characters in short fiction

Hello, short fiction writers. I was just debating something with myself, and I said to myself, self, why not ask other people? Here's the question: Do you create character sketches or longer character development pieces before starting on a short story about that character? Or do you just sit down and let it flow? Just curious...

Characters

The pieces I've written are so short that the character IS the story, and they come at the same time.

Next?

Re: Characters

shouldn't be necessary in a short story... there's not the time/space to develop a character in one, even if some major change in him/her takes place in the course of the story... if you feel you need to do all that, then you probably should be writing something longer about that character...

if the story doesn't just flow, or the character doesn't come alive, on its own, as you tell it, i don't know that doing a lot of back story writing is gonna help any... when i did short stories i just sat down and wrote them...

hugs, maia

agreed...

...I agree with you both. For longer work, like a novel, I can see where doing lots of pre-writing character development makes sense. For a short story I generally just sit down and see what comes out. I took a writing class with someone who claimed to do these elaborate preparation exercises with each character in every one of his short stories. Which seemed like overkill to me, but hey, it worked for him.

Anyway, for some reason, I started to wonder whether that was the norm. Whether I've been missing out on a great technique for creating great works of art.

Re: agreed...

Sometimes I've done one. Sometimes not. It depends on the story.

If I do write a backstory, it's never very involved. It contains enough history to crystallize how the character got into their situation.

But sometimes it's useful.

Re: agreed...

For a short story I generally just sit down and see what comes out.

Click to expand...

I do the same. I have even been surprised at the characters that develop through the writing, as some turn out to be not as innocent as I thought they were.

Character sketches are fun breaks for me. I wrote one sketch in particular where I was told the character's history would make a great story. Who knew you could write a short story without a character sketch and get ideas for new short stories with one?

Re: agreed...

I try my best to add some depth to my characters. I don't know how successful I actually am, and it would be hard to make them three-dimensional, given the 20-50 page confines, but all the same I try. How successful I am is anyone's guess, I suppose. I do try to balance the story along, too. Hey, its a short story; do what you can with it.

characters

I detest, loathe, hate character sketches and character bios, whether for use in short stories or novels. Rathe rthan making characters more realistic, they almost always make them far less realistic.

Re: characters

I also never use supplimentary character sketch, I figure I am quite capable of holding that info in my brain. :grin

character bios

Somewhere in James McDonald's novel writing posts he mentions that the reader doesn't need to know what grade school the heroine went to but it sure helps the writer to know that.

If you can hold the character info in your head that's good but you have to have a lot of knowledge of your character's background to make the motivations and conflicts work. It's the iceberg effect, only 1/8th shows but you've a better story for knowing the other 7/8ths. If you can keep that information in your head that's great but I have to write notes.

If you write spasmodically because of your job/family/life gets in the way it helps to have a character bio so you can pick up the writing thread again more easily.

As you can see some people really hate doing character CVs/bio/sketches/notes. Some of us can't do without them! Try both ways and see which works to make a better story.

Re: character bios

Nope.... I never really plan anything in advance, I just sit down and write.

character bios

I have several problems with character bios.

1. I very seldom see realistic characters created using character bios. Far too often such characters are too big, too strong, too handsome, too smart, too educated, etc.

2. Even when the above problems are solved, such characters usually read like they aren't characters at all, but Frankenstein's monsters, pieced together creations made from the parts of dozens of real people, and the seams always show.

3. The writer always, always, always seems to put in far too many details about such characters. More than the reader needs to know, and more than the writer should know. I've heard variations of the grade school line often, and I just don't believe it for a second.

4. This is a major problem. The moment you do a character bio, you've changed the story. Now the story will be written according to the character's traits, knowledge, abilities, etc. It's unavoidable, in my opinion. This isn't how real life works, and I don't think it's how good fiction works. In real life, people are forced to adjust to the situation. With character bios, the situation adjusts to the character.

There are certainly writers who can pull off character bios really well, but these people are seldom beginning writers. It's a tough, tough thing to do, but it's one of those things, like outlining, that appears to make things easier for new writers, when in reality it makes them harder.

Re: character bios

I have to admit I'm not keen on them either. I tend to regard them as a displacement activity. If you're writing a character bio, if feels as if you're writing, but you aren't really.

It's a bit like making a list of the chores you have to do, instead of actually going ahead and doing the damned things.

Cheers,
aq

Re: character bios

Oooh, James! One more post and you'll have the mark of the beast upon you!

:gone

aq

Re: character bios

For short stories, I don't usually do character bios. I just have an idea for a character, and let him/her do the talking on the page. Sometimes the story turns out to be radically different from what I envisioned, but hey, you need to be flexible.

Novels are a different story for me. I don't usually outline, but start "where I am". As the story gets going, it's then I take notes on characters, settings, research, etc. But short stories are a lot more spontaneous for me.

Annie

Character Sketch

For myself, I always do a character sketch. The reader will not see it, but to me it's a reminder that 'created' people act in ways according to their background, beliefs, etc. Just as people do in real life. We may not know the background of people we encounter in life, but there's a reason the supervisor, for example, will let people go and fill up her section with family members and relatives. Likewise, there's a reason why some families would sell each other out. If I understand my character's strengths and weaknesses, they seem more real to me - in addition to observing people's traits and habits in real life around me...

Bottom line: Use the process you feel comfortable with and believe in, no matter what others say.

'Nuff said.

Re: Character Sketch

I just sit down and let it flow. It all depends on the story, because I will create characters that are very different from the others in each of my short stories. Right now I wanted to do a character who is an amputee because he was attacked by a ghost shark. This is the kind of story that really can be hard to write because the characters involved are multi-dimensional. But I know it is a story that is coming together on its own. You get the characters that are relatable, the story will write itself.