Character quirks

DrZoidberg · Jun 10, 2010

I'm always on the hunt for new and better character quirks. Random stuff that breaks with the characters stereotype and makes them come alive, and above all, seem more real.

Kurt Vonnegut I think did this better than anyone. His elevator operator in Cat's Cradle who repeatedly exploded in "yes, yes" while grabbing his ass, was as vivid in my mind as hilarious on the page.

Anyway. Any tips on coming up with good quirks, or do you have a library to draw from? How do you do it?

kaitie · Jun 10, 2010

Huh. I've never really thought about it. Do my characters have quirks? They're quirky so I suppose so lol. Mine just come with things like that on their own, though. I don't think I've actually sat down and really decided one needed a quirk and tried to put one in. I might have at some point, but I think they usually just come built in weird.

Mann Crux · Jun 10, 2010

The best way to come up with quirks is often to observe those around you. For instance, my friend at college has a strange habit of making stupid Dr Zoidberg-like whooping noises whenever someone says something he really disagrees with. Likewise, I often compulsively pick every cigarette butt out of my ash tray, use one discarded butt to flatten the ash down smooth and then work at it like a little Japanese Zen garden. Everyone has quirks, be they hilarious, disconcerting, or weirdly fascinating.

DrZoidberg · Jun 10, 2010

Mann Crux said:
Likewise, I often compulsively pick every cigarette butt out of my ash tray, use one discarded butt to flatten the ash down smooth and then work at it like a little Japanese Zen garden. Everyone has quirks, be they hilarious, disconcerting, or weirdly fascinating.

I might use that...if I may. It's an excellent quirk.

KTC · Jun 10, 2010

I steal quirks from the subway. Yes. It's true. I do. There are a bevy of freaks and geeks on any subway at any given time. I watch. I listen. I learn.

One 'character' I discovered on the subway was this lady who licked her finger tips and then rubbed them on the inside of her lower eye lids. Obsessively. Like every two seconds. Both index fingers at once. It was to the lips, to the eye lids, to the lips, to the eye lids. I saw this and I knew one of my characters would do this one day.

Let me go out on a limb here and say PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION in general.

Watch. Listen. Learn. The world is a frickin' quirky place.

Caitlin Black · Jun 10, 2010

One of my characters is the only mundane person in a cast of magic peoples. So I made her super excited about everything. That was the only time I can think of where I *decided* to give a quirk - all the other quirks just fell into place as part of the character image in my head.

heyjude · Jun 10, 2010

Quirkiness can backfire. I picked up a book at the bookstore the other day and read the first page -- there was a lot about the main character's quirks. It was weird. I wondered if I would have to have to put up with it for the whole book, so I wandered off to another book.

Not saying there shouldn't be any, just... go easy on them.

CaroGirl · Jun 10, 2010

KTC said:
I steal quirks from the subway. Yes. It's true. I do. There are a bevy of freaks and geeks on any subway at any given time. I watch. I listen. I learn.

One 'character' I discovered on the subway was this lady who licked her finger tips and then rubbed them on the inside of her lower eye lids. Obsessively. Like every two seconds. Both index fingers at once. It was to the lips, to the eye lids, to the lips, to the eye lids. I saw this and I knew one of my characters would do this one day.

Let me go out on a limb here and say PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION in general.

Watch. Listen. Learn. The world is a frickin' quirky place.

I second that. Truth is stranger than fiction and you'll never find a more bizarre collection of freaky people than public transit. Keep in mind, many people who take the bus are not allowed to have a license to drive a car.

I'm collecting quirky characters for a new piece, and the bus is an excellent source.

Phaeal · Jun 10, 2010

There are plenty of "nonquirky" people riding public transportation, especially in big cities or any city with intelligent planners. In any public situation, the "normal" people will fade into the background. That doesn't mean they aren't there.

As for quirks, I see as many of those in the cars creeping by me in traffic. The illusion of privacy can make people do wacky/nasty things they'd never do in public. Oh, and yeah, a percentage of the people driving those cars don't have a license to do so, and a more sizeable percentage shouldn't have a license.

IDGS · Jun 10, 2010

Quirks are what can make your characters interesting, but they can also be nauseating in large doses.

I think one of the marks of an amateur author is when every character has one cut-n-dried quirk that labels them as such throughout the novel. The happy one. The sad one. The one who smokes too much. The one who refuses to ride in the front seat of a car.

After a while, it really feels like I'm reading Snow White & The Umpteen Dwarfs. People are not just one quirk, we are collections of them that are often more subtle than knocking three times on a door before opening it - everyone on earth doesn't have OCD after all.

Make your 'quirks' unique and layered, and avoid making them the basis of a persons personality, otherwise their repsonses will be predictable and boring.

Albannach · Jun 10, 2010

DrZoidberg said:
I'm always on the hunt for new and better character quirks. Random stuff that breaks with the characters stereotype and makes them come alive, and above all, seem more real.

Kurt Vonnegut I think did this better than anyone. His elevator operator in Cat's Cradle who repeatedly exploded in "yes, yes" while grabbing his ass, was as vivid in my mind as hilarious on the page.

Anyway. Any tips on coming up with good quirks, or do you have a library to draw from? How do you do it?

I don't see how a random quirk makes a character come alive.

If the quirk has to do with the character -- is integrated with WHO the character is -- then it adds a tiny bit of depth. Otherwise, they show the writer as shallow.

I can thing of a few that worked. A character who, when he was upset, tapped his fingers in morse code. He was someone who would, of course, know morse code and very much tended to hide his feelings but they came out in this little way. But it happened only three or four times in the entire novel.

Piling on random and arbitrary quirks totally unrelated to characterisation because it makes the character "come alive" instead of actually giving the character ummmm -- depth... well, I'd reconsider.

owlion · Jun 10, 2010

If it's a personality quirk (not an action, but a way of thinking) then it would add to character depth very well. Action quirks are interesting, but only if there's one or two characters with them (and I mean that in a book with plenty of characters). They could be used to balance characters comically or just as a way of characters noticing each other (done very Well by Haruki Murakami in 'South of the Broder, West of the Sun'. Actually, Murakami just does generally good character quirks).
I tend to end up with slightly strange characters, but none with really obvious quirks (nothing obsessive or compulsive). They just think in weird ways and this shows in their actions.

Stormhawk · Jun 10, 2010

Mann Crux said:
For instance, my friend at college has a strange habit of making stupid Dr Zoidberg-like whooping noises whenever someone says something he really disagrees with.

Sounds like a friend's brother, his name isn't Vlad is it? O_O

third person · Jun 10, 2010

Beware the Whedon Effect. Forced quirkiness can get tired very fast. Be honest to your work and listen to your characters, and they will tell you who they are.

Theo81 · Jun 12, 2010

How about a character who has a T-shirt that lights up and says "Look at me! I'm Interesting!"
Or, you could make him wear a Mickey Mouse watch! He could wear it to remind himself of his child within, and to not be so serious about stuff. That's the kind of quirk to really bring a generic Academic character alive.

What I have personally found is that, to begin with, there is the story and a basic outline of the characters. As I revise and rewrite, I notice things I've put in that I am able to build on and the characters gradually move further away from the centre they were all created from. By thinking about them as seperate individuals (and thinking about what they are doing when they aren't present in the story), they naturally create thier own individualities.

If you are desperate to make them quirky, I suggest giving them a deliberate affectation. It's like two personality quirks for the price of one.

And remember to mention them after the first chapter. Nothing says shallow characterisation like backstory that doesn't get mentioned until the start of the sequel.

Stanmiller · Jun 12, 2010

DrZoidberg said:
I'm always on the hunt for new and better character quirks. Random stuff that breaks with the characters stereotype and makes them come alive, and above all, seem more real.

...

Anyway. Any tips on coming up with good quirks, or do you have a library to draw from? How do you do it?

IMO the best-drawn chars have a unique voice within the story. Try giving each char different speech mannerisms and habits. Personality quirks will flow from that. But you have to bring them in slowly, not in a massive dump when introducing the char.

For instance, a char that learned English as a second language so speaks with formal precision, yet throws in a deliberate malaprop on occasion, just to get a reaction from the other chars. The Ziva character on NCIS used to do this to great effect, though in her case it wasn't deliberate.

Works for me...

--Stan

InsanitySquares · Jun 12, 2010

Speech quirks are often good things to distinguish characters. I've done some observation on colleagues and customers at work, and there's a lady who says 'cimannin' instead of 'cinnamon', mixing her 'm's and 'n's up, could work if you won't get annoyed at constant misspellings. A few who tag 'hun' and 'babe' onto sentences, and a man with a really annoying laugh. Non-native English speakers are interesting too, my friend was asked recently if he had 'big cock' - turned out the customer wanted a large bottle of coke! There's so much variety in speech, it's all about knowing what to use and how much.

S.J. · Jun 12, 2010

Theo81 said:
Or, you could make him wear a Mickey Mouse watch! He could wear it to remind himself of his child within, and to not be so serious about stuff. That's the kind of quirk to really bring a generic Academic character alive.

Haha, I was going to mention that. I could HEAR Brown thinking, "Aha! And this is where I show that my character isn't a conventional professor!" Ugh. Ughughgugh.

willietheshakes · Jun 12, 2010

CaroGirl said:
I second that. Truth is stranger than fiction and you'll never find a more bizarre collection of freaky people than public transit.

Wait a minute: I take the bus!

Oh...

Point taken.

backslashbaby · Jun 12, 2010

I only like quirky because there's so much of it around!

I have a cab driver story and a hotel concierge story that are 100% real but so unbelievably quirky I'm afraid I can't really use them in my WIP.

One I'm not using but was amusing in its own way: an oldish woman waiting for the bus with me at Queen's College stood up and began reciting the Gettysville Address in her Cockney accent. Nobody batted an eye, really.

Rhys Cordelle · Jun 12, 2010

I like quirks that tell us something about the character. If we know what triggers their quirk, then it tells us what the character is thinking without them having to say a word.

Dolohov · Jun 12, 2010

I'd also point out that a lot of people hide their quirks pretty well except when a) They think nobody's watching, or b) they're under stress. Quirks for the sake of quirkiness can get old fast, though, and it's worth asking yourself whether it serves the story for a particular character to be memorable, and whether the quirk reveals anything interesting.

As for individual quirks, it's not uncommon to catch people picking their nose, but what they do with the results is (to my mind) an interesting indicator of character. Another one is casual destruction: peeling the labels off beer bottles, tearing paper napkins into strips, digging at holes in furniture.

thothguard51 · Jun 12, 2010

Is not having a character quirk a quirk?

devero · Jun 12, 2010

I recommend that you go sit in a park, or on a bus/train and observe. People watching is one of the best ways to find quarks. Also these quarks do not have to be physical. I have been known to be extraordinarily sarcastic and a little rude, especially when I was younger, such gems "where did you learn history? The school of crack?" and "whats one step bellow mousy?" (friend) ""unfortunate" (me), have made me infamous amongst my group. Everybody has something, its just not always physical.

Character quirks

aka TomOfSweden

With great power comes

Love it would be much better

aka TomOfSweden

Stand in the Place Where You Live

Wild one

Making my own sunshine

Living the dream

Whatever I did, I didn't do it.

@LeaveItToIan

AW Addict

Absorbing inspiration from the moon

Angry Bunny Girl

She blinded me--with magic!

Addict? I can quit whenever I want!

Gentleman. Scholar. Bastard.

~~~~*~~~~

Just this guy, y'know?

A Gentleman of a refined age...

Illegitimi Non Carborundum

*