Fleshing Out Characters

Help your reader get to know them better.

What are their dreams? How do they feel about them? About failing at them? (You're going to make them fail, aren't you? )
What are they afraid of? Why?
What parts of their past have defined who they are?
How do they speak? Eat? Show nervousness? Show other emotions, in ways unique to them? (People have tics, sometimes, when showing emotion)

Emotion and detail - two biggest ones. Not necessarily detail as description, but detail as in the little things you'd only notice if watched that person long enough and got to know them. What are some things about your friends that only they do, and not your other friends?

KosseMix said:

Help your reader get to know them better.

What are their dreams? How do they feel about them? About failing at them? (You're going to make them fail, aren't you? )
What are they afraid of? Why?
What parts of their past have defined who they are?
How do they speak? Eat? Show nervousness? Show other emotions, in ways unique to them? (People have tics, sometimes, when showing emotion)

Emotion and detail - two biggest ones. Not necessarily detail as description, but detail as in the little things you'd only notice if watched that person long enough and got to know them. What are some things about your friends that only they do, and not your other friends?

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I like this description.

In addition to that, I'd say this. "Fleshing out" a character is to make a character seem more real and potentially three dimentional. They become someone you can imagine existing in our world.

"Bob went to the store to buy food for a dog," has a character: Bob. He is not fleshed out, and is simply serving a purpose --getting food for a dog.

"Bob races to the store to buy food for his sons dying puppy," gives him more character. Now Bob isn't just committing an action, but he's got a motive, an emotion, and we can see that he cares about something.

Probably not the best example, but it's the difference between a character just being, and a character existing more vibrantly so we can really "feel" his existance.

I've never done it, but I have heard of writers who interview their characters and write down their responses. It might not all make it into the book, but it helps you know them better.

Fleshing them out is making them real, as opposed to a "place character here" approach. Giving your character a history, dreams, hopes for the future, idiosyncracies (they can't wear wool because the itching drives them crazy; can't sit on plastic because it annoys them when their flesh sticks to it), habits (twirling hair, chewing fingernails, tapping their feet when lying, playing with ears), lines they won't cross, weaknesses and passions.

Make them live, not just in your mind, but in the minds of the readers as well.

Dwayne (or anyone), name me your favorite character and then answer the following questions for me:

1. What do you like about them?
2. What do you not like about them?
3. What does the character most want to do (regardless if this is the goal they have to accomplish in the story or not)?
4. What is the character most ashamed of from their past (before the story started)?
5. Give me a brief description of the character's history?

This character chart (or at least parts of it) always helps me...

Give your readers room to imagine....

Hello, wow, nice character chart -- that's an awful lot of information. Here are my two cents on the topic -- while that information is good for you, as the writer, to know, only a smattering should be presented to your readers. Why? In my view, a writer should know his characters well enough to write about them -- keeping them consistent, lively, and therefore believable and not flat. Readers instinctively want some "blanks" in the characters they read about -- and readers fill in these blanks with personality traits that match their own traits. Or maybe with traits they wished they had.

DaveG

Flat characters don't change. Flat characters don't come to life on the page. A flat characters is too often just a stereotype. Flat characters are just a list (often repeated) of traits or quirks. Flat characters don't invoke any emotional reaction in your readers. Flat characters are often the "extras" and necessary stereotypes in your story.

I think the key to developing dynamic characters (and likely you won't have more than two or three truly dynamic characters in your story) is knowing everything about them -- give them a rich history and background -- do give them quirks or traits that identify them, but it's more than that. Put your characters into the line of fire and see how they react. I've read elsewhere that characters are defined by their actions, reactions, and dialogue. Readers typically see inside the head of dynamic characters -- what drives them, motivates them, makes them hesitate, makes them act? Once you know everything about your characters, writing about them is easier.

Hope this helps!

DaveG

Madison said:

This character chart (or at least parts of it) always helps me...

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well, that makes me mad. (says calmly) i spent about six months making one of these, and it is about identical to this. i could have just gotten one off the net and save myself a lot of time.


but one thing i do with my characters is argue with them. i have made mine round enough to argue, the arguements were wooden at first, but they began to come to life and argue better. (i even lost one once)

granted, argueing with someone that no one else can see... well lets just say I get a lot of looks.

think of them a people, and imagine they are in the room with you. you will begin to see their problems, their strengths, their weakness.

(cuts self off to head off an iminent ramble.)

DwayneA said:

What does it mean to "flesh out" a character? How is this done?

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By feeding your characters enough cheeseburgers to kill Elvis.

DwayneA said:

What does it mean to "flesh out" a character? How is this done?

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Different characters (just like real people) look different and act differently; the have different likes, dislikes, habits, aspirations, and fears.

The sheet Madison linked to:

Madison said:

This character chart (or at least parts of it) always helps me...

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can help you differentiate characters by building them with different traits.

OK, but why would you want to do that? The short answer is that it makes your characters three-dimensional; it gives them their own personality.

The long answer is that is makes your character--and your story--interesting.

Imagine a character...oh...walking to the store to but dogfood, for example. She's high-strung, so she walks fast, but is careful where her heel lands, because she doesn't want to twist her ankle again. She's got long hair that she likes to wear loose, and she tends to unconsciously brush it out of her eyes, particularly on windy days such as this. She likes red, although it really isn't her color, and the blazing fire-red jacket she wears is an eye-catcher, but it makes her look pale. The off-red pumps and small purse don't quite match; she's not as fashionable as she thinks she is. Perhaps she smokes, and stops to light up--the cigarettes are in her jacket, rather than her purse, because she's trying to force herself to quit. Her fingernails are long (and red, of course), but they're press-ons. She's worried about her father, who seems to be getting Alzheimer's, so her thoughts aren't really on the walk or the dogfood. She walks past the house where her best friend in third grade once lived.

And so forth and so on. Now you certainly don't want to dump all this information on the reader for no particular reason, but knowing about your character allows you to add life. You don't have to actually say she likes red, but because of that, you know more about her wardrobe. You don't actually have to say she's trying to quit smoking, but that fact will alter her behavior. You don't actually have to say she like to wear her hair loose, but what happens when it's breezy?

...DwayneA.

Here.

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=127305

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126508

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126319

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126429

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125678

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=122780

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121837

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113591

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113265

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=112784

All of these should answer your question. Really, all of the other members here and I appreciate you coming here with a need to learn. I love to take the time to help you(I love helping out), but seriously, could you stop repeating the same questions over and over? That's what I've been trying to explain to you all along. -_-

-sigh-

.Seriously, could you stop repeating the same questions over and over? That's what I've been trying to explain to you all along. -_-

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That sounds like someone who used to post on here. And we answered, and answered and explained our answers. A lot. Patiently.

What was their name again?

It seems like it would only be fair to do the same for Dwayne, don't you think?

IdiotsRUs said:

That sounds like someone who used to post on here. And we answered, and answered and explained our answers. A lot.

What was their name again?

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..-___-. At least they MERGED those threads.

Forget it. Just forget it.

Blue - If you are getting frustrated with Dwayne's threads, then Stop. Reading. Them. It's really that simple.

Let the moderators handle and monitor Dwayne's posting habits. Please.

ChaosTitan said:

Blue - If you are getting frustrated with Dwayne's threads, then Stop. Reading. Them. It's really that simple.

Let the moderators handle and monitor Dwayne's posting habits. Please.

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I'm not frustrated at all. I feel like I'm the only one who notices this. I'm trying to get through to this guy, and let him know what he's doing wrong. I really really want to help Dwayne. I'm trying to. *sigh*

...Sorry MODs, and everyone else.

Carry on.

Yep, the solution is to stop reading these threads, and stop posting in them. Stop now. Don't even reply to this post.

-Derek

Blue: You're not the only one who notices this. You're really, really not.

Maybe we should take this to PM but what I will say here is I recognise your frustration. I have to tread a fine line between saying my piece and avoiding getting into trouble but sometimes, for the sake of being able to live with myself, I have to speak up and risk the ire of those in authority.

Not that 'fear of being spanked' should cause people to clam up, but...there it is. I'll PM you.

> Yep, the solution is to stop reading these threads, and stop posting in
> them. Stop now. Don't even reply to this post.

Is there a FAQ for this forum?

-cb

cbenoi1 said:

Is there a FAQ for this forum?

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Do you think it needs one, or were you confused by the exchange above?

I thought "Basic Writing Questions" was self-explanatory, someone asks a question, members answer as best they can...

Sometimes threads get sidetracked and we try to help refocus on the question-and-answer thing. There are plenty of other forums for deeper writing discussion.

-Derek

In an attempt to steer us back in motion ....

I'm not a big fan of character charts, but I like the one Madison posted for one simple detail. To every portion you fill out, it also asks why. What are your character's favorite clothes? Why? You'll find out more about a character than saying her favorite color is purple is you know why she likes that color.