Guest Blogging: Ben Sobieck

I've know Ben Sobieck now for over a year.  Ben's a gifted writer who has a book recently published by Trestle Press in both ebook format and in traditional print.  Called Cleaning Eden, it is a powerful novel about drugs, addiction, murder, and charismatic personalities who prey upon those in need of something . . . or someone . . . to believe in.

Ben's pinned a formula on how to write a novel/characters.  Put in it mathmatic formulas.  Interesting (and I wish I got past basic Arithmatic in the fifth grade).

Take a peak at it.  Tell us what you think.

"A Literal Formula for Creating Quirky Characters"

by Benjamin Sobieck

At the end of the day, everything is numbers. Even as I type this, the letters are represented as numbers in the computer. They stack up into patterns called formulas. Therefore, everything is a formula.

Is there even a formula for building a quirk into a character? I think so. But this "formula" is usually thrown around as a figure of speech. (i.e. "The characters in that Sobieck guy's latest book are so formulaic, I was surprised when they DIDN'T drink beer in church.")

However, I think the figurative expression can be express as a literal algebraic equation.

Here's my non-scientific scientific-sounding attempt at that:

((W - X) * Y) / Z = C

The algebra breaks down like this:

W = A stereotypical set of character traits. If the character is a private investigator, there are certain things you can expect. X represents the most literal, written-in-stone expectations.

X = The under-ability or over-ability to do something. This doesn't have to be a flaw per se. It also could be a trait that conflicts with the stereotypes in Y. For example, a hit man who doesn't use weapons.

Y = An environmental factor that exacerbates the difference of (W - X). It's no good to have a quirk that doesn't get exploited to the full measure possible. From the example above, the hit man would be tasked to take down a samurai armed like a walking tank. In a gun store.

Z = A grounding force. Whatever the equation equaled up to this point, it is offset by Z ever so slightly. This could be supporting characters that help mitigate the effects of our quirky character. Think of the stereotypical boss screaming, "You're a loose cannon, buy a damn pistol already," at the hit man over the telephone.

C = Your quirky character. Call him Biff, won't you? Biff the Quirky Hit Man.

Plugging those variables into the equation to create Biff would look like this:

((Hit man - doesn't use weapons) * samurai) / Overbearing boss = Biff the Quirky Hit Man

Here's another example using a character most everyone knows:

((Private detective - really smart and addicted to drugs) * Fame) / Watson = Sherlock Holmes

Now plug some of your favorite quirky crime fiction characters into this equation. Does it work?

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Benjamin Sobieck is the author of the crime novel, "Cleansing Eden," and numerous flash fiction pieces. His website is CrimeFictionBook.com.