How one author acts out her writing
As a child, author Randall Platt wanted to be an actress. She wrote screenplays for her favorite western television shows, complete with roles for herself. As an adult, she pursued acting but eventually found that what she really wanted to do is write.
In a workshop at the Las Vegas Writer’s Conference, Platt, award-winning writer of Hellie Jondoeand other YA and adult fiction, shared how her experience as an actor carries over to writing.
Her lessons and tips:
Know your character’s motivation. Every character we create must have reasons for why they do what they do. To understand your characters’ motivation, you need to know their backstory. It shows how they’ll act and react. With each book she writes, Platt creates character sketches that include information about her characters’ religion, family, what they do for a living, their parents, and more. Some writers spend a “day in the life” of their character examining everything the character does. Other authors like to write letters to their characters to understand them. Read more