Characters

Last time I briefly mentioned a very important part of writing a novel: creating a character.  I said it's a really good way to start a story, but more than that, it's essential to everything you do as an author.  Today, I thought we'd talk about creating characters.

Sometimes it's helpful to draw
your character.  My sister, Alexa,
sketched this picture of one of
my characters named James.

Whether or not you've already got an idea for your plot, one of the first things you should do when writing a story or novel is outline your main characters.  Almost every time I come up with a person to write about, I make a character sheet.  This contains information about the character, their background, their family, their beliefs, their attitude, and when I write about that person in the book I can refer back to the sheet to make sure I'm being consistent and true to the character.

I have a handy little paper entitled "Character Analysis" from a theater class I took in high school that helps me.  It has basic stuff on there, like, "What is your name?"  "How would you describe yourself physically?" and "How do you dress?" but it also includes more detailed stuff like, "How do you treat other people?" "How do others treat you?" "What is your greatest want or need?" and "What phrase or expression do you use frequently?"  After making several character sheets I can often do one without looking at this paper, but sometimes it reminds me of little things I hadn't even considered.  If you go to this website, you'll find a very detailed character analysis questionnaire that might help you if you need to make your character a little deeper.  You can find more on google if needed.

Your character sheet can be as long or short as needed, but it should be enough that you know your character inside and out.  For my main characters, I often do a quick one page (front and back) analysis just to get the basic stuff down, but that really isn't enough to really understand a character.  In one of my creative writing classes, I wrote a ten page description of one character, and then wrote a two-page short story about her.  Sometimes the most helpful thing is to write multiple background stories for your character before even starting on the novel (or whatever you're doing).

I've learned that the best thing to do when creating a character is to let them tell you who they are.  Don't impose a personality on them, just let it come.  That probably sounds like something a crazy nature lady would say ("Be one with your character.  Feel her background story flow through you."), but it's true.  Try it.  Sit down with a pen and paper and imagine this person.  Don't decide, "Well, it would work really well in the novel if he disliked girls with short hair."  Don't think about the novel at all.  Just think about him.  What's he telling you?  Trust me, you'll be surprised what comes out.  And later on you may decide to change some things about their personality, and that's okay, as long as it's the character telling you, "No, I'm not like that."

Finally, a character should drive the plot, not be driven by it.  Whatever happens in your story, it should be caused by decisions a character makes.  It should not be caused by random occurrences that the character then has to live with.  For example, Johnny lives in Anytown, USA.  There's a huge earthquake, which ruins his neighborhood, but he's trapped there.  The rest of the book is about how hard it is for Johnny to live in that area, and at the end Johnny and everyone is either saved because someone comes to rescue them, or because the land just starts to slowly improve, or they die.  That's a terrible story.  Johnny never acted.  He was a victim of the plot.  Now how about this: after the earthquake, Johnny decides he's going to help his neighbors survive.  He ventures into dangerous area to find food.  He learns to hunt and cook to stay alive.  At the end, Johnny may live or die, but he chose to act.  If he lives, it's because his decisions lead to that.  If he dies, it's because his decisions lead to that.

So create a character that acts, or who actively decides not to act.  And make sure that whatever they choose drives the plot.  There's nothing worse than a character who was only made to serve the story.  The story is about them, not the other way around.