MAKING CHARACTERS LIVE

Get _Characters & Viewpoint_ by Orson Scott Card.

To me, a character lives when you, as the reader, can see them being a real person. Which means they have faults. Some people work well doing character charts (I'm not one of them), some prefer to do a character interview or exchange letters with the character (for the schizophrenic writer, like me at times), and others like to just follow the character through pages and pages of story before the character reveals themself fully (my preferred method most of the time).

There are lots of character charts online, and I also recommend OSC's book noted above.

For an example of characters who really lived for me, I'll have to say Owen Meany and Odd Thomas really came alive for me.

I'd support what Siddow said.

When a character is at the point where they smack you upside the head and say, "No, no, no! That's not what I'd do! Do this!" then they're living.

Alex's staff and Finder's foot have smacked me upside the head numerous times.

I agree, Orson Scott Card's book is really good and for characters, so is Gotham Writers' Workshop: Writing Fiction. Excellent section about character development.

As far as looking at a writer's work to show an example of great characterization, time and time again I always think of Dickens. If someday I could get to half of his skill at that, I'd be eternally happy.

Islaitha Frost said:

When a character is at the point where they smack you upside the head and say, "No, no, no! That's not what I'd do! Do this!" then they're living.

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OMG mine do this all the time!! They never do what I want. Just last night my character was supposed to be eavesdropping. Next thing I know he's wandering around and flirting. They can't even stay put!!

Rowdymama said:

I am preparing to send a student a lesson on this subject. I'm terrified because this is a weak spot for me. I don't know how to tell whether characters live or not when I read other people's works, much less my own.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

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At the risk of being considered a twit...

...why are you teaching a lesson on a topic in which you don't have any particular knowledge?

Take acting classes. Seriously, that's the best way I know to get into character's head is to pretend to be that character. I call this process hat-changing. I imagine I have different hats, and when I put on a particular hat, I am that character, and I'm experiencing the moment from their point of view, including all the emotional issues, the adrenaline, the physical feelings, and pretty much anything else that's going on. When I'm done, I take the hat off, and I'm back to being me.

Characters who are alive for the writer come alive for the readers, and in the end, that's what counts.

Good luck!

GerriB said:

Take acting classes. Seriously, that's the best way I know to get into character's head is to pretend to be that character. I call this process hat-changing. I imagine I have different hats, and when I put on a particular hat, I am that character, and I'm experiencing the moment from their point of view, including all the emotional issues, the adrenaline, the physical feelings, and pretty much anything else that's going on. When I'm done, I take the hat off, and I'm back to being me.

Characters who are alive for the writer come alive for the readers, and in the end, that's what counts.

Good luck!

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I prefer masks myself.

Which actually gave rise to a character in and of itself, appropriately named Masquerade.

Characters come to life on the page when they DO things. Sitting and emoting isn't living, it's stagnant. Let them have goals and the motivations to pursue those goals. Let them have problems acheiving those goals and let those problems be spilled across the pages of the books for all to see. Let them have emotional highs and lows, hopes and dreams, frustrations and disappointments.

Don't put all this in their background. Don't put all this on character sheets or questionaires. No one's going to see that stuff but you. Let them live on the page where they can be truly appreciated.

A character only comes to life when you breath the life into it. When you put them into real situations good and bad, and follow them through both the good and the bad. If all you do is write down the character and describe them then they are not alive.

Make them feel all emotions both good and bad (love, and anger).

The real key is if you the writer actually care for the characters. If you half way bring them to life or you don't really feel conection with the character, then the character fails.

Other than all of the other good suggestions above, I quite like the concept of "stakes". What is the character standing to "win" or "lose" (and that may be in terms of an internal conflict)? How important is that, and what would be the consequences if they failed?

I remember reading somewhere, I think by an editor, that one of the biggest flaws of amateur writing is that stories tend to not have compelling enough emotional stakes. The writer creates conflict, but needs to "up the ante", so to say, as to how important it is that the character resolves it.

A character lives when you as the reader feels their emotions, for example, if the reader is scared, give them certain characteristics that fit with the mood, if you know what i mean. Like, biting his/her lip, grinding his/her teeth. Give your character emotions, allow the reader to feel what the Char is feeling.

If it's not too late, you may want to try CPR or a defibrillator! Hurry!

To a certain extent, your characters need you to let them live, the way a parent has to let her child be himself. In other words, you have to think of them as real people. Once they become real in your head, they start acting on their own, which often becomes a problem for you, when they don't want to do what you want them to do.

There's a famous story about this. When Margaret Mitchell started Gone With the Wind, she was aware of the ways characters can mess up a writer's plans by acting on their own. She knew she wanted the novel to end with Brett telling Scarlett, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn!" and she didn't want to give the characters a way to screw it up (by reconciling, or finding another love, for example), so she wrote the last chapter first, then the penultimate* chapter, then the preceding chapter, etc., until she'd written the whole book backwards.

I don't know if the story is true, but it's a beaut...




*my second-favorite $.75 word, after "defenestrate."

Hmm... I just noticed something. Typewriters all had a "cent" sign, a "C" with a vertical line through it. My 'puter keyboard only has a dollar sign. Wonder when they'll finally stop minting pennies?

jdparadise said:

At the risk of being considered a twit...

...why are you teaching a lesson on a topic in which you don't have any particular knowledge?

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I was kinda wondering this meself.

''Characterization' is a big, nebulous concept.
It's difficult to devise a lesson on such a large topic that doesn't deteriorate into platitudes and generalities.
Generalities are fine for chatting back and forth. Not so good when it comes to teaching.


If one is doing a single lesson, it is maybe better to cover a well-defined and limited technical topic --

'Distance in POV'
or
'The First 20 words of Physical Description -- When, Where, and What'
or
'That Atypical Action -- How Inconsistency Defines Character'

These are techniques by which one makes characters live.
More importantly, these little chunks of the big topic are something one can usefully talk about and teach.


Writing a one-hour lesson on 'Making Characters Live' is like writing a one-hour lesson on 'Modern European History' or 'The Biology of Mammals' or 'Writing Good Plays'.
Devote three exciting minutes to the generalities, then slip into Tudor finances or the monotremes or the Greek chorus or some other single, useful specific,
would be my advice.

Put the character in the situation, then sit back and let them do something about it. You'll know soon enough if your character "lives." Sometimes mine are almost too alive, trying to take over the scene, the plot, my life...

Characters! Can't live with 'em, can't write without 'em!

bunnygirl said:

Put the character in the situation, then sit back and let them do something about it. You'll know soon enough if your character "lives." Sometimes mine are almost too alive, trying to take over the scene, the plot, my life...

Characters! Can't live with 'em, can't write without 'em!

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Do you dream about yours nagging you at night? I swear, I spend all day listening to them when writing, then at night they take on solid form in my dreams and commence the nit-picking at whatever I wrote. Some nice dialogue from them, though.

jdparadise said:

At the risk of being considered a twit...

...why are you teaching a lesson on a topic in which you don't have any particular knowledge?

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I was thinking the same thing.