Every fiction piece I write is character driven. Many authors start with a plot and bend their
characters to fit into it, generating a fascinating storyline with actors that
can be difficult to relate to. Strong,
real, genuine characters—like their realistic human counterparts—will build a compelling
story on their own with minimal guidance.
Readers have often asked me where I get ideas for my characters, but
what they’re really asking is how to make them feel real?
Every OC (original character) is an amalgamation of
thoughts, ideas, beliefs, inspirations and idiosyncrasies the author contains
and witnesses. When it comes to
characterization, there is no more rewarding and therapeutic exercise than
seeing the shadows of your imagination come into their own. But where do they come from? How did they start? How do they maintain their own personalities
on paper? There are a variety of ways to
make your fictitious crowd as real as the people you see. Your OC is all in your head—here’s a few exercises
to help you get acquainted:
1. (Extra)Ordinary Lives
While I was sitting in uncomfortable chairs in uncomfortable
pants suits in office after office sweating for work, I found myself
visualizing a different outcome for my job interviews than the typical “thank
you for your interest, but…” letter. I
took the familiar grey scene, threw in the rich, mysterious employer in my head
and made it the start of my second book, The King of the Sun, before I knew
anything else about it. The same works
for any everyday situation you’d rather skip; your characters probably would
too, but you have the power of infinite possibility to make them more
interesting. Whether it’s part of your
story or not, putting your character in an ordinary setting will relate them to
you and you may discover something about them.
And wondering how your serial killer antagonist or dragon-slaying hero
would react to the DMV might make taking a number an iota more interesting.
2. Channeling Emotions
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| ...Like Anger |
While I was attending business school, myself, professor and
cohorts would debate the significance of a few percentage points in gross
margins and a few pennies in shipping overhead endlessly—it was so ordinary I
wanted to die. I was frustrated with it because
I couldn’t see any point, and I felt small and alone because no one else seemed
to share my views. I felt like I didn’t
belong; sometimes the whole anthill ensemble made me feel downright
insane. The twisting in my soul forged a
deep, familiar connection to The King of the Sun’s Cinder Slade. I stared emptily at walls listening to a suit
drone about cost analysis and I found Cinder doing the same. I got to realize my outrage through my
sometimes capricious OC as the vapid rat-race wore us down—Cinder cracked so I
didn’t have to. Forcing your feelings
through your characters will feel like conducting string puppets; instead, put
them in the armchair you collapse in after a long, horrible day or sit them at
your desk and see what happens next.
3. Dear O.C.,
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| By: http://created-by-monsters.deviantart.com/ |
Letters, emails, phone calls and notes tell fragments of
history in brief, glinting glances. They’re
alluring because they’re a mystery speckled with truth: they’re telling someone about something, but it isn’t you and you’re not supposed to know about
them. Who would your character take the time
to write to? What would they say? Is it a love letter? An over-due Happy Birthday? A bail plea?
A good-bye? A threat? The letters or phone transcripts may never make
it into your story, but the little glimpse of your OC’s lives and their feelings
in a familiar form will reveal and entice their inner selves. In my last novel, I pictured a prickly phone
conversation between Cinder Slade and his older brother. Ash Slade came into focus as they talked, and
I saw a jealous, overworked family man who still picked on his younger sibling to
alleviate stress. The fact that Cinder
would call him at all made me realize he was loyal, guilty and desperate for
love. I had no intention of using the dialogue
at first, but the exercise became very important later on.
4. Getting into Character
Putting your OC on paper makes a connection between your
image of them, your plot and your end product, the story. It’s a tenuous line that often trembles under
monotony and breaks when your image or plot weakens under writer’s block. Drawing on another artistic medium to channel
your character gives them a more distinctive image, shakes up your creative
juices and pulls on new connections in your mind, other than literary. Try
sketching your OC. If you’re not an
artist, try another talent; make a poem of a particular emotional moment,
photograph a landscape or building they might frequent, sew a garment or make
an accessory that expresses their own je ne sais quoi, or
try acting out a particular scene as your character. The quality of the art is
secondary to feeling your OC;
gravitas, exuberance, spite, joy? I
have done all of these for either published or unpublished OC’s, but a bit of
amateur acting works best for me. Voicing
your favorite OC in the privacy of your home will help truly explore the scene
and personality—just don’t take it to the streets, or you might be in trouble.
5. Making History
Your story encompasses a group of segmented events in your character’s
history, but this is only a blink of their life. Events in their past often break through in flashbacks
or memories, but, like all people, every instant of our history shapes who we
are, and 90% of those instants will never make it into the story. To make your OC feel real, give them a full
identity and past that you can draw on. Sometimes
these are singular moments, sometimes they are whole chapters in their
lives. Did they have brothers or
sisters? Were they close to their
parents? What was the turning point of their
adulthood? Were they bullied as
children? Were they the bully? Did they go to college? Military school? For a gallant, kind protagonist or a cunning,
diabolical antagonist or a murky, dark anti-hero, the question is how did they become who they are? If you want to bring it home, ask yourself what
moments are most distinctive in your own life and why their impacts are so
clear—then ask the same of your characters.
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| Some characters certainly have more history than others... |
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