Characters that Last

I always thought that after reading a really good book, it was hard to say goodbye to the characters. It’s even harder when you’re writing them. Since The Shape Inside is in final revisions, I’ve come to the place where Wesley’s, Sophia’s, and Zavy’s stories have ended. I really feel like I know these people, and I’m not ready to say goodbye.

Hopefully, when they are released to the world, readers will fall in love with them as much as I have. I remember the point when each of them started to have their own voices. It was very exciting. Sophia became much more integral to the story arc. She was always a strong-willed character, but she really came to life when I found her voice.

It was difficult to find each character’s voice and home in on it. The strongest character differentiation comes from how each person handles information: Wesley investigates it, Zavy deflects it, Sophia tests it, the Sheriff restricts it, Dr. Riley distorts it, Evelyn weaponizes it, and the Elites bureaucratize it.

For The Shape Inside, the central challenge was balancing strong, dramatic dialogue with individual restraint. The characters operate in a heightened, secretive atmosphere, so their voices naturally become sharp and theatrical. To distinguish them, I needed to emphasize their different strategies.

People are people, but as a writer, it was fun to step back and ask, “What would Wesley do?” And not, “What would I do?”