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Hi everyone,
A confession I have is that I’m not very good at connecting to my characters and getting excited about them, and being able to develop even the side characters pretty well seems really daunting.
So how do you guys all get excited about your characters? Are there certain methods you use to do character development? And are you able to sit down and say “Okay, today I’m going to do character development” or do you run on bursts of inspiration?
@rochellaine @sam-kowal @jenwriter17 @audrey-caylin @daeus @aratrea @anyoneIt's g-h, 2-4-6-8 twice, three 9's
literatureforthelight.wordpress.com@gh24682468999 I think my favorite thing about writing is creating my characters! I never thought when I began writing that I would feel so close to my characters. Sometimes I’m like, “I am so sorry I have to put you through this, my dear character, but its for the best I promise! You will triumph in the end!” 🙂
Is it your characters personality you have difficultly with? This is one of the only things I can sit down and do, without running on inspiration bursts. Sometimes I will write a page or two on one character, what thier personality is, how they interact with different people, how they change from the beginning to the end of the story, what makes them change, what they believe, what they like or don’t like, ect. Would that help maybe?
"In a mask, was he?"
@gh24682468999 Hi Grace! This is a cool question. 🙂 I’m going to answer it for myself, but I have no idea if my methods are the same as everyone else’s. 😀
Well, I read in the front page of every book where the author has the disclaimer which says something like “any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental,” and I wonder if that is ever really true? I have read of many classic authors basing their works on people they met and friends they had, and have found my characters turn out best when I do the same. Of course it’s best not to do it too obviously. 😉 When I take someone I know and put some of their characteristics into one of my characters the character usually turns out more fully rounded and interesting than when I make them completely out of my head. I don’t ever take the exact person and put them completely in the character, but take about half their characteristics and change the rest to create my own character. But if the character has similar traits to someone I know I usually am able to connect with them better.
And the characters with whom I connect best are ones into whom I put a bit of myself. It’s hard to know how someone else will act in a certain situation, but I usually know how I would act in that situation, so if the character has some of my own characteristics I understand the character better.
And lastly, you have to have a good imagination and good characters to do this, but don’t think of your characters as written words and things made of paper. Think of them as real people. You’ve probably seen a lot of people around here talking about their characters being troublesome and annoying, or even arguing with their characters. While arguing with your character technically means that you are arguing with yourself, if you can imagine you are talking to your character or imagine what your character would say to you if they were a physical person, you’ll probably get to know them better. I personally don’t do this very often, but I do believe it makes the characters seem very real and creates a strong connection between the character and the author.
I hope this helps somewhat. 😛
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
@gh24682468999 *squeals* Characters are the best part of writing/storytelling for me! Don’t ask me how to create intense plots or even good pacing.. But characters? 🙂
Disclaimer, I doubt I know as much as I think I know about characters, and i’m pretty bad at explaining the stuff I do understand.
Okay so I think with character development there is A LOT that can be done. But I find for myself personally the best place to start is the characters’ desires/goals/and needs. Then just keep asking questions related to those things. Something interesting is that these three things can conflict with each other. Sometimes what a character wants is different then what they need, and they come to a point where they can’t get both. Or maybe to accomplish their goal they might have to sacrifice their personal needs. (or even their desires.)
After you nail down what they want,need, and think they need etc you can think about how this stuff might effect the other characters who’s goals and desires are different.
Wow I explained this badly. Sorry! If you have any desire to try and make sense of my thought process then feel free to tag me and ask questions. 🙂
and I was so confused
@gh24682468999 Also, having your MC’s personality different than your sidekicks personality can be more interesting and realistic than if they are the same. I guess, all of your characters will be different while always having a little of you in them too.
"In a mask, was he?"
My rule of thumb is that main characters should be both bright and deep. “Bright” as in they have some qualities that you (and hopefully your readers) find interesting (note: this is not the same as likable or attractive). “Deep” means that these traits come from a source (the characters’ past or background) that should at least be subtly revealed to your readers.
In essence, figure out why your characters are the way they are.
Also, I think learning about character-driven writing helps. So instead of focusing on the external conflict and action, you look at the characters’ inner conflict, attitudes, personal evolution and let their decisions affect how the story goes.
One way to go about it is to think about the themes of your plot and premise and decide what is the meaning that you can try to convey with your particular story through your characters’ development. From there you can plan out your character arcs much like what @notawriter said. I think KM Weiland explains this very well:
Once you understand your characters more I think you will find them easier to connect to because they will seem more like living, breathing people and you will be more excited about writing them. Hope this helps 🙂
@gh24682468999 This may sound ridiculous, but I get really excited about my characters when I imagine them doing stuff in moveie form. 🙂
Actually, the newly launched website storyembers.org has a downloadable character questionnaire. K. M. Weiland also has a more extensive character form she fills out. You can get that on her website, helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com, but I think you have to sign up for emails to get it.
I try not to force character creating and development. I like to pretend I’m them throughout the day, figuring out how they would react and think about different situations. If I force it, I feel more distant from my characters.
I hope this made sense! 😉
I'm a Kapeefer 'TIL WE'RE OLD AND GREY!
www.jennaterese.com@gh24682468999 I use a character questionnaire sheet I made up that used to be on KP and is currently on the Story Embers site. For me, a lot of a character has to do with asking enough questions about them to boil them down to three central qualities about who they are as a person. Once I have a set core for the character, it’s easier for me to write them.
One place to start if you don’t want to do a long questionnaire is to figure out what your character’s biggest desire is, what their biggest fear is, and what their biggest weakness (moral failing) is… You need more to a character can that, but that can give you a good start for what kind of person a character is in my experience. 🙂
Editor-in-Chief Emeritus. Guiding authors at Story Embers.
@aratrea Where can I find that sheet on Story Embers?
"In a mask, was he?"
Characters can be super tough. After all, it’s like trying to create your own little person, and make them seem real, with nothing but letters. I’ve had a lot of trouble with characters at times, too, and often mine would come off as dry or boring.
But yes, despite that, I do still get excited about characters! Characters can be the dearest people sometimes, when you aren’t arguing with them. It’s hard to answer as to how I get excited over them, inspiration is one of those things that’s hard to explain.
I suppose I get excited by the idea of who a new character is going to be, how they grow, what they are yearning for, what their fears are, and what their essence really is. Every good character should be like a locked treasure chest of shining jewels, and your story helps break the chest open.
As far as methods of character development, that’s a little easier. There’s a few tools I use; first, I think every main character needs very solid yearnings, which is something they are seeking or desire. Their yearnings are magnets that pull them forward into the story.
Another thing that can make characters more solid is by giving them disabilities, which don’t have to be physical but are things a character can’t do; maybe one is scared of meeting new people, and this makes the story harder, or one cannot tell a lie, and they get into situations where this is challenged.
And finally, good character arcs, of course, make a character more interesting. How do they change over the course of the story? What spurs that change? How do they see life and how does that change?
Also, no, I don’t sit down and just work on characters. I do that with plots, but characters are different for me and I mostly just work off of inspirations I had 😉
*Giarstanornarak tries to melt chair*
Also, Daeus has 22 turtles in his signature.@ariel-ashira Here you go! 🙂 https://storyembers.org/resources/
Editor-in-Chief Emeritus. Guiding authors at Story Embers.
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@gh24682468999, Can I just say that Characters are AMAZING! They become your friends, your family and so on.Honestly, I don’t take control of mine I let them lead. When I wrote my trilogy I put myself in the place of the first time reader. I had a general idea of where the story was going but I didn’t extensively plan. I bled. The story just came and suddenly I was meeting friends and enemies. I don’t really force creating in fact as I like to say “I don’t create, I meet.” If you put it in that perspective of getting to know someone it seems to be easier.
@inkling-for-christ Mmm, yes, try to meet my characters, instead of creating them. I think that my biggest problem is that I tend to squish characters into plots I create (since I get excited about plots more than characters) but it might have to be the other way around, as mentioned above “character driven writing”. Thanks!
It's g-h, 2-4-6-8 twice, three 9's
literatureforthelight.wordpress.com- Rank: Wise Jester
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@gh24682468999, also have an initial starting character. That was the only one I really created. My MC and her family. The rest just feel in as the story bled. So have one that you like and then let them take the reins.
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