How In Depth Do You Make Character Studies? (It's Been A While . . .)

Good question. Personally, I don't spend time looking up images either because I believe that appearance is the least important thing about a character (unless the story specifically revolves around it).

I get to know my characters by writing about them. I don't tend to use plot outlines, because it doesn't work for me personally. I think a lot about my characters, envisaging them in different scenes and scenarios, before sitting down to write about them regardless. The more I write, the stronger an image I get of them. Occasionally, when I feel the need to develop them outside the manuscript and ground them as it were, I free write. I open up a new document and begin to write about the character -- sometimes I even find out things about them that I did not previously know.

I think that everyone has different techniques in terms of developing characters, and none are incorrect. Don't worry too much about what is 'right' or 'wrong' in this respect. Find the one that works for you.

Animad345 said:

Occasionally, when I feel the need to develop them outside the manuscript and ground them as it were, I free write. I open up a new document and begin to write about the character -- sometimes I even find out things about them that I did not previously know.

Click to expand...

I do this, too. I think I'm a plottantser. My first WIP, I did extensive interview and character sheets. So many details changed after I wrote the story, and major characters appeared without my realizing it. So I've switched to Animad's way.

Animad345 said:

I think that everyone has different techniques in terms of developing characters, and none are incorrect. Don't worry too much about what is 'right' or 'wrong' in this respect. Find the one that works for you.

Click to expand...

QFT

gothicangel said:

So, it has been about 10 years since I started writing a new WIP (haven't written seriously for 5 years). However, the Muses have descended again and I am working on a new book.

Recently have been studying for a degree (ancient history and archaeology if you are wondering) and I've been overhauling my whole essay writing technique. Which has been great, and I now know that my novel planning strategy in the past wasn't great and too needs an overhaul. I've decided to try being an outliner (was previously a pantser) and my past character development technique revolved solely around physical attribute (hair colour, body type, clothing etc.) but this time I intend to think more about attributes and more psychological.

However, I've been reading a few blogs. I think I've always used the 'interview technique' without realising. But then I've read other writers saying that they spend hours trawling Google Images for pictures that match the image in the head (a waste of valuable writing time for me). So how much development do you do before you begin writing? How does your method differ between main characters and one-time extras?

Click to expand...

I tend to spend much more time developing my plot than I do anything else. I usually have an idea as to what state the world is in and a bit about its government/history. Enough to get by as I add in more details. For characters, it's the same. I'll come up with a rough idea as to who they are at the beginning. Generally, they develop in my head as I'm working on the plot. Character X would make Y choice then Z choice in Q situation, etc... This creates a more solid vision of who the person I'm about about is. I feel that if you know what they would do, then you've got a pretty good grasp on the character.

Physical attributes and "ticks" don't mean much to me. I know some people really love to create interesting ticks, but in general, I don't find these very helpful as they are very surface level. Not always, of course. If a character's "tick" is to fall into drink when things go bad, then that's stronger than a character who scratches his ear when he's nervous.

I'm kind of rambling at this point, but that's my method. I start with who they are at the beginning of the story, then see what choices they make as a chart out the plot.

I'm a pantser and the story usually begins with the character showing up and saying, "Let me tell you my story." The only physical traits I include are those that set mood and tone. I don't deal with color of hair or eyes, height or weight, or voice quality, or any of those types of physical description unless they are startling to another character who expected something other than they're seeing or hearing.


ETA: Who my characters are, how they think, or see the world seems to flow organically through dialogue and actions/interactions. So I guess you could say I don't do character studies per se.

I guess I cheat a little because, usually, I take real-life people I've met and use their personalities--and how I think they would act in certain situations--to develop the characters and the story that surrounds them. I change their names and appearances enough, however, so that the actual person reading it would not recognize oneself in the story, but the spirit of that individual is embedded in the character. As they say, truth is stranger than fiction, and I've come across enough fascinating people that provide much more satisfying characters than anyone I could invent.

I have occasionally done the reverse, though...I saw a beautiful Danish model and imagined how her personality would be for a sort of femme fatale character in my first novel.

It's up to you how much you really need. I have a character profile that I use in Scrivener for all of my main characters and I fill out as much as I think I need for that particular character. Mostly though, once I understand a particular character in my head and can step into their shoes, the rest is just details that I want to keep straight.

I let the character of the, uh, characters come out in the actions they take, choices they make, and events they are a part of. I usually go in with a general idea of the story I'm going to tell, meaning I have a pretty good idea of the journey the character is going to take. That means I have an idea where they start and where they end, or maybe just where they end. From there, it's not too hard to extrapolate what they would have to think/do/feel to get to that spot.

For example, for one WIP, I knew that one of the main female characters would be screwed over by one of the main male characters and left with a child born out of a wedlock in a time when that wasn't okay. I also knew she would die by the end. But I knew she wasn't going to die miserably. So, I had to get her to fall in love with this guy, and I had to build the events around his dropping her, and I had to construct her rebuilding of her life after he did so. Then I had to give her a natural death. So she had to be somewhat naive at first, but proud and strong and smart and not too-dumb-to-live. I knew her personality and the kind of choices she would make.

I very often find myself pinning characters to one particular trait. Not that they end up being one-note (I hope). But there's one trait or characteristic that I can spin the rest of the personality around. For instance, in addition to all the plot-y stuff above, I was having trouble with the character I mentioned. Then I realized that what drove her was pride. And that made a lot of her decisions and motivations much clearer to me, above and beyond the plot. It helped make sense of her as a "person", not just a puppet on the page.

So, plot and character are very much intertwined for me; they grow wrapped around one another in such a tangle that they're impossible to separate. Hence, I've always found character studies and character interviews and character sheets to be not-very-useful. Separating the characters from the story won't work, because when you add the story back in, the shape of those characters simply won't be the same, because they'll be changed by the events of the plot.

At least that's how I work.

Another anecdote:

On my most recent WIP, I was having a little difficulty articulating (in my own mind) the difference between two brothers who are both first-person narrators. Both are brainy, thoughtful, and somewhat bitter about the events they're relating. I had iron-clad reasons for having both of them as POV characters, so there was no question about eliminating one. But how to make them distinct? At one point I realized there was a difference in their intellectual emoting: one was defined by dreaminess and yearning, the other by trauma. Totally different lenses to see the same events through.

Also, I don't do a lot of physical description, but if someone's physicality is important, it's in there. If someone is defined as being tall and awkward, then that's important to them as a person. If someone is particularly pretty or handsome, that also can define how they are they by the world.

Ticks can be revealing, but they can't be there just for the sake of making the character "interesting". They need to have some purpose. I have a character who has a nervous habit of coughing. He uses it to good effect, as a sort of body language. If he wants to change the subject, cough. If he's upset, cough cough cough. I think he's the only character I've ever written with that kind of tick.

I only rarely do any formal character planning before writing (for pantsed projects) or outlining. Usually, I have an idea of the scene or plot, complete with a general idea of who the characters are and their personalities.

However, whenever I get stuck I can use the interview technique, or write a side story about that character just to see how she or he will react in a new situation (with no intention of using it in the main project). That usually gives a clue as to his or her reactions in the part I'm stuck on.

I like to think in terms of archetypes. Mentor, hero, warrior, best friend, villain, etc.

From there, that cast, I like to poke and push the characters around a little bit--so they aren't too on the nose--but for me that happens during the writing when I see what it is that needs to change for a scene to work. EG: If making the best friend an alcoholic ups the tension at the climax of the novel, then the best friend becomes an alcoholic.

I like also to give each character a goal--that seems to really affect how they behave, and it tells me about their past, which is nice for fleshing out the story.

There are countless ways of conceptualizing a character and bringing them to life in your head and on the page. Some writers simply start writing and see how the person develops. I generally tend to spend time thinking about a person and their story for a while but not to use things like character sheets, interviews or other construction techniques. At some point, I just jump in and start writing without worrying too much if the character evolves or changes from my original concept of them.

I may jot things down for relatively minor characters so I can keep certain things straight (like how many siblings they have or whatnot), but I'm not likely to forget the personal history of my protagonist (or other major characters), nor what makes them tick.

As for appearance, I generally have a sense of what a person looks like. I don't worry too much about getting every little detail onto the page, aside from things that may help define them as a person, like race, gender, any particular traits that affect how they see themselves or how others see them. Readers will probably see the person somewhat differently than I do, and that's all right as long as the important stuff is there.

But every writer's process is different. If interviews help a character gel in your mind, or if looking at pictures of people online to find someone who looks the way you've imagined a character helps with description, that's fine.

Unless their physical looks and condition have a bearing on the story I bother with only two aspects for each character:

1) What do they want?

2) How far are they willing to go to get it?

The answers have to be more than just getting pizza and a drink. They are the drivers for that person.

I had a cypher of a character I could not figure out. A basic innocent was working for a bad guy. Why do that? Then it came to me that the bad guy was the only person in her life who ever treated her with respect for her particular abilities. For the first time she was not being treated like a freak and he saw to it she was protected. That created a powerful loyalty. She went from a minor walk on part to a supporting character appearing in several books because of that.

In writing as in acting, motivation is everything.

I agree with this:

Animad345 said:

Good question. Personally, I don't spend time looking up images either because I believe that appearance is the least important thing about a character (unless the story specifically revolves around it).

Click to expand...

Appearance is the least important thing, unless the character has an appearance that affects the way s/he or others act or make choices.

And this:

angeliz2k said:

I let the character of the, uh, characters come out in the actions they take, choices they make, and events they are a part of...

I very often find myself pinning characters to one particular trait. Not that they end up being one-note (I hope). But there's one trait or characteristic that I can spin the rest of the personality around. For instance, in addition to all the plot-y stuff above, I was having trouble with the character I mentioned. Then I realized that what drove her was pride. And that made a lot of her decisions and motivations much clearer to me, above and beyond the plot. It helped make sense of her as a "person", not just a puppet on the page.

Click to expand...

A complex character is not a stew of varying attributes but a structure built around a central core. Know your character's core.

And this:

Gillhoughly said:

1) What do they want?

In writing as in acting, motivation is everything.

Click to expand...

This is where you find the character's core and how it interacts with the world outside them. There isn't any human being who doesn't want something they don't have. Find out what that is.

But as far as the actual endeavor of making character studies I also agree with this:

angeliz2k said:

So, plot and character are very much intertwined for me; they grow wrapped around one another in such a tangle that they're impossible to separate. Hence, I've always found character studies and character interviews and character sheets to be not-very-useful. Separating the characters from the story won't work, because when you add the story back in, the shape of those characters simply won't be the same, because they'll be changed by the events of the plot.

Click to expand...

If you want to understand your character better, write some stuff related to the story from their POV. Maybe some backstory, something like that. Get them to talk to you *about the story.*

gothicangel said:

So, it has been about 10 years since I started writing a new WIP (haven't written seriously for 5 years). However, the Muses have descended again and I am working on a new book.

Recently have been studying for a degree (ancient history and archaeology if you are wondering) and I've been overhauling my whole essay writing technique. Which has been great, and I now know that my novel planning strategy in the past wasn't great and too needs an overhaul. I've decided to try being an outliner (was previously a pantser) and my past character development technique revolved solely around physical attribute (hair colour, body type, clothing etc.) but this time I intend to think more about attributes and more psychological.

However, I've been reading a few blogs. I think I've always used the 'interview technique' without realizing. But then I've read other writers saying that they spend hours trawling Google Images for pictures that match the image in the head (a waste of valuable writing time for me). So how much development do you do before you begin writing? How does your method differ between main characters and one-time extras?

Click to expand...

I like consistency. I developed a Word document with loads of questions, sliders, whatever. I use it for antagonist and another copy for the MC. I have a greatly diminished version for side characters. I can flesh out my characters much faster using these tools. These help with scenes, dialogue, conflict,....