Birth of a character, never alive as a person

IrishWristwatch · Aug 27, 2011

First off, no i am not talking about the literal birth of a character or person, that would just be silly. (It's the stork, obviously)

Alright, onwards. What i am really asking is what goes on through your heads when you first create a character. I have heard many a story of how characters somehow grow on their own, becoming more of an actual person rather than a simple tool the writer can expect to pick up on at a moments notice. How they eventually will start to have needs and wants and obsessions. How sometimes it becomes more of loosely guiding the character rather than telling him where to go and what to do.

But where im interested in is how these characters usually come into existence and develop from there. Do they begin as something that somebody uses to fill a gap in the story, to follow the plot as directed by the writer?

Because if that is the case then i think i have the problem where my characters never develop much past that. I usually think up the beginning chapters to my stories much in advance. Usually letting the ideas ferment in my head until i get a clear picture about where the novel is headed before anything is put down on paper. I have an idea for a middle and end as well but i expect that to come along as I write.

But it seems this philosophy has led to me having a strict leash on all my characters, because i need them to do something specific. I start thinking up these characters like plot points, giving them an idea of a character before i even start. This seems great to me in theory, im a fan of characterization and the thought process of characters so thinking of it helps me move the story along.

But as the story progresses it seems that start to stall more and more until im basically stuck, my characters have reached their end and i cant seem to get them to do anything. I feel like im prodding them with a stick and they don't seem to want to move or dance.

So my question basically is, how do most people form up with a character, and how do you let him roam free.

dazzlejazz · Aug 27, 2011

Great question! For me, I start with the absolute basics - sex and age and a name. Then I sleep on it. I always wake up with more information about my characters that always surprises me. It's weird but they grow for me like that and then their reactions or actions in the story begin to make sense to me, like, yeah - it's because this happened to them years ago that they feel this way about that etc.
Don't know if that answers your question though!

sunandshadow · Aug 27, 2011

I start with a character I found extremely interesting or compelling in some other novel or movie or anime series. If possible, I try to come up with two or three other characters who are similar from other sources. Then I describe them. I try to get at the essence of what makes them interesting, the archetype they share. Meanwhile changing out the details for ones that are more relevant to my personal interests and a specific story concept or worldbuilding idea. It's possible to start with one character like this and speculate which other characters it would be interesting to have them interact with, but there's more starting potential if I have two or several of these interesting archetypes that I've personalized to make my own original version of the character. If you have a plot idea you want them to act out, you have to pick characters from your stable who would plausibly take such actions, and then you have to provide the situation and motive that make the action you want them to take the most natural action for them to take.

DancingMaenid · Aug 27, 2011

Good question. Personally, I don't really have a method. Obviously, I come up with characters somehow, but it's not usually a conscious thing. It's a process I'm never totally aware of. Occasionally, I'll try to come up with a character to fulfill a certain role (like antagonist), but that rarely works for me. Those characters inevitably end up feeling less real than the ones I just created somehow. I just have to let my characters live in my head for a while. Sometimes, I'll purposely inject a few details, like political or religious affiliation or something like that.

Then, I either figure out the story better, or I wait until I come up with the right story for the characters. I do usually have some of the plot worked out, but the characters evolving with inevitably change a few things along the way.

EnitaMeadows · Aug 27, 2011

For me, I'm a very character-driven writer, so as you described, my characters do tend to develop on their own. Before I write one word, I usually have quite a bit of backstory on them, and I keep detailed character profiles on each person in a OneNote file. I think of the story in question and how characters will interact, and then as ideas come and go, I build what I like to see in the character and what I don't. If there's an important relationship, I think of how those characters will (or won't) compliment each other, or if their personalities will form a boring duo. Music tends to really help me when fleshing out a character.

Flicka · Aug 28, 2011

My characters usually start out very hazy, vapour-cloud like and then they slowly come in to focus. If I have decided they must do certain things I sort of twist them around until all those things fit. Usually, I try to figure out how they look, and sort of how they feel to be inside until I feel them. Like a taste. It happens gradually and some are more shifty than others, but I do it even for very minor ones only their 'taste' is usually less complex.

And reading the above I sound like an idiot, but there you are. It's still how I do it.

dpaterso · Aug 28, 2011

I pick a familiar stereotype who best fits the character I want to feature in the story, and tweak their personality and attributes so they become unique. What do they want? What are they prepared to do in order to get it? These questions are always the driving forces for the character, who is already off and running and doing stuff without asking me first. Keep them in mind, and it might help to keep your story moving forward.

-Derek

thepicpic · Aug 28, 2011

I start with just one thing- usually a name. From that, I add bits I can imagine from just the name and let the character form themselves from there. I only found out this morning that MC1 in my sci-fi idea has no idea who his parents are and is signed up to serve his government against his will.

PorterStarrByrd · Aug 28, 2011

I don't start with characters. I develop a situation.

The type of characters needed to bring that to life step in because they are needed. I name them with something that sounds appropriate (I'm usually not going to name a guy working in rock quarry Ellsworth Huntington III).
From there he comes to life for me, usually doing what I expect him to, and to some extent chooses his path to fit his personality.
Often it happens in a different manner than I expected.
As for the events I occasionally find that they are not accomplished by the person I built to do it. Some other character steps in to beat him or her to the punch because of their personalities or opprtunities.
If the character is needed in continuation his persona takes hime where he must go. If not he, like so many people in real life, becomes an past aquaintance, seldom if ever remembered.
The older you are the easier it is to recall real life people you have met who could have done what is on the agenda. Use them as in 'What might Ellsworth have done?'.
Let them 'think' for themselves and act within their reality, rather than you strict guidelines. Become that person for a moment if you can. Thing of the options they have in a situation. Which would THEY have chosen and why? Follow their lead. What would happen if they did what they chose?
When you do that their world, and yours, becomes much bigger.

Bracken · Aug 28, 2011

You guys are so introspective! I'm just reading this thread going, "Wow! I have no idea how my characters come to be. I never even considered it. They just ARE."

Then I read this:

I don't start with characters. I develop a situation.

And, yeah, I think that's my deal, too.
I start with a situation.
Initially, my characters are just names, place-holders. They do the things that need to be done, in order to move the story forward. As they do these things, they fill out. They gain flesh and substance. But this happens with no effort on my part. They just do it on their own. Eventually, they begin to reveal parts of their history, and become even more solid.

I've never consciously set out to "create a character", though. It seems like they create themselves, while all my effort goes into creating an interesting plot, which is the difficult part of writing, for me.

It should be noted that I only write short fiction, not novels, so perhaps my characters don't have to be as fully realized as they would if they were characters in a novel or a longer story.

Jehhillenberg · Aug 28, 2011

Ah characters. I like to think they come before my stories, that I create situations around them. But I think the relationships/interrelationships come for me. I think about my mc and create them, give them personality, something that'll make them interesting to read about. I think about events/conflicts that'll affect them and what effect it will have on their lives. I love character sheets because it's like a little interview for an actual person; but I don't necessarily need them.

For a story, whatever one I create, I have a character sketched out and whatever comes at them and how they react just fleshes out their selves and individuality. The choices the characters will make develops who they are and what will happen.

job · Aug 28, 2011

There are dozens of good ways to develop characters, as you can see by looking at this thread.

So I'll suggest a method that may work for you, or may not.

Sit down where it's quiet and you don't have anything you need to do for a while. Get comfortable. Close your eyes. Think of your character in one particular scene, in one specific time and place.

This is a visualization exercise. You're going to crawl inside that character. You are going to see the world from his POV.

We enter the character by imagining what comes to his senses. He or she is sitting, as you are. What's underneath him -- the stairs, a log beside the campfire, a velvet sofa? Is there wind? What do you smell in the air? What do you hear?
We enter by imaging his mind and body. He is filled with emotion and needs. Is he warm, cold, tired, hungry, excited, angry, annoyed, afraid?

He's just finished doing something. What? He carries the immediate memory of those recent actions and feelings.

And we enter by imagining his needs. Your character, at every moment, is full of some goal.
What does he want, right now?
A sandwich? Directions to the zoo? A chance to kiss Molly? The combination to the safe? Escape from the toothed boomerslings?
What emotion does he feel in regard to that want?
What action does he plan to get him what he wants?

This is how we create our people. We become them. We reach out inside them to know what they feel and what they need at that moment.
Eventually, we can ask ourselves what they want, long term and look into their past to discover why they want it.

Linda Adams · Aug 28, 2011

I always start with plot when I create my stories, and virtually ignore the characters until I get that worked out first. Characters are the one thing I can let completely go, and they'll still work when I make first contact with the story. I do a preliminary synopsis to kind of work out the story, giving any characters mentioned a placeholder name like MC for Main Character. The one thing I do have down at that point is the gender of the main character. I may do a very limited background on the character (as in three items). Any other characters mentioned in the synopsis may not survive first contact.

Then, since I don't outline, I start writing. The characters may still have placeholder names at this point, and I also toss in any other characters the story requires at that point. I can't explain how I do it, but the characters are born developed. Plus -- and it'll sound strange -- they work with the plot, but they're also separate of it.

GFanthome · Aug 28, 2011

In the past, I've dreamt the basic story and then in the days following, the MC in that dream starts introducing him or herself to me and I see them gradually forming. They further develop when I actually start writing the story down. Somewhere in that process (it differs with each novel), I also write up character profiles to help me further define them.

____________________
One Broken Wing

dangerousbill · Aug 28, 2011

IrishWristwatch said:
Alright, onwards. What i am really asking is what goes on through your heads when you first create a character.

1. I usually have a faint notion of what I want the character to be.

2. I choose a real person who resembles the character. Or maybe two or three people, and mash their traits together. i do this much in my head.

3. I develop a mental vision of what the character looks like, and then I search Google and stock photo sites until I find someone who looks like him or her.

4. I name them, and then Google the name to make sure they're safe to use (no celebrities or trademarked characters, etc.). I never start a story without the names nailed down.

5. I start writing and let them reveal themselves to me as I go. This usually results in me rewriting the first chapters as the character gains definition, but that's okay. It's not that much work.

6. I try to re-use characters when possible.

seawitch · Aug 28, 2011

I think I do it backwards.

I have a folder saved on my computer of people whose pictures I've found on the Internet at some point and have found striking. These are either stock photos or artistic images or, I don't know. Sometimes I will just sit there and look through Yahoo images of person after person and if someone looks interesting I will go with it. I'll type in something like "girl" or "blond man" and see what results pop up. I don't need to know their name or story or anything - but if something about their expression or clothing or anything looks unique, I will save their photo. Then I come up with a name. (Sometimes it's backwards - I come up with the name first, then the photo.) Then it just... I don't know. It sort of grows organically. I have a general idea of where they will fit into the story, so I start writing. Their voice emerges from there...

Incidentally I do that with other elements of the story, too - houses, scenes, landscapes, architecture, clothing styles, horses, pets... you name it.

ETA: With my first novel I had a ton of fun because all the characters were people I had gone to school with as a kid. I didn't even bother renaming them. I placed everyone in a unique situation, pretended they were strangers, and went with it. I had so much fun "playing God" - especially because I knew them rather well in real life, so it was easy to imagine how they would react to different things, who would become friendly with who, etc. And sometimes it was just fun to manipulate other people in ways I thought they SHOULD have behaved instead of actually.

That was mostly a practice novel, though... I was really surprised when a few characters actually started coming up with stories of their own that I didn't expect. So, with the next book, I started from scratch and created new chars from the very start.

bearilou · Aug 28, 2011

seawitch said:
I think I do it backwards.

You and me, both, seawitch. I have scads and scads of images saved. I usually take one I like, regardless of the source and start envisioning them in situations that may or may not be related to any plot. As they take form, I start thinking of plots and then start throwing them into random situations to hear their voice.

Then the process starts to fold in on itself. The more I think about the character, the more the plot takes form; the more the plot takes form, the more sharp the character starts to become.

seawitch · Aug 28, 2011

bearilou said:
You and me, both, seawitch. I have scads and scads of images saved. I usually take one I like, regardless of the source and start envisioning them in situations that may or may not be related to any plot. As they take form, I start thinking of plots and then start throwing them into random situations to hear their voice.

Yay for not being the only backwards weirdo! :e2headban

Bluetrane · Aug 29, 2011

Typically I'll pick a family member who has fallen out of favor and proceed to exploit every detail they shared with me in confidence, then I change their last name. The challenge is trying to make them believable.

Seriously, the truth for me is far less entertaining. I'm still pretty new to writing long form fiction, but I found it most natural to model the characters on aspects of my own personality. I used myself like chicken broth to create the base and then began to add ingredients that over time created distinct characters. I was so afraid of creating characters that would be flat or stereotypical that I stuck close to home, at least in the beginning. I guess only time will tell if all of them end up tasting like chicken.

I did Google names as someone else mentioned and I did go pick out some random headshots of people to help drive my imagination - this also helped to clearly separate myself from them.

SRHowen · Aug 29, 2011

Creative Writing

I guess I'm old school in some ways on this.

I use the organic method of letting the characters grow as they will, it already seems that they are there solid and have a background etc., and I just need to discover it as I am telling their story. Sometimes they come out of the box ready to go, name, age ethnic background, failed relationships, and all, other times I have little more than a name and even that will change along the way.

I had a writing prof that had us keep a character note book, took that spiral notebook everywhere. Described random people, no pictures of them, put down the details as I sat at the doctor's office, or in a restaurant or on a train, anywhere there were real people, I wrote down what they looked like and what they did just as if they were in a story I was writing.

I used to keep a character 'bible" so that when I discovered that my MC had been married before that I could jot that down and put in the details of that relationship, same with any life event that popped up so I would not forget or so that I could go back and put in hints to that detail so the oh he was in jail or some such didn't just pop out of the woodwork.

Now I don't take notes on real people anymore, or keep the character bible, it seems doing that taught my muse how to build character and how to listen to them in the beginning so things work out.

It was a good exercise though. And i still do end up going back sometimes and adding in something i need the character to have done in their past so that the now I am telling about makes sense.

BryanTann · Aug 29, 2011

My characters at first start out as disembodied voices i inmy head that scream for attention. My main character of my book however was my dark side that I fought for most of my life. He evolved from a nightmare/dark side to a roleplaying character, to the main character of my book.

Wow, typing that out kind of makes me sound nuts.

Kyla Laufreyson · Aug 29, 2011

I start out with a few basic pieces of information.

Name. Sex. Age (even if it's just a rough estimate to begin with). General appearance. Maybe a personality trait or two.

From there, I let the character decide how they're going to be. I have yet to sit down and decide on a voice when writing, I just let the character sound how they want to sound. As a result I've ended up with a bratty teenage girl, a guy who thinks the entire world is pretty darn useless, a teenage boy who is stubborn as all hell...and so on.

To me, it just seems like they're a lot more alive if they develop themselves. I mean, no one set me down on the earth and declared "music lover, writer, watches anime all the time, she's stubborn and she hates Justin Bieber" (at least in theory, I'd rather not get into theories on that stuff, haha). I grew on my own. I want my characters to do the same darn thing.

Hiroko · Aug 29, 2011

I start by making images in my mind of a character I think would be cool/awesome/funny to follow in a book.
Once I start writing, though, I'm more or less a vessel--I find that these characters grow personalities as I write about them, adding in whatever I think will make the character real and interesting.

Birth of a character, never alive as a person

Only help those who help themselves

Impractical Fantasy Animal

New kid...seven years ago!

Dull Old Person

Also in our Discord and IRC chat channels

May or may not be a potato.

nutruring tomorrows criminals today

N/A

In the end, it's just you and the manuscript

Soldier, Storyteller

At the computer, opening a vein

Retired Illuminatus

DenturePunk writer

Clever is good, good is better.

Erotica is not a four letter word!

BA Barracus Jr.

Oops

Which of them was the machine?