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C is for Character Creation #atozchallenge
Apr. 3rd, 2013 06:37 pmToday I want to write about creating characters. There are lots of ways to do it! I've experimented with probably half a dozen different methods, and generally speaking I think that different methods work for different people. You just have to find the one that works for you, and don't feel as though you have to use a method that isn't working just because other people say it's the Way To Do It.
For example, one method I see touted a lot is to fill out long questionnaires that ask a lot of fiddly details about the character. I've seen many of them passed around and have tried a few individual questionnaires. For a while I slavishly filled out a questionnaire that was probably 15 pages in length by the time I'd filled out the nicknames and listed all the siblings and talked about the home town etc. etc. It would take me weeks to fill out the damn thing for each character, and I usually wanted to take an icepick to the brain for most of the process.
And then I generally forgot all about it while I was writing. Suddenly the character needed a sibling I hadn't mentioned, or came from a totally different part of the world, or his hair was brown instead of red. If I tried to stick to the original plan, the character became flat and forced.
For many people, this method works great, I'm sure. It probably gets them thinking about the weird little quirks and details and helped them flesh out their character so they weren't two-dimensional. For me, it never did that. My characters tend to tell me about themselves as they write them, and to have a whole lot of details pre-planned hems me in.
What I do instead is have the questionnaire available, and fill it in as the details come to me while I'm writing - not to hem me in, but so I don't forget about it later.
However, there are five things that you should know about your character - particularly main and important side characters - before you begin. They are absolutely key, and they've got nothing to do with hair colour. This is the questionnaire I do fill out for each character:
1. What is the character's goal?
2. What is the obstacle that will stop them from achieving their goal?
3. What is the worst thing that could happen to the character?
4. What is the best thing that could happen to the character?
5. How is the character going to change by the end of the story?
For example, one method I see touted a lot is to fill out long questionnaires that ask a lot of fiddly details about the character. I've seen many of them passed around and have tried a few individual questionnaires. For a while I slavishly filled out a questionnaire that was probably 15 pages in length by the time I'd filled out the nicknames and listed all the siblings and talked about the home town etc. etc. It would take me weeks to fill out the damn thing for each character, and I usually wanted to take an icepick to the brain for most of the process.
And then I generally forgot all about it while I was writing. Suddenly the character needed a sibling I hadn't mentioned, or came from a totally different part of the world, or his hair was brown instead of red. If I tried to stick to the original plan, the character became flat and forced.
For many people, this method works great, I'm sure. It probably gets them thinking about the weird little quirks and details and helped them flesh out their character so they weren't two-dimensional. For me, it never did that. My characters tend to tell me about themselves as they write them, and to have a whole lot of details pre-planned hems me in.
What I do instead is have the questionnaire available, and fill it in as the details come to me while I'm writing - not to hem me in, but so I don't forget about it later.
However, there are five things that you should know about your character - particularly main and important side characters - before you begin. They are absolutely key, and they've got nothing to do with hair colour. This is the questionnaire I do fill out for each character:
1. What is the character's goal?
2. What is the obstacle that will stop them from achieving their goal?
3. What is the worst thing that could happen to the character?
4. What is the best thing that could happen to the character?
5. How is the character going to change by the end of the story?
