Two things here.
1. I think a lot of us can relate to this.
2. Why do non-writers give us side-eyes when these observations are made?
Character sheets--how important is it to write these out before starting a novel?
- Thread starter Woollybear
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Two things here.
1. I think a lot of us can relate to this.
2. Why do non-writers give us side-eyes when these observations are made?
Well, boringly speaking, it's because we insist on telling it like the characters literally spoke to us and created themselves, rather than explaining that we like to have our subconscious create our characters because that gives both us and the reader the illusion that they're real. But it's so much more fun to just pretend they are...
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I am not pretending.
Here's how it went down.
Hewalked strode into the kitchen, where I was at the table, spreading fresh strawberry marmalade onto a nice toasted English muffin. He pulled out a chair to sit, and I was startled by the sound. I looked up and said, "I thought you'd be taller." He said, "Listen. Make me one of your engineered people. Give me that piezoelectric ability you were talking about."
I set my muffin down and looked at him. Asked him to rotate his wrists, because as everyone knows, piezoelectrics don't have full range of arm motion. (He pretended he couldn't rotate his wrists, but I know he can.) He said, "Seriously. Give it to me. If I have that ability, I can break the prisoners out in late Act II."
I sat there, stunned, thinking about it, and then jumped out of my chair and hugged him. He was right! That would be a perfect little role for a nice secondary character. He can help the prisoners escape! All he needs is that ability!
He stood, gave me a little bow, and vanished in a poof of purple mist.
This actually happened. Right in my kitchen.
(I forgot to ask his name, though.)
Here's how it went down.
He
I set my muffin down and looked at him. Asked him to rotate his wrists, because as everyone knows, piezoelectrics don't have full range of arm motion. (He pretended he couldn't rotate his wrists, but I know he can.) He said, "Seriously. Give it to me. If I have that ability, I can break the prisoners out in late Act II."
I sat there, stunned, thinking about it, and then jumped out of my chair and hugged him. He was right! That would be a perfect little role for a nice secondary character. He can help the prisoners escape! All he needs is that ability!
He stood, gave me a little bow, and vanished in a poof of purple mist.
This actually happened. Right in my kitchen.
(I forgot to ask his name, though.)
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Well, geez, lucky you. Mine generally just start talking right behind my left ear while I'm weeding the sweet potatoes.
They've been holding out on me! They better start bringing the purple smoke...
They've been holding out on me! They better start bringing the purple smoke...
In the spirit of one-upmanship, try being awakened from a sound sleep early in the morning. "Dude. Leave me alone."
"But Kat, you know how you've been thinking I sound vaguely gay? What if I told you I actually was?"
"You realize I have to teach school today, right? That means I can't be thinking about you all day. And I need my sleep so I don't bite the students' heads off."
"But it shifts the whole plot."
"Not by much. I'll marry you off to a nice guy, how 'bout that? Now go away."
"Oh, by the way, Susan said to tell you she's recovering from a tragic event in her past, that's why she acts so standoffish all the time."
"GET OUT OF HERE."
He and his husband ended up adopting a lively child with indomitable energy and stubbornness, that's how I got my revenge.
I love them.
This morning some of the characters of one of my older WIPs took union action against me.
“We’re still here! You might not have anything for us to do but we still need to eat, so pay up.”
“Go away. You’re not my priority right now. I’ve got other characters that are more interesting than you.”
“You… wha…?! How is that our fault, or our problem? OMG, you are the most neglectfulwriter parent ever!”
“If you want to survive the story when I get back to it, then I suggest that you get out of my face RIGHT NOW.”
Heh, that did the trick. And I went back to my coffee.
“We’re still here! You might not have anything for us to do but we still need to eat, so pay up.”
“Go away. You’re not my priority right now. I’ve got other characters that are more interesting than you.”
“You… wha…?! How is that our fault, or our problem? OMG, you are the most neglectful
“If you want to survive the story when I get back to it, then I suggest that you get out of my face RIGHT NOW.”
Heh, that did the trick. And I went back to my coffee.
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Character sheets are a waste of time for me. My characters tend to develop on their own, no matter how I try to batter them into submission. They're often an amalgam of people I know, characters in other stories, and total fabrications. But the story tends to shape the characters, and the characters shape the story.
Love it!! You also reminded me of the time I woke up at five in the morning staring at the ceiling and muttering "She hands him the knife. She hands him the knife!" I was very happy, but also pissed, b/c I'd gone to bed pretty late...
I tend to have conversations start in the back of my head, as if I'm hearing someone from across the room and start moving closer so I can catch every word.
I think that, somewhat metaphorically, Harry sat there (where? dunno) and glared at me, in his glowery way, until I figured out that he'd loved a young man who died and that he was totally messed up behind that. But not only because of that--he's just kind of messed up all around. But would Harry ever say anything like that? Hell, no. He would not. He would just glare.
As far as character sheets, no. I've always had a decent grip on what made my characters tick, or at least enough to start writing, and the rest can only really be sorted out by writing. For the aforementioned Harry, I knew he was an antagonist and was going to do certain bad things. As I wrote, I realized he was a superb piano player and really quite reasonable in most things. I also realized as I wrote that something was missing, which I wouldn't have realized from any number of character sheets. I had to get into the story to realize there was a gap. Then the above realization came to me, and pieces began to fall into place. He became a more complete character because there was more to him.
I think that, somewhat metaphorically, Harry sat there (where? dunno) and glared at me, in his glowery way, until I figured out that he'd loved a young man who died and that he was totally messed up behind that. But not only because of that--he's just kind of messed up all around. But would Harry ever say anything like that? Hell, no. He would not. He would just glare.
As far as character sheets, no. I've always had a decent grip on what made my characters tick, or at least enough to start writing, and the rest can only really be sorted out by writing. For the aforementioned Harry, I knew he was an antagonist and was going to do certain bad things. As I wrote, I realized he was a superb piano player and really quite reasonable in most things. I also realized as I wrote that something was missing, which I wouldn't have realized from any number of character sheets. I had to get into the story to realize there was a gap. Then the above realization came to me, and pieces began to fall into place. He became a more complete character because there was more to him.
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My process is to open myself up to the universe and ask that the character speak to me. When I open that door, I get a lot of snippets from him/her. It might be a vision, a flash of dialogue, or a look of their eye. I've used the Getting Things Done method to design a way to capture all of this info and organize it. Sometimes, though, I don't even know who the vision is coming from, and I organize that info in another place of "to be attributed."
Once I have a really rough idea of the character, I start writing. I mean like right away. I write as much as I can, I let them do weird stuff. Anything that happens on the page, happens. I love it.
After a first draft, I do a heavy edit of the characters. I take the visions and the first draft and run them through a process to "get to know the character." I want to smooth out all of their features, inconsistencies, motivations, and their entire back story. This is a long, hard process. I do a lot of talking to the characters. I try to get to know them as I would a new friend. A lot of times, when I am stuck, I ask them how they might deal with a situation, or their favorite movie. I do anything I can to learn more about them.
So then I take this info and use it in the first rewrite of the story. There are a lot of changes that happen between those drafts, because I'm taking the initial burst of writing and normalizing it against the character drafts. What comes out tends to be a combo of the two.
Hope this helps! I have a huge amount of docs and organization material I use. Happy to share any of it!
Once I have a really rough idea of the character, I start writing. I mean like right away. I write as much as I can, I let them do weird stuff. Anything that happens on the page, happens. I love it.
After a first draft, I do a heavy edit of the characters. I take the visions and the first draft and run them through a process to "get to know the character." I want to smooth out all of their features, inconsistencies, motivations, and their entire back story. This is a long, hard process. I do a lot of talking to the characters. I try to get to know them as I would a new friend. A lot of times, when I am stuck, I ask them how they might deal with a situation, or their favorite movie. I do anything I can to learn more about them.
So then I take this info and use it in the first rewrite of the story. There are a lot of changes that happen between those drafts, because I'm taking the initial burst of writing and normalizing it against the character drafts. What comes out tends to be a combo of the two.
Hope this helps! I have a huge amount of docs and organization material I use. Happy to share any of it!
This is a very enlightening thread, one from which I am learning a lot.
Concerning my own experiences, early on I used a relatively complicated process to develop characters and plots.
Then one night I heard Dustin Hoffman tell a story about the time he worked on a film with perhaps the greatest actor of all time, Lawrence Olivier. Before shooting each scene, Hoffman (as I recall the story) would walk to a corner of the set and go through an extensive routine of "exercises" involving heavy breathing, chanting, shaking his head and other such distracting (and sometimes loud) actions. Eventually, Olivier approached him and asked him what the heck he was doing. Hoffman explained, "I'm a method actor, and these things help me get into the character." To which Olivier famously replied, "Why don't you just act?"
When I heard Hoffman tell that story, something inside me said, "Why don't you just write?"
From that point, I greatly reduced my own ritual of heavy character development, extensive note-keeping and detailed plot outlines. Granted, I still keep a character sheet, but it's mostly to remind me of the characters' names, as I am constantly changing them.
I also maintain a simplified plot outline because I'm one of those weird authors who tend to write backwards. A pivital or climatic scene will come to mind, so I write backwards from that point so that the flow of the story will aim toward that moment, all the while also moving forward from that point so that the resolution will match the build-up. Then, I start the actual writing, all the time making changes, often so that the action of the characters will be true to their personalities.
However, the more experience I gain, the more I tend to keep most of these things in my head and less on a piece of paper.
I'm weird in a lot of other ways, but they have little to do with my writing (ha, ha!).
Concerning my own experiences, early on I used a relatively complicated process to develop characters and plots.
Then one night I heard Dustin Hoffman tell a story about the time he worked on a film with perhaps the greatest actor of all time, Lawrence Olivier. Before shooting each scene, Hoffman (as I recall the story) would walk to a corner of the set and go through an extensive routine of "exercises" involving heavy breathing, chanting, shaking his head and other such distracting (and sometimes loud) actions. Eventually, Olivier approached him and asked him what the heck he was doing. Hoffman explained, "I'm a method actor, and these things help me get into the character." To which Olivier famously replied, "Why don't you just act?"
When I heard Hoffman tell that story, something inside me said, "Why don't you just write?"
From that point, I greatly reduced my own ritual of heavy character development, extensive note-keeping and detailed plot outlines. Granted, I still keep a character sheet, but it's mostly to remind me of the characters' names, as I am constantly changing them.
I also maintain a simplified plot outline because I'm one of those weird authors who tend to write backwards. A pivital or climatic scene will come to mind, so I write backwards from that point so that the flow of the story will aim toward that moment, all the while also moving forward from that point so that the resolution will match the build-up. Then, I start the actual writing, all the time making changes, often so that the action of the characters will be true to their personalities.
However, the more experience I gain, the more I tend to keep most of these things in my head and less on a piece of paper.
I'm weird in a lot of other ways, but they have little to do with my writing (ha, ha!).
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I'm going with the everybody's different answer. Some people find this kind of aid helpful, maybe even necessary. Others don't. I have no trouble with characters. They simply appear. Story comes harder, and I should use some method designed to help with plot. But I don't. I muddle through, then go back and struggle to untangle the knots I've created along the way.
IMO the thing to strive for is knowing your characters - just like you know your friends. See them and hear their voices in your mind. Let them come to life and drive the story. HOW you get to that point is different for everyone.
I suspect advocates of character sheets also believe well-rounded characters are their top priority when hunting for a good story. Not that there's anything wrong with that! But you know what I consider my top priority? I like a good plot.
With zero evidence whatsoever, I'm going to declare character-focused readers/writers enjoy preparing character sheets while plot-focused readers/writers spend their time outlining the major story beats. I've made character sheets and plot outlines, and in my own personal experience the plot outlines proved vastly more helpful than the character sheets.
Also I have a feeling the total number of characters in your story is a factor. If your book contains three characters in total, I can see why hammering out as many details as possible for each character would become a good source of content. But in a book with many characters who work in teams to drive the plot forward--eh, they serve their purpose and the reader moves on. Even the "main" characters might not be worthy of wielding entire biographies in an ensemble cast where everyone plays one part.
With zero evidence whatsoever, I'm going to declare character-focused readers/writers enjoy preparing character sheets while plot-focused readers/writers spend their time outlining the major story beats. I've made character sheets and plot outlines, and in my own personal experience the plot outlines proved vastly more helpful than the character sheets.
Also I have a feeling the total number of characters in your story is a factor. If your book contains three characters in total, I can see why hammering out as many details as possible for each character would become a good source of content. But in a book with many characters who work in teams to drive the plot forward--eh, they serve their purpose and the reader moves on. Even the "main" characters might not be worthy of wielding entire biographies in an ensemble cast where everyone plays one part.