Developing Characters
When developing characters for your stories, you need not only a physical description, and general background, but also habits, wants, memories, favorites and fears, Hopes and hatreds. There should be a reason for everything your character does in the story. The grown man who gulps down his food because he grew up the youngest in a family of nine children. The female engineer who’s afraid to voice her opinion, imagining her father telling her “nice girls don’t do that”.
Sometimes actual people can be used as a framework for your characters. The operative word here is “framework”.
1. Take one or two characteristics from a real person. The way she snaps her fingers as she thinks. Or the way his smile lights up his face making him look boyish. Or maybe take her curly blond hair, or his smoky gray eyes. But don’t develop an entire character around a real person.
But you may argue, “My uncle is such a card; no one will believe he’s real.” Until, other members of your family start pointing out how much your such-and-such character reminds them of Uncle Joe. So, if you must have your character bray a laugh like Uncle Joe’s, make sure he looks nothing like him, or has enough other interesting habits to minimize the comparison.
2. Create combination characters. If you chose characteristics from people you know, create combination characters. How about combining your mother’s love of cooking, Cousin Thelma’s red curls, and Aunt Flora’s ability for snappy comments into one character.
This is also useful for the antagonists in your story. If you have the “bad guy” resemble a friend or family member, friction could develop between you and the real person. But if the evil-doer has your brother’s limp, a friend’s large hands, and cousin Adam’s constant sniffles, then they’re just characteristics, and can come from anywhere.
3. The good, the bad, and the humorous. Everyone has bad habits, even the hero and heroine. The antagonist should have some good habits or characteristics, too. A fully fleshed-out character has a good side, a bad side; a public persona and a private one. Miss “Goody-Two-Shoes” may turn into a witch and cast an evil spell or two in the privacy of her own dark cave. Mr. “Stay-Away-If-You-Value0-Your-Sanity” may be the best dad in the world to his motherless children.
And a bit of humor never hurt. The female student who swipes her favorite male teacher’s favorite pen, then finds a spreading spot of ink on her sweater when she meets him in the hall. (No one told her he used a real ink pen.) The young boy who hides a puppy in his room and it gets out and eats his father’s socks.
4. Individual history. If your character does something “out of character”, make sure there’s a reason in his background to explain it. The prominent businessman who steals candy because he never had enough money when he was young. The attractive female executive who doesn’t know how to talk to men because she was teased for being shy and clumsy all through school.
You don’t need to put the reason right before the unusual action. It can be mentioned briefly at the beginning, or referred to during conversation. But, like a well-woven tapestry, that shows new details at every inspection, it should be there.
5. Forms and Profiles. There are many character profile forms out there. They should include: physical description, education, family history, former employment, travel experience, outlook on life, innermost hopes, favorite things, secret fears, habits, ambitions, and friends and family members. It can include important past incidents and secrets.
How do you develop your characters? Do you use profile forms or simply write a brief “history” for each? Do you take characteristics from actual people or do you create them completely from fiction?
Other articles of interest:
1. Janis Hubschman’s: Creating Characters at
http://www.glimmertrain.com/b59hubschman.html
Tags: characters, writing
September 4th, 2013 at 7:35 pm
serenity malibu…
I never thought of it that way, well put!…
September 14th, 2013 at 8:56 am
this content…
Well put from an excellent blogger…
September 19th, 2013 at 3:19 pm
Sky Vue…
Effectively put from an excellent blogger…
October 3rd, 2013 at 5:32 am
mobile phone with bad credit…
Fantastic views on that!…
December 6th, 2013 at 8:23 pm
ketone diet…
Good points…
January 13th, 2014 at 12:20 am
building an email list…
Good points…
March 27th, 2014 at 4:00 pm
dasuquin with msm small to medium dogs…
Well put from an incredible blogger…
April 1st, 2014 at 9:39 am
Read More about Marcellus Play…
Right on my man!…
April 2nd, 2014 at 8:35 pm
amazon electronic cigarette…
Fascinating views on that!…
May 2nd, 2014 at 6:09 pm
American Bullion unprofessional servces…
Fantastic views on that!…
May 13th, 2014 at 6:06 pm
property value estimate…
Great views on that!…
May 30th, 2014 at 9:18 am
energeticdad…
Thank you for a great post….
June 20th, 2014 at 11:19 am
cheap youtube likes…
Thank you for a great post….
July 5th, 2014 at 2:10 pm
mode baju pesta…
Glorious blog!…
July 6th, 2014 at 11:22 am
limousine service chicago…
Fascinating views regarding that!…
July 7th, 2014 at 1:16 pm
payday loan…
Hey There. I discovered your weblog the usage of msn. This is an extremely well written article. I will be sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your helpful information. Thanks for the post. I’ll definitely comeback….
July 8th, 2014 at 5:56 pm
Oakley Crankcase Sunglasses uk…
Awesome!…
July 17th, 2014 at 4:22 pm
size of ring…
Well put from an excellent blogger…
July 22nd, 2014 at 9:46 am
cheap shoes…
I was highly pleased to get this web-site.I wanted to thanks for your time for this superb read!! I surely enjoying just about every little bit of it and I’ve you bookmarked to take a look at new stuff you weblog post….
July 31st, 2014 at 10:48 pm
looky…
My ideas exactly!…
September 10th, 2014 at 3:18 pm
desain baju terbaru…
Thank you for a great post….
September 14th, 2014 at 4:17 am
http://earspot.com/index.php?do=/blog/237968/garcinia-cambogia-pills-to-get-a-weight-loss-program/...
Effectively said and with glorious timing…
October 16th, 2014 at 4:13 am
http://www.gitedelaroche.com/default_zone/nike-air-max/...
Great job! Like viewing typically the stream as well as focusing on how most of these more compact directories work. Thanks!…
November 10th, 2014 at 1:27 am
printable coupons…
Excellent ideas…
November 14th, 2014 at 9:55 am
trusted@pillspot.com” rel=”nofollow”>.…
thanks for information….
November 19th, 2014 at 2:08 pm
hcg…
Excellent thoughts…
November 19th, 2014 at 11:03 pm
cell booster…
Thank you for a great post….
November 28th, 2014 at 5:18 pm
dental hygienist salary…
Thank you for a great post….
December 6th, 2014 at 2:52 pm
cheap international flight…
Wow! That’s an remarkable slant….
December 25th, 2014 at 4:02 am
barbour giacca from skyfall…
Nice post….
January 4th, 2015 at 10:46 pm
this…
Nicely put from an ideal blogger…
January 8th, 2015 at 1:45 pm
dumpster Eden Prairie…
Wonderful blog!…
January 10th, 2015 at 10:16 pm
http://www.cder.com/canbarbara/louis-vuitton/...
Impressive web site. A great deal of very helpful information in this article. On the web sending the item to a couple of buddys ans in addition discussing within tasty. In addition to effortlessly, thanks a lot on your effort!…
January 16th, 2015 at 11:06 pm
door paint…
Now that is some fantastic writing….
January 21st, 2015 at 10:19 am
discount wicked tickets nyc…
Thank you for a great post….
January 21st, 2015 at 1:49 pm
Oakland Raiders tickets cheap…
My thoughts precisely!…
January 30th, 2015 at 8:43 am
butik murah…
Excellent weblog!…
February 5th, 2015 at 9:58 am
internet…
Right on my man!…
February 16th, 2015 at 4:35 pm
aladdin broadway tickets cheap…
Excellent blog!…
February 25th, 2015 at 11:04 pm
torex obat kesuburan…
Wonderful thoughts…
March 9th, 2015 at 12:53 pm
grosir baju…
Well put from an amazing blogger…
March 9th, 2015 at 5:24 pm
kiat supaya cepat hamil…
Wonderful blog!…
March 10th, 2015 at 9:04 pm
doa dan zikir untuk cepat hamil…
Wonderful thoughts…
March 12th, 2015 at 3:54 am
madu al mabruroh bekasi…
Thank you for a great post….
April 20th, 2015 at 6:56 pm
here…
Great views on that!…
April 24th, 2015 at 8:43 pm
here…
Excellent ideas…
September 25th, 2015 at 9:51 pm
ray ban clubmaster sunglasses…
Saved as a favorite, І like your web site!…
October 29th, 2015 at 7:01 pm
oakley sunglasses…
I’m really impressed with your writing skills as well as with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself? Either way keep up the nice quality writing, it is rare to see a nice blog like this one nowadays…..
December 2nd, 2015 at 3:02 am
Trackback…
[…]Nice blog here! Also your website a lot up fast![…]…
March 20th, 2016 at 9:13 am
blade & soul gold…
i love this site so much!…
April 2nd, 2016 at 4:44 pm
Runescape Gold…
Im very pleased with your work….
May 26th, 2016 at 2:26 pm
fifa 17 coins…
You are looking sharp !…