I write nuclear
thrillers. As such, the thriller is the main story and the characters are
backstory. In other genres, such as romantic comedies, recovery dramas, and
memoirs, the characters are the main story and the world around them is the
backstory. While characters must have a high degree of consistency in all
novels, it is particularly difficult to write consistent characters as
backstory when the main plot drives the majority of the story development.
Every ounce of backstory development must be spot on.
I have an added
impediment to believable backstory character development. I’ve been a scientist
and engineer for fifty years. I know the terrorist story that I want to tell. But,
I am somewhat stunted when it comes to understanding how people socially react
in given situations, how they verbally share themselves, and what situations
they might encounter as part of my story. For me, writing social interactions,
believable dialog, and emotional motivations is as foreign as writing upside down.
I have, however,
found a ways around my developmental shortcomings. The most obvious single
solution is that I listen to and heed the advice of my editors, my beta
readers, and my wife. These collaborators know what part of my writing leaves
them wanting more. If they aren’t satisfied, my readers in general won’t be
satisfied. I had to learn my second most usable character consistency tool, the
thesauruses.
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| Negative Trait Thesaurus |
I have two
character development bibles:
The Positive Trait Thesaurus and
The NegativeTrait Thesaurus, both by writing gurus Ackerman and Puglisi. The respective
references itemize an extensive range of character-associated traits. The body
of the texts then provides stunningly accurate analysis of those traits, a
revelation.
I have to start the
process from scratch. For each protagonist, I search the index of the two thesauruses
for the three positive trait and one negative trait that I feel most describes my
intended character. I reverse the order for my antagonist. I pick three
negative traits and one positive trait. No character should be all good or all
bad. Then I read, reread, highlight, reread, and reread again the sections of
the thesauruses that discusses these traits.
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| Positive Trait Thesaurus |
As I write, I
periodically review the discussions on these three traits. I need my characters
to exhibit similar attributes and associated behaviors. I have flashbacks that
are consistent with the possible causes list. I screen my characters’ actions
to be true to the associated behaviors, thoughts, and emotions examples. If I
stay within the boundaries of my four selected traits, my characters should
feel true for my readers.
When my manuscript
is completed, I often face one last challenge. I review the story to make sure
that I’ve included enough character development to satisfy the story. After
all, I’m a science nerd and thriller writer. My last story scan is focused on
developing scenes that do nothing more than contribute to the character backstories.
There always seems to be a couple of gaps in the flow of the scenes. I look at
the examples from film and challenging scenarios sections of the thesauruses. If
I mix these two sections with the main story line, a couple of new scenes seem
to present themselves that are consistent with the characters that I want my
reader to believe. These bonus scenes usually seem intentional and true to the
overall story line.
With more than a
hundred fully developed traits developed in both references, there is no end to
wealth of characters that even I can develop. Even my thrillers would be ‘less
than’ without backstory characters.
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| The Defect |
My name is Jeff Bailey.
I write nuclear thrillers for a reason, I’ve worked in nuclear related
industries, from nuclear weapons to nuclear research, for fifty years. Deer Hawk Publications released my
first book, The
Defect in June of 2016. In The
Defect, I tell the story of a terrorist attack on a nuclear
power plant and why the government covered it up. The
Defect is based on true events. Deer Hawk Publications is scheduled
to release I’m
a Marine in the summer of 2017. I’m
a Marine is about a female aviation firefighter in the U.S. Marines who
witnesses the murder of two M.P.s. She decides that it is her duty to stop
them. Keep in mind that I write nuclear thrillers. The
Chilcoat Project, to be released in spring of 2018, is about the theft
of nuclear weapons secrets from a national laboratory. The
Chilcoat Project is also based on true events. My current project, Wine
Country, is based on the true story of the Radioactive Boy Scout, but
with a more sinister twist.
Welcome to my World
