Overcoming the Fear of Unoriginal Characters
Tips for Layering and Fine-Tuning Basic Characters
Mar 10, 2009
Creating characters from nothing for a story can be daunting. Some people start with particular personalities but don’t know how to develop them into complex, convincing characters without turning them into carbon copies of people they already know. Others just use people they know as models but don’t know how to develop them beyond their known frames. Here are some ways to develop your characters before writing them in the story, keeping them both believable and original.
Make Your Characters Interact With Each Other
Take several of your characters and put them in a room. What happens? Does one character seduce another? Does one get in a religious debate? Is one of them too shy to speak? Be wary of using more than four at a time; three is the ideal number for a social, yet intimate interaction.
Change the room. Open or close the door and blinds, add mirrors, change the lighting, or change the time of day. This can be a stress-free task, because the changes are arbitrary to find out about your characters. The atmosphere has no place in the story (at least it does not have to), so you can make as many odd changes as you like. But you will be surprised how much the atmosphere affects what happens in the scene.
Give Your Characters Tasks to Do
A baby is on the way, but there is no doctor present to deliver it, and your characters must work together to help the woman give birth. Or, your characters must plan a community event and assign each person a responsibility. Or, your characters are travelers in a desert who are debating whether to trust the shelter they see up ahead. Giving your characters tasks will help you see the choices they make and the ease or anxiety with which they do them.
Think What Your Character Would Do throughout the Day
Interactions and choices don’t have to all be written. Think in your mind, when you make breakfast, “What would my character eat?” When your superior criticizes you, “How would my character respond to this?” When your mother calls you, “How would my character feel about this? What is she doing when her mother calls?” The more history you can give your characters, any chance you get, the stronger and more layered they will be.
Don’t be nervous when creating characters. The important thing is to throw them into the rink and make them act. It does not involve as much creativity as it does discipline, acuteness, and perceptiveness.
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