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Let's talk characterization.
I dont know if I have a particular way I create characters. But ones that stand out to me are the ones with different layers to their personallity. I think most will agree that the more compelling characters are the ones that are unpredictable.
Yes, unpredictable is good. I took a class online and it recommended maintaining a balance between inconsistency and consistency. Ah, hell, I'll just quote from it:
While it is important to give characters this subtle and human trait of inconsistency with inner contradiction, you want your characters to be consistent in the manner that every action and reaction is one that is within the character's overall capability. So it's important to achieve a balance between inconsistency and consistency. Even if readers are surprised by what your character does (which is a good thing), they should be able to see where that action or reaction is within that character's personality. You want inconsistency that shows they are human—not inconsistencies that make the character in the first three pages of the story seem like a completely different one than the person who does the ending action. At the same time, you don't want characters who are completely straightforward and on the level—so much so that they're unchangeable, incapable of discrepancy—something that is utterly not human.
No person is all good or all bad. Use that conflict to show a full person. We've all done bad things in our past, and good things as well. The best way to develop characters, IMO, is to put them in situations and see what they do. Do they return the dropped wallet? Minus the cash? Do they go to that person's house and terrorize them? Steal their identity? The worst serial killer had a childhood once. We were all innocents. Something happened. So between telling backstory, showing them in their everyday life and revealing their thoughts, behaviors, and habits, you'll get a full person. Also, language - how they talk, what they say. Just had a panel on sex at the NYC AWP and while you may never write that person's sex scene, you should know how it SHOULD be, what it is like.
I usually start with a skeleton - could be a scene in my head, a person I knew, or a visual of an actor/character from a movie/tv/book that reminds me of them. And then just run with it.
Good luck!
yeah, i agree with the wickerman that contrast is the fastest way to that finishing line
say you have a runaway, a kid who has been on the street for years. he pick pockets, snatches fruit from street vendors when chance arises, but he never misses church sunday morning
he's hungry, dirty, thin. he's been hurt by people and on the rare occasion he's hurt people, yet he's always polite to older women and loves all animals
anyway.. this shows he has a past, something that made him that way. and that past may seem interesting.
kind of like hannibal lector: he listens to bach and eats some part of his victims, a medical doctor and a psychopath: that dude is intriguing and also he shows a pretty rich history
-kabol
..
At dawn I jumped the gate. I ran, ran from the hate. I know they got whips and chains, shackles for my hands and feet. String me, spit cut and salt me. Proof i'm not worth the price of a mule. Fuck forty acres, i just wanna provide my family with food. -Young Anera
Do you guys make long laundry lists of things about your character? For example,
- What is the character's name? Did s/he have nicknames when growing up? Does s/he have a nickname now? Maybe one that the character calls him/herself?
- Where does your character go when s/he's angry?
- What is his/her biggest fear?
- What does s/he do on a Friday night? On a Tuesday night?
- Does s/he have a secret?
- Who are the people s/he is closest to? Who does s/he wish s/he were closest to?
- What makes your character laugh out loud?
- How many times has your character been in love? Had a broken heart? Done something intentionally mean?
- Who does your character most admire?
- Who are her/his friends and family? Who does s/he surround him/herself with?
. .
I know what you mean. i cant imagine that would be a bad idea, but it's hard to craft a story when you have so many guideline prerequisites cut into the stone of the work, so many that you have to work around them. no, I say for a first draft that you keep getting to know your character. Perhaps if you need to keep a list, put it to the side and add to it as you add fact based character info into the story:
I have a protag that I really like. When I started working on the story, he was just a dude that liked a woman and cleaned guns. I didn’t know he was twenty-five. I didn’t know he was black. I didn’t know he was catholic..
The point is, I don’t think you should start with a laundry list: let your character develop, breathe, live. Just start with your story
But I think honestly that you should ultimately write out lists for when you go back over your novel or long work-kabol
.
..
At dawn I jumped the gate. I ran, ran from the hate. I know they got whips and chains, shackles for my hands and feet. String me, spit cut and salt me. Proof i'm not worth the price of a mule. Fuck forty acres, i just wanna provide my family with food. -Young Anera
You know, Bug - you might get something out of a technique taught
wayyyy back when in the very first Cult Intensive with Will Clarke.
It's also a technique that I've used now and again, with some degree of
success.
His first suggestion, with the aim of fleshing out a character and
making them "bleed", was to get a decent sized sketchbook. Take a fresh
double-page spread and on one side draw your character. It doesn't
matter if you can't draw for toffee, just try and give him/her some
physical shape and characteristics. You could use pics from magazines
or whatever too. Then, on the opposite side, just keep sketching
details. Where, when they were born. What their favourite song is -
exactly like your "laundry list" but just with anything that comes to
mind. Little phrases they might repeat. Tiny gestures. You could carry
the notebook around and add little details as they hit you - and as you
observe them in those around you.
It all sounds a little "playschool", but it can be a useful way of beefing up your creation.
He also mentioned this enormous astrology mumbo-jumbo book called
The Birthday Book (edited by Joost Elfers, or something like that).
Now, whatever you think of the content within, it's actually pretty
useful for creating a character from scratch, or for a few character
exercises. Just open the book at random and you're given a really
pretty exhaustive list of what the character traits are of someone who
was born on that day. From their health issue to their general outlook.
That's effectively 365 different character templates to have some fun
with.
Anyway, these are just ways of getting to the same end goal - a
believable, memorable character. Worth a punt to see if they work for
you.
[IMG]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b383/kitano/mason.jpg[/IMG]
yeah, i agree with the wickerman that contrast is the fastest way to that finishing line
say you have a runaway, a kid who has been on the street for years. he pick pockets, snatches fruit from street vendors when chance arises, but he never misses church sunday morning
he's hungry, dirty, thin. he's been hurt by people and on the rare occasion he's hurt people, yet he's always polite to older women and loves all animals
anyway.. this shows he has a past, something that made him that way. and that past may seem interesting.
kind of like hannibal lector: he listens to bach and eats some part of his victims, a medical doctor and a psychopath: that dude is intriguing and also he shows a pretty rich history
-kabol
..
This seems like it's thinking too narrow. In terms of developing characters, I think contrasts are too easy. A good example is Tony Soprano - not the loyalty to his family crap, but the fact that he is an uneducated mob boss who loves history and really loves old movies. I prefer this approach to the polite pickpocket.
i have been doing somthing extreemly similar to will clarkes suggestion with a charecter i have been working on in my head. i dont quite know what im going to do with him yet, but im getting to know the charecter and i think i will have fun with him
I'm not sure if this is exactly what you were looking for, but if i'm working on developing layered, intricate characters, for one or two of them, I focus on everything that I, myself, hate. I feel that if I create something that I can dislike, it gives me the ability to elaborate more on their aspirations, likes, and dislikes greater than just creating one that I can relate to or having some correlation with me.
"Society exists only as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals." --Oscar Wilde
Copyright 2008 - A Writers Cult, LLC
Joined: 2008-02-03
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