t pointing it out to them, readers wouldn’t have seen it at all.

When I was preparing to write a book about vigilantes, I heard God telling me it was time to be more overt about the spirituality. Following His calling, the story exploded into an examination of faith and justice and grace, and the idea of the Tribe fell into place. But despite the faith elements becoming more prevalent, I’m still a thriller writer, so making The 13^th Tribe a Christian thriller felt very natural.

I don’t think Christian authors should necessarily try to fit into a particular market, whether that’s Christian or mainstream. They need to follow their hearts. If that means having strong spiritual content or addressing faith more subtly, then that’s what they should do.

Question: Your books seem to have strong themes: family, loyalty, doing the right thing, self-sacrifice, etc. While it may be obvious to include some type of theme in a Christian novel, how important are these themes to writing a thriller?

Themes in thrillers are less important than character and plot. In fact, a general rule is to not write with a theme in mind, because then every scene, every snatch of dialog, tends to fall back on that theme and it becomes heavy-handed and detracts from the natural flow of the story. However, I think themes are more important in Christian stories, simply because there are so many things about being a Christian that without some sort of theme in mind the story can get muddled. For The 13^th Tribe, I had a general idea of the themes that would come through by the end; then as I started writing, I tried to forget those themes. I think they came through naturally because they were on my mind when I thought through the story, but not as I wrote it.

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 What a fabulous interview! Thank you, Donna and Robert. Watch for two more installments with more great questions and advice.

There’s still time to register for the May 15-19 Colorado Christian Writers Conference and to sign up for Robert’s continuing session. Click here.