Character creation. Some people love it, and some writers struggle with it. Remember this: the most excellent plot in the world, if it has no characters, is just an outline. A really good character study is a good read all by itself.
Most writers that I’ve mentored, taught, or reviewed seem to have an outside-in view of how to write a character. The character description in an email might read something like…
He has a little limp because he was injured in a fishing accident and nearly drowned when he was a kid. He has a really sharp white streak through is hair on one side – just because he was born that way and folks think he’s either blessed or cursed. He’s nearly 6′ tall, and weighs about 200 lbs. He likes to wear boots, and has a dog named Sam. He is easily upset and some people say he has a nasty temper.
Great. But what is the man really like? I usually get blank stares when I ask this. Look, you can’t judge a book by its cover, so why should I judge a character by a physical description? It tells me nothing about what he is inclined to do in any given situation, except somehow he might be hotheaded. Maybe.
Peel the skin off the onion. What kinds of reactions do people display in every culture, every language, every book you’ve ever read? There are universal constants you need to know about your character. What are his thoughts on politics? If he hears people discussing political questions is he more likely to roll his eyes and keep walking, or is he going to go on a meandering rant in an effort to try to persuade the people talking? What are his thoughts on religion? Is he really claustrophobic, or does he just say that in order to get out of doing stuff he doesn’t want to do? Why is it that he is described as a nobleman, yet he swears like a sailor (and how did that happen?)? Why? When? It’s all in the backstory, whether it needs to be expressed in the story you’re writing or not.
Another approach is to play it by the numbers. Literally. Some writers have attempted to write based on dice rolls as if they were playing a roll playing game (Dungeons and Dragons, and any other of the similar RPG nature). Is he going to turn left and try to find his friend, or is he going to go back to his room and order in a dinner? *dice roll* He goes back to get dinner. Why? *dice roll* Uhhh, I dunno. With a method like this you end up with a random series of misadventures, but decidedly not a plot. No thanks.
My approach to character development is inside-out. When I start considering a character, I literally put part of myself directly into the middle of an unfamiliar situation. You might call it daydreaming. I call it the act of just letting my id off its leash. Yeah, my id. Save your ego for the editing phase. Look it up (*footnote).
Let’s say I’m having a frustrated day. I may explore that a little bit and decide that I’m feeling angry, for instance. I let myself ponder what adventures an alter-ego angry guy would do. Why he’d start off pounding a half-bottle of whisky and then rolling downtown to see the mayor, that’s what he would do. And then he would try to get into that radio station to talk some sense into that disc jockey that just won’t shut up. And then he would go back to his hovel and print up lots of fliers on his computer (lots of them!), and then to hand these to everybody who hesitates just a moment too long on the sidewalk. Hell yeah, in front of City Hall, of course!
Ah, good. Angry guy has an agenda. What does he look like? Well, he’s just pounded a fifth, so he isn’t ready for ballroom dancing. He may walk with a limp because he bruised his leg last weekend when he got tased by a cop. His left boot also has an orthotic in it because it straightens out his leg a little better – but all it seems to do is to make his foot hurt, which makes him even angrier. He has a shock of white hair down the left side of his scalp because he used a chemical accidentally instead of a shampoo when he was a child. He hasn’t been able to trust shampoo since, unless he bought it himself. He’s been wearing the same blue jeans since Thursday because he can’t remember to buy laundry detergent when he walks by the store.
I really like angry guy. Now all I have to do find something for him to see in the mirror so I can draw the rest of his face, and figure out the rest of his crash pad. I think I’ll call him Mitch. For me, Mitch is a nemonic for ‘itch’, which is clearly what angry guy can’t quite scratch. Maybe he’s going to sober up long enough to run for governor. That might be entertaining! What has he done that he regrets? Probably nothing. What has he done that will not help him get elected? Oh, plenty….
(*) One of the best books ever for developing male characters is Iron John – A Book About Men, by Robert Bly. The allegedly educated sophisticates will pooh pooh the book, saying that the Ego and Id are discredited psychological constructs. Balderhockey! This book is a goldmine for jumpstarting a writer’s creativity. Read the book, and release your id.
Yeah, really.
