Into the Fire

To understate the obvious: I'm an emotional person. Driven by passion. If I'm not into it, chances are it's not in my life.

As a result, I want to write stories that move people. Force them to address their deeper emotions. Ask them to confront what makes them who they are. Lead them into epiphany situations that require them to feel something real, haunting, or thought-provoking. The only way I know to accomplish this is to create characters who connect with readers.

Above is the picture of characters Marty Deeks (Eric Christian Olsen) and Kensi Blye (Daniela Ruah) of the popular CBS spin-off series NCIS LA produced by the ultra-successful Donald Bellisario. They're partners in a foursome of NCIS investigators/operatives that include former SEAL Sam Hanna and "G" Callen, played by LL Cool J and Chris O'Donnell respectively. Marty Deeks is a detective from the LAPD, originally appointed liaison to NCIS but now a secure part of the team.

Relationships play a huge role in Bellisario dramas which is probably why his series are so successful. There's always the UST (Unresolved Sexual Tension), but romantic relationships are never the only kind addressed. I don't know how he continues to manage it, but his writers are superior to most who write for television, and the characters are developed over time with near perfect casting.

I don't know how other writers create their characters, although I've heard some cut out pictures and post them near their computers or on story boards. Other authors do full work-ups in notebooks for their individual characters. For me, I get a general sense of what they look like, I hear their names, and I know their "voices". I learn who they are at their cores as the words fall out on the page or screen. I have to feel who they are, their emotional makeup, their fears and hopes, hates and wickedness. It's a complete experience to create them and their stories. They have to fit for me.

Kensi and Deeks finally got to a place of closeness – their growing attachment to each other slow and steady as only Bellisario characters can accomplish. Their boss, a shrewish tiny woman (Linda Hunt), who used to be a top espionage operative, spotted and diffused it by reassigning Kensi to a "need-to-know" venture indefinitely. The heartbreak on Deeks' face when he was told was priceless, the music queued to "Landslide" by Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac. Made me cry, I can tell you that. Powerful.

Yes, a viewer or a reader has to engage the process. Has to want to enjoy or invest in the characters. But if the writer of a series episode or a full-length novel can capture their interests and fulfill their desires for emotional satisfaction and whatever level of intellectual stimulation they require, the writer can label the work a success. And this is done by making them "real". That's the only way the genuine attachment to characters can happen.

Father, thank you for your divine inspirations, the multiple talents and giftings so generously bestowed upon people of all kinds. Thank you for the opportunities to bring you pleasure by using those things you've given to us. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.