The Right Career for Your Characters
For me, I don’t pick careers for the characters so much as they evolve out of who the character is. If they have magic, what type of magic? How would that magic affect them? Would it automatically influence the type of career they’d gravitate to? Perhaps their careers evolve more out of necessity and what they are good at.
For instance, in my short story, Mr. Hotness, my heroine, Naia, was a web designer who owns her own business. She had the skills, she had to earn her way through college, and she had responsibilities that required her to succeed. For the hero, he needed to be hunky and built, so Joe was a journeyman bricklayer.
I am familiar with both of these careers. I have designed web pages and written code before as well as owned a business. My brother-in-law is a bricklayer, so I’m familiar with the terms and the ones I wasn’t, I could ask him, but, honestly, Mr. Hotness is less about their careers and more about their meeting, making a connection, and, well, a fun romance.
But what happens if the character’s story arc and interests call for a career I know nothing about. Well, authors are known for their research abilities. Okay, I don’t know if abilities is necessarily the right term. A more apt description of this would be to admit that we love research. Going down a rabbit hole to glean information for our stories is something all of us have done, often with glee. Truly, the old meme about a writer’s search engine is based in truth.
I wrote a story for an anthology, no longer in print, titled The Samurai’s Duke based in Regency England. The samurai was a woman, the story started in Japan. So, even though the story was only 10,000 words, I spent hours researching for it.
Another book I have yet to release titled The Psychic and the Cowboy is obviously about a psychic and a cowboy. I am in the process of getting a cover done for it and it will release next year. It is a paranormal romantic suspense. So, how did I research the careers? This particular psychic reads tarot. While I don’t, I am familiar enough with it and know enough to be able to pull it off, and, of course, I conducted research. But the story is less about her psychic abilities and more about a woman having to overcome her imposter syndrome to really live her life. The cowboy’s family owns a ranch, which I am not an expert in but, again, research is your best friend.
I’m currently working on a series that requires a significant amount of research. (Rubbing hands gleefully. LOL) Honestly, it will be challenging, but one of the traits of most authors is we have inquisitive minds. (You could also call this a cross to bear, but I prefer “trait.”) The main character is a geologist. I’m looking forward to digging in (Yes, it’s a bad pun and I’d apologize for the bad pun, but, hey, I’m not really sorry, so… Grin) and sliding down that rabbit hole.
So, how do I pick the “right” career for my characters? Honestly, it’s up to them, who they are, and what serves their story arc the best. If it requires hours at the computer, talking to people in the field, etc., to do it right, then I guess I’ll “sacrifice” my time for my craft.
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‘It’s up to them.’ That sums up the way my characters make it known to me what they do for a living, even if that only gets a small mention in the story’s overall arc. Research is the name of the game here, although I can get so busy researching that I sometimes forget I’m supposed to be writing!
Hi Marci, Rabbit holes are to be watched out for but, as you say, enormous fun. Samurai in Regency England – we are often surprised by the reach of past times but Great Britain is a group of islands and shipping came here and went out from here. there’s all sorts to find. Great post, Anne Stenhouse