We’ve talked about how to get into a character’s head here before, and it seems most of us discover our characters along the way, but the perennial question came up recently on one of my writers’ email loops. I especially liked the breadth of the following answer by member John Ferguson, reprinted here with his permission (with video and formatting, including emphasis, added).

Call me weird, but I collect things like this. Here’s some of the ideas I’ve collected:

Write a day in their life

This is kinda like [a previously posted] journal idea, but it doesn’t have to be first person. I like starting by describing their name on a nametag. Then zoom out and describe their clothes and their physical characteristics. Then zoom out and describe where they are and why. Who else is there? What do they think about these people? Etc. At some point they leave and go home. Why do they leave? How do they travel? How far do they travel? What do they drive/ride? What do they do in the car? Do they listen to music? Do they sing? Do they get angry? Describe their home. They listen to their voice mail or check their email. What messages do they have? Who are they from? How do they feel about them? Then they go to bed. Describe their nighttime rituals if any. What do they dream about?

Define their possessions

Start writing about the things they own, the things they treasure, the things they want to own and or the things they used to own or the things they would never-in-a-million-years get caught dead with. And why.

Describe their surroundings

This is similar to defining their possessions only in this case you describe where they work and live. Describe their office/desk, kitchen, bedroom, garage, yard, etc.

Write a biography

Pretend you are a biographer and write a story from the person’s life. Pick something the character finds important. You can also do this like a journalist writing an article. In this case, YOU get to pick the topic—a topic that will be interesting to a general audience.

Interview them

Someone already mentioned that they go online and find character questions and interview the character. Another fun thing you can do is to have one of your characters interview the other. Then you can begin to see the relationships between the characters as well. Some of my characters will answer one way if a parent or teacher interviews them and a different way if their best friend (or a romantic interest) interviews them.

Brainstorming

Sit down and type everything you know about the character. When you feel the “flow” has gotten slow, set a timer for 10-15 minutes and keep going, writing anything that pops into your head until the timer goes off. It is sometimes surprising what you come up with once the “well is dry.” After you are done brainstorming, go back and delete all the stuff that doesn’t make sense.

Pictures

Go through magazines or look online for pictures. What does the character look like? Who do they wish they looked like? What do they drive? Where do they live? What do they wear? Where would they like to go on vacation? If you are doing this online, copy the picture into Word and then write a short piece about why the character resonates with that picture.

Real people

Try to think of real people the character reminds you of and see if there is anything in that real person’s personality that you can “borrow” for this character. Make sure to use traits from several different people so the original sources aren’t obvious, especially if you are working on a villain. (Unless it’s me, I’d love to be a villain in your book.)

Bio sheets

There are hundreds of character sheets online. Pick one. Fill it out. This is different than the Interview mentioned above because in an interview you are answering in the character’s voice and point of view. In the bio sheet you are answering as the novelist with an omniscient point of view.

There are some variations on each of the themes, but the ideas I’ve gathered fit into one of these. I would be interested if anyone has found other ideas.

For me, creating a character is a bit different each time, but I get the most mileage out of the first option.

What do you think? Have you tried any of these methods? What are your favorites?

About the author

John A. Ferguson loves to write and is endlessly fascinated by the different ways writers approach the craft.

I’m gearing up to write something new—you know, when life with a new baby and adjusting to three children all settle in. But even the gearing up phase is going slowly, because I’m feeling like I have to get to know the main character inside and out before I start writing. Before, we’ve looked at creating sympathetic characters, but now I’m just thinking about creating characters themselves.

I know some people do just that—spend hours, days or even months designing a character and bringing him or her to life, tweaking every last nuance of his or her backstory, weaving it into the plot outline, crafting quirks, homing in on weaknesses—all before they start writing a word of the first draft.

And then there are people like me, who outline characters in broad strokes and then launch into a draft. I edit and add to my characters’ life stories as I draft—and often don’t actually create those histories until I have something come to me in a stroke of genius, which usually requires some rewriting of the draft to that point.

Then I get to the end of the draft and have these characters that have evolved over the course of the draft. Even their voices have developed and been refined, until at the end of the draft, they have more distinctive voices, and going back to the beginning, I find bland, voiceless narration.

“Fixing” all that, and further refining and defining my characters, can be a lot of work. That’s part of the reason I wanted to try to get all that figured out in advance. And while I’ve definitely worked to develop my new character, her life story and her personality (with some ideas from The Power of Point of View by Alicia Rasley), I’ll find most of who she is and how she sounds in the writing, and for me, can’t be found any other way.

When do you do most of your character crafting—before, during or after drafting? What are your favorite ways to get to know your characters? (Warning: awesome responses to the second question just might be “foreblogged”!)

Photo credit—Michal Zacharzewski

After all this talk about character arcs, I was browsing around on an interesting screenwriting blog, and found an article kind of arguing against character arcs. So are character arcs necessary? The answer, of course, is it depends—and it depends on several factors.

In plot-driven fiction, for example, the characters’ growth and change aren’t what the story is about. Dirk Pitt, James Bond, and Indiana Jones see little, if any, character growth in each episode of their stories (aside from the new Bond movies, maybe). While they are memorable characters, and we root for them to win, we don’t care if they have a life-altering experience to become better people. We’re cool with them staying the way they are. The story focuses on their adventures rather than their experiences.

However, in character-driven fiction, the character arc is central. Reading this kind of fiction enables us the live character’s experiences and feelings, and those are at least as important to the story as the actual actions.

It also depends on the genre. Mysteries tend to be more plot driven. Action stories are usually more plot driven. Romances, especially single-title length ones, are usually more character driven.

Another consideration is whether the book will lead into a series (and if so, how long). If this is going to be a serial character, how many different lessons can s/he learn? It’s possible, of course, to do a metaarc—one that takes the character on a journey from the beginning to the end of the series (Harry Potter?)—but it will probably require considerable planning.

What do you think? Can you think of successful characters who don’t arc? Do you write characters who don’t arc?

As I mentioned yesterday, the Hero’s Journey started with Joseph Campbell looking at heroes across mythology. He found that not only do heroes have a lot in common, but so do other roles in their stories. Again, Christopher Vogler adapted this for writers in The Writer’s Journey, so we’ll be using his terminology.

The Hero is our protagonist. The audience identifies with him (or her). He grows in the course of the story, and is involved in most of the action. He has a character flaw, of course (if he were perfect, could he grow? And would he be interesting?) This flaw is often the flipside of his biggest strength—his optimism means he has false hope, love of family means he won’t sacrifice his dad’s to save the world, etc. But he must be willing to sacrifice when we get to that climactic point of the story.

The first archetypal character he usually meets is the Herald, the character who issues the call to adventure. His challenge announces a coming change, that all is not well in the Ordinary World. He also gives the Hero motivation to go on the adventure.

The Herald doesn’t have to actually be a person—in Lord of the Rings, it’s the ring; in Harry Potter, it’s the letters; in Star Wars: A New Hope, it’s Luke’s aunt & uncle dying. (You could try to argue it’s meeting R2-D2, but remember that R2 bore a message for someone else).

He usually has a Mentor who teaches him. Often, the Mentor gives him a useful gift as well as motivates the hero into accepting the call. (Technically, the mentor doesn’t have to be a person either—and I don’t just mean disembodied voices and Force ghosts, either. It can be anything that teaches the Hero and prepares him for the coming tests.)

Along the way, the Hero encounters Threshold Guardians who block his path. These obstacles are tests for the Hero—have his skills developed enough? The guardians may be working for the good side or the bad side, or no one at all (but it’s hard to make someone who makes trouble for his own sake believable for very long, you know?)

The Trickster is often a sidekick. He often balances the drama with comic relief and brings things into perspective.

The Shape-Shifter can be his or her own character—or it can be combined with another character type. As the name states, he’s not what he appears to be. Revealing his “real” self can create big change in the story—but they may or may not be evil. They may switch sides, but they may become good. In fact, in a romance, the romantic leads are often Shape-Shifters because they must change to enter into a relationship. (Heck, even the Hero might be a Shape-Shifter, since he has to learn and grow throughout the course of the story.)

The Hero may encounter a rival—someone who’s competing for an intermediary goal, or the girl, etc. But it’s the Shadow that is the true villain. He tests the Hero’s true abilities and worthiness, and forces the Hero to rise to the challenge. He’s often a shape-shifter, appearing beautiful, elegant or good.

And nothing is complete without a few examples, right?

What do you think? How do you see these archetypal characters, either in others’ works or your own?

Image credits: superhero—Stefanie L.; shadow—Michal Zacharzewski

I love Burn Notice because of the characters, and how the writers put them into tough situations to show what they’re really made of–the good stuff.