It’s a Secret. (Character building)

By Joe Gordon

As I was reading a book the other day, I had a sudden insight. Almost all the main characters had secrets. Some were obvious, while others were only hinted at. I was very intrigued to realize this. My first thought was “What an interesting and powerful tool for developing characters and subsequently revealing them to the readers.”

Think about what kinds of things we can discern about these characters, based on the secrets that each withholds? Without even knowing the secret, a great deal can be learned by who they are withholding secrets from and why and who (if any) they are revealed to and why.

In this particular book, one main character has a secret that ends up saving his life and another has one that nearly gets her killed. These are intentionally withheld from those they love. The reader knows these secrets and the tension is heightened because the character’s decisions are scrutinized by the reader, using this knowledge.

Character secrets in a story provide an opportunity to do lots of meaningful things. Secrets can cause all kinds of emotions in the character. Guilt. Fear. Sorrow. Anger. Any of which can be employed (when revealed) to explain all kinds of behavior by the character. Inevitably, there are consequences that come with revealing the secret and/or keeping it. What a great way to introduce conflict into your story. This is a wonderful tool for impacting the plot. These consequences can be small or huge. Character changes. Plot changes.

Giving your characters secrets can help develop a character--make them live and breathe and feel. Some questions you must decide are:

 Who will have a secret?

 What is the secret?

 Why do they have this secret?

 Who will they hide it from?

Why?

 Who will they tell it to?

Why?

 How is the character involved in the secret?

Something they know?

Something they saw?

Something they did?

Something they didn’t do?

 Do you reveal?

When?

Why?

To whom?

 Do you not reveal?

Why?

 How are you going to employ this in your story?