Who is the Bigger-Than-Life
Character in Your Bestseller-Kind-Of-Novel? The main characters in
the bestseller-kind-of novel are bigger-than-life. No wimps here. You
can’t just tell us what they do; you have to show us what they do. Prove
that they’ve bigger-than-life. These are people who find ways to solve the
problems around them. They outsmart the bad guys. The bigger-than-life
character overwhelms the enemy, somehow. They blow up blockade, so to
speak—literally or emotionally.
Here are your examples: In the
Godfather, everyone knows that he can fix any man’s problems. His people
already know that; we’re just being introduced to him, though. The
undertaker comes to him seeking revenge on the well-to-do white boys that tried
to rape and beat his only daughter. If the undertaker takes revenge, he knows
the police will find out and jail him. So he comes to godfather and asks the
request. Godfather has his foot soldiers to take care of it. The pizza baker
wants his daughter to be married to the baker boy who is about to be deported
to Italy by immigration. Godfather has his concierge to talk to his politicians
and stop the deportation. His godson comes in crying about a movie that the big
time Hollywood producer won’t give to him. Godfather assures him he will
fix it. The producer says he’ll never get that part. Godfather makes him
an offer he can’t refuse. Through his unlimited connections, the producer
finds his prized and protected horse’s head in his bed. Producer’s
scream can be heard a mile away.
Even in death, he has outwitted the
bad guys. He grooms the son Michael to carry on, and drummed into his head the
plot the enemy will use to kill him. He accurately predicts who would be the
traitor after his death. Godfather was larger than life and he has out lasted
the author, Mario Puzo.
Godfather executed the death of the Italian
Don, who had killed his father. As his mother begged for his life, the mob boss
shot her. The boy escaped and came to America. He did crime to keep his people
from suffering injustice. That was larger-than-himself, larger than life.
GONE WITH THE WIND—Near the end of the war, Scarlett comes home
to Tara and finds it in disarray. Her mother is dead, the cotton fields are
waiting to be tended, her father is losing his memory and two lazy sisters are
complaining. Scarlett put on her bonnet and worked the field and whipped the
sisters in line to do the same. When a Yankee soldier comes into her house, she
shoots and kills him, then drags him out and buries him. Scarlett was a
bestseller-kind of character—larger than life.
The
Mayor’s Wife Wore Sapphires—Indigo Tate is wired to make things
happen. The story opens with her scheming to get her husband into congress. She
was ladylike and all cosmopolitan in the right circles. When she’s trying
to get her “Camelot” status for Compton. But near the climax, when
she is locked in a safe house, under the guardianship of a six-foot-nine giant
and pressured, she tamed her guardian to have pity on her. She had the cool
presence of mind, like Michael, to push the right buttons. The head enemy
approaches, and when he is caught off guard, she battles him down with a broken
chair leg—like Scarlett when the Yankee tries to invade her home. She runs
and jumps off a high porch with two pit bulls baring teeth and chasing in close
pursuit. She sprang on top of a six-foot fence, dislocating her arm and leg,
but she keeps running to the highway, to freedom. No one can say anything but
that Indigo Tate is a larger-than-life-character. She is the African American
heroine who’s name will be just as well known as Scarlett’s.
Write 20 characteristics of your bigger-than-life character. If you notice,
there are no wimps in even a love story.
ABOUT THE
AUTHORMartha Tucker is an author, story editor, publisher, and speaker.
The Mayor’s Wife Wore Sapphires is a breakthrough romantic urban
thriller (
website). Sign up today for a free newsletter:
bestsellercircle@zinester.com
