Creating and Developing Characters

DwayneA said:

Can someone give me some tips on creating and developing my characters? I want to know about good traits, bad traits, flaws, conflicts, and how to make him/her grow.

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Sure, check out this thread.

And this thread.

Also this thread.

And don't forget this thread.

In fact, here's another one.

And one for the road.

Happy reading.

Without reading the threads in question (though I'm not recommending you don't!), I want to add that a good way to help develop already-existing characters is to put yourself in their heads--"pretend" to be them or "become" them, in effect--and react to the story's situations as they would react. Roleplay, even if it's just in your head. It will definitely help you get a better handle on how your characters think, react, and feel about things, especially if you happen to have a personality much different from theirs. You'll start to learn far more about them than if you'd just tried filling out information on a profile.

Don't be afraid to play pretend even though you're grown up.

Queen of Swords said:

Sure, check out this thread.

And this thread.

Also this thread.

And don't forget this thread.

In fact, here's another one.

And one for the road.

Happy reading.

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Ouch. Harsh, very harsh, but I can see why you'd be annoyed after looking at all those threads. But seriously, DwayneA when are you going to grow up and do things yourself? Quit asking questions and just do it.

The only sure way of learning this stuff is by doing. Again and again and again.

It might not work every time. In fact, it's probably going to fail more often that it's going to work.

There is no sure fire way. You have to find your OWN way, and the only way to do that is to write. A lot.

ETA: I've thought about this a little bit more, so I'm gonna add this:

I understand and even share your frustration. I often wish I had a mentor who could/would walk me through it, step by step or point by point, letting me know where I'm going wrong, and what I'm getting right.

But -- would it really help me? Or would it just leave me dependent on someone else's feedback, maybe even to the point where it isn't really my work anymore? Just something to think about.

DwayneA said:

that's not very helpful. Give me a break, I'm still new at this!

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Do what we did when we were new. Read the other threads, go to the library and sign out some books on writing. Write, write, write. Read, read, read, then read and compare. Type out a few paragraphs of a book you like and really get down to the nitty gritty of what makes that book so great.

In short, it's hard work. If you don't want to do that work, or take the time, that's fine. Totally up to you. But it is all up to you. We can't, and frankly we won't, do the work for you.

DwayneA said:

that's not very helpful. Give me a break, I'm still new at this!

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Dwayne,

I understand you're feeling upset, but if you keep starting threads that all say, in effect, "I don't know what to do, please explain everything to me so that I can write great stuff", and if you then ignore the advice everyone has given and don't bother to acknowledge anyone's help (much less thanking them) don't be surprised if people are annoyed.

Queen of Swords said:

Sure, check out this thread.

And this thread.

Also this thread.

And don't forget this thread.

In fact, here's another one.

And one for the road.

Happy reading.

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I did click on the threads and see that everyone of them is started by you. Why? What has suddenly made you ask so many questions about writing character and dialogue when you've been registered on this forum for two years? I'm not trying to be rude; I really want to know if you've had this big hiatus, or you've been writing furiously for two years and suddenly realized that your writing stinks, or someone told you it did? Or you've been trying to write for years and still can't figure out where to begin? Or this is all avoidance.

I ask questions too, believe me. Lots of them. And although I'm pretty new and hopefully haven't worn out my welcome, I wonder if some of my thread starters are moronic or boring, but at some point you have to work some of this out for yourself.

I'm just wondering what is blocking you and hoping we can be of some help to you by knowing that. Based on the responses to this thread, but particularly the one you started on dialogue, I would hope you take the sincere help being offered to you and look upon it as a free education - make a list of the books, the sites, the forums and work your way down them, share your work, write, revise, share some more, and hopefully that aha moment will come to you.

I remember reading something on Joseph Finders website about how he actually goes through magazines and cuts out photos of people that look similar to what he had in mind for his characters, and that helps him get into their heads.

Flaws are always the hardest to portrait - anyone can make their hero perfect, but giving them believable flaws can be quite tough.

Have a think about flaws in yourself, in your family, and in people you know.

Consider how they would impact your story.

Just build them piece by piece, and before you know it, you have a character.

cheers
Sam

DwayneA said:

Can someone give me some tips on creating and developing my characters? I want to know about good traits, bad traits, flaws, conflicts, and how to make him/her grow.

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Sometimes it helps to make character sketches within a scene framework. I remember a writing class I took years ago and the instructor gave us a bar scene and told us to write about a guy trying to pick up a pretty girl. We could make him confident, cocky, shy, whatever and then take him through the process of making eye contact, conversation etc. It's a fun exercise. Give it a try. Even writing within a small scene you'd be surprised at how many character traits surface.
Linnea

Listen up, folks.

Try not to bring emotional baggage from other threads into Basic Writing Questions forum.

If someone asks a question -- and you can suggest an answer to help them on their way -- then post.

If you're including a swipe borne of frustration at the OP, then refrain. Or take out the swipe before you hit the Submit Reply button.

This request brought to you by a frustrated moderator who edited out a couple of swipes before posting! Thanks for anything you can do.

-Derek

Point taken, Derek.

But I don't think anyone here has a clue what sort of answer is going to be of any help to Mr D, and folk who post without reading the plethora of previous identical threads from Dwayne are simply encouraging the posting of more questions, the answers to which seem to be totally ignored regardless of their clarity.

ETA. So far,anyway - but just read today's other Character Flaw post.

dpaterso said:

Listen up, folks.

Try not to bring emotional baggage from other threads into Basic Writing Questions forum.

If someone asks a question -- and you can suggest an answer to help them on their way -- then post.

If you're including a swipe borne of frustration at the OP, then refrain. Or take out the swipe before you hit the Submit Reply button.

This request brought to you by a frustrated moderator who edited out a couple of swipes before posting! Thanks for anything you can do.

-Derek

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Hey DwayneA,

Characters & Viewpoints by Orson Scott Card is a pretty good book on characters.

Also, interviewing your characters works good too. I DL'd an interview sheet from the Gotham Writer's Workshop website, I don't have the link at the moment. But that helps to get an idea what kind of person your character is. (Helped me at least.)

I've also made some character profile sheets based on a few books I've read. Ever since I made them, my character development has gone a lot smoother and my characters are getting deeper as I develop more of them. If you want to check out the sheets I made to see if they might help you, PM me your email and I'll send them to you.

In fact, if anyone wants to check them out to see if they'll help, feel free to PM me.

here is the truncated version of something I posted a couple of weeks ago on this subject:


Every living person is a conglomaration of the past events in their lives. If you find out what those past events were, and how they feel about them, then you will have a good handle on your character, they will seem more real rather than just an amalgam of ooh that's a nice quirk, or how about I make him sarcastic? They become more real, you will know why they are as they are, and as a bonus will know how they will react to certain situations.

Just today I came across a series of blog posts that are ostensibly about plotting, but this author develops characters first and grows the plot from them. Here is the whole set of links, but the first three are about character development. I highly recommend the third one in particular.

http://joelysueburkhart.com/blog/?p=1809
http://joelysueburkhart.com/blog/?p=1811
http://joelysueburkhart.com/blog/?p=1813
http://joelysueburkhart.com/blog/?p=1814
http://joelysueburkhart.com/blog/?p=1815
http://joelysueburkhart.com/blog/?p=1816