Do you ever have those moments in your writing when you can't decide which
character would go best in a scene? Or find yourself saying, "Hm . .
. I need my character to say this, but it just doesn't feel right."
I've come across this problem many, many times, especially since I'm still in my first
draft. I've found that the biggest problem is that I've treated my
characters as puppets on a stage, not actual people.
The thing is, you know your characters. Of course you do! They're inside your head, so you know all their little quirks, their personality traits, their fears and dreams, and as their author it's your responsibility to set them free on the paper. But sometimes, when your sitting with your book in your lap and a pencil in your hand, their traits aren't as easy to distinguish.
These are some things that have helped me in my writing with pegging down who my characters are.
When your character first meets a person, what do they see first in that person?
This one sounds weird, but it really helped me with my main characters. The way you view the world and the people in it is a big part of who you are, and it's important for your characters as well.
For instance, the main heroine of my fantasy series had to learn the art of surviving the world on her own from an early age, so she became very analytical when it comes to the people around her. This means that, when she first meets a person, she probably notices things in around this order:
• How many weapons is he/she visibly carrying. This is important to her because she would need to know what she's up against if she had to defend herself, and it shows a lot of how she thinks.
• Visible features that display history and/or character traits. This is big for her because she needs to know if this person is a friend or an enemy. For instance, if some man walks up to her with a dark hood drawn low over his eyes, his boots are coated in mud, and she can see the blade of an axe pressing against his cloak, she knows that this is someone she needs to keep an eye on. Being who she is, she'll probably try to figure out how often he travels, where he's from, if he's alone or with someone, etc.
These also led me to the fact that she has trust issues, which will become problematic in parts of the story (problematic in a good way, though). Finding the relationship between her worldview and this issue was an important step for me.
One of the other main characters of my story (I like to call them less-main characters, because they're bigger than sidekicks) is Welentore. He, unlike Ainran, would probably think of things a little differently. His first reaction might be appearance, but he didn't grow up needing to survive in the wild on his own, so his mind would most likely jump to gut reaction. What does this person seem like? Do they seem like good, honest tradesmen or crooks?
While Ainran and Welentore are similar in the gut reaction area, basic feeling isn't the first thing that comes to Ainran's mind. She needs something more tangible to go on.
Okay, I know I spent a lot of time on that one, but it seemed like an important topic to cover. This next one won't be so long, I promise!
When your character makes a decision, what are some of the things he/she thinks about?
Let's use The Lord of the Rings Trilogy as an example, since most people have read them. When Aragorn makes a decision, he doesn't think about things the same way Pippin does, because they're very different people who have lived very different lives. Aragorn may think of potential dangers and risks which Pippin couldn't even dream of. Things like throwing a rock down a well.
See, I told you it wouldn't be as long! And it leads nicely into my next point.
Write your character's history down on paper.
This one is very basic and seems too easy to be helpful, but it is. Your character summary doesn't have to be very long, maybe only a paragraph, but it could give you some important insight and ideas into how your characters think.
Let's stay with Lord of the Rings for a while. Pippin, coming from the Shire, could never have imagined that entertaining himself with a rock would unleash the fury of an army of orcs. Aragorn, on the other hand, understood what orcs were, their habits, their desire to kill anything good etc., so he would have had his guard up in the mines of Moria. This is because of his background as a well-trained ranger, and Pippin's background as a sheltered hobbit from the Shire.
This last tip is probably the most important one to follow.
*****Have fun with it!*****
Remember, above anything else, that your characters are people, and people are fun! Even when they're evil necromancers, it's still exciting to work out their personal complexities, so enjoy it.
I hope this helps! I'll be posting again soon.
If you have any other writing tips for how to get to know your characters, please comment! I love hearing awesome writing tips.
