Characterisation

You have a little problem there, Awaitingthemuse, if this is the 80,000+ and 8 character novel you have mentioned elsewhere.

Your basic questionnaire approach doesn't seem to be working - maybe it's too restrictive and you should have given yourself more freedom during the writing process, perhaps when each character made his/her entrance.

Personally, I just open the door and let them walk in - it's up to them to show me what sort of character they are and how they react to any given situation. But no two folks operate the same way and I'm sure there are plenty of other ways that will be evident from subsequent posts to this thread.

Good luck.

I do a technique similar to what Elizabeth George describes in Write Away. I have a list of questions for characters, much like a questionnaire, but I don't fill it out. I put it next to me and then I just freewrite about a character, sometimes in first person, sometimes in third. I have the list of questions next to me in case I get stuck for ideas, but I've not had that happen. I don't always "answer" the same questions for each character. I might concentrate more on one character's education, and not consider it at all for another character.

Consider that you may need not more questioniarres and exercises but fewer--or none. Some people build their characters from the outside demographics and and others do the reverse. I simply imagine the characters and daydream their situations--I imagine being them (if they are the point of view character). I could not tell you their birthdays and sometime not even the colour of their eyes, but I do know exactly how they will react in any given situation. I play the scene through in my thoughts before beginning to write--like a dress rehearsal.

Play around and find out what works best for you.

Characters

I don't think character charts and character questionaires ever build really good characters. Just write the story and let the characters be whoever they want to be, whatever they want to be, etc. Let them be real people, not people you made up. Let them surprise you with what they know, what they think, what they believe, etc, just like real people you meet surprise you.

THe characters I have written have defined themselves in situation and their "histories" which serve as good points of reference into their character and motivation. When I first started the ms, I had an outline, as my characters started to reveal themselves, I realized I was trying to make them do things that weren't in their "nature" to do. I realized they were bigger than the plot and changed it accordingly. All the way up until the end the things they would say (even though I had a specific direction for them) surprised me. Once I got to konw them better the plot evolved to match them and it made more sense to me. I agree with jamesarchie, let them be themselves and let them evolve as you write. Consider them real people and suddenly they will reveal what you need them to.
I don't know, outside of basics and what is relevant to the story, what my characters' questionairres would hold. They "told" me what I needed to know to write the story. (I always feel like such a schizo when I say things like this and i waited to respond to the thread because I didn't want to sound crazy.)
I like the idea of imagining them in situations and what they would do. This to me is more important than anything they would write on a questionairre.
Currently I have one character that I would like to dive into a bit more, and I am going through the ms and have developed a "side story" for her that will enhance her character, again, not a narrative that describes her, a situation that would illuminate the parts of her character i would like to be seen.
I hope that ramble makes sense.

I find character charts and exercises very limiting, to the point where I'm going "In this scene the protagonist demonstrates her aptitude for long division." It gets very mechanical and I'm left with fewer surprises. If I just start writing with a vague idea of who everyone is, they often develop in surprising and creative ways I couldn't have imagined by simply trying. And it doesn't necessarily make it into the book, either. Right now I happen to know that my hero is colorblind, which has nothing to do with anything and is never mentioned in my ms. Just a strange random thing I know.

I agree with the others that I don't think character worksheets are particularly helpful. Sure, they have a lot of questions and feel productive, but ultimately, I've always thought the questionnaires were very superficial--and misleading. They make the writer feel like they're doing real characterization when they're just doing a laundry list.

What I do is use the story and other characters to help build characterization. Events will happen in the story, and the characters are going to react to those events. The backstory and general background helps shape the direction of the reaction. As a basic example, a person with a law enforcement background might react in a high stress situation with a level head while another person who has never even had a family member die goes into a terrible panic. Or a person has a secret that she is afraid people will find out about--but it's about something common and everyday and that everyone asks about. Or an ethical issue where the character doesn't feel right about the decision but feels he has no choice because of some reason.

Donald Maass' Writing the Breakout Novel and its companion workbook are worth reading on the subject. He gives some examples from various books that may be of help.

awaitingthemuse said:

This has probably been covered a squillion times. Apologies in advance. I going through the first draft of my novel and fast realising that even I am not that interested in my characters. I think they all have potential. I have done a basic 'questionnaire' for each of them - age, religion,secret they are keeping etc. I still feel I really need to know them more. Can anyone point me to any good exercises on characterisation or let me know your techniques for really knowing your characters.TIA

atm

Click to expand...

Hm, maybe I'm doing things wrong but I never did those questionnaires for my characters. I just throw them into situations and let them do what must be done. When I have more than one POV characters, I'll do a bio on them, but only after they developed. The bio is just to be consistent, for me to refer back to while I write. As far as their personalities, they're kind of reacting to the situations and find their way to solutions. This could be a back way of doing things, but it works for me.

Maybe...

Have you tried taking each character out of the book and spending a day following them around in their world?

If you write a day-in-the-life-of... diary for each of them you will be amazed at what you find out that helps flesh them out as 'real' people with foibles and whims and characteristic habits.

Do character interviews. Not only asking the character questions, but letting the character ask questions of you (if it arises) Write basic scenes of the character's mundane, day to day life. Once you have a vague idea of your character's personality, write scenes that are emotionally charged and see how your character would deal with them (scenes concerning infidelity, torture, financial problems, etc.. all the biggies)

Trust your instincts beyond all else. As you go, you will learn what works for you.
As for me, my characters take on a life of their own. I don't do questionnairss. Don't like them or have any use for them -- but that's ME. I'm certainly not putting down anyone who does this. One thing I will sometimes do as I'm getting to know a character is write a paragraph (or whatever it takes) where s/he talks about anything relevant to the story. Mostly, I let the characters live and breathe, and I find that they take on a life of their own, and they often take the story in directions different from what I had planned. I love letting my subconscious mind be in charge. For me, it works.

Some people are much more into structure than I am, and for them, this method would send them to the looney bin. No right answer here - just a choice of style.

I don't think I could fill out a chart even for my favourite character. I kind of like it when a character maintains a small element of mystery, even to myself. I don't want to start getting into his political affiliations or his favourite brand of shoelaces, unless it's relevant to my stories.

That said, I find it takes time for characters to "talk" to you ... though after 80,000 words, you should at least hear *something.*

I just let my characters jump on to the page - then it's up to them to show me what they're made of.

a day in the life of...

One thing I find very helpful is, once I have a bare-bones idea for a character (ie, a gender, a name--though sometimes that changes--and some basic thought of his place in the story), is to imagine what said character would be doing if he was right beside me in my own life. For example, say I'm at a cafe or Tim Hortons or something (well, I'm Canadian! though I hear they're starting to pop up in the States now too), and I say, well, what would they be doing now?

Would they get the same thing I do? Or something else? How would they eat it? Oh, two people are having an argument in Japanese beside me--does the character know Japanese? is he uncomfortable with watching other people's emotions? does he firmly focus on his half-finished doughnut or does he shred it to pieces in embarrassment, or is he so involved with his own thoughts that he has no idea there's an argument going on?

I have to say this works remarkably well for me, even when (perhaps especially when) half my characters are from a fantasy world. Then you get the fun of imagining what aspects of my culture that I take for granted are the ones they pick up on--have they ever had bananas? or potatoes? What do they think of cars? or busses? or skyscrapers? or multiculturalism? Do they like flashy jewellry? Or snow boots? Are they completely fascinated by neon lights? or revolted by the concept of paper cups? Are they utterly astonished that the two people arguing do not take their quarrel outside and settle it in a proper duel? Or not?

Just my own two cents.

I'm having a wonderful "brain tv" moment imagining how various people from my fantasy and mythic worlds would behave in a coffee shop. My villain would probably be learning how to make coffee and taking it back to Faerie with her because coffee is a good mask for poison. The King would want nothing to do with the scene. The novice healer would be frightened by all the commotion, I'm sure, and all of them would be wondering if they would safely make it back to their own home... Anyway, that's a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing.

Ronda

I'm glad you enjoyed it, Ronda. I have to say, it makes those boring times I spend places (when I've forgotten both book AND notebook, and can't do anything about it) not only less boring, but even fun. And sometimes I find out things about myself (as well as my characters) that I never realised, or see normal things in a new light. Which can only be good!

Oh, wanted to add--I like the term 'brain tv'. I hadn't any name for it before, just 'something I do to have fun and pass the time' (or, if I'm talking about it more seriously, 'my characterization exercise'), so ... brain tv. Or, perhaps, Mind tv? That sounds less Matrix-like.

I didn't know about a 'character questionaire'. I just write about my charcters and the charcters come out as I write what they say and do. Of course I do have the charcter in my mind. Like handsome and sauve, or handsome and impulsive, ugly and disgusting, ect.

My characters are all different forms of me, from the big old fat Okie cop in one book to the innocent 13-year old girl in another, as well as all the secondary characters. They are what I would be like in their circumstances, in those human incarnations. If I ever write from an animal's POV, that would be me, also.

I am like most of the others. I let the characters reveal themselves to me, as I write.

Victoria (and everyone),
"Brain TV" is what I like to call the mental imaging I do. I may read something or hear someone talk, and images/sounds/thoughts/whatever start playing in my head. It leads me to be standing in line alone and cracking up for no apparent reason. I started using that term when i was teaching a stress management class. I coach people to turn off internal "channels" like Life's Most Embarrassing Moments and perpetual replays of fights with the spouse etc.

Now I write a newspaper column, and Brain TV has made a couple of appearances. Also Chicken TV, which is the fun of watching my chickens.

Ronda