With two audio books out in a week: The Office Zoo and A Short Course In Creative Writing, I thought I would share an insight into writing characters. The Office Zoo is an observation of all the different characters I have witnessed within the office. At one time I was not terribly busy at work and had a weekly 'call of doom'. This was the most monotonous and painfully dull call in the history of mankind. With that in mind, I used to write a character blog which carried painfully truthful blogs of all the office characters - The Office Slug, The Office Pervert and The Office Hotty, to name but a few. Over a few months it became increasingly popular and had thousands of hits... I found a new office fame and was often accosted in the lavatory to find out who I was referring to. Of course work got word of this and I had to stop. I then took my observational meanderings and turned them into a book under a different name... Clever eh? At the same time I taught evening classes in creative writing while still working full time in the office. The creative writing class is where I shared how I observed and noticed quirks and oddities to generate authentic characters... So here is one of the character lessons which is now read by Erin in the audio book. She has done a fantastic job! Thank you Erin!
CHAPTER 4
Character construction and consideration.
Characters are the crucial to the writing of excellent fiction and
non-fiction. Characters who are dull, two dimensional and lifeless do not
engage the reader, that is, unless there is purpose behind the dullness or
lifelessness. Readers are usually fascinated by quirks, mystery and curiosity.
A level of identification is also useful to enable identification with the
character. One of the easiest ways to
create an interesting character is to create a biography (a character history)
of that character. You may like to consider the following when building your
character:
Note: you can use these considerations for
real or imagined characters.
·
Attitude
·
Posture
·
Tattoos
·
Accent
·
Origin
·
Gender
·
History
·
Wealth
·
Religion
·
Height
·
Build
·
Job/career
·
Addictions –
drinking, smoking, coffee, sex or food?
·
Hairstyle
·
What
activities do they do?
·
How do they
maintain themselves?
·
What is their
choice of clothing?
·
What period
of time were they born?
·
What do they
eat? What is their favourite food?
·
What are
their ambitions?
·
What
motivates them?
·
Who are their
friends?
·
Have they
made any sacrifices?
·
Have they
suffered hard times?
·
What makes
them who they are?
·
Who would
they like to be?
·
Where do they
go on holiday?
·
How do they
cope with stress?
·
What makes
them stressed?
·
Do they
exercise? What sort of exercise?
·
Inner world/outer
world.
·
What kind of
house do they live in?
·
Are they
single or married?
·
Do they have
children?
·
Do they
suffer from any ailments?
·
Victim,
rescuer or persecutor?
·
Why are they
interesting?
·
Are they
overweight or underweight?
·
Why would
anyone want to read about them?
·
What are
their fears?
·
What is the
worst situation you could put them in?
·
If they had
to confess one thing what would they confess?
·
What are
their quirks?
·
Do they fall
into a stereo type or cliché?
·
What are
their flaws?
·
What are
their hobbies?
·
Satisfaction
level – happy and content versus angry and discontent?
·
What would
their friends say about them?
·
What would their
mum say about them?
·
How do they
justify their behaviour?
·
What makes
them laugh?
Consider the below approaches:
1) Sometimes it is easier to find a picture that resembles the character
you intend to create. Try browsing through art
books that feature portraits. Family photos, magazines and the Internet are
great resources for finding inspiring faces.
2) When writing
about the character consider all the senses. How do they appear? What stands
out? How does the person talk? Accent, tone of voice, stutter? What smells come
to mind? What aftershave or perfume would they choose? How would you describe
their skin, hair, clothes and posture?
3) Consider the
people around you including friends, relatives and co-workers. When you write
what you know it is more convincing. Real life is often more interesting than
the imagined. Using what you know, try combining character traits of those who
you like and dislike.
4) An
individual exists beyond the moment and so should your character. Build the
personality outside the story. Consider their past, present and future.
Accumulate as many details as possible until you really know that person.
Consider them in different situations, on a train, in a lift, at a party or
dealing with a crisis.
5) Look at the
inner traits of the character versus how they are appear. What the character
conceals makes them interesting too. What is the character’s inner dialogue?
What is the character trying to conceal from the world?
All of the
above will help you develop a more three dimensional character.
6) A basic
character sketch can include:
·
Physical description
·
Career
·
Partner/Ideal partner
·
What makes them angry and
what makes them happy
·
Strengths and weaknesses
·
Hobbies
·
Fears & Hopes
·
History
·
Family
·
Dreams
·
Quirks
·
Attributes
7) Consider
using metaphors and do your best to avoid stereotypes. The most vicious bully
could be in the guise of the sweetest little girl instead of the more obvious
bulldog-featured man. Also the character who is willowy can be considered
metaphoric for flexibility and lenience. The rigid character can be considered
stubborn or resistant.
8) It is often
the case that the best loved characters have the most obvious flaws. A
character with flaws, quirks and emotions is far more interesting than those
who are perfect. Consider positive and negative traits. The villain who evokes
sympathy because of their flaws is far more powerful and interesting than
someone who is simply vile and rotten to the core. Imagine a character who
desperately wants to be kind but when the kindness is not noticed they become
angry.
9) Avoid being
too obvious. It is all very easy to re-create characters that we have been
influenced by; however, the fun is pushing them and making them more
interesting.
10) The general
consensus of opinion is that perfect characters are not that interesting. So
have fun using contradictions and polarities. Take for example the cleaner who
does not wash or the gourmet chef who lives on fast food.
EXERCISE FOR
CHARACTERS:
Write two
positive traits such as kindness and compassion. Now write one negative trait
such as anger or jealousy. Use these traits to describe one of the characters
you have in mind.
To make the
characters more complex write three positive traits like cheerful, optimistic
and gentle with two negative traits such as a compulsive liar and manipulator.
Take these to a character you have in mind and write the character with these
traits. See what happens and where your character leads you.
