A to Z Blogging Challenge – Day 9

I is for Implied Contract and Invisible Character

There’s an implied contract between the author and the reader that goes something like this: Give me your money and your time, and I’ll let you experience what it’s like to be:

A vampire in love
A traveller to another world
A scientist racing against time for a cure
A werewolf looking for his soulmate
A detective trying to solve a murder

You must take a hard look at the offer you’re making: would you accept it if you were the reader?

Most people suffer from emotional problems of their own that hurt so much they keep trying to push them down. Fiction can lure them into a vicarious experience that discharges these emotions.

You have no power to make anyone read anything. You are involved in a transaction with the reader; if you want them to read, you must offer them compensation.

In part, this implied contract can be fulfilled by the invisible character. In every scene in your novel or short story, the invisible character must be free to roam. This character is the reader. Your readers must be made welcome and allowed to ask questions and discover things for themselves.

Your role as an author is that of host; the reader is your guest. As a matter of courtesy you open the door and welcome the readers in, you show them around, introducing them to the characters, explaining things that may confuse them. You stay with them, making sure they always have a good view of what’s going on and making sure they have enough information to understand it.

If you’re writing the story from a third-person point of view, remember that you, the author, are as invisible as the reader. You can’t address them directly, but you can make sure they get the information they need.

Imagine, as you write, that the reader is constantly commenting on what he or she sees and is asking questions:

Who is the story about?
Why are they doing what they’re doing?
Who is the story or scene about?
Where does the story take place?
When does the story or scene take place?

If you don’t ask these questions, your readers are sure to, and you must know the answers to satisfy your invisible character.

30 Days of Writing Questions – Day 9

9. How do you get ideas for your characters? Describe the process of creating them.



On the night of the full moon I draw a magic circle in chalk on my patio and then dance naked under the stars. Then I take a sheet of pristine white paper and spill a drop of blood for each character I want created.

Okay, I’m just kidding. Even if it was that easy I probably wouldn’t do it. It’d freak out the neighbours too much to see me naked. ;-)

My characters usually start with a name, then they reveal themselves bit by bit as the story progresses. That’s all there is to it, at least for me. To be honest, I don’t understand people who have to know every last detail about their character, from how long their mother was in labour with them, right down to the motivations behind every aspect of their lives. If it doesn’t pertain to the story, then who cares?

With DIF, my Myste story, we start with Hannah. Through the things she does I learn all kinds of stuff about her – she’s an accomplished musician, she’s been having a dating dry-spell, and she used to be engaged to a hot, rich, jerk. These are things I need to know about her. I don’t need to know how many years she went to college, who she roomed with, or what her favourite subjects were – she’s first chair flute in an orchestra, you don’t get that without being worthy.

Without going into details, she lets me know just how big a jerk the hot, rich, ex-fiance is. Her motivations are shown through the actions she takes now, not because she’s backed up by pages of useless information.

As far as I’m concerned, working out detailed character maps on each and every character is just another method of putting off writing the actual story.

If you'd like to take part, or just see the whole list of questions, go HERE