Episode 34: How do you brainstorm your characters? -with Meg Medina

Welcome to Episode: How do you brainstorm your characters?-with authors Grace Lin and Meg Medina.

TRANSCRIPT:

Grace Lin: Hello. I'm Grace Lin, children's book author and illustrator of many books, including the middle grade novel, When The Sea Turned to Silver, and the picture book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star.

Grace Lin: Today, I'm here with Meg Medina, the author of many books, including Merci Suarez Changes Gears, and the picture book, Mango, Abuela, and Me, illustrated by Angela Dominguez. Hi Meg.

Meg Medina: Hi Grace. How are you?

Grace Lin: Good. I'm so glad that you could join me today.

Meg Medina: Me too.

Grace Lin: Are you ready for today's questions?

Meg Medina: You know, I am. It's early in the morning for me, but I am ready.

Grace Lin: All right. Today's question is from a person named Summer, and they ask ...

Summer: How do you brainstorm your characters?

Grace Lin: How do you brainstorm your characters?

Meg Medina: Summer, that is a great question. So when I think about a book, I think of it as a universe that I'm creating, a world that I'm creating. So usually what I do is I always start with the main character. I'll take a sheet of paper. Sometimes I do it on computer, but usually in the very early parts of my thinking about a book, I use paper and pencil. So I write the character's name, just the bare bones about her, her age, and what I think her problem is. And that's tricky because characters never have just one problem, and characters also like to keep secrets, right? So there's the problem that they have that they tell everybody about, that everybody can tell. And then there's the problem sometimes that's secret inside of them that keeps tripping them up throughout the story.

Meg Medina: So for example, in Merci Suarez Changes Gears, the outside problem is Edna Santos and Lolo. But the inside problem for Merci has more to do with the pressures in her family and how she's feeling about herself and how worried she is about her grandfather.

Meg Medina: So, I start with that main character, and then I think about what is her world. So she's going to have a school life. So I draw another circle and I say, okay, who's in school? Who's her favorite teacher? Who's the pesky teacher? You know, what's the principal like? Who's the custodian? Who does she sit next to? Who sits at her lunch table? Who does she like? Who's annoying? Who does she sometimes like, but has fights with? So I'm listing all of that.

Meg Medina: I do the same thing for her home. Who does she live with? Does she share room? Who's the person that she shares a room with? Who does she live with? And I'm writing those sorts of names all around, and just like one or two lines about the person that occurs to me as I'm drafting. And I think of all of the spaces that she occupies. Like if I'm writing an older character that has a part time job, let's say, I might write who's at the job. Or if they have a club that they go to, who's in the club? So all the spaces have their own sort of specific characters.

Meg Medina: And then it's a lot like weeding in a garden or growing flowers. Sometimes some things take, and other things aren't really wonderful. I'm sure you've had this experience when you're writing. You start with an idea for a character or a plot point and it doesn't really go anywhere. So at moments like that, I just sort of scratch that person out, like that person's not so interesting. But, hmm, this principle, who has a side job as a lounge singer, I kind of like this guy. And I'll circle him. And I just, the ones who snag my interest come out, and then I circle them.

Meg Medina: And then when I start writing, I'll say to myself, where do I want to start this novel? Okay, let's see what happens if I start it school. And I grabbed those characters, a few of those, and I put them in a situation. They're at lunch, they're at PE, they're doing a science project together. And I just start a scene and see what happens. And as those characters talk, as those characters argue, their personalities flesh out. And then I start keeping notes on each character. Then I start building that character even more.

Meg Medina: And they change just so much. You know, sometimes a character that seems like he or she is going to not be very important in the beginning, ends up being super important by the time I finish writing a book.

Grace Lin: Yeah, I always find that so fascinating when that happens. Like that character who you thought was just going to be this kind of throwaway character in the background, becomes like a main, main character by the time you're halfway through.

Meg Medina: It's amazing. That happened to me. I have a teen novel called The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind, and that's exactly what happened. In one of the versions of the novel, he was just a little boy, a kid who does a bike taxi. He was just a taxi driver giving her a lift somewhere. And by the end, when the book finally happened, he was her major, like the romantic hero in the story. So you just don't know.

Meg Medina: I don't know if it happens for you, Grace, but characters start to tap you on the shoulder and they won't leave you alone. Like when they want to be in the book, they won't stop talking to you. Does that happen to you?

Grace Lin: I don't really have them tapping my shoulders, but I do have characters who I'm like, "You're supposed to do this. You're supposed to go there." And they're like, "No, no, That's not me."

Meg Medina: "I refuse madam."

Grace Lin: "You're you're talking about somebody else. Well, send them."

Meg Medina: Yeah. It's like raising virtual children. I don't know, it's really something. But I love that part of it. I love discovering the characters and just discovering the secrets that I don't even know about them in the beginning. And then midway through the book, I go, "Oh, this is why they're so mean." Or, "This is the secret they have." And it puts everything in place. I make it sound easy. Sometimes it's really frustrating. But it is exciting when they all happen and they all come together.

Grace Lin: Well, it's interesting because I think it's what you're saying. It's almost like you come up with the story, every character, even the minor characters, they all have their own stories. Right? And all of a sudden their stories are so much richer than what you can put into the book, but you have it all in your head still. So that's what's so beautiful about being a writer, but also hard because he can't put everybody's story in a book.

Meg Medina: I know. That's when we have spinoffs. When they're really, really big, they become spin-offs. But yeah, I don't know. The people for me ... Books are always ... The most interesting thing for me about any story isn't so much the plot, surprisingly, it's always the people. What do people do when different things happen to them? That's always what I'm curious about. And that depends on who's in it. What is their story? What makes them tick? What are the little pieces inside of them that are troubling or broken? What are their really courageous pieces and strong pieces, sometimes that they don't even know about? That's when it gets really interesting for me.

Grace Lin: Wow. Well, that's great. Well, Meg, thank you so much for answering this question. And Summer, thank you so much for asking it.

Meg Medina: That was great, Summer.

Grace Lin: Yeah, I think you've said a lot that I think all of our listeners are going to be thinking about for a long time. Thanks so much.

Meg Medina: Okay. You're welcome. Have a great day.

Grace Lin: Bye.

Meg Medina: Bye.

Today’s BOOK REVIEW comes from Violet! She’s reviewing White Bird by R.J. Palacio.

Hi, my name is Violet, and I'm going to talk about White Bird by R.J. Palacio. White Bird is about a girl named Sarah, and she's Jewish during World War II. I liked this book because I really like history and graphic novels, and this book is a graphic novel. I really also liked this book because I don't like long chapter books because I feel like I can't get through them, but if it's a long graphic novel, I actually feel like I can get through it because I'm pretty quick at reading them. I really loved White Bird and it's really good, and I recommend it. Thank you for having me on your show. Bye.

Thank you so much Violet!

More about today’s authors:

Meg Medina is a Newbery award-winning and New York Times best-selling author who writes picture books, as well as middle grade and young adult fiction. Her works have been called “heartbreaking,” “lyrical” and “must haves for every collection.” Her titles include Merci Suarez Changes Gears, Mango Abuela And Me, Burn Baby Burn, and The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind.

When she’s not writing, Meg works on community projects that support girls, Latino youth, and/or literacy. She serves on the National Board of Advisors for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and is a faculty member of Hamline University’s Masters of Fine Arts in Children’s Literature. She lives with her family in Richmond, Virginia.

Grace Lin, a NY Times bestselling author/ illustrator, won the Newbery Honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and her picture book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star, was awarded the Caldecott Honor. Grace is an occasional commentator for New England Public Radio , a video essayist for PBS NewsHour (here & here), and the speaker of the popular TEDx talk, The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf. She is the co-host of the podcast Book Friends Forever, a kidlit podcast about friendship and publishing (geared for adults). Find her facebook,  instagram , twitter ( @pacylin) or sign up for her author newsletter HERE.

Special thanks to the High Five Books & Art Always Bookstore, Ms. Carleton’s 2nd grade class at Jackson Street School for their help with our kid questions and reviews.