If you’re reading this, then you already know how to develop a character and I’m not here to lecture you about it. But I would like to share a couple of tips from my own experience. Who knows you might pick up something new, nothing wrong with that, right?
So lets begin, shall we?
The Devil is in the details. It is a simple truth and there is no changing the fact. There’s nothing cooler than a fully developed character, with an in-depth history and a plethora of connections…
Except no.
When we create characters, we sometimes find ourselves looking down the rabbit hole and trying to stop ourselves from falling in. It happens, its okay. But sometimes its better to not know every single little detail of a character’s face, instead leave a little bit of mystery there, make parts of their past ambiguous.
Everyone loves a secret and you can draw out a plot hook from that ambiguity. Likewise, not everyone is going to pay attention to every line and mark on a person’s face. In fact the only ones who do that are lovers in bed. Let’s take a character of mine as an example. Alec Trevelyan:
If I were to describe Alec, it would be “A man in his early 30s with thick brown hair swept back, with a strong chin and jawline, further defined by a heavy growth of stubble. Grey eyes greet the newcomer with a warmth mirrored in a slight smile.” That’s a brief description, but one that hopefully matches the image. And that works fine. The only one who needs to know about the warmth of his skin, or the texture of his scars would be his wife.
There’s a level of detail which works well and a deeper level that is a little too much, its too much for the reader to get. Admittedly it is a fine line between the two, but one that can make the difference between a liked character and a loved one.
It not what you know, its who you know. I’m going to say this straight away, its okay to base elements of characters on people you know. There is nothing wrong with that, despite what some writers might say.
No character is ever created in a vacuum, its impossible and its wrong to ask people to just come up with a character without any external output. It okay to take an element of a friend or family member or someone you admire and use that as part of a character. If I create a character that has a short temper, chances are he’s going to get that from my father. It doesn’t matter if its a friend cracking their knuckles behind their head or sucking in a breath as they start a new book, what you’re doing is creating a springboard to creating a new character.
That said, I would be careful with how much you use; one, maybe two traits is enough to kickstart the creative process. But I would advise against directly basing the entire character on an actual person. Err on the side of caution; use their mannerisms, their speech patterns, what they wear and the like. But again, avoid direct translations of people.
Take up people watching. Sit in a cafe for a while and watch the people outside. Study how the old man sits down on the bench outside, or how the young couple interlock hands as they walk down the street. You might even spot the drummer as they fingertap a beat on their leg as they listen to some music.
What’s past is past. Despite what I said above, everyone has a history and depending on what happened, a character might not be keen on sharing that past with just anyone. Main characters should have fairly full biographies, but even minor characters can have an event in their past that colours their actions.
One of the best scenes depicting what someones acts they way they do is in the film Jaws, when Chief Brody, Matt Hooper and Quint are sharing the stories of their scars. Quint mentions he had a tattoo removed and after a joke from one of the others, the sailor reveals he was on the USS Indianapolis when it sank. Its a quiet monologue, but one that explains Quint’s bloody-mindedness in his pursuit of the shark and his reckless actions that strands the three men on the ocean waves.
Likewise the past can mark people in different ways for different reasons. In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana, as a teenager, tries to use a bullwhip to drive a lion back and accidentally scars himself on the chin in the process. Its not the whip that scars him nor does it traumatise him, but rather it is the bloody beginning of the archaeologist who thinks that relics belong in a museum and not in the private collections of the unscrupulous.
The past drives us and it should drive the characters. The thief who was brutalised in prison will probably never want to go back, while the knight who saw his master strike down innocents might find it difficult to trust anyone. The soldier who witnessed the defence of a hospital might decide to put his skills to defend those who can’t protect themselves. An arc can explore the past and reveal the trauma of their past and maybe, just maybe allow them closure.
Nobody’s perfect. Except me. Seriously though, no person is perfect, no one can do anything and everything and succeed on the first try. People find perfection boring. Why? Because in perfection, there is no challenge, no obstacles to overcome. Things come easily and for the character in question, they don’t earn their reward, its just given to them on a silver platter.
People love to see the hero either overcome the danger, or fall. They want to see success earned or failure. The knight in shining armour that slays every dragon, rescues every prisoner and has perfect skin and teeth is nowhere near as interesting as the knight in broken armour, who has to dig deep to summon the courage to charge into battle. Maybe sometimes common sense takes over and he runs away screaming from the dragon. To paraphrase Hellboy “…we like people for their qualities but we love them for their defects.” People relate better to characters like that, they know what it is to fail and lose. But in the end, it makes those moments when they succeed and win all the sweeter.
Anything you’d like to share, let me know in the comments before.
Until next time.
Castlerook 