Monday, October 22, 2012

Characterization



Creating characters that are believable and capricious all at the same time can require a lot of work. I've started a character journal in order to have my characters available when I need them. I add to their personalities as I think of things and have them on 3x5 cards in a file. I found a list of things to help me round out my characters and I'd like to share it with you.

  1. Be aware of the four methods of direct character presentation: appearance, speech, action, and thought. The indirect methods are: authorial interpretation and presentation by another character. In other words, introducing the character by the author or another person.
  2. Reveal the character's conflicts by presenting attributes in at least one of these methods that contrast with attributes you present with the others.
  3. Focus sharply on how the character looks, on what he or she wears and owns, and on how he or she moves.
  4. Examine the character's speech to make sure that it does more than convey information. Does it characterize, accomplish exposition, and reveal emotion, intent or change? Does it advance the conflict through "no" dialogue? Speak it aloud: Does it "say"?
  5. Build action by making your characters discover and decide. Make sure that what happens is action and not mere movement, that is, that is contains the possibility for human change.
  6. Use your journal to explore and build ideas for characters.
  7. Know the details of your character's life: what he or she does during every part of the day, thinks about, remembers, wants, likes and dislikes, eats, says, means.
  8. Know all the influences that go into making your character's type: age, gender, race, nationality, marital status, region, education, religion, profession.
  9. Know what your character wants, both generally out of life, and specifically in the context of the story. Keeping that desire in mind, "think backward" with the character to decide what he or she would do in any situation presented.
  10. Identify, heighten, and dramatize consistent inconsistencies. What does your character want that is at odds with whatever else he or she wants? What patterns of thought and behavior work against the primary goal?
  11. If the character is based on a real model, including yourself, make a dramatic external alteration. Keep the character fresh.
  12. If the character is imaginary or alien to you, identify a mental or emotional point of contact.
Characters are the life of our stories and without a fully fleshed out character the story will remain flat and lifeless. We can even re-create characters that we have used in the past by adding to them and turning them into a new generation of life. Good luck on your characterizations. I hope this sparks a fire in your mind.


Twelve points from: "Writing Fiction" by Janet Burroway

12 comments:

  1. Some new points I hadn't considered there! I do work on the characters long before I begin writing a story.

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    1. Alex: Developing the characters beforehand has helped me immensely.

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  2. What a great list of reminders. Very detailed. It made me think about my characters even though I thought I knew them pretty good.

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    1. Susan: It does cause you to stop and think about whether your characters are well-rounded or not.

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  3. Thank you for posting this. I think that is one reason I'm kind of blocked on my wip since I don't really know my characters. We also talked about character studies and developing our characters in class that I work with online. So I'm passing this on via my blog - E :)

    Elysabeth Eldering
    Author of Finally Home, a middle grade/YA mystery
    http://elysabethsstories.blogspot.com
    http://eeldering.weebly.com

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    1. Elysabeth: I'm glad you like the list. It has helped me make fresh characters out of stale, dry ones.

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  4. Thank you so much for posting this Karen! Characters are the driving force in most stories and sometimes I think I start to overlook some of thier important traits that need to shine through. :)

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    1. Amanda: I also use a character trait identifier from a psychology textbook that can reveal deeper motivations for your characters.

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  5. Yep, yep! I once knew a writer who used dice to create his characters like in a D&D game. From there he would make adjustments. Crazy ways we have!

    Cheers.

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    1. Jemery: I love it! What a neat way to decide how your characters will act. Yes, we all have our ways.

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  6. I'll have to incorporate some of these tips. This is putting a lot of meat on the skeleton.

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    1. M Pax: I've been using these for a while now and am developing some interesting identities with it. Hmm... I guess it depends on what century you are in, however.

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