How well do you know your character?

[Druid]

A quick questionaire to get you better acquainted to your characters.

( Taken from this site (http://www.webcom.com/wordings/artofwrite/feature.html) )

Fiction Writing and Characterization

Fiction writers generally come in two kinds: those who are strong on plot, and those who are strong on characterization. Rarely is a writer brilliant at both. Thus, even if you excel at great story premises, foreshadowing, plot twists, and careful pacing, you may still receive rejections with critiques pointing to ‘two dimensional’ or stereotyped characters; or perhaps it is your main characters’ motivations that are unclear or illogical, which ultimately sabotages the story.

So, you may turn to the instructional books on writing, which often provide ‘character profiles’ or checklists with questions pertaining to your character’s sex, age, race, religion, general appearance and so on. These checklists will help you develop a rough sketch of your character; however, ‘typical’ questions can lead you to develop typical, i.e. boring characters. It’s good to know that your character is a middle-aged white man—this is part of the rough sketch. But to make this man seem real, we need details: Does he horde things or throw them away?; Does he like powdered coffee or espresso?; Does he call his grandmother Nanna or by her first name? What does he sound like when he cries? Filling in with details such as these will turn your rough sketch into a finely drawn portrait.

It’s a good idea to make a list of everything you know about your character, including incidents from her past; how she walks, speaks and dresses; what she eats for dinner. Try to avoid bland statements like ‘she has low self esteem.’ How do you know this about her? How about, ‘her sister constantly belittles her figure in front of their friends, but she never confronts her sister about it; instead she apologizes for her size.’ Now you have something specific and tangible to work with, something personal rather than generic.

Keep in mind that you won’t use every detail you come up with in the actual story, particularly if you are writing short fiction. Knowing a lot about your character, however, will lend depth to his depiction, and will enrich your story regardless of how much you reveal to your readers.

Uncertain about how to begin fleshing out your character? Try starting with these ten questions, choosing one of the options given or creating your own unique answer. Remember, this shouldn’t feel like a high school exam—have fun with it!





1. What would your character say if she suspected someone had just lied to her?

a. "That’s a pile of horse manure."
b. "Bull****!"
c. "Liar!"
d. "I beg your pardon, but I believe you’ve spoken falsely. Why, prey tell, are you attempting to deceive me?"
e. "Wait a minute. Are you sure you’ve got your facts straight?"
f. "You don’t say?"
g. ?



2. What makes your character laugh?

a. slapstick
b. sarcasm
c. limericks, dirty jokes
d. Monty Python movies
e. his own foibles
f. others’ misfortunes
g. ?



3. Whom does your character respect the most?

a. Albert Einstein
b. Princess Diana
c. Walt Disney
d. Michael Jordon
e. Oprah Winfrey
f. The Pope
g. ?



4. What sort of movies does your character watch?

a. romantic comedies
b. horror movies
c. action thrillers
d. alternative/foreign
e. porn
f. black and white
g. ?



5. Whom does your character most closely resemble?

a. her parent
b. her sibling
c. her grandparent
d. the family pet
e. her favorite movie star
f. a cousin
g. ?



6. How does your character celebrate New Year’s Eve?

a. by himself, with a bottle of bubbly
b. by himself, with a glass of milk
c. at his ex-lover’s house
d. at a lavish party with a hired escort
e. with his friends, camping on the beach
f. making love to his wife
g. ?



7. When taking a long road trip, your character prefers to be:

a. in the driver’s seat
b. in the passenger’s seat, navigating
c. in the passenger’s seat, daydreaming
d. in the back seat, sleeping
e. on a bus
f. hitchhiking
g. ?



8. What smell evokes the strongest memory for your character?

a. hospital antiseptic
b. warm oatmeal cookies
c. Chanel #5
d. moldy leaves
e. shoe polish
f. hot asphalt
g. ?



9. What’s the last piece of clothing your character bought for himself/herself?

a. an expensive suit/dress
b. rubber boots
c. a terrycloth bathrobe
d. silk underwear
e. a sombrero
f. a ski mask
g. ?



10. What trivial fault is your character most ashamed of in herself?

a. an addiction to marshmallows
b. an ugly tattoo on her butt
c. an unpaid library fine
d. an insect phobia
e. a speech impediment
f. stealing a toy from her best friend when she was seven
g. ?

[Remianen]

That advice is great and all but it also leads to young writers becoming bogged down in details that lead to stories that move at a glacial pace (due to them worrying about all the things stated above, as well as all the various elements of story progression). I've been blessed to be able to spend time with and speak at length with authors like Stephen & Tabitha King and Anne Rice and one thing that really sets them apart from each other is the fact that some of them are very good at one thing or the other and (here's the important part) they stick to it. Anne Rice can illuminate settings that she's personally passionate about (New Orleans, Paris, etc) with all of the descriptive details she uses. Read any of the Vampire Chronicles or the Mayfair witches books and pay attention to the pains she goes through to describe every little insignificant detail of every street Lestat (or Merrick or Rowan or David or Quinn or...) walks down. But then when you think of how long it took her to give folks a look into Lestat's true character (6 books), you see where her strength lies. The same can be said in reverse for Stephen King. He creates memorable characters with fairly ordinary plots that just work extremely well together. Using basic, relatively minor little scary things humans experience (monster under the bed or in the sewers, pet zombies, killer pets, killer cars, fear of flying, etc) he uses characters to accomplish what is usually done with environment.


That is a very good guide though. The checklist is especially useful. I just worry about folks becoming so bogged down with minute details that is robs them of the creativity to create in the first place. Seen it happen way too many times. :(

[Druid]

Actually I agree full heartedly with you on your point. This isn't something to make you create a character where you control every little minute detail of his or her life. This is more a baisic set of questions to help you start to think about what makes your character tick. This person has made this set of questions, but you could easily change/remove/add questions to suit the need for your character.

So think of this as more of a primer then an essential checklist.

PS: You've talked with Stephen King and Anne Rice? Man I'm jealous.

[Remianen]

Won a writing contest when I was 13 that included a trip to Bangor and a brainstorming session with "The Master of Horror". He's extremely knowledgeable and his life story is very inspiring and compelling. But his wife.....oy, she's probably the more contemplative of the two. He sits down and just writes. She maps out a novel in its entirety beforehand and then writes it.

Anne Rice anyone could meet at one time. Before Stan (her husband) died (after which she moved to California), she used to run tours of New Orleans. Fun piece of trivia to know is that every house in New Orleans described in her books, she really owns. Her and Stan used to live in the Mayfair house and she ran tours of all of the houses (you can practically SEE Lestat, Louis, and Claudia in the flat they lived in). Really eerie but fun. After the tours, she used to sit and talk to folks about everything (usually writing and New Orleans architecture) and would even take and read manuscripts and send critiques back to you.

Most of the more popular authors are really down to earth. I know John Grisham, James Patterson, R.A. Salvatore, Eric Jerome Dickey, and Robert B. Parker are, for example. Andrew Vachss also (though his writing is more of an acquired taste IMO).

But that checklist is extremely useful. Usually, my characters are either based on people I know or their personalities just come to me (flaws and all) and I build the rest of the character around it.

[coldcut]

The other thing I dislike about this and really the other character guides that I've seen is that it tends to pigeonhole characters. How would you answer some of those questions? What makes you laugh? Probably different things at different times. One thing really bad characters do is retain the same emotional state over a long period of time.

Also is it wrong that I'm reading #9 as a fetish question? Maybe just cause I'm picturing someone wearing all of those things at once.

[Alumette]

I tend to look at those questions as ways to get "unstuck." I agree with Coldcut that bad characters never seem to change. But questions like these can be useful if you find your character is "stuck" and is not communicating very well with you about how he/she is going to respond.

There is a technique in art-making; can't remember what it's called, but I use it a lot when I choreograph. The basic premise is that if you're stuck, you come at your stuck point from a totally different angle and it can often jar movement back into the work.

For instance: if Alumette finds out that Darth Vader is really her father, and I'm not sure if she's going to be hurt, angry, afraid, astonished, or what (likely she will be all of those things, but how will she react first?), and I'm stuck as to her reaction, perhaps answering a few questions like this will help jog something, even if they're not at all related to the dilemma at hand.

I also look at the multiple-choice choices as prompts, rather than as definitive answers. Just asking someone "Whom does your character respect the most?" can be too broad for someone who's really stuck. The choices help focus the question a bit and create connections. Often the best way to determine whom a character respects the most, for instance, is to begin by eliminating people that *wouldn't* fit that category.

In truth, none of those choices to any of those questions are a match for Alumette, but they are nice prompts to get things going when I'm stuck.

The trick is to use tools like these as *starting* points, not end points.

Meh. I dunno. I just do what the voices in my head tell me to do.

[coldcut]

Put on your rubber boots, terrycloth bathrobe, silk underwear, sombrero, and ski mask. Take pictures.
..........