BooksChatter: ✉ Lake of Sins [1-2]

Today L.S. O’Dea, author of the Young Adult Dystopian Sci-Fi series, Lake of Sins, takes over our blog to tell us about how she crafts her characters.
“What a great plot! This story swept me in and kept me entertained from beginning to end.” Peyton Siruski

“The exciting, action packed second book in the Lake of Sins series will have you staying up all night to finish the story. I thought it was impossible to like this book better than the first, but I was wrong.” M. Cassidy

“The different species or classes are something utterly new and remarkable to me in the genre. They never cease to amaze me.” Ana Silva

Author Guest Post: Creating Characters | The Series | About the Author | Giveaway & Tour Stops

Crafting Characters

I don’t usually start with a physical description of the character. I start with action. As an example, in Lake Of Sins: Escape, I wanted Trinity to flee into the forest. I had to get her away from home. So, the question is why would a teenage girl flee into the forest? It had to be a good reason. Okay, so maybe there is a threat at home – she’s not going to make the Harvest List. Okay. Why? How does she know she won’t make the List; it hasn’t been read yet. Well, she’s different. How?

This is how my thought process goes for basically every character. Why would Jackson help a Producer? Why would he risk his home, his life for this other creature, a being that is considered lower than him? He is around Producers, has been for years, why would he help her when he never helped anyone else?

Motivation. Every character has it and as an author, I believe that every character’s motivation is important. In life, we are all characters and we all have our own motivations for doing things. Why do we diet, eat too much, buy that candy bar, that car we can’t afford? The answer to each of these questions changes for each character. That is true in life as well as in stories.

For me, what makes each character tick is more important than their appearance. Sometimes, the motivation for some characters doesn’t even make it into the books, but I know what it is. I have to in order to stay true to the story and character. What a character does helps me to visualize their physical appearance.

I stick with stereotypes for some of the characters. For example: Stockers are notoriously cruel and bad tempered. I gave them beady little eyes. Are all people with beady eyes mean? No, but it helps the reader keep the characters straight and if you’ve read my books, you know that I have a LOT of characters.