Tag Archives: characterization

Technique

Getting to know your characters

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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 Waverly, 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 Waverly loves to write and is endlessly fascinated by the different ways writers approach the craft.

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Technique

Creating characters

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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

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Technique

Awesome characters—literally

As a follow-up to his March column on Writer Unboxed, which we highlighted last time, Donald Maass takes a closer look at not just situations but characters who inspire awe.

Why is awe so important in writing? Well, to put it simply, it may not be strictly necessary, but it’s an element that will help you craft Maass’s favorite: a breakout novel, one that stays with readers and shakes them to the core. To do that, sometimes, you have to shake your characters to the core, too.

To create characters that inspire awe, he suggests:

Answer the following questions and apply the answers in your current manuscript:

  • What happens in your story that makes your protagonist the most angry? Anticipate that anger three times in the story before the big event.
  • What does your protagonist believe beyond all else? Create a story event that forces him or her to accept the opposite.
  • What does your hero or heroine see about people that no one else does? Find three times when he or she will notice that thing at work.
  • Why does your protagonist’s life matter? At the moment when that’s most true, allow your protagonist to humbly grasp their importance to someone else or to the great scheme of things.
  • As I’m sure you can see that’s just the beginning. Inspiring awe requires building awesome characters.

You might recognize this as very similar to exercises Maass suggests in Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook. These are challenging exercises that prompt you to dig deep into your characters—so have you ever done them? What have you found from exercises like these?

Photo by Paul Fisher

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Technique

Tapping into your character’s senses

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This entry is part 7 of 10 in the series Writing the senses

Yesterday (and throughout this series), I mentioned that we have to focus on our characters and what they perceive when we detail the sensory information. We’ve talked about how to get into a character’s head (waaay back when), but sometimes seeing with our character’s eyes (or using their other senses) is a bit more challenging than just understanding what they’re thinking.

One thing that I’ve done to work on this (can you tell this is actually what I’m working on now?) is to go through each scene and write down all five senses for that character in that setting. As I do this, I ask myself questions about the character in the setting:

  • Which of my character’s emotions or experiences would color this setting? Does the sandy desert remind her of her grandmother’s house, or him of Desert Storm? (Or make up new experiences, if you feel like it.) If you need a setting to have an impact, sensory data could trigger strong memories for your character. Or if you just want your character to have a strong emotional experience, sensory data from the setting might be the way to go. Emotional
  • Is this a new setting for the character? If so, keep in mind your character’s personality and purpose there. Someone accustomed to danger might scan for the best escape route first. (And she won’t sit with her back to the door. Don’t even ask.) But if she’s there to meet a friend, looking for that friend will be a close second priority.
  • Conversely, is this setting very familiar to the character? If, for example, it’s their home or workplace, they may not “experience” it anymore. So if you need to be in that character’s POV in that setting, focus only on what stands out. Most of us don’t know what our own house smells like (unless we’re the ones buying the air fresheners!), but we’ll notice the overripe garbage.
  • In a familiar setting, can I have other people interact with the set? The other characters’ interactions with the POV/owner character’s furniture may suddenly draw her attention to the ratty patch on the arm of the couch where her cat sharpens its claws—or maybe the cat does that itself.
  • Do we remain grounded in the setting? Do we go too long without referencing something concrete in the “real world” of the story, devolving into people talking in space? (That’s one of my big things to work on.) Note: we don’t have to redescribe the drywall, but even interacting with a prop keeps us from floating off into space.
  • Do we remain grounded in the character? Kind of the opposite phenomenon—do we spend too much time on the description so that we kind of lose track of what the character is doing/thinking/feeling? (And thanks to Andrew for bringing this to mind in the comments!)

What do you think? How do you get into your characters’ senses?

Tomorrow, we’ll have more about picking which senses to focus on for your character!

Photo by Vestman

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Technique

Are character arcs necessary?

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This entry is part 7 of 11 in the series character arcs

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.

character arcs vsmallHowever, 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?

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Technique

Micro character arcs in sequels

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This entry is part 6 of 11 in the series character arcs

Yesterday, we talked about character arcs within scenes, and we mentioned that there are two different ways to handle them. The first kind uses scene structure to bring about the change. The second kind of change, however, doesn’t rely on scene structure because it doesn’t happen in a scene—it happens in a sequel. The Sequel is what comes after the scene—the emotional response. However, it also has a structure that can help with this kind of character arc.

Bickham’s structure for the sequel is Emotion – Thought – Decision – Action (which leads to another scene). The Emotion is the initial response to the events of the scene and its Disaster. When the character moves past the initial emotion, they think through the events, their response and their options in the Thought phase. This ultimately leads to a Decision, which takes the character to another Action.

Not all the steps of the sequel are necessary. In fact, the sequel itself might not be necessary—depends on the pacing and whether the emotional reaction constitutes a change. But when the character is going through a major change, we can spend a little more time here. And this is where we motivate the next action.

When an emotional change in the sequel follows the full steps of the sequence, we know that there’s a logical progression of the events of the sequel. By moving through these steps, we can lead the characters and the readers through the steps of the change and create a compelling, convincing change.

For example, if we need our character to go from shocked after the last disaster to furious in the sequel, we start with that initial emotional response—the shock. We don’t have to spend a long time exploring the shock, especially if that’s the kind of reaction you’d expect in light of the disaster. Once we create a vivid picture of the shock (and that’s a toughie, since it’s characterized by the absence of feeling, really), we can give the character a minute to get her bearings again.

Once she’s had some time to recover, she’s ready for the Thought phase. Here we can explore exactly why she’s so surprised—because, say, this revelation is something that the hero could have told her. It’s something she would understand and would have even made her happy, if he had just told her, and he knew that—but he’s chosen to lie to her about it the whole time they’ve known one another.

And that can lead us to the Decision. The Decision can be about the coming Action and set up the next scene—or it can be a further decision about the emotional response. You know what? He should have told her. How dare he not? And if he could lie about that, what else about their relationship was a lie?

And now she’s mad.

What do you think? How have you handled drastic emotional changes in sequels?

Photo by Dan Foy

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Technique

Micro character arcs in scenes

This entry is part 5 of 11 in the series character arcs

So far, we’ve looked at character arcs on a macro level—characters changing over the course of a story. At the beginning of the series, however, Deb pointed out that characters can also have arcs within a single scene, where they go from one emotion to another, possibly opposite, emotion.

Character emotions are always delicate things. It’s so easy as a writer to push the emotions a little harder than we should, so that they end up unnatural—especially in a delicate transition. Now, of course it’s always possible to use the events of the scene to create a very natural change in a character’s emotion—but it’s not the only way.

Jack Bickham delves into both kinds of changes in his book Scene & Structure. The first kind of change relies on external actions and scene structure. The basic structure of any scene, Bickham says, is Goal – Conflict – Disaster.

The Goal is the POV character’s goal at the start of the scene, for just that scene. (For a story and characters that feel purposeful and driven, have the character state the goal near the beginning of the scene.) The Conflict is what happens as the character pursues the Goal and meets resistance—dialogue, movement, pursuit, etc.

The Conflict builds to the climax of the scene—the Disaster, when the character’s goal is frustrated. Naturally, when the character is frustrated, s/he will have an emotional reaction—for example, she might go from hopeful or determined at the beginning of the scene to discouraged at the end.

So external events can obviously help to bring about a micro character arc. But there’s another way to show emotional change within a scene that we’ll look at tomorrow.

What do you think? How have you handled drastic emotional changes in scenes?

Photo by Tony Case

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Technique

Creating Compelling Villains – Stephanie Black – The Book Academy

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We’re still on break from our series on plotting to bring you notes from The Book Academy, a conference I attended last week. We’ll pick up with plotting tomorrow—including a guest post later this week!

In suspense, you have to have a villain. You have to have a person who is fighting against a protagonist.

Exercise #1—Write down a villain who stands out on some level to you—and why

Class answers:

  • President Snow from Hunger Games? Description—smells like roses and blood
  • Hannibal Lecter—creepy, without morals
  • Brilliant manipulator
  • Gollum—obsessed, internal conflict
  • Darth Vader—layered, conflicted, simple appearance, memorable, willing to do what it takes to get his way
  • Nicholas Nickleby’s villain—Heartless, but there’s a moment in his past where he chose darkness
  • Voldemort
  • Javert—thinks he’s good, convinced of morality
  • Joker—flair for dramatic, feel emotional connection as killing, loved that connection
  • Clooney the scourge from Redwall—legend of fearsomeness, backs it up, crazy
  • Oliver Twist villain—utter disregard for reader’s sympathies
  • David Copperfield villains—bad, love to hate

black stetson“You have a choice when you’re going to introduce a very evil character. You can dress a guy up with loads of ammunition, put a black Stetson on him, and say, ‘Bad guy. Shoot him.’ I’m writing about shades of evil. You have Voldemort, a raging psychopath, devoid of the normal human responses to other people’s suffering, and there are people like that in the world. But then you have Wormtail, who out of cowardice will stand in the shadow of the strongest person.” —JK Rowling

How compelling your villain is doesn’t depend on how creepy and freaky he is, but that he seems real to your protagonist, and as real as your protagonist to your reader. They must also fit your story. A cozy mystery probably doesn’t need Voldemort. A global thriller probably wouldn’t be very thrilling with the biddies from Arsenic and Old Lace.

We can also have multiple villains in same novel with multiple levels of villainy:

  • Voldemort
  • Bellatrix LaStrange
  • Peter Pettigrew/Wormtail
  • Draco Malfoy
  • Severus Snape

Hints for creating villainous characters

In suspense fiction, plenty of people are causing trouble for your villain, but pick a primary villain. Find the main antagonist. Who’s your big guy? In mysteries, think about who this fight is really between.

Jack Bickham talks about how you must know whose story it is. (In her first novel, 250 single-spaced pages into it, she realized her story was going off in 3 different directions—she turned to Bickham). Don’t forget whose story it is. Who are we behind? Who are we rooting for? Who is our ball team?

On the flip side, whose story is this villainwise? Your protagonist has a story goal, something he wants from the beginning of the book. It’s important to him, important enough to fight for. It gives readers something to worry about (which is why they like reading mysteries in the first place). When you read a book with a story goal, you immediately start asking yourself story questions. Frodo must destroy the ring—will Frodo be able to destroy the ring?

In addition to your protagonist, your villain also needs to be goal-driven. He’s got something that he wants. When you’re picking a villain, you want it to be someone who will win or lose big depending on how the story plays out, just like the protagonist has a lot invested in whatever s/he is seeking. Winning and losing—if one wins, the other must lose.

Creating conflict in your novel

The last thing you want to do is give your protagonist an easy ride. Give him as much trouble as possible. If you answer the story question too quickly with a positive, the story’s over.

Shortest stories ever:

He always wanted her. And he got her.

She had to escape. And she did.

These complications are largely the job of the villain.

  1. Pick a good, strong primary villain. Someone who can really go head to head with the protagonist.
  2. Villain’s goal must clash with protagonist’s goal—so give one a goal and find a contrary goal for the other. This isn’t necessarily a direct opposition. Her current novel—protagonist’s story goal: heal the rift between her parents and her brother. This clashes with villain’s goal not because villain is set on destroying their family. His goal is to conceal a crime in his past (by killing someone and framing someone else—her brother). (Being accused of murder doesn’t sit real well with her parents, “who are strangely traditional in that way.”)

wicked queen from snow white

  • What does my villain want?! What is important to him/her? A really compelling villain isn’t evil for evil’s sake or because he’s got the laugh down. Chances are he doesn’t think he’s evil. He’s got a reason for everything. Jack Bickham: Self-concept. Inside, we all have a mental picture of who we are, our opinions of ourselves. We try hard to maintain consonance with this inward picture and we will fight to hold onto it when this picture is challenged. Hard to identify it for ourselves. What does the villain think of himself?
  • Usually villains are twisted on some level—his self-concept may be very different from how others view him. Ex: Zero in The Believer—he sees himself as someone who by virtue of lineage/intelligence, he has the right and responsibility to take over for the good of the nation. Doesn’t see himself as evil (though readers and other characters do). Villain in Fool Me Twice sees herself as a good mother. Have this in mind even if it doesn’t make it into print (especially if not in their POV).

Exercise #2—Write down a self-concept for a villain (one you’re working on)

Class responses:

  • Believes he should be a leader
  • Doesn’t believe in right/wrong
  • Humanity has outlived its purpose, cleanse the world of this scourge
  • (Possessed) Dark spirit protecting itself—self-preservation
  • Religion—convinced of his own moral righteousness
  • Sees the world crumbling around him—protect what he has and his fam
  • Get justice for the wrongs he’s suffered (victim)
  • Sees himself as a good guy
  • The best at what he does and he knows it, and gets away with what he wants b/c people are scared of him—devolves into fatal stalking situation

Your main villain (amidst others if you desire)

  1. Give your villain some shading—make them somewhat sympathetic. Use their backstory, events taking place before the present of the story. What’s their history? Make villain more rounded, even if you don’t get it all in there.

darth vaderEx: Voldemort—what makes you sympathize with him a little: Abandoned, orphan, stuck out, teased. Doesn’t justify his actions, but helps us to see him as a little more human. What might make the reader relate to him a little bit? See him as a little sympathetic?

Ex: Darth Vader in episodes I-III—starts out as a good guy, through his flaws and downfall, he loses everything that he valued, then becomes a dark evil person.

Give them a little bit of good. Zero—loves his wife, affectionate toward her, wants to please her. Even villainous types aren’t totally detestable. What about them can we admire?

Exercise #3—with the last villain, write down something good/admirable about your villain or something in his/her past that might make him sympathetic

Class responses:

  • (#5 above)—his parents disgusted at his parents, humans butcher his kind—thinks humans are no good
  • (#6 above)—Mother deprived of rightful throne
  • can’t die
  • Wants to be a pillar of the community—wants to look good—funds schools
  • Didn’t choose to be an addict
  • Weakness/soft spot for kids.
  • Hates weakness, but wants help people become better, lose their weaknesses

[Side note on this one: this is especially effective when you can combine this with their self-concept and have it directly relevant to their villany. For example, Snape is mean to Harry because in Harry he sees the image of the man who used to taunt him and destroy his self-concept. It wouldn’t make much sense if James Potter were mean to Snape and Snape took it out on long-haul truck drivers.]

Round them out with regular traits (neither sympathetic nor evil).

We have to branch out a bit. As you’re creating a protagonist, you want to create a fresh, compelling invidividual character with his own personality—same for his villain. [A good villain makes a good protagonist even stronger, and vice versa.]

  1. Three necessary attributes for principle villain:
    • Strong
    • Smart
    • Determined

He must be matched against the hero—a worthy opponent. Make him a worthy opponent—a battle with a wimp isn’t much of a battle. Your protagonist must stretch himself to defeat this guy. Doesn’t always mean villain is physically strong—psychologically, emotionally, mentally—a formidable opponent. He’s determined—what he wants, he must want it badly enough to not give up.

Bickham(?)—make sure your protagonist doesn’t quit and making it logical that he doesn’t quit. Ask yourself “Why doesn’t he just quit?”—compelling motivation to keep him going, keep fighting even when things get really rough. Villain who’s willing to keep battling to the end—don’t go all fuzzy at the end. Maybe pretend to, but don’t just give up!! [That’s just unsatisfying!]

He doesn’t have to be invincible—you do want him defeated at the end. Suspense/thriller/mystery—must end with good triumphing over evil! Have him defeated in some measure by the protagonist.

Ex: woman pursuing bad guy to get her kidnapped kids back. Fight scene, villain pulls weapon about to use it—struck by lightning. [Unsatisfying again!]

Don’t have him defeated by wimpiness, giving up (himself), deus ex machina.

  1. Give your villain believable flaws and weaknesses. It’s okay if he makes mistakes—but make sure they’re credible mistakes. Something believable, credible for his character. His flaws may spring from his self-concept—thinks he’s so smart, he’s proud—underestimates protagonist.

Ex in The Believer—a reader for her publisher asked if her villain’s monologuing was believable? But according to his motivation, yes—if he’s so proud of himself and his win, he might monologue, to utterly devastate the hero. (And because he tells his plan, the protagonist can defeat him.)

  1. Give your villain a character arc—let him change throughout the course of the story. How does he grow and change? Don’t make him the same person on the last page as he was on page one.
    Ex: one of her villain starts off not so bad, kind of mischievous, but by the end of the book she’s ready to kill.

Conclusion: You create compelling villains the same way you create compelling protagonists:

Make them real, make them rounded, give them a compelling story goal and believable flaws and weaknesses.

About the presenter
Stephanie Black is the author of The Believer, Fool Me Twice (winner of the 2008 Whitney Award for Best Mystery/Suspense) and the new release Methods of Madness. She. Is. Awesome. As per conference guidelines, I obtained written consent from Stephanie to blog the content of her presentation.

What do you think? What are your answers to the exercises? Who are your villains?

Photo credits: black cowboy hat—arbyreed; Wicked Queen—Loren Javier; Darth Vader—the Official Star Wars Blog; Villains—Anne the Librarian

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