Those Pesky Characters

[pmmg]

So we all write them, but they all start from a incomplete picture and slowly grow to something that we just don't want to leave.

In your words, and in your experiences, when do characters start to become alive? What makes them great? What do you want to feel as a writer while writing? What do they do that makes you hate them, love them, want to get up late and write them some more of them? What is good about writing characters and how do you know when you are getting them right? What do you do when your they dont seem to be doing what you want? and how do you change if they are not reaching you?

 

[Finchbearer]

Mine keep changing! For the better I hope.

The more passive characters are the difficult ones I find to make speak and have a ‘personality’. The ones who are a foil for the plot to happen. Of course, that’s the challenge. Making those types of characters more unique and giving them a voice.

 

[pmmg]

Mine keep changing!

Keep in mind the Bob Ross model. There are not mistakes, just happy accidents. Its all good in the end.

 

[Incanus]

This is a big subject for me, and the one that causes me the most doubt. I'm more of an 'idea' writer than a 'character' writer. The first thing I thought of and worked out for my current WIP was the setting.

Characters starting to come alive? With one possible exception, this only happened to me the first time just a couple of months ago or so. It's a new experience for me. On the one hand, I really appreciate this development, but on the other, I wonder if I'm managing it very well.

I have one character who, so far, outshines all the rest. He is not a POV character and never should be--it would ruin his mysterious nature. He is arrogant, playful, mischievous, almost foppish. He is also talented, and has info important to my main cast. But he is discursive and likes to give out what he knows on his own terms, while playing around with people. The rational, sensible characters may be coming off as drab when this guy is 'on stage'. He is easier to write than the others because he is so colorful.

For some reason, the more rational characters are trickier to make unique, or to have them stand out in some way. I like to think some of them will develop more slowly than others, but that they will get there eventually.

 

[skip.knox]

It happens differently with different characters, but the point of recognition is pretty clear for me. It happens when the character gains their voice. I fiddle with this a lot, early on, like a comic trying out imitations. But the key point comes when I can feel "no, this character wouldn't say it that way." I gain a sense of what would sound false. You can't be out of character until you're *in* character, right?

How I get there is where the variation happens. Sometimes it comedy--some form of wisecracks or even telling jokes--that does it. With other characters, it happens under stress. A scene of conflict and the character speaks and it feels particular to them. With still others, it just develops over time with no one defining incident.

What doesn't work is for me to construct a character sheet. That always feels like an improv setup. Fun and all, but not true to the character. I have to put them through paces, run them around the block a few times.

Things like physical characteristics usually come later, once I have a sense of who they are. Then I'll try out some descriptions, though this gets conditioned by the appearance of other characters. If someone has cobalt-blue eyes, then nobody else gets to have that. Same with behaviors and tics.

 

[ThinkerX]

I try to build little quirks into my characters from the outset to make them distinctive. I have several minor characters with enough quirks piled onto them that seem alive. Some examples from the current WIP -

Simon Fury, aka 'Simple Simon.' A natural (bastard) son of Sir Richard Fury. Immensely strong, carries a two-handed broadsword. Genial, but...of below-average intelligence. He wants to be a knight more than anything. Great singing voice.

Sammy, aka 'Snuffles.' A female shapeshifter in her late teens drafted into the legions as a scout. Extremely hairy even in human form. She constantly sniffs everything, which tells her far more about the world than most other folks. Tends to go berserk in a fight but is otherwise sort of 'dog-like' personality. Not all that used to human mores - occasional casual nudity, that sort of thing.

Shade, a tall, stick-thin petty wizard drafted into the legions. Once, he was a normal kid who saw the world in color. Then he got chased into a graveyard on Hell Day and underwent a horrific series of visions and experiences. After that, he could do magic - but he was also fully colorblind. He has knacks for manipulating shadows, monochrome illusions, and invisibility spells. Tends to 'appear from nowhere,' speaks in a hollow tone.

 

[Rexenm]

I find characters interesting, when they are gone. There is the initial setup, nothing takes my interest - and then some form of adventure arrives based on good and evil. That has to be taken into account; good and evil.

what I don’t like, is when a character comes along, and is like a picture whose face moves, distorts, cavorts. it is not good enough to have a poison girl, one must investigate further, have ideals.

The best scenario for me, is to have these characters come to life of their own accord, have interesting conversations, have something to say about their political landscape. This is why fantasy is good for me, there is always a shady element, a suspension of belief.

One good example, is Ender’s Game. He is a third, but he seems to have control as a child, in a space station with numerous enemies - like an mmo. It doesn’t have to be interesting, or make sense; it has to be magical - like a race to the top of the mountain, or a job description -or-and- an interview. Something you don’t tell your family and friends, but tell your colleagues and comrades.

 

[Jackarandajam]

So we all write them, but they all start from a incomplete picture and slowly grow to something that we just don't want to leave.

In your words, and in your experiences, when do characters start to become alive? What makes them great? What do you want to feel as a writer while writing? What do they do that makes you hate them, love them, want to get up late and write them some more of them? What is good about writing characters and how do you know when you are getting them right? What do you do when your they dont seem to be doing what you want? and how do you change if they are not reaching you?

This was a great question that I needed to answer for myself.
I can pretty cleanly divide my characters into two piles: ones that I'm invested in as a writer, who feel like they have agenda, and ones who I can't seem to Dr. Frankenstein into breathing for themselves.

I think my answer is conflict, and the higher the conflict the more real the character feels to me.

Kinda reminds me of the scene in Fight Club with the gas station attendant: until I put a gun to their head, I don't really know who they are and neither do they.

And not just external conflict that is externally solved; what they are has to be slammed against what they're not, what they hate. They have to get mad or be made to chose themselves and what they believe over the situation.

I'm already spinning up ways to fix some if my 2d characters based on this train of thought. Thanks for this question!

I've got one character who just doesn't care enough to not go with the flow, for instance. He'll clean toilets, he'll sleep on the ground, he just... doesn't care. It's been driving me crazy because he's an MC and he feels very reader insert because he's just kinda friendly and even keel and people generally like him.

Now, I think I'm gonna stick him in a cage. Take away even his illusion of freedom. That might get the rile out of him I've been looking for.

 

[Mad Swede]

For me the characters all feel alive from the start. Maybe it's the way I write, but I never worry about getting them right and I never feel I have to change how I write them. They're just there, in my head, ready to go, and all I seem to do is put it all down on paper.