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What’s your process of creating a main character for your story?
My favorite to way to start learning more and developing my main character, is to find a couple blank pages in a notebook and write out the little idea about the main character I have, then let my imagination go wild and write down anything and everything that comes into my head about he main character.
Some ideas stick, others get changed, and some get thrown out completely, but just giving my imagination the space and time to write whatever it wants on a blank piece of paper is really freeing and I come up with much better and more unique ideas than if I start with some character profile sheet I found online.
After I write everything I can think to say about the character, and I’ve got a pretty good idea about who they are, then I fill out the character questionnaire that my sister Erin has made and updates every so once in awhile.
I may bit a bit biased, but it the best character profile sheet I’ve ever seen, like ever. Because the questions really dive into the character psychology, beliefs, past, pains, desires, and relationships while also still being relevant to your story and giving you ideas on how to portray who your character is in your story. I really love it.
Then I get to my favorite part which is where I make a Pinterest board that reflects the character’s life and personality, and I draw a few sketches of what I imagine the character looks like. This is where they really come to life for me.
Then I can start outlining my novel, which I usually have a lot of ideas for at that point from creating my character.
Whoa, that was a longer process than I realized, but character creation is my favorite about writing so, I guess it isn’t that surprising. XD
I’m really interested in how you guys usually go about creating your main characters for your stories!
@kathleenramm Character development is actually not my strong suit. I rarely go around planning what my characters are gonna look like before I start writing. Usually my mind goes, “I want a story about this.” And then I already have some vague ideas of what the main character is like (e.g. one personality trait, one physical appearance trait, but nothing else), and then as I write I develop them. usually they take a turn that I don’t expect at all or something.
Like, I used to try to fill out extensive character questionnaires and things like that, but they get really draining really quickly for me, since I have so many characters and things. So I prefer going with the flow, with a minimal, half-filled character template that I sometimes jot down notes in case I forget. Usually my characters just have like one or two words next to them describing their appearance and personality.
But, I must say, The Mafia of Heather Flights is the absolute exception to my normal works. For this one, I wanted to plot it to the bone. I’ve got tons of character sheets pulled up. Names, ages, birthdays, personalities, motivations, character arcs! It’s all there beforehand. I think I can think of a few reasons why this is for me: First, for my fantasy saga, I have too many characters to deal with all at once. Second, for the other slice-of-life-ish things I write, I have a story to tell, and the characters essentially act as stand-ins. Sure, there is character development, but who the character is to me doesn’t really matter as much as how the story will flow, since I’m only using the character once. So I try not to get too attached. For my webnovels and things, I generally develop my characters a little more, but leave it up to mostly the story to discover who they are. Finally, I think that since TMOHF is a story that is extremely character driven and revolves around all my main cast and secondary cast’s motivations, I ought to dive in as deep as possible to find out who they are so that the story is well-rounded and makes sense. After everything is set, I think that I’ll be able to start writing the novel. I’m sure I’ll discover more about them as I write, though.
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into daysI like to fill out character sheets for my MCs, but I always have a main motivation, dream, hate/love, and arc for all my characters. I usually try to develop my MC before developing the world they’re in (is that good or bad?) because I want them to be active rather than passive. I jot down what I know about the character then I build off of that, coming up with their main traits, appearance, and motives. I like books in which the character drives the plot, not the other way around, so I try to stick with that when creating MCs.
what we do in life echoes in eternity
-gladiator, 2000Ooh, great question! I love your process for character creation:) It actually looks somewhat similar to mine.
Tbh, I haven’t created a MC in a long time since I’ve been so busy with my currant WIP XDUsually I start when I see a photo of quote that inspires the character.
Then I decide a couple basics facts about them, like what she/he likes, hates and believes. Then I go through all the character questionnaires I can grab hold of, which I was wondering, Erin’s sounds so spectacular, is it posted anywhere? If not, it’s alright, I was just wondering:)Sometimes I’ll go through Pinterest boards for inspiration or dissect the aspects and character personalities of characters from movies or books to see what I like and dislike about them
Then comes my favorite part: interviews. I usually go through several with all my characters even if they’re extremely minor. Interviews are a lot of fun for me, almost to the point of being a hobby of sorts:) Plus you learn so much valuable information and insight to your character, some of which will make it into the story and some that will be reserved as knowledge only the author will ever know:)
So, anyway, that’s basically what my character creation looks like:)
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
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@kathleenramm Process? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…
I should have learned a long time ago to avoid these conversations.Well, I am a very character-driven writer who adores getting to know her characters. But I’m still a pantser. Therefore, most of my new characters have not undergone a deep developmental process as of yet.
My older characters, on the other hand, have been under development for about four years now. I’m still not finished with them.
Usually, I start with the basics:
- Name
- Age
- Hair/eye color (I’ll usually go into deeper descriptions, though, because I enjoy that)
- Social/cultural/religious background
- Other important information (such as ways in which I can ruin their life)
Depending on the story, my idea of basics varies, so sometimes there will be more or less or different aspects I explore earlier on. Since I write predominately his-fic, I can never find character profile templates that fit, and since I also write a variety of other genres, I shy away from using a strict process anyway.
Once I have the basics down, I just jump right into writing them and let the rest work itself out! Most of my characters have, like I said, been developing for years now, so I learn something new about them everyday, and I’ve had time to tweak things.
Sometimes, I’ll just wing most of everything, especially if I’m focusing more on the plot and I already have a vivid image and idea of who the character is in my mind.
Here’s the detailed version of what my “process” can look like: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15sOLp5u_JTtyqr_PlKteMGecZHwI5Tl229ZjWK60lRg/edit?usp=sharing
The most important aspect, for me, is their voice. If I can get that down, I’m set for life.
@kathleenramm
Process? What process?Haha, this will be a longggggg post.Often, a main character of mine will start out as a persona of me. It’s weird, but I do it. For those of you who know Kadotake— she’s based on me (although very slightly. the similarities stop at appearance) and was originally a character from a fanfic I abandoned. XD
Once I have this persona, I usually sketch what they look like a few times, revise the sketches and add stuff I like. While I draw, I often end up thinking about what the character is like— appearances, mannerisms, funny lines, scenarios they could work in, etc. Most of my character development, now that I think of it, is during drawing. XD the more developed characters have wayyy more drawings. 🤔😉
When I’m not drawing, or if I can’t decide on a character’s appearance yet, I’ll go for a walk or something and just think about them in the same way I would when I draw.
Then I’ll maybe write a lil “chemistry scene” or whatnot to see how they act and what their voice is like.
I always, always, always think about backstory. If any one character o’ mine doesn’t have any, you can officially say it’s not my character. XD
And then I think about plot, and where the characters are in the midst of that plot, and how they move the story forwards.
And then I write— the hard part. 🙄
Hope that provides some insight into how characters develop for me! None of my characters are “fully developed” yet, they are constantly changing and I’m proud of them for putting up with me. 👌😂
staring at the fields
if nothing's really real
i'll make the winter now my homeYeah, no story or character is made it quite the same way.
What made you decide to do hardcore outlining for The Mafia of Heather Flights as apposed to other stories?
Me too! I love books where the story truly is about the main character, and not just about what the main character is doing, which is important of course, but characters are what I like to read and write about most.
btw your first chapter that you sent in for KP critiques was awesome! Have you finished that story or are you still working on it?
It’s really cool how you start with picture of them, I usually have it the other way around, but I can see how it would be really helpful seeing their face while creating their character.
What sort of questions do you ask during your character interviews?
Erin and I were thinking of making the questionnaire a free resource here on KP with an article or video going along with it.
That’s usually how all of our resources are made, we compare good and bad books, find the common threads, apply them to our stories to see how they work, tweak them a bit, make a template we can reuse, then eventually publishing it to the site. XD Hopefully it will published soon! I’ll let you know when it is.
@gracie-j
About templates never fitting, I can totally relate, that’s why my sister made her own character sheets we could us that works for all characters and doesn’t have useless questions, like “WhAt’s tHeiR fAvoRitE cOloR?” Unless it’s an important part of the character, or the character’s life or something, I don’t want to spend my time on over thinking what my character’s favorite color is. XD
How do you go about creating a strong character voice? Do you have certain techniques you use, or is all about practice and time?
It’s really cool how your characters are personas of you! I can see how you could connect to them more and make writing them more easy. I think it could be real cathartic as well.
Have you always based characters off different personas of yourself, or is this something you started doing over time?
I really like your idea of a “Chemistry Scene”! I think I may start using that for my own characters if you don’t mind. 😀
@kathleenramm Probably because I realised that it had potential to be something really good…and that I wanted to traditionally publish it…so I waited years for my writing skills to improve before attempting to start it now…and also because I decided I wanted to try something new, and that I wanted to see if I could produce works that kids will be forced to read in English class… XD Also, just finishing something like The Brothers Karamazov makes me realise how much work was put into writing all the characters and their relationships and plot, and that makes me really admire the author, and makes me want to try for something really good….also probably because I feel like the things I pants aren’t good quality at all, haha…
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into days- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
- Total Posts: 1789
@kathleenramm EXACTLY!
It’s a mix of both, actually. Mostly trial and error, but I do have some techniques I apply.
- Fonts. I have to have a different font for each first-person voice. Linux Libertine G is my voice (or my third-person voice), Blackadder ITC is Rina’s, Century is Keaton’s, and so forth. The different typographic helps me see each character as an individual and their voice as unique.
- Keywords/phrases. I try not to overuse these, since they can get annoying, but they also work great in dialogue, so they’re good to have in general. For example, Rina says “most assuredly” in the place of “of course” or “certainly.” For one, it sounds more fancy British, and for two, no one else says it, so it sets her apart.
- Descriptive style. I think I talk too much about this on here…XD But I do try to focus on the character’s descriptive style–i.e., how the perceive the world, words/phrases they use to describe everyday things, the emotions behind their thoughts, etc.
Aside from this, it usually takes me about seventeen tries to get it right. XD Some voices come more naturally than others, and it all depends on how firm of a grasp I have on that character. For example, my charrie Crimson is a pretty straightforward kind of gal, so once I found her font, her voice just flowed (it also helps that hers is similar to mine). Same with Rina. But Keaton? Well, he changes and grows all the time–I’m still learning more about him every day–so his voice is still kind of iffy.
@kathleenramm Yeah, I like making my characters based on me! They are not that similar to me though, like at ALL, they maybe have a similar personality detail or mannerisms as I do and that’s pretty much it. XD It explains why one of my MCs, Bren, has the same personality type as me though. (ENFP-T, but she’s crazier. Like, way, way, crazier.) She’s real fun to write, her voice flows pretty smoothly for me. I love how she thinks and what her values are. (Actually, I love that about all my charries. XD)
Yep, I’ve pretty much ALWAYS based my characters on me, and consciously, too. It’s kind of hard for me not to do it. XD They’ll be a persona of me for a little bit, and then I
twist them around and mash and MAUL them in character development MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAtweak a detail here and there, and voila! A main character!Sure! It’s quite fun to see how they react with the other characters, I’d be honoured if you used a chemistry scene to explore character development! 😀
staring at the fields
if nothing's really real
i'll make the winter now my home@kathleenramm Hmm, well I haven’t created a main character in quite a long while, so I’m honestly a bit unsure what my process is at this point. Side characters, however, usually start with a concept or image that usually comes to me in the midst of writing. For example, I’ve created:
- An overly apologetic butler to a supervillain
- An overall-wearing, Southern-accent-having train station worker who wears a sword at all times
- A probably-a-little-bit-crazy-at-this-point inventor/seagoer with a Tragic Past™
- A telepathic soccer mom who uses her powers to catch up on the latest church gossip
I generally have to get to know my main characters through the actual drafting process, so thus, they’re a little ever-changing. Writing standalone scenes throwing them into odd or tough situations usually helps as well.
“Seven seconds till the end. Time enough for you. Perhaps. But what will you do with it?”
What are the sort of questions I ask during interviews? Dangerous question there XD I may write a long post, but let me think..
Just about anything I can think of:) Usually, I start with questions about their relationships with the characters around whether it’s a friend, enemy, or just a passer-by.
Then I ask things like how did you become who you are now? In the example of my novel, I ask every character this question no matter how minor they are. I ask them what are their best and worst memories are, what they would sacrifice for what they love or believe in, what they’re devoted to or set against. And I’ll re-ask them things we both know, like ‘who is your enemy? Why?’ and have them explain things to me while finding out if they’ll patiently re-answer questions or become irritated.
What is their problem in the story? I like getting that straightened out because as an author once said, ‘a problem a character can walk away from, is a story a reader can walk away from.’
I will even interact my experiences with their’s, give them insight into the possibilities outside their story to watch their reactions, and practically just have coffee shop chats with them:)
I ask them all the small, mundane things because after all, characters are based on living people or things in this world of some form. And so my characters should be able to respond like a person, uniquely, cliched, flawed, sympathetically, boring or exciting, through their experiences, fears, aspirations, failures, successes, memories, and spirit.
So yes, that’s kind of my interview format XDOh, that is an incredible idea! I love it and cannot wait! That sounds just so amazing, and by the way, your KP videos are fabulous! 😀
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