I can count on one hand the number of times I've put aside a book unfinished, most often because I didn't like the characters. I didn't care if they saved the day, or ended the world, or found love. I didn't care if they lived or died. And if I didn't care, what was the point in reading on?A character needs more than a name and a look. You can describe the his determined jaw, or her flashing eyes all you want, but it doesn't really tell me anything about them. I like to get to know my characters on a personal level, and so when I'm writing, I come up with a whole list of vital stats for each one: name, physical description, family situation, background information, where they grew up and went to school. I give them goals and motivation to meet those goals.
I also like to give my characters little quirks. Most people have them in real life. Maybe she likes to walk everywhere barefoot. Maybe he scratches his ear when he gets nervous. Even the small details help to make rich, full characters.
Sometimes, even that's not enough. Take my latest WIP for example. My male protagonist is okay. He's a nice guy. I like him...but I don't love him. Who knew that being good looking and Irish wasn't enough? It's worked for me all these years (haha!)
My problem was that I really didn't know him well enough, so I sat down and started to write a sort of synopsis from his point of view. It's the first time I've done this and it worked brilliantly. Not only did I get to know him, but through the writing, themes and motivations that I hadn't considered started to emerge. Not only was I enriching my character, I was enriching the story.
So now I've decided to do this with all my characters, even the secondary players. Someone said once (it was probably Stephen King, he's always saying stuff) that there are no supporting characters in real life, that everyone is the star of their own story, and so it should be with fiction.
That's what I learned this week, that sometimes it takes a little extra effort to get to know the characters, but the end result is well worth it. After all, if I don't care about them, the reader won't care either.
Know any tricks to getting your characters just right? Pass them along in the comments.
Excellent post, Laurita. I think your idea of writing a synopsis of the story in the character's POV is a good one. Hope you don't mind if I borrow this technique... ;-)
ReplyDeletePlease do. And let me know how it works for you. Good luck!
DeleteCharacter sketches are my favorite part of writing. Another way to make your character more realistic is to give them an ethnic outlook. Say an Irish father who always used certain phrases whenever he got upset which he passed on to his son. Kids tend to pick up traits like that. These days it's so easy to research a word or phrase in another language with translations sites all over the web.
ReplyDeleteLanguage is one of the best ways I know to bring a character to life. All of us have words we tend to overuse but everyone around us knows that's just us. (Hugs)Indigo
I agree. Language is a great way to give your character some personality. It's so funny that you should mention Irish phrases. That's something I'm going to get into in another post, something else I've learned.
DeleteThat's a good idea, Mizz Laurita. Some of the ladies in my writers' group do that for their characters. I am lazy beyond reproach and thus haven't tried it because it sounds too much like work.
ReplyDeleteWhat I want to know now, though, do you love him?
And, when do we get to read a little bit about him?????????
I do! I love, love, love him. Good thing too, because we're going to be hanging out for a while.
DeleteGreat information imparted, my friend. I've got a few words jotted down, we must get together soon to compare characters and mainline caffeine.
ReplyDeleteWe must! Soon. Like in the next week.
DeleteCan I come? Oh please?
DeleteI always try to think how my character is going to change throughout the story, even if it's a flash. The change doesn't have to be big, but even the shifting of perspective, or choosing a different response puts life into them. It shows that they are human, making choices, mistakes, etc.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Laurita!
That's a really good point, Erin. I also liked the point you made on your blog this week about dialogue and not replying withthe first thing that comes to you. I've been keeping that in mind.
DeleteGood advice. Knowing everything you can about your character is like the part of the iceberg below the surface. It's the foundation of what you see above the surface.
ReplyDeleteYes! That's a very good analogy.
ReplyDeleteI love how Stephen King fleshes out his characters. In my opinion, characterization is King's strongest ability. What he does a lot is he flashes into a character's past, has them think about an incident, or a fond memory, or an anecdote. I find that really helps to make a character real.
ReplyDeleteThanks for imparting great suggestions! I like the idea of telling the story in synopsis view from each character's POV. I think it may be more efficient than my approach, which is to simply write scenelets from a character's pov. Usually, the scenelet is how I initially visioned him or her. Then, I do 'riffs' on the character, which are descriptions that relate to the character and their relationship(s) with other characters. I spent the last NaNo doing this; the one before consisted almost half of another (minor) character's diary, but since she was the mother of my protagonist, it was invaluable.
ReplyDeleteANd yes, when can we meet the man better than cardboard? Peace...
My characters tend to talk to me first and I get to know them through an interior dialogue which I'm sure will one day land me in the nearest padded cell but you're right, it's no good trying to work with someone who just doesn't excite you. If you don't love them, chances are your reader won't love them!
ReplyDeleteI've had very different experiences with characters over the years. Some have required dozens of hours of conversations, often out loud and in my shower, to figure out in terms of minute voice details. Others simply sprawl across the events on any given page. The protagonist of my current Work-In-Progress came into being over one night after my epiphany that he needed to exist, and it only took a simple artifice of two personality poles he'd always act between to get him to mostly functional status for 470 pages. Yet in my previous novel there was a supporting character who took two years of tinkering to get to work in worthwhile fashion. The only common denominators I've identified are knowing what novelty the characters bring to the work, knowing what plot elements you'll be giving them to work with, and setting up limits so they don't run themselves dry.
ReplyDelete