Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images
As I write a lot of stories, I have to find ways to continually invent characters. One useful way of doing this is to outline my characters (rather than the plot) as by knowing more about them, I can figure out what trouble I can land them in – such fun! Plots come from that. Outlines don’t have to be long. It is a question of working out what you need to know. That will vary from writer to writer.
Outlines
Outlines are also meant to be guides but having something to start you off, I’ve found, is amazingly helpful. I also find if further ideas come to me as I am working out what I need to know, I can see where those ideas could fit into my outline or those same ideas will show me where my initial outline needs further thought.
The act of writing something down though does seem to trigger further creative thought. So for that reason alone an outline is worth doing!
Neither do you have to stick to it religiously. If those further ideas do prove to be better than my original thoughts, I will go with said better ideas. I wouldn’t have got to those better ideas without writing down what I initially thought of. I had to start with something.
I will sometimes interview my characters and get a back story from them from that. At other times I will use a simple template based on two or three “absolutely must know” points and that can be enough to get me started on a story.
Useful Questions to Ask Of Your Characters
Useful questions to ask of your characters, whether you do a full life story as some writers do or a partial one, could include the following:-
1. Name of Character – a must know
This can reveal something of age and class. Bear in mind certain names come back into favour every so often. You could use that in your story (possibly to humorous effect) or note it as something to be avoided if that wouldn’t suit your purposes.
Sometimes if I am writing an alien/ghost type story I will deliberately keep the character as an “it”. In this case the name for that character is “it”. Being unsure of what or who something is adds to a sense of uneasiness and horror writers use this a lot. But other genres (including crime) can take advantage of this too. So a name can be used in a “negative” way as well here.
2. How They Speak – a must know
This will give you educational levels, depending on the character’s vocabulary. It can also show you something of their attitudes, especially if they swear a lot, for example. It can also show where they come from if you use a little dialect/slang but do use sparingly. You want your prose to be easy to read and for words in dialect/slang to be easily picked up from context. You don’t want to be sending readers away to look the words up. They may or may not come back to your story.
3. What They Wear – useful
I don’t go in for physical description much. As in life, it is usually true in fiction physical description is rarely vital to the plot. Yes, in The Lord of the Rings, we needed to know what the hobbits are and so needed some description to compare against what we know about humanity/other species in the trilogy to help us “place” the hobbits in context. But there are so many stories where you don’t need that level of detail.
For my flash stories, there isn’t the room for a lot of detail in any case, but I can pick out an item of clothing to show something about my character to a reader. For example, if they wear a fake fur coat, it will show something of income levels and my character does care about at least some animal rights. If my character wears a lot of expensive jewellery, it will show you something else about them.
If I pick an item of clothing, I will get a colour in as well as it helps readers conjure up pictures more easily. Also do they wear branded clothing or go for cheaper items? Is that a choice or something they have to do? All of that can add interesting details to your characterisation without taking up too many words.
4. Character Background – a must know
You don’t need to go into chapter and verse for this. What you do need to know is how the character’s background impacts on their life now. So if your character comes from a poverty stricken background, do you then place them in a situation where they will do anything to avoid falling into debt? There could be interesting stories there but the important point is if the reader knows the character comes from that background, they are much more likely to believe what the character then goes on to do.
It is a question of giving a reader enough information to be able to work things out but not so much the story gets buried in details your readers could deduce for themselves or don’t need to make sense of your characters. (You also don’t want to risk sending your readers to sleep).
5. Main Character Trait – a must know
Traits are so important. They can define us. They can drive us too. This applies equally well to characters. If a character is renowned for their honesty, where would this lead them? Would their honesty cause upset? Would their honesty land others right in the mire – or the character themselves? You do need to know what drives your creations. Their actions have to be believable. The reasons why need to be believable too and so often those reasons do come from the main character traits. You can also pick a trait to give a character and set up a situation where they show that trait or it fails them for once.
Why Characters Matter
When I read I want to find out what happens and this is just as true for non-fiction incidentally. In that case, I will want to be hooked by the narrative voice of the author as they take me through what they want me to find out.
For fiction, I need to find out what happens to the characters. I’ve got to care about them to want to find out what happens. So I need to see a character portrayed in such a way I can understand where they are coming from, even if I still disagree with their actions. Characters drive the story. A strong character can perk up a weak plot. A strong plot will be let down if the characters aren’t suitable for it.
All fiction writers need ways into their story writing. Starting with the characters, the “actors” if you like, makes enormous sense to me. When it comes to recalling favourite books, it is always the characters I remember (and then favourite lines after that but I usually start by recalling which character said them so back to character again!).
Conclusion/Writing Exercise
Think about the characters you love in fiction. What draws you to them? Can you use what you find out here to conjure up characters of your own?
One of the things I love about fiction is, while there may be only so many plots in the world, there are endless characters. Just as humans have infinite variety, so do our characters. Working out what we like/loathe about characters can help steer our own writing.
Getting the characters right is essential to getting their stories right too.
Related Posts:-
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.
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