Dear Writer,
There are a few elements that are absolutely necessary in every story. Conflict, setting, some form of plot. And of course, characters! I love talking about characters. Everyone has their favorites and ones they love to hate. Oftentimes, they seem more real to us than the people we run into at the store or on the subway. How do writers do that? How can you create characters that live and breathe on the page?
This guide pulls heavily from the first chapter of Orson Scott Card’s book Characters & Viewpoint. It was recommended to me by my Creative Writing professor, Josh Allen (Out to Get You, Only if You Dare, and others).
- Action: What do they do?
This is the most obvious and important part of characterization. How does your audience know whether your character is the type to kick a puppy? Have the character kick a puppy (or, preferably, a cat instead). Are they nice, mean, selfish, brave, condescending? Show them acting in those ways. Please don’t, as the narrator, tell your audience that your character is narcissistic. Have your character act in a narcissistic way and let your audience figure it out. They’ll like that better, I promise.
- Motive: Why did they do that?
This one could involve getting into the head of your character more. Action is easy to show from any point-of-view (first-person through third-person), but unless your character has an honest, in-depth conversation with another player about why they did the thing (kicked the puppy cat, kissed their ex, spent a million dollars on some freelance editor), you’ll need to be in their head (first-person POV works well, third-person limited if you’re focused on the character, do whatever the heck you want with an omniscient narrator), or provide enough background knowledge that your reader can use to infer motivation. It may not be easy to do this for every character in your book, but an actor’s motivation will recolor what an audience thinks about a character.
Card gives the example of a guy at a party who’s being obnoxious: spilling drinks, talking loudly and rudely. A discerning reader might assume he’s simply your average attention hog. But what if a peek inside reveals that he’s covering for something else happening in the room? I like to think of his accomplice picking pockets as her targets shake their heads at the man’s boorishness. The man then goes from being an ignorant loudmouth to a sneaky con man.
- History: What happened to them?
However you convey a character’s backstory (dialogue, flashbacks, info dumps), be aware of how sympathetic/unsympathetic this can make them. The popular thing nowadays is to give a character (especially villains) a tragic backstory to get audiences to feel for them. Sometimes it feels like an arms race amongst writers to see who can give their character the most trauma. No matter what, the past is going to color our view of present actions. Say your character kicks a puppy cat. Most of your audience might take that as a sign that your character (let’s call him Mike) is an awful person. But what if they knew that, as a child, Mike was brainwashed into a cat-worshipping cult where he was forced to smear cat feces into his eyebrows as a sign of devotion? Now, years later, brainwashing mostly broken, he kicks cats to rebel against the trauma of his past. Your audience still won’t like it, but they’ll understand Mike’s character a little differently.
- Reputation: What do people say/think about them?
This can be fun. Before introducing your character, show them as the topic of conversation. It doesn’t matter if what people say about them is true; you can use what an audience learns before actually meeting the character to play with their expectations. I think it’s cool when someone has an enormously ominous reputation, but when we see them, they’re just a massive sweetheart. Having your character absolutely fulfill their reputation can be fun as well (think John Wick).
- Stereotypes: What category could we file them into?
We’re not supposed to like stereotypes, but we still use them for better or for worse. Growing up, I was stereotyped as a basketball player because of my height so often I finally gave in and started playing. A popular stereotype in fiction is to give intelligent characters glasses. I’m sure there are unintelligent characters with glasses, but the fact that I can’t think of any off the top of my head tells you that it’s a pretty good call to assume a bespectacled side-character will be smart. That’s also not tied to race or gender or anything, so yay for PC-ness. (Sidenote: Can we still stereotype redheads?) You can use stereotypes to signal character traits, or subvert expectations with them for fun.
- Network: Who do they know?
What’s the saying? “You’re the average of your five best friends?” A character doesn’t need to have a lot of screen time; we can know a lot about them based on who they’re close to. Crabbe and Goyle from the Harry Potter series come to mind. I can’t remember their first names or a single line of dialogue from either of them, but knowing they’re Draco’s flunkies speaks volumes about what kind of guys they are. Obviously, this doesn’t just apply to friends. Did you ever get the “Are you so-and-so’s little brother/sister?” from a teacher? Or the “You’re his kid, aren’t you?”
- Habits and Patterns: What flavor of quirky are they?
These last few do more to give your character a sense of surface-level reality rather than giving your audience a peek at their souls.
Habits and patterns don’t have to be plot relevant, but it is nice to give your audience something to grab onto, something that makes your character more than just an archetype or plot device. Real-life example: my first girlfriend pointed out that I unconsciously duck my head slightly when going through doorways, even when I don’t have to. I also flick my fingers like a Jedi when I go through automatic doors. Describing something as simple as how a character enters and exits a building can give them a sense of realism. Do I seem like a real boy now? The weirder the quirk, the better (depending on your genre).
- Talents and Abilities: What can they do?
These might be more plot relevant, but they (again) won’t necessarily tell a lot about your character’s soul. (Do fictional characters have souls?) If Mike has the ability to guess the exact number of jelly beans in a jar every single time, does that change the fact that he’s the type of guy to kick cats? No, but it could spark off a fun mini-arc for him. Real people are good/bad at multiple things; your characters should be as well.
- Tastes/Preferences: What do they like?
Same thing. Everybody likes/dislikes certain things. Is your character’s favorite color going to change the course of your book or make them a good or bad person? Probably not, but they’ll still have one, whether you share that with the reader or not.
- Body: What do they look like?
Last and least. I’ve read plenty of books where the main character’s physical appearance is never described, but I still felt like they were a real person whom I could connect with on a spiritual level if I met them in real life. Maybe your genre calls for more than that, or you just like describing that sort of thing. That’s totally fine. I tend to stick to really basic details and leave the rest to the reader to imagine. Height, hair color, body type or eye color if they’re relevant. Maybe they have a cool scar or birthmark. I really don’t think you need more than that. Fashion choices might give minor hints about what kind of person they are.
Please don’t have them look in a mirror and describe themselves for the reader, and, for your sake, be consistent about details that don’t typically change. Have a character sheet or something to keep track if you’re using the same character over multiple books.
Final Thoughts
Very rarely will you have the time/need to include all of these in your characterization in your story. For goodness’ sake, don’t try to put them all on the same page; spread them out. Pick a few of the first six to dig deeper into your character, throw in a few of the last four, and you’ll have a nicely fleshed-out “round” character. You want to have at least one of those per story, probably more depending on the length. Sometimes you have to be really economical, tie these things to action as much as you can, and avoid info dumping.
I recommend reading/watching the first time your favorite characters are introduced to see how the writer handled the initial characterization. I like to show my students the first scene of the show Brooklyn 99 where Jake and Amy’s core personalities are shown off in less than five minutes.
Characters are important. Readers need someone to love (or hate) in your book. Do this well and your readers will want to read everything you write.
Go write something.
Warmly,
Tyler Hess
Freelance Editor
https://www.tylerhessportfolio.com
www.linkedin.com/in/tyler-hess-a76629170
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