You want to know about creating interesting character interactions for your novel? Look no further than my dogs.
The week Moke, my new puppy, met the rest of my fur family members, he must have felt like a superhero. Every time the tiny eight-week-old English Cocker got close, the two 70-pound Australian- Shepherd mixes ran away. And I mean every single time. Of course, the puppy just wanted to be near them, so everyone raced around a lot.
Eventually, they began to sort it all out. My three-year-old, Misha, was the first one to cave. He went from begrudgingly tolerating the baby to hanging out with him, and then allowing him to crawl all over him and steal all of his toys at least some of the time. Two months later, my fourteen-year-old, Sophie, remains nowhere near as forgiving. On the other hand, she often lays down at the end of the wire pen I’ve set up in the living room, and the puppy can now jump up on her without risking his life.
In short, to a lesser or greater extent, they’ve accepted this new addition and their interactions have changed. You’re going to want to create that same kind of growth — or at least movement — when it comes to your character interactions and relationships because there’s nothing more boring than characters who remain the same.
How do you do that? Let’s turn back to my pups for a few possible answers. You can:
- Introduce a new character
- Make that character unavoidably irritating — or simply unavoidable
- Create competing agendas or goals
In short, establish some kind of conflict to which your characters react one way. Then, slowly, have those reactions and interactions morph as the relationships shift.
When in doubt about what to do next, think about heading to a dog park and watching the pups engage in unfiltered socializing. That should give you plenty of character interaction ideas.
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