Have you ever spent a happy fifty thousand words getting along famously with your protagonist and then, when it comes to the crunch, they won’t do what you – and the plot – needs them to do?

You feel perplexed, let down, hurt even. You created them after all, why won’t they play ball? Could it be you’re asking your heroine to do something that goes against her nature?
Before you cry – ‘What nature? I made her up!’ – let me beg to differ. A character’s nature is, by definition, ‘whatever comes naturally to them.’ The template for what’s natural already exists. We don’t make it up. We can’t put a bunch of random character traits onto a person and expect them to hang comfortably together. They won’t.

This is where knowing about the twelve astrological signs can come in handy. Years ago, my knowledge of zodiac signs being solely what I’d gleaned from women’s magazines, I imagined the list of characteristics tagged to each sign was totally random. Now I know differently. They’re not random, they’re based on the four elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water, and if you have a core idea in your head about what sun sign your hero/heroine is, it can be a great aid in knowing what matters most to them, where their attention is likely to be focused, and what choices you can congruently get them to make. 

• Earth signs (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn) give you people who relate to the senses; people who are very much rooted in the ‘here and now’.
• Air signs (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius) give you people who relate best to the mind, to thoughts; thoughts transcend time, and can relate to past, future or present.
• Fire signs (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) relate best to creativity, imagination, projections and to the future.
• Water (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) is the element that clings onto and remembers the past. Water signs relate best to feelings and emotions.

Each of the elements is sub-divided into three giving twelve signs*. Already you can see how knowing a character’s sign might indicate the kinds of responses they are likely to make to life events.

In a car prang a fiery type might get out and have an argument with the other driver. An airy type will take down the other’s details. An earthy type will assess the damage and take practical steps, whilst a watery type might burst into tears.

Remember Inspector Morse? An airy sign if there ever was one, with his love of intellectual pursuits like crosswords, but he was also extremely squeamish – which could perhaps be due to a ‘lack of earth’ in his chart. He was a romantic, and an intellectual but he never accrued many worldly goods, or had a long-term physical relationship because he wasn’t anchored enough in ‘earth’. Just speculation of course! But you see how you can use different mixtures of the elements to make your characters consistent? If we accept a ‘lack of earth’ in Morse’s chart – we can’t then make him ‘good with banking investments’ – because this wouldn’t be consistent.

Go back now to your heroine who wouldn’t play ball, consider her star sign and you might have a better clue why. Character traits are not random, they have an innate ‘energy’ or purpose. They ‘come from’ somewhere. If you understand where that is, the chances are your characters will feel more real, congruent and believable – which is what we’re all aiming for in our writing. 

* See A Writer’s Guide to the Zodiac by Giselle Green available from the author www.Gisellegreen.com

Pandora’s Box and Little Miracles are published by Harper Collins Avon