Tag Archives: strong characters

Technique

I is for Incredibly Informative Character Interviews

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I’m not really that into character interviews myself, but I’ve been working on characterization lately for my WIP. So I’ve come up with a few questions that might be a little more informative than “When is your birthday?” or “What’s your favorite color?”

So, some questions to get to know your characters better:

  • What’s your favorite color? (I’m hilarious, aren’t I?) Why? How would you feel in a room painted that color? Who else would you want in there with you? Who wouldn’t be allowed? What would you do there?
  • What is your favorite food? When and where did you first taste it? What do you think of when you taste it again? What is your least favorite food?

  • Where are you from? What is that place like? How do you feel about the location you’re in now? What are your favorite spots in your current location? How has it changed over time?
  • If you absolutely must wake up, what scent of candle would you light? What kind of smell makes you feel relaxed? What did your grandparents smell like? What does your home smell like?
  • Do you consider yourself a funny person? Do you prefer dry, zany, slapstick, punny or another kind of humor? Would you rather be seen as funny, clever, respected, stoic, mature or something else? What’s your favorite joke?
  • If you hear bells, what do you think of? How about rain? Motors/engines? Running water? Sirens?
  • Think of your favorite clothing. How does it feel—rough, smooth, heavy, stretchy, warm, cool? How does it make you feel? Where would you wear it?

The emphasis here isn’t so much the hard facts—it’s on the character’s senses and emotions. How do these things make him or her feel? Why? How can you incorporate these sensory and emotional experiences into the whole of your character?

What do you think? What else do you focus on when getting to know your characters?

Photo by Svilen Mushkatov

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Technique

Why I love Burn Notice

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This entry is part 9 of 11 in the series Creating sympathetic characters

Yes, it’s cool and it’s glossy and it’s filled with attractive people. And guns and explosions and spy work and secret undercover coolness. And hilarity.

But that’s not why I love Burn Notice. (Those things don’t hurt, mind you.)

Michael Westen of Burn NoticeI love Burn Notice because of the characters. Namely one Michael Westen. (And no, I don’t mean Jeffrey Donovan, though he is quite attractive. I mean Michael Westen.) When USA says “Characters welcome,” they mean it.

Michael is a complex character—he’s terrible at interpersonal relationships. He does bad things. And though he wouldn’t talk about it and takes no pleasure in it, he has killed. He’s not above blackmail or letting the bad guys kill each other.

Though he’d prefer not to have to deal with them, Michael loves his mom and his brother and does all he can to protect them. In a recent episode (“End Run“), Michael was blackmailed into working for a bad guy because said bad guy threatened his brother. The writers even made it so that working for the bad guy wasn’t all that bad—he didn’t want a nuke, just a particular electronic interface. “People will go on killing each other in little wars all around the globe, whether or not you steal it,” he says. “The only difference is how much money I make while they do it.” To show he’ll make good on his threat, the bad guy even shoots Michael’s brother in the arm.

It wouldn’t be so wrong, then, would it? It would save his brother’s life (before he bleeds out, too), and it wouldn’t cost the world much.

Michael Westen building a cantennaMichael breaks into the office, gets the weapon and—sees a photo of a family. With kids. While that reminder helps him put together some of the scant evidence they’ve compiled about this bad guy, I think it also reminds him of the greater good. “I’m not handing over a nuke to save one life,” he tells the bad guy, “even if it is my brother’s.”

Michael is a great character because he’s strong—physically, yes, but more importantly, he’s extremely smart/savvy (mental strength, if you will). He even verges on too strong—as a blacklisted spy/former black ops soldier, he knows just what to do in any given situation. But he has weaknesses—the classics: children; his family; oh, and the fate of the entire world. Most importantly, he struggles.

And this time, he struggled because the choice was hard—it wasn’t save or destroy the world (or save the world, sacrifice integrity), it was save his brother or some small number of unknown people—possibly no one. The talented writers made it seem no great sin if Michael had decided to trade the weapon for his brother’s life. And he almost did.

But in the end, he didn’t. And that’s what I love most about Burn Notice.

Who are your favorite television characters? Why?

You can watch the full episode on Hulu until July 30.

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Technique

Strong characters, sympathetic characters

This entry is part 2 of 11 in the series Creating sympathetic characters

All characters must have some strength. I’m sure you know that doesn’t mean they have to be able to benchpress a Beemer. Instead, there has to be some strength of character, some inner resource, some poise—something to show us why we would want to sympathize with, or look up to, or just flat out BE this person.

Kindness to small children and animals isn’t enough—just about anybody but the absolute worst psych- or sociopath is nice to his mother and his babies. Saving orphans from a burning building isn’t going to be enough on its own, either.

Then what does count? Something indomitable within the character. What makes him get up in the morning? What is her ultimate goal in life? What does he do when his wife is in danger and all hope of saving her is lost? How does she react when someone comes between her and the man she loves? What does he do (or want to do) when his boss/his mother/the woman he loves says, “Take a hike”?

The answer isn’t going to be the same for every character—but how many of us really want to read about someone who would answer “nothing” to any one of those questions? While we do understand someone who struggles, someone with a sad past, someone facing a difficult choice, letting your character just roll over and take it is intensely frustrating to a reader (hello book-hurling!).

In short, when it comes to sympathetic characters, no sad sacks need apply.

One of the greatest types of strength is the courage to go on in the face of adversity. And every main character should be facing adversity. Next week, we’ll take a look at making our characters struggle.

What kind of strengths do you like to see in characters? What kind of strengths do you give your characters? What are your favorite characters’ strengths?

Photo credit: Andrea Hernandez

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