Cecil Castellucci on Creating Characters...

This was a great session during which author Cecil Castellucci had attendees do some writing exercises with the intent of learning more about their characters and making them more complex and interesting. She started by reading the beginnings of several books to illustrate just how much an author can give to readers about a character in just a few lines. Check out Speak; Tyrell; Ironside; Tale of Despereaux; Millicent Minn, Girl Genius; An Abundance of Katherines (author John Green was in the audience); and her book Boy Proof.

Cecil suggested all characters are like Superman--they are all heroes with some sort of special power; they all have a flaw (their own Kryptonite); they all have a Lex Luthor-type enemy, whether a person or a circumstance that holds them back; they all have a place, a fortress of solitude of their own; and they all have something they love, their own Lois Lane. She also feels that readers learn about characters in two ways--from their voice or how they view themselves, and from the way the world views them.

Cecil's published several novels including Boy Proof, Queen of Cool and Beige and the debut graphic novel from the new DC Comics imprint Minx, The Plain Janes (first in a series)

For some writing prompts recommended by Cecil, visit Jo Knowles blog at the start of every week for her Monday Morning Warm-up exercises. (You can find plenty throughout her blog archives.)