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- Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
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Hey all, so I’m having trouble. I started a new story. I don’t know what will come of it, and I’m having trouble with the plot-less-ness of it all, but my main issue is with my characters.
I’ve never really created a character. Well, I mean, I’ve created a character for a short story, but for anything longer than that? No way. So, in order to create my characters for this story, I started with what they looked like, picked out a name, then I decided their personality type. Is pre-picking your characters types the wrong way to do it? I feel like when I’m writing about them I don’t understand how they are supposed to think. I thought typing them could help with that because then I could look up things about that certain type, but I am now so completely confused and lost that it isn’t even funny.
So, to make a long story short, I need advice. A lot of it. The more the merrier.
Tags: @ethryndal, @daeus, @kate-flournoy, @ingridrd, @daughteroftheking, @dragon-snapper, @epicaddie2, @hope, @seekjustice, @sam-kowal, @anyone-else
@shannon I don’t have time to answer this properly right now, as I’m on my way out the door, but I would suggest to you finding an online character chart to fill out ( @daeus @aratrea does KP have any character charts or things that might help Shannon?) Start there and I’ll try to give you more indepth advice when I get back. 😊
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
- Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
- Total Posts: 859
@seekjustice So, I’ve tried a character chart, I meant to mention that…maybe I got a bad chart. I had so much trouble filling mine out. I’ll wait for more advice. Thanks!
@shannon I don’t know about you, but when I first think of a character, I think of a face/name…and something about them that is weird. That really helps to get the creative juices flowing a little bit.
When you are actually writing characters, don’t. Make. Them. Perfect. Make them real. Make them relatable. Give them a problem and/or a lie to believe about themselves. When you’re thinking about writing a character, especially your MC, discover what makes them tick. Figure out how they would answer certain fundamental questions (examples: something they are afraid of, something they are NOT afraid of, etc.). Dig deeper into who they are than eye and hair color. 😉
I know this is hard for me sometimes. But I have discovered that just writing is the best way to learn more about your characters. You discover a lot of stuff: how they respond to conflict, who their friends are, their flaws, etc.
Hope this makes sense! 🙂
A dreamer who believes in the impossible...and dragons. (INFJ-T)
- Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
- Total Posts: 859
@ingridrd Yes, that does make sense, and is very helpful. Thanks for the advice my friend!
@shannon I’ll probably be back, but for now, KP does have a really good character questionnaire. A lot of questionnaires are dumb, but this one digs into the core of what matters. Check it out in our resource library. It may or may not work for you, but I suspect it will spark at least some inspiration.
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What @ingridrd said about giving them something unique is very important for me, but that’s also just a stepping stone. I have to be careful not to let their strangeness define them forever (unless of course that’s an important aspect of the character).
Deciding on how you want them to grow through what happens to them over the course of the story is also a very important thing to consider.
The easiest way though, for me, to develop characters is to develop my cast together. Maybe it’s just the way my brain works, but creating two characters side by side is really fun for me, because I can give them traits and personalities that complement and contrast each other, and that really helps me to get started fleshing out my cast.And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.
Oops I forgot to tag you in my reply @shannon haha. . .
And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.
@shannon Hmm
I had the same problem! All my characters felt blank to me for awhile when I started writing. I couldn’t get them to feel distinctive when I wrote them, and I didn’t really understand them.
So, anyway, the character typing and chart… I’ve never done any of those, so I’m not sure how those can help. But, one thing I do, is to imagine my character, and then write a letter from them, or a stream of thoughts… or something that’s simply them talking and telling the reader about themselves… and I try to figure out who they are.
Start with a basic idea of who you want your character to be, but don’t figure out everything until you play with it a little bit. One of the biggest things to remember that helped me was; Know your character’s personality, and have them act based on their personality, in everything they do.
That doesn’t mean if your character’s outgoing to have her bubbling and trilling in every single paragraph, but definitely think about what she does and ask yourself, Does this reflect her character correctly? Imagine if you really were that person and not you. How would you act differently?
To maintain this, I would make a list of your character’s defining traits (like brooding, determined, forceful) and then keep them all in mind as you write them. How are those traits going to affect the way that person acts?
I’m not sure how much that’ll help, but my advice is, get to know your character by writing about them and developing their personality, and then think How would they act based on their personality?
Oh, and don;t be afraid to kill your characters and make new ones. You want to write about people you like and think are interesting, for your main characters at least. So, although its painful, you can always start over 🙁
*Giarstanornarak tries to melt chair*
Also, Daeus has 22 turtles in his signature.@Shannon Ooooooooh boy. I’m probably not the most qualified to say anything on this subject, as I’ve had horrible struggles with my own characters, but… here goes anyway.
Like you, I’ve never had much luck with character questionnaires. And I think maybe the reason for that is because answering a bunch of black-and-white questions with equally black-and-white answers does nothing to help me get a feel for the character’s soul. Knowing that a character’s favorite food is cheese, or what kind of jokes make her laugh, or that her best friend’s name is Polly, still bring me as close to knowing the character’s mind as reading a 3rd grade math book brings one to calculus.
Even the deeper questions, like what their biggest fear is, or their biggest secret, or how they handle stress, etc, don’t help much, because there’s no common theme running them all together. They’re just random traits shoved into a character. They don’t help with personality. When you’re creating a character from scratch, you don’t know them well enough to answer all the tough questions without running into maaaajor inconsistencies.
And so, I have found that the key to unlocking a character’s soul is the finding core staple of their personality. And that core (more like an aura, I guess) should be summed up in one word.
Bouncy. Grumpy. Goofy. Pessimistic. Sarcastic.
With that one word, a few questions are already eliminated. You don’t have to ponder how a character will react to certain situations, because if the character is Pessimistic, there’s a pretty good chance he’s going to have a pessimistic reaction. Sarcastic? He’ll make a crack. Happy? He’ll fluctuate from bouncing off the ceiling if it’s a good situation, to trying his best to be optimistic if it’s bad.
From THERE, moving on to the more detailed aspects of personality-building isn’t so hard. Why is the character so pessimistic? BACKSTORY TIME! How does his pessimistic nature get in the way of his life? LET’S CREATE SOME WEAKNESSES, SHALL WE? How does his pessimistic nature affect emotions, relationships, work, school, etc? TIME FOR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! And the further you toss these things around in your mind, and the more little quirks you add, and the more revelations you have, a pattern will begin to form, connecting all these dots. And before long, you start to feel like the character is someone you know, not just words on a page.
At least, that’s how I do it. It’s probably a horrible method. Listen to the experienced writers first. 🙂
INTJ ➸Your friendly neighborhood mastermind. ➸https://thesarcasticelf.wordpress.com/
Aaaaaand look at that, @Sam-Kowal summed up everything I said first. Wish I’d seen that before I gave the spew. XD
INTJ ➸Your friendly neighborhood mastermind. ➸https://thesarcasticelf.wordpress.com/
@ethryndal I don’t really struggle with developing characters but what you said was helpful for even me! (Especially the last part. I’d never quite looked at it like that.) So thanks 😀
And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.
- Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
- Total Posts: 859
@daeus Ooh, thank you! I will check it out!
@introver_girl Hmm, that’s an interesting thought, I think developing my characters side by side would really help. Thanks so much!
- Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
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@sam-kowal Hey, writing a letter or something from them telling about themselves might really help me! Maybe I’ll try that. Thanks so much!
@ethryndal, although what you said was kinda similar to what Sam said, it actually was really helpful in a different way, because you touched on defining their personality in a single word, and going from there. That is so helpful! Thank you!@shannon Okay, I’m back.
First of all, I really like what everyone’s said so far.
I’ve never heard anyone else articulate the way I develop characters, but I think we all do it without noticing it. My big focus, at least for step one, is to hone in on the feel of a character.
You know how when a person comes to mind you get this certain feeling inside of you? You can’t even describe it really. It’s just this sensation in your brain that you associate with that person. It’s them. It’s their personality in a microcosm. (I am so excited. I think that is the first time I have ever used the word microcosm! 😀 😛 )
So what I do is I hone in on that feeling. I get comfortable with it. I get to know it. (I already know by this point a bit about what my character’s role in the story is, but I haven’t developed them very much.)
Once I have that sensation of a character in my brain, I can work outward. How are they going to act in plot point A? The feel I have for a character guides me. If I get off course, the feel will change. What does this character struggle with? Same thing. How do they interact with others? Same thing.
So, to answer your original question, I don’t pick a name, personality type, height, hair color, etc for a character before I write them. I figure that out after I’ve already gotten to know them. You could pick these things beforehand and still write a great character, but I suspect it would be easier to choose these things after you already know your character.
Also, I strongly agree with @introvert_girl that it’s good to develop all your main characters together.
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