Writing Tip #2

“Short. A little on the shy side. Brown hair. Blue eyes. Flat and not at all developed, despite being the main character.”

…wait, what? you may be thinking to yourself. Flat? What the hell is that? If you don’t know what a flat character is, and you dream of being published one day, this is your wake-up call. No one else is going to be as nice to you as I am now. Before you even begin to think about a plot or a beginning or an ending or a title or whatever, sit down and write out your characters. (Be prepared; this is my favorite area of planning, and I have a lot to say on the subject.)

Why write my characters out?

Characters make a story; whoever tells you otherwise lacks a vast amount of knowledge in the writing world. Whether fictional or real, an author must get to know their characters before they begin to develop the story. Why? Well, let me put it into a situation: would you change yourself for the world, or damn everyone else and let them work around you? I’ll assume your answer is no. Remember: plot is “character revealed by action.” Make up some people (or if you’re writing a piece of nonfiction, research some people) and stick them into situations.

Instead of thinking like this:

What sort of characters will fit into this plot?

Think like this:

What plot best fits these characters?

If you find yourself changing the personality of a character in order to fit the plot, STOP WHERE YOU ARE AND REFLECT. Would you change yourself in order to keep things going smoothly? NO! Where’s the fun in that?! Instead, work your plot around your characters. A science fiction author puts it in a much more coherent way:

“In my opinion, the best way to write believable stories is to pretend each character is you. The operative word here is pretend. You couldn’t possibly be your characters since you exist in different worlds. There are no wizards or vampires in your neighborhood and you’ll probably never get into orbit, more’s the pity. The life histories you create for these imaginary people will necessarily be different from your own. You’ll have to pretend to be both male and female, young and old, good and evil. Yet no matter how far a story leads away from your own experience, or even from the familiar precincts of reality, you must strive to put yourself in your character’s place”(You and Your Characters, Copyright © 1991 by Davis Publications).

So…what’s this old codger saying? Basically, pretend to be each and every character. What decision would you make here? What route would you take at this place or that place? What life choice will you decide upon at this point in time? Sometimes you can draw on outside experiences with real-life people (isn’t writing all about drawing from personal experiences?), but it is usually easier and safer to just make up a character. But try to put yourself in your character’s shoes and make their decisions as you would in real life or in the world you have created.

How do I create and develop my characters?

Planning for characters can be difficult, but here are some methods to help with that:

•  Draw on the personalities of the people around you. It’s not copyright infringement if you stick someone’s personality into a character; actually, most authors tend to go down this road since, even if you do make up everyone, a lot of their traits end up coming from you or a friend or a family member. It’s not necessary to make them extremely peculiar and so very individualized; you should want your readers to relate to the characters, or have them relate their personalities to someone the readers know.
• A character resume; list off attributes and qualities about each character. It can be as long and as detailed as you want it. Start off with the basics: name, age/birthday, height, weight, hair and eye color, family, educational and social background, hobbies and interests, etc. For more information, check out Crawford Kilian's example.
• Take a notebook with you to a busy area—a park, a gym, a mall, your school, your workplace, etc. and write down particular habits or quirks you may see some people do. I find that taking a notebook with me everywhere I go and jotting down any ideas that come to mind helps a lot. Also note that this will work with pretty much any aspect of your writing, whether it is characterization, plot, setting, etc.
• Brainstorming web! Basically, write the character’s name in the center of the page, and then think of adjectives/phrases that describe your character
• If you have artistic abilities, draw them out and decide on how their looks will reflect their personalities. Does their height contradict their self-esteem? Do their looks compliment a personal characteristic?
• Music can also be of great use. Try to find the best song that best fits a character’s personality. If you feel like you have a handle on this method, create a specific playlist for each mood of the character (and once you have the plot, the atmosphere for the conflicts). For instance, whenever I wrote something with Hani and Yoochun in it (nudge nudge wink wink), the playlist I used always consisted of fun and lively music, usually pop or fast-paced rock/metal.
• If all else fails, read through your favorite stories and jot down some personalities and characters you like (but remember not to infringe on copyright. Lawsuits bad). You could also point out what you like and dislike about characters in movies and plays, though keep in mind the copyright issue.

How do I create and maintain relationships between my characters?

Everyone has their favorite quirks and pet peeves. Depending on how you develop the character will determine what kind of relationship there may be. “Opposites attract/love conquers all” could be a selling point; for example, your main character has this huge aversion to tattoos and piercings. Your story could be about her secret relationship with someone whom she communicates with only through e-mail. Then she sees a picture of this guy, and HOLY HELL HE’S LIKE FREAKING AVENGED SEVENFOLD, WHAT WITH THE TATTOO SLEEVES AND GAUGES.

It’s up to the characters whether the relationship makes or breaks. Your plot will also determine how things “work out” in the end. Note: when I say “the characters make the plot” that is still true. However, as you write the story, you will notice that this event will lead to this happening, and so on and so forth. The only way to figure out if your characters will go together in however way you want them to have a relationship is to throw them into a situation or two—on paper, on a word document, or in your imagination. How do you see things playing out? How do they react?

Try writing or drawing a character web. Start off with your main character(s) in the center and then start to add the side characters along the edges of the paper; move into the center if you run out of room. Next, draw lines connecting the characters together. On each line, write how each character is related to the other, or how they meet, or what they mean to the character. If your line stays blank, then erase it; that shows that the two characters either never meet or there is no significance in their meeting. If a character has nothing on any of the lines drawn to his or her name, odds are they don’t need to be in the story.

There are a lot of character types out there. How do I know which to use where?

If there was a simple answer to this question, I wouldn’t bother to address it. From the protagonist to the confidante to the foil, many personalities and characters become involved as the story progresses.  For detailed descriptions of each and every character, see James Patrick Kelly's article on characters. However, I’ll touch on the big wigs for a moment.

The protagonist: every story needs at least one. It doesn’t make them the hero or the villain or the random dude in the corner who always picks his nose. The protagonist is simply the central character of the plot. Whose story dis is? “IT MINE, DAWG!” the protagonist should say.

The antagonist: the person, place, thing or idea (how about we say the noun?) that serves as an opposing force to whatever Big Man Protag (BMP) has going on.

The confidante: the noun that serves as someone or something whom BMP can confide in.

The narrator: the noun who tells us the story of BMP.

I hear that having a big cast is a bad thing. Is that true?

Not at all. Depending on your story, a big cast may add or subtract from it. Quite a number of readers tend to stay away from stories with a huge cast attached and criticize the author for doing such, when really it’s their own inability to keep up with the different people. If you—the author—can’t handle a big cast, then simply don’t do it. I myself can handle a big cast because I find it easy to make them all pivotal to the story, or at least crucial to having it flow smoother. But if others are telling you that having a big cast is bad, they have probably never taken Intro to Fiction as a college-level class. It is always up to the author to have a big cast, though if you find yourself confusing characters with each other, you should probably see who can be cut.

For the most part, have a balanced cast of characters. You will always need random people who come and go, and a good handful that stay for the story. These random passersby will not need more than a few moments of screen-time; they may only serve to get BMP from point A to point B. Others may be foils and/or people who help in the development of the story, but in a big way. Start writing scenes with the characters you have, then decide if you should stay, cut, or add.

Names! Where do I even begin to look for a name?

There really is no correct advice on this. They are your characters; therefore, you should name them. Personalities, quirks, habits, beliefs, etc—all can decide between a Brittany and a Celestina, or a Jason and an Apollonius. My only advice is to stay away from giving a lot of characters names with the same letter and to avoid names that resemble popular characters in the world of novels and what have you.

If you can’t draw one from thin air (or use someone you know), then start hitting up the phone book. You will be so surprised at some of the names you find in there—I remember once seeing a Snuffaluffagus, which made me wonder if that was actually the person’s name…or just a joke the phone book people did to see who would catch it. Baby books are also a great help, since their primary jobs are to help parents decide a name for their baby-on-the-way (just think of yourself as the parent and the characters as the babies).

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Consider investing in a book dealing with the elements of style. I can only tell you so much, and I don’t even get paid for it. I own a copy of the newest edition of The Elements of Style, written by William Strunk and revised by this dude named E. B. White. If you don’t know Mr. White, I should slap you (not really); he wrote Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little, two books which I read over and over when I was a little kid. BUY IT. Believe me, it will help you out like nobody’s business. If you one day plan on publishing your work, referring to this will save your hide in a lot of situations. That’s it for this advice tip. Sorry for the length! Thanks, hope it helped, and adios!

~Andi~