# Character Creation



## Mythos (Mar 3, 2011)

How do you go about doing this? Does the plot come firs, or do the characters? Can you *see* your characters, or do you have to work at describing them?

For me I usually get a plot idea first along with a vague idea for a character. I then start expanding my plot, and my character begins to form because I find more thing he or she will do. For some reason I can never truly picture my characters. I get vague outlines and important features, but I can never really describe down to the smallest detail.


----------



## Ophiucha (Mar 3, 2011)

I tend to think of plot and characters in tandem. I say "I want a story that focuses on a quest for a jewel" and I already have a character who must be questing for it. I need characters who act as their follies. I might need an antagonist. It all sort of comes naturally, and as I flesh out the plot, the characters incidentally follow. I don't do much beyond what I write up for the story, though. If it isn't important to the story, why would I know what hair color they have? If it isn't important to the story, why would I know where they went to school? And so on and so forth.


----------



## Donny Bruso (Mar 4, 2011)

I generally create my characters to support my plot, but sometimes they develop in tandem. The story I wrote for NaNo last year was only supposed to have one POV character, but my plot twisted on me, and I needed a second to become an antagonist after events ran their course. That required a supporting cast member to step up and take the role, and she developed into it quite nicely. Or rather is still developing. I kinda burned out my inspiration on NaNo and haven't done much with it since.

I generally find a picture of someone, usually a celebrity since they are easiest to find, that matches the description of my character, and that becomes their face. The more real I can make the character, the easier it is for them to direct my writing their chapters.


----------



## Ravana (Mar 4, 2011)

Depends on the story–as usual. I've done both, though usually it's the plot that starts me off, since for me it's generally the story I want to tell, and I need to find characters that are able to tell it. On the other hand, the only thing I've written to date that constitutes a "series" began with a character; everything that's followed so far has been in response to the question "What kinds of situations is this guy going to find himself in?" 

I suspect that most character-centered series such as Elric, Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes or Doc Savage began with character concepts (I can't see the last of these starting from anything _but_ a character concept: it's far too dependent on Doc's unique attributes). Conan, on the other hand, I can see as potentially being an outgrowth from the first story he found himself in. Most superheroes were pretty obviously developed as characters prior to their appearances… I would venture a guess that _Watchmen_ was story-driven, and is the exception that proves the rule. So that might be a sort of answer in itself: if you're writing with a particular "hero" concept in mind, the character will probably precede the story.


----------



## Ophiucha (Mar 5, 2011)

@Ravana; I don't know, I write character-driven stories, and I think the characters still come at best in tandem. I mean, I'll start out with "I want to write about a villain who watches from his palace as the hero quests to defeat him," and while the story focuses on the villain, inevitably I'll still plan out (a) what he did to deserve being hunted, and (b) the hero's motivation for hunting him. In short, the plot. It often isn't until I am well into the planning stages, sometimes even into writing itself, that I develop the villain's personality and oftentimes personal motivations.


----------



## Mdnight Falling (Mar 5, 2011)

characters... you can have no plot if you have no clue as to who the story is about. My characters were created when I was 7.. my plot took 20 years to begin formulating in my brain as to what I wanted these three strange people to do. So I began writing the prologue. Which was the foundation for the entire book. Once the prologue was on paper, the ideas and plot fell into place as to why everything that was to happen was happening to begin with. so yes, I believe firmly that the characters need to come before the plot, they are your heroes, your villians, your sufferers, they are the reason you have the plot. they are your plot  your story is built around their lives


----------



## JCFarnham (Mar 5, 2011)

To be honest the thing that comes to me first nine times of ten, is a simple line a hero might throw at a villian. So neither plot or character haha. For example, I have one line in particular floating around my head at the moment that I want to use in one of my SF storys ["So you're the guy who turn the earth into a giant billboard. Now all travellers think of the Earth is 'last stop before proxima'!"] It would be a shame not to use such a line, but unfortunately it doesn't fit into anything I have going at the moment. It is this kind of situation that often fuels before plot and character creation for me. I know already that it needs to be set early on in my SF universe, since we're talking about the Earth, There needs to be a clear cut hero and villian, with the villian being some kind of business man... and so on and so forth.

Sure the above example isn't Fantasy, but it can be applied in the same way to that area of my fiction too in a way. 

Very rarely will a character come to me fully formed--I'm always dubious of people who say this about their characters in a way, and yes I'm looking at you Rowling--I'll have say one of the aforementioned lines, and that will suggest a certain personality in a way, but then I definitely strive to make characters believable no matter how important, or conversely not, they are and that means making sure all the characterisation that does make it into the story is sensible [yes even in fantasy this goes] that a reader can believe it, maybe even sympathise with it. But a character wouldn't really exist without a plot and it is the plot that does most of the shaping of characters sooo..

I think I place so much importance on Characters because I've been creating them long before I got that serious about their plots. They are, I'm sure everyone can agree, what make a piece of writing a story rather than a speculative essay haha


----------



## Chilari (Mar 5, 2011)

I tend to start with a scene, and then built the characters and plot up around it. This time I started with a scenario - I decided I wanted to write a story about a group of survivors following a virus that killed loads of people. I also had a character I couldn't quite work into another story who I decided to put into this one. Then I decided I wanted one of my POV characters to be an older woman (mostly protagonists are either young or male or both). I wanted a location to be a key part of the story, so thought of ways to get characters to deliberately go there by creating interlinked families. Then I split some of the families up and deleted some other characters to keep the cast list down so it was more streamlined and easier to keep track of main characters. Then I worked on the geography and political landscape of the area, and used that to build up a plot. Then I developed the characters more. I wrote a few scenes. I changed the plot based on how characters would act. I brought in some adversaries for my characters to have conflicts with. Now I'm working through the plot again, thinking about how characters would react to various situations and groups of outsiders.

So neither plot nor character comes first, really. It all sort of forms organically.


----------



## Falunel (Mar 6, 2011)

My stories tend to draw heavily from actual historical events, so I'll usually start by making up a culture, and then think about its history. Once I find an interesting event, I'll start thinking up the characters and how their actions shaped the event. So for me, the setting tends to come first, and the story and characters come in rapid succession.

Often, though, I'll come across a concept or trait, and create a character based on it. Only after I spend a lot of time thinking and shaping that character will a story come to me. This usually holds true for recurring characters, who I've had for many years but haven't been able to use in any plots yet.


----------



## Mdnight Rising (Mar 7, 2011)

My method is very similiar .. i go with basic plot and then basic character  creation and then  go back and refine the character and  then the antogonists and then  let the story flow


----------



## Mythos (Mar 7, 2011)

Do you guys ever try character questionnaires? I'm still trying to decide wether I like them or not. Lots of writers say they are helpful. Another character development strategy that sounds interesting and fun is actually interviewing your characters. I've never actually tried it, but I like the idea.


----------



## Mdnight Falling (Mar 7, 2011)

What's a character questionnaire?


----------



## Mythos (Mar 7, 2011)

Here is an example: http://www.suite101.com/content/developing-memorable-characters-a52915


----------



## Mdnight Falling (Mar 7, 2011)

Thank you.. I've never heard of this before.. But like I always say.. You learn new things every day >^.^<


----------



## Mdnight Rising (Mar 7, 2011)

NO i have never  used them  but i have  heard of them


----------



## Ravana (Mar 8, 2011)

Not a bad starting point. No, I don't use questionnaires… too "structured" for me: half the questions I'll never need answered, half the questions I do need answered won't be there. (A couple I couldn't even answer about myself!) But very reasonable to use as a checklist, once you get going, to see what you might have left out. Well, except for the final one on that particular list, which is pretty stupid. ("Write one additional thing about your character"? Come on. If you don't already have several, you might as well just be rolling dice.…  ) Still leaves 44 good ones.


----------



## Ophiucha (Mar 8, 2011)

I don't care for them; most of the questions they ask don't help me.


----------



## At Dusk I Reign (Mar 9, 2011)

Mythos said:


> How do you go about doing this? Does the plot come firs, or do the characters?


My characters tend to present themselves to me before any plot. I picture a person, then their circumstances. Are they poor, are they rich? Happy or sad? If either, why? Although I have an overarching angle in the back of my mind, it doesn't count for much unless the character fits it. Plot is important, but I've always found characterisation moreso. Once the character is resolved the plot will fit itself around like an old cloak. This is only a personal opinion, though, and won't work for everyone. Brains are complex and one size doesn't fit all.


----------



## Amanita (Apr 23, 2011)

For me, it's a mix of both. In my "modern" story the characters have already changed along with the world and of course the plot a few times. I don't even know anymore how exactly I came up with them in the beginning. 

For the stories set earlier I start out with historical accounts during the modern times, there were the company founder idolized by the inhabitants of the city founded by him and the man who abused his magic and his knowledge (ans his wife) and disgusts the main character but is respected by her mentor. And there was a great and terrible war between two neighbouring countries. 
Than I've started tryng to figure out why they've acted like that, what they did during that war and why they did it and how his relationship with his wife really was. Now I have an interesting (but rather dark) story about the three of them that has changed the history told to the later main character quite a bit. 

World and cultures definitly exist before the characters do in my stories though. I'm deciding what kind of cultural, environmental and magical background I want first and think of characters that can live there and plots that might happen there later.

Character questionaires aren't really helpful to me either. I don't create characters as a set of flaws and strenghts which have to balance each other out, therefore I couldn't even name stuff such as their greatest flaw or their greatest strenght. (I couldn't do that for myself either.) Many things can be helpful in some circumstances and extremely problematic in others.


----------



## Digital_Fey (Apr 24, 2011)

I'm pretty character-focused; usually I'll think of a scene and the basic type of character that would fit within it, and then I develop the story from there, adding detail to both plot and character as I go. Although character questions are boringly formulaic at best and hopelessly over-detailed at worst (do I really need to know what kind of toothpaste my elvish character prefers?) I do find it helpful to answer some questions as part of the character building process. Forcing myself to think about a character's parentage, childhood, education and friends can open up parts of their personality that I didn't see before, as well as substantiating their motivations and showing possible plotlines that might be worth exploring. The more info I have on a character, the more grounded they become in the story itself. Obviously, since I enjoy drawing, I tend to get quite involved with things like hairstyle and eye color, but I try not to ramble too much about that when writing


----------



## myrddin173 (Apr 24, 2011)

I usually come up with the plot first.  Most of my characters are based on people I know so generally I think where would ______ fit into this plot, the evil mastermind or the bumbling schoolgirl.  I also have this worksheet-type-thing that I like to fill out for the major/viewpoint characters.  http://www.arclight.net/~pdb/nonfiction/char-builder.pdf  I like it because it gives me a lot to think about with the characters.


----------



## At Dusk I Reign (Apr 30, 2011)

Mythos said:


> Do you guys ever try character questionnaires? Lots of writers say they are helpful.


Those writers must be idiots, or so devoid of inspiration they'll sink their hooks into anything which will validate their existence. Personally, I don't see the point. Yes, you can list your character's favourite tipple as tea etc, but what purpose does that serve? Are you going to mention it in your writing even though the information serves no purpose? Hopefully not. Characters should be organic, growing naturally as you write and meditate on the philosophy you wish to put across to the reader. Questionnaires are just another symptom of the malaise which is killing the genre slowly but surely. Abandon the checklist and write. That's all you need to do.


----------



## JCFarnham (Apr 30, 2011)

At Dusk I Reign said:


> Those writers must be idiots, or so devoid of inspiration they'll sink their hooks into anything which will validate their existence. Personally, I don't see the point. Yes, you can list your character's favourite tipple as tea etc, but what purpose does that serve? Are you going to mention it in your writing even though the information serves no purpose? Hopefully not. Characters should be organic, growing naturally as you write and meditate on the philosophy you wish to put across to the reader. Questionnaires are just another symptom of the malaise which is killing the genre slowly but surely. Abandon the checklist and write. That's all you need to do.



Or alternatively you can just pick whatever you DO feel you need out of the questionaire instead of dismissing it entirely. The point of this particular excersise is to get to know your character back to front, so that even if you DON'T use the information in your story you know enough about the character to write them in a completely, fool-proofishly believable way. Its just another way of getting into your head WHY characters act the way they do, does it mean you have to stick to what you've written down? not in the slightest! If anything I find these questionaires are a brilliant way of organising information, I prefer to call it a character sketch (or in time honoured RPG terms, a profile  ).

The method is what you make of it. And I don't believe for a second these "check lists" are whats "wrong with the genre", whats wrong with the genre is just bad writing, eg, people who THINK they can write but haven't spent enough time learning the craft, as people have rightly said in other threads.

Back on slightly less of a tangent, I come up with characters and plot at pretty much the same time (well ... almost). This at the very least holds true for the first couple of characters and plot points, until the point where they have both grown enough in my mind that they start suggesting their own additions. Never do I throw in a useless character, because at the end of the day it is reeeeeally obviously when a writer hasn't thought about this. Nothing turns me off quicker than a pointless character who well... is pointless. haha


----------



## At Dusk I Reign (Apr 30, 2011)

JCFarnham said:


> The point of this particular excersise is to get to know your character back to front, so that even if you DON'T use the information in your story you know enough about the character to write them in a completely, fool-proofishly believable way.


You don't need a questionnaire for that. It's just another form of displacement, like drawing maps: pretending to be busy while doing nothing of worth.




JCFarnham said:


> And I don't believe for a second these "check lists" are whats "wrong with the genre"


Oh, they are. It's all about mentality. People who write in the genre have started to believe that the setting is immutable and that they should fit their imagination around it. I see it in my local bookshop. Bad writing will play a part in the downfall of fantasy, but the checklist mentality will eventually pull the trigger.


----------



## Behelit (Apr 30, 2011)

At Dusk I Reign said:


> You don't need a questionnaire for that. It's just another form of displacement, like drawing maps: pretending to be busy while doing nothing of worth.



Of course you don't need it, but it may work for certain individuals to explore aspects of their character whether it pertains to the story or not. Drawing maps is similar in regards, like studying it helps to write it down. Not every one is able to solely rely on the canvas of their brain to etch every thing out as it rolls along. Thats not to say I believe spontaneity of the imagination does ill to a story either.


----------



## JCFarnham (Apr 30, 2011)

Behelit said:


> Of course you don't need it, but it may work for certain individuals to explore aspects of their character whether it pertains to the story or not. Drawing maps is similar in regards, like studying it helps to write it down. Not every one is able to solely rely on the canvas of their brain to etch every thing out as it rolls along. Thats not to say I believe spontaneity of the imagination does ill to a story either.


 
My point exactly. No one thing can be blamed for the failure of a genre (its a whole bunch of things done by people who don't know better perpetuated by a FOR PROFIT industry, right?). I completely agree with what you're saying about the "checklist mentality", but the fact of the matter is that character questionaire do not have to be used as checklists. 

I believe when it comes down it we're talking about two different issues here. 1) being the genre dictating what people write leading certain people to think that there is a set way to write genre fiction and that there for rules they can follow to write a sure fire industry success (which no one has the answer to in my honest opinion even if they think they do) and 2) character questionaires as a _tool for organising thoughts_ that you can take or leave. Some people like to rely on their brains to remember things and other people like to organise their thoughts in lists, thats not really checklisting as you're using the word. If some people rely on questionaires as the be all and end all of their imaginative process surrounding the creation of characters (there by missing important things and including the pointless) then thats their problem right? and we can laugh at them for falling into amatuerish traps. As I said previously, writing aids (which are what I view these questionaries to be) are what you make of them. At the end of the day I think you just have to try a technique and if it doesn't work out then try something else. Simple really.


----------



## Ophiucha (Apr 30, 2011)

I have a few opinions on the whole questionnaire thing,

1. As with maps, I find some authors - though not all, particularly more seasoned ones - lean on them a bit too heavily. With maps, I see this in authors writing things like "John walked from X to Y" with no other information; if we wanted that, we'd have to look at the map. That's bad storytelling, and bad writing, too. With character profiles, similarly, the profile becomes the end-all, be-all reference. Nothing can be manipulated and _it_ inevitably dictates your character's actions, not your story or writing. Avoid that, and then, as with maps, I could really give a rat's arse less how you plan.

2. There is functionally no benefit to me knowing anything on these things. I filled one out once, and I just put "---" or "N/A" for about 60% of the sections, and I barely got to mention some very, very important details about the character. I think, for organizational purposes, a character profile you create yourself is going to be far more useful.

3. If you need to have a 'stranger' (here, the author of the questionnaire) ask generic questions about your character - without any idea what your story is about - then maybe you need to flesh them out a little more on your own before you go searching for some aids.


----------



## Amanita (May 1, 2011)

I agree with everyone who's critical about those character questionaires. I've tried to start one a few times but I never got far. What do things such as the characters favourite colour matter? They might matter in certain circumstances but if they do, I know what they are without filling out something like that. The same goes for stuff like the exact weight of someone and so on. 
Many traits of my characters are influenced by their cultures and up-bringings, none of which can be worked out with general questionaires. And this kind of thing is the most important for the story, not the characters favourite food. 
I’m all for adding the question: „Which chemical element would your character choose for him/herself and why?, but I doubt it would be too helpful to others. 

I don’t think that there can be no good stories with character questionaires. Everyone gets inspired by different things and what helps one person doesn’t help others.


----------



## JCFarnham (May 2, 2011)

Just like to restate something; who says you HAVE to complete all of it? No one can assume what kind of information is going to be important to your writing, so every question provide is just there to please the most people. What I find equally as idiotic as letting questionaires dictate, is people who think it has to be as written or else. 

I _do_ like to organise my thoughts on characters in this kind of way, and I _do_ take some questions from those kind of lists, but I don't bllindly follow them. I agree, not everyone needs to know that a character likes tea or whatever. I'm not sure that the authors of these questionaires ever wanted you to fill out every last bit, just use it to get the ball rolling when nothing else will do. 

In my opinion its a format more than anything else and one I don't think people should dismiss without maybe using their own versions of the multitude of apparently "one size fits all" questionaires out there [versions more tailored to your specific projects]. As we all know, one size definitely does NOT fit all when it comes to genre fiction. 

I hope you don't think I'm being purposefully contentious with my replies here. An opposing opinion to the majority is always welcome in a discussion after all right  Just trying to shed some light on the alternatives to what a number of people [no one here I'm certain] seem to think are the hard and fast rules to becoming wildly successful in fiction writing. Alternatives are alternative!


----------



## Fnord (May 2, 2011)

Ophiucha said:


> 2. There is functionally no benefit to me knowing anything on these things. I filled one out once, and I just put "---" or "N/A" for about 60% of the sections, and I barely got to mention some very, very important details about the character. I think, for organizational purposes, a character profile you create yourself is going to be far more useful.


 
I think this puts it best.  A stock "questionnaire" might seem like a decent organizational tool on the surface, but _human beings_ aren't so easily cut and dry on anything.  It seems too "black and white".  People aren't black and white and certainly don't act that way.  Even if my favorite color is red, I'm not going to favor red in everything unless I'm fairly one-dimensional as a person, so what's the point in really fleshing that out?  I think making a "profile" like this *as you write* would be useful, just as a reference to things you have already written, but having more than a few major details of a character on a sheet of paper will force you to attempt to write *to* the questionnaire as opposed to just writing an organic character.  

I feel that character development is definitely my weakest writing point, but filling out something like this seems like a tedious exercise because I'm trying to fit a character into something.  A cursory glance at the questions on there might spark an idea, especially if you might need to loosen your synapses a little, but I think it would be a waste of mental energy to devote much time to things that are irrelevant to what you're trying to do.


----------



## sashamerideth (May 2, 2011)

Have not read all the posts so far, but the way that I create my characters has worked for me pretty well so far.  

I have a few primary characters and add in secondary ones to play off or antagonize them.  When I need more info about a character, I write a short story about just them.  I let my characters write themselves and tell me more about them.


----------

