Bigger 11 - Sharp Contrasts

I love "The Odd Couple." Nasty neat Felix and sloppy Oscar being forced to live together? Genius. You know that, for almost anything, they will make opposite choices. Felix will go for opera, while, Oscar will go for jazz.  Felix prefers a fine wine, while Oscar likes a cheap beer.

And so on. This contrast gives us someone to identify with and connects us with our own choices. On bigger issues related to life events (marriage, death, coming of age) and social concerns (poverty, freedom, loyalty), it sets up conflicts between the characters that draw us in. Differences put things that matter in high relief, so we see what otherwise is invisible. And sometimes contrasts can take us on a journey that makes us wiser.

The bigger the contrast, the bigger the story. Besides having characters with contrasting views, you can have characters in contrasting circumstances (rich and poor). You can give them different allegiances (as with countries at war). And you can find them in different stages of life (parent and child). A playwright once told me that the audience is immediately drawn in if the characters look different. Even having a man and a woman on stage sets up a contrast for an audience.

Fish out of water stories (like "Crocodile Dundee") provide a contrast in setting and character. One of the advantages of these stories is that they get the audience to see a familiar setting through unfamiliar eyes. Disaster films do much the same thing by taking the familiar and twisting it into a new shape -- often exploring the meaning and value of what we take for granted. Time travel stories usually take a protagonist from our time and put him or her into an era where our own knowledge and skills would need to be adapted, so we have a new appreciation of our own lives. In "Back to the Future," Marty can create a skateboard that allows him to escape bullies, but he doesn't know how to open a bottle of cola.

The contrasts need to be big contrasts, and, ultimately, they need to reveal important truths. Moving back in time a few years or having characters who went to different but equivalent high schools in the same town is not especially interesting or revealing (though good stories might be built in other ways). In Genesis, Cain and Abel may be siblings, alike in many ways, but one is a shepherd and the other is a farmer. One offers God a sacrifice of that is not acceptable, while the other offers one that is. And this leads to murder, and the question, "Am I my brother's keeper?" The result is a memorable story that has resonated with millions of people over thousands of years.

Bigger 9 - Getting Crazy

Algis Budrys once said that all interesting characters were certifiably mad. They are imprudent, action-oriented, and obsessed.

So are many writers. Some that I know terrify me with their stunts, extreme perspectives, and picaresque lives. The characters they meet in the real world compete with the best in fiction. It seems like a great advantage to a writer when they have friends who are available and ready to become memorable characters in their scripts and novels. If this is the kind of writer you are, congratulations. If you live long enough, you have the ingredients for bestselling fiction.

But maybe you're more like me. Not John Belushi. Not Hemingway. More Bob Newhart. Is there any hope for us? Can we create big characters?

Certainly, we can listen to our adventurous friends. When they introduce us to larger than life people,  we can bring all our powers of observation and storytelling to what we experience. It's not the same as being crazy, but it's a start.

What else can we do?

• Research - No matter how cautious you are, you can read about the range of human behavior. A book like The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat will extend your knowledge of what is possible at the limits of the bell-shaped curve. If you are more daring, go where extreme people are. A friend of mine directs a drama group at a federal prison.
• Imagine - What would you do if your life (or a loved one’s) were threatened? Or if there were no social constraints? Or consequences?
• Notice blind spots - It is hard to recognize what you don't see, but it is easy to notice when others around you use circular logic, ignore the facts, and interpret reality in unexpected ways. Here's a tip: if you irritated, perplexed, or surprised by an opinion or justification, step away from your emotion and inhabit that peculiar mindframe. You may discover something valuable.
• Explore - Take an assumption or longheld belief and abandon it for a day. Take the opposite view of what you believe. Give the mad idea the benefit of a doubt and see where it takes you.
• Get to know people better - That mundane person at work? What is she hiding.
• Be prepared - When you happen upon an eccentric or bizarre person, don't waste the opportunity. Be ready with questions.
• Recognize context - Behaviors that are perfectly fine in one situation are nonsensical in others. Dancing at a party is fine. At a funeral Mass, not so much. Transpose what is normal and easy for you to relate to in one arena into another where it is uncomfortable, and then explore why a person might feel their behavior is necessary.

None of this may make you as crazy as your most adventurous friends, but maybe it will nudge your character toward certifiable, toward being authentic and unpredictable. And that will make your story bigger and more likely to reach larger audiences.

Be a Character Collector

I used to take my notebook everywhere so I could jot down ideas as they popped into my head. Once, when I was in a bar in Charlottesville, Virginia, a rather large man came over to me and put his finger, firmly, on my pencil.

"Mister," he said, his voice drawling, "I would appreciate it if you would put this away."

I told him I was just working on a short story.

"That may be," he said, "but my buddies and I don't get into town much. We want to have some fun, and..."

I put my notebook away, and he smiled and gave me a nod.

One of my friends said he was "one of the hill people." I suppose he thought I was a government agent of some sort. He clearly wanted his privacy. How ironic that our conversation is now on the Internet. And that he found his way into my short story.

How could I leave him out? He was a character. Different. Complex. Surprising. The very thing readers look for.

If you want to be a productive writer in fiction, you need to become a character collector. Sometimes they'll come to you in a bar, but most of the time you'll have to stalk them. Here's what you are looking for:

• People who are different - Weirdoes are always easy to spot and always welcome. But look for subtle differences, too. The person dressed impeccably, with an untied shoe. The homeless guy reading Tolstoy. The more closely you look, the more you will discover.
• People who are emotional - Strong emotion is always captivating. And we often expose ourselves in moments when our heart or hormones take over.
• People who want something - To me, this is the best of all. Hang around where a manager works in a retail establishment and hear the complaints and requests. One of my most interesting experiences was a long wait at the Social Security office when I needed my card renewed. One desperate person after another made his or her case with everything they had in terms of documents, arguments, and intimidation.

You can find characters anywhere, but I actively seek them where diverse groups gather and act. Weddings and funerals are obvious. Bars are good. Sports events bring together people from very different backgrounds, family units, and action. And there is more going on than what you see on the field. Food, souvenirs, and beer mix with misbehaving kids, couples on dates, and business people making deals.

Pay attention to what other people are up to. Even provoke them, if you dare. But watch yourself, too. How are you reacting to what is happening around you? Who catches your interest? Who raises your blood pressure?

Then capture the moment in full sentences, as soon as possible, in a way that doesn't excite someone from the hills. If you do, you'll have exactly the right characters available for your next story.

Bigger 6 - Crazy Bad Villains

I think it was Lee Marvin who was asked how he developed a knack for playing villains. His response was he had never played one.

Of course, villains are the heroes of their own stories. The best comic characters have skewed points of view that they believe in without question. I believe the same is true for villains. If your villain has honor, integrity, intelligence, humor, talent, and a flaw as wide as the Grand Canyon, you have a character who can drive your protagonist to the limit - and drive your story to new heights.

The best villains horrify us because, even if they are aliens, they seem real and personally threatening. In fact, I believe we connect them on a deep level. They expose the potential for evil within us, and that gives them their power.

Too many villains are easy to dismiss. They have cliche backstories; they are sadistic for no reason; they are malformed and ugly. This makes them forgettable, mere plot devices.

Even worse, some writers make the villain an entity instead of an individual. Society may be at fault, but a criminal organization or a corrupt government or a merciless alien species isn't personal enough to really engage an audience. This strategy never works. A villain must have a face.

When villains are fully formed, they can be the most memorable part of the story. They also do the dirty work for you. A real villain will come up with ways to make your protagonist miserable that will shock you. Since they are in a battle for existence and identity, they will do almost anything to win. I've also found that they are uncannily articulate about the reasons for their actions.

Since I am reluctant to be cruel to my protagonist, the villain becomes my best ally in a story. I'm not the one torturing the hero/heroine I love. It's the villain's fault.

A great way to create bigger villains is to make a list of you favorite and most memorable ones. Study these and dig into why you connect with them. And don't forget to find the piece that is just like you.