On the Writing Process - Creating Great Characters

The second installment of musings on writing relates to creating great characters. If you've ever seen a movie or a TV show or read a novel or short story that captivates you, chances are that the writers developed great characters to tell the story. Great characters are well-rounded, and detailed enough for the reader (or viewer) to believe. That means they are three-dimensional. 

If you are writing a script, a novel, a short story or other piece, and you give ample thought to your characters, you are bound to win more fans! 


Here are some things you should consider when creating a character:


The character must be consistent (unless the character is mentally disturbed, the traits and actions of the character should remain consistent with their values and the way the writer has presented the character from the beginning of the story).


The character must be believable. Even if you are writing fantasy or science fiction, a good character must be believable in action, deed, thought and relationships, or you will lose credibility AND lose the attention of your viewer or reader.


The writer must create a history and relationships for the character, even if all meaningful relationships with family, friends, husbands, colleagues or lovers are not related directly to the story. With some idea of who this person is and the people in their life, the reader or viewer will understand the character as a whole human being. 


The writer should know how she or he sees the character (age, weight, height, description, gait, mannerisms, job, education). While the writer does not need to tell the reader or viewer everything he or she thinks about the character's physical presence or every fact about the person's lifestyle, exercise regimen or eating habits, it will be easier to write about the character if the writer can picture the character in his head and have a fully formed picture of how the character lives his or life life.


The character might have a particular style of speaking (an accent, a casual or formal sentence structure). That should remain consistent throughout the story, unless the character is a spy or someone who is changing identities!


The character should have a "back story". Even if the writer does not reveal every detail of the character's history, it helps the writing if the writer understands the history and experiences. That will explain the reasons for the character's actions and reactions to situations in the story. If an action or reaction is particularly odd, the writer must reveal the impetus or motivation in order for the reader to understand what is happening. 


There are certainly other factors to creating a character but I won't go into every one of them here. The last one I will talk about is the most important. The character MUST have some redeeming quality, value or reason for existence and/or for the actions they take. If a character is unnecessary to the story, or if the writer does not value the character in some way (even if the character isn't very nice), the reader or viewer certainly will not see the value or purpose of the character's role in the story. 


When a writer chooses to reveal a character's thought process, it should be to provide clarification or critical information to the reader or viewer. Remember that you don't have to write about every thought in a character's head but DO write about reactions so that the reader or viewer can see how one character is reacting to another's action or statement. In TV and movies and on the stage, the viewer has the luxury of seeing an actor emote and so can understand their reaction to what is going on. In books, the reader must rely on the author to explain what is happening so she can see the events unfold in her imagination!


Remember that the viewer or reader cannot read your mind and needs to have a certain amount of information in order to make sense of what the characters are doing and why they are acting they way they are acting. BUT...don't go into so much detail that you lose the reader or viewer in exposition and explanation. 


In the next blog entry about the writing process, I will talk about writing at a particular time of day. Since many of the topics we will discuss relate to other topics, you'll find that I might talk about a technique, about characters or about other topics more than once during these blog posts. When taken as a group of posts and a body of thought, I hope these blog posts will give you  more complete picture of the process, and how you might approach writing your own novel, short story, script or other content. 

The Process of Writing

From time to time a renowned author decides to write a book on the process of writing. A number of years ago, Stephen King wrote 'On Writing', a great book for aspiring authors. If you are a published author, people will often ask you questions about the process. Here are some of the most typical questions an author of fiction is asked by readers and prospective authors. 


1.  What is your process for writing, e.g., writing outlines, creating believable characters, writing a particular time of day, writing for a particular audience, finding and sustaining your voice, creating a character that your readers will love.
2.  What happens when you get writer's block?
3.  Do you write every day?
4.  Has writing become a tedious job for you or do you still love it?
5.  How long does it take to write a novel?
6.  How do you get your book published?
7.  Do you need an agent?
8.  In an age where so many books are published, can I ever hope to find an audience for my work?


Since people have been asking me these questions a lot lately, I thought I might try to tackle them in some orderly fashion. Of course, this is purely MY perspective since every author will answer these questions differently. 


Today, I will take on part one of the first question. Does my process include an outline and a process to create a detailed character?


I have written with and without an outline. If the story is simple, I sometimes like to let it take me wherever it goes and worry about adding the bones after I have created the skeleton. 


When I do create an outline, some will be very general in providing a sequence and flow and others will be extremely detailed. The more complex the story and the characters, the more detailed the outline. 


The detailed outlines arise from a need to capture all the ideas I have in my head about the story and how it will evolve. With a summary description in the outline, I can refer to the next piece of the story and remind myself where I am going so I don't get lost in the ebb and flow of the tale. Without that guide, I may forget the great idea I had about a character, a location, a relationship or an event. 


There is one caveat in my outlining process and that is that I NEVER allow the structure of the outline to DICTATE the story or evolution. Writing is, after all, a creative process and sometimes the muse takes you in a different direction. If I get to a certain point in the story and the next thing in my outline doesn't seem to make sense, I may have to follow my gut and be confident in the idea that the story or character has taken on a life of its own. While this might seem a bit hokey, there are times when the story takes the author on a journey and refuses to go in the direction the author has planned. That may be a bit frustrating but it is also exciting and wondrous because the journey is a real one and the work has taken on a flow that is magical. 


If you are going to develop an outline, you may choose to create a character summary as well. Even if you never describe what your character looks like in the book (you may choose to leave that to your reader's imagination), you should have some picture in your own mind to make the character real for you.


Character detail may include a 'back story'. This comes rather naturally to me since I have a background in the theater and I know that, if I am going to create a believable three dimensional character, I must know where the character came from, the life experiences that molded her and her goals and the reasons for her actions. In a fictional novel, this can be of some help (especially if you have never been the shepherd for a character and taken on the very real responsibility of getting the character safely through 200-400 pages of life and evolution). 


You NEVER want the reader to question whether a character's actions or thoughts are believable in a given situation. Be sure that the character's traits and values are consistent throughout the novel. If the character goes through a life-changing event, their behavior might change in some ways, but the reader must see how and why that change took place or they will not stay with the character and embrace them. I will take on the topic of creating a character your readers will love, in a later blog.


In the next blog, I will discuss the logistics of writing, e.g., time of day, place, etc.