Unleash Your Character
June 17, 2008 by Melissa Donovan
Did you know that a character will take on a life of its own if you let it?
I hadn’t realized. I mean, I heard about this phenomenon, but I hadn’t really experienced it for myself – not with any of my character writing. At least, not until recently.
No wonder writers often refer to their books and poems as offspring. When you create a character and let her live and breathe on the page (or on the screen, as the case may be), she starts taking over, making decisions and saying and doing things that you never would.
You build a nice foundation and give her the tools she needs to exist in the world and then next thing you know she’s all grown up and calling the shots.
Character Writing Basics
But characters don’t come out of nowhere. You have to start with the basics. A name, age, physical description. Now you have someone who you can picture in your mind. This gives your character flesh and blood but your character needs heart and soul. She needs a history.
You begin at the beginning. Birth. Where and when was she born? What were her parents like? Did she have a joyful childhood or a stormy one? What major events shaped her early years? As she got older, what kind of interests did she develop? Who were her friends?
This is the point where your character first starts making her own decisions. Things start popping into your head. Suddenly your good little girl has a cigarette hanging out of her mouth and she’s sleeping with every guy in town. Your mouth drops and you wonder what happened.
Don’t Lose Your Character to Yourself
I’m guessing this is where many writers get lost in character writing. They try too hard to control the outcome, failing to recognize that this character has a mind of her own. If you try to shape the character into some mold that you have in mind, she’s going to come across as contrived. Fake. Made up.
And you need your character to be real.
That means you have to know her. And not just how she looks or what her childhood was like. You have to know what kind of attitude she has, how she interacts with others, what her dreams and fears are. Your character is a person (usually) and people are complex organisms.
Backstory and Character Writing
I have one word for you. It’s a compound word and it’s what gives your character depth: backstory. I know that not every writer develops a detailed backstory for their characters. So this may not apply to you. But I’ve recently learned that if you’re not some adept master fiction writer and you want your character to pack a real punch, backstory can be the key to unlocking your character’s reality.
So what is backstory? It’s your character’s entire history. It’s all that stuff that happened in childhood and then some. It’s those moments that seem insignificant at the time but stick with you for the rest of your life. Backstory is the things your character wants, what she feels, how she views the world. Her spirituality, education, perception, her values and her secrets. it’s what she knows and what she wants to know.
You can write a backstory. I find it helpful both to shape the character and as a warm-up writing exercise. However, I find that the backstory happens even when I’m not working on it. I’ll be making dinner, driving in the car, or listening to music and all of a sudden a little scene will play out. It’s a scene from my character’s life and it has nothing to do with the story I’m working on but it says something about my character and who she is.
Maybe it was the time her grandmother took her to see Cats at the theater. Or the day she filled out her university application — that moment when she dropped it in the mail. Maybe it wasn’t her first kiss, which was nice, but her third kiss, which was wonderful. Maybe it was just some day, some completely unremarkable day when she realized that she loves the sound of the wind whispering through the trees. These little scenes from my character’s past just appear out of nowhere as if the character fairy tucked them into my head while I was sleeping and set them on some kind of timed release.
A Real, Believable Character
What’s truly magical is that all of this information comes together and it creates a real person, someone you get to know and understand. When your character is confronted, you know exactly how she’ll respond and you’re delighted and surprised that her reaction is completely opposite of what your own reaction would have been. At first this is confusing. You think — wait, I would never do that. But then you remember that you are not your character. You are merely a vessel through which your character communicates her thoughts and actions.
She’ll say yes to the things you would say no to. She’ll eat things you can’t stand, things like cheesecake. She’ll make decisions that you’d call irresponsible or frivolous. And she’ll spend money that you would stash in the bank.
Your character writing can be full of surprises like this. But only if you unleash your character. You do the writing, but let her tell the story.
This is not an easy task. But let me tell you a little secret. Once your character is up and running, you’ll have more fun writing than you ever thought possible.
If you have any character writing tips or experiences to share, feel free to post them in the comments or send them in as a guest post.
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Great advice, Melissa. The better an author knows the characters, the better the story will be.
I’d just add one caveat. All that backstory is to develop your character for you to get to know her. It doesn’t all have to go into your book. So often, when I edit novels by aspiring writers, I cut out chapters of backstory that is important for the author to know … but that doesn’t belong at the beginning of the book.
I think this is spot-on. As I have been re-reading my NaNo manuscript I have started getting the impression that it truly was not the novel (not that I ever considered it would be a book I would publish anyway) but an exploration of the characters. I don’t know what I will do with it but I don’t have to decide today.
The most intriguing discovery has been the things the characters are thinking that they use to make their decisions and hence influence how they behave (act). That has been most enlightening.
Thanks.
I have been discovering the same exact thing as we have been going through our charactors as ER.
AND it has been SO helpful I have had a novel started and stuck for months now that was started with a plot and an idea of the beginning, the middle and the end. I knew what had just happened to her right before the book started and I thought I knew exactly how I wanted it to end. But I never really sat down and gave her any backstory, or determined any personality for her at all and kept gettting stuck. Now that I have given *birth* to Selene, I can go back now and fix the problem over there and get farther.
Very enlightening. The whole thing.
I think it is amazing to watch as your fingers are just typing away and you are suddenly like…wow..did I just type that? Huh..how about that. I didn’t know that was going to happen.
Wendi Kellys last blog post..In the Dirt
I know EXACTLY what you mean. When I wrote my first book, I created a character who was supposed to be, not “bad,” exactly, but an annoyance and a hindrance to the main characters. Imagine my surprise when he stepped into their room in one pivotal scene and offered to help. *I* didn’t know he was going to do that! Turns out the boy had hidden depths and a conscience that he certainly never got from his selfish and petty father and mother. Where he got it from, I don’t know, but I was darn proud of him for standing on his own two feet to do a good deed–even while I was completely gob-smacked at his doing it. I just sat at my keyboard in awe….
And people say writing isn’t fun!
–Debs last blog post..MM: Semi-Colon
Melissa, this is fantastic!! I am actually stuck in a very similar situation to the one Wendi Kelly describes at the beginning of her comment and I’ve been wondering what to do. I had considered doing a whole backstory but I didn’t know if that would be a help or simply be a fun way to stall
. But since you recommend it and others have found it so useful, I am going to do it.
As always, many many thanks!!!
@Lillie, Oh yes, that’s implied. There’s a lot that can appear in the backstory that won’t be relevant to the actual story.
@Deb (gscottage), Yes, enlightening is the perfect word! It’s also sort of like you’ve made a new friend or discovered a long lost relative; I’m quite protective of my character. That will probably change when I attempt a villain, which is going to be quite a challenge.
@Wendi, ER is the source of this post, of course. I think that the collaborative aspect presents unique challenges that are difficult for some to create on their own. For example, other players move their characters and do things I wouldn’t have thought of and this forces me to explore different aspects of my character’s personality. It’s a blast! I’ll be blogging more about that in the near future
@Deb (Punctuality), Yeah, characters start to develop depths like real people – good folks who sometimes do bad things or bad people who occasionally do good. Of course, I have always enjoyed writing but now it’s taken on new levels of fun
@Greer, Yes, backstory has been incredibly useful for me. Also, just thinking about your character throughout the day, asking what she would do in various situations — the answers do appear and help you better understand how the character functions. It’s pretty magical.
I’m not very familiar with writing fiction, but I’ve been trying lately and I’ve really found that this is true: my characters are becoming themselves! And it is so much fun. Thanks for putting it into words.
Rebecca Reids last blog post..Will We Ever Leave?
Excellent and timely advice. I have been working on character development and your tips help. It is interesting to see characters take on a life of their own. Writing is so fun!
Karen Swims last blog post..What Song Are You?
Melissa
I cant’ even comment on this post yet.
I’m still laughing at the photo of the ape-like child screaming while on a leash.
LOL! I think this is something parents need to explore more often (especially when their darling offspring decide to misbehave in shopping malls and restaurants).
Actually, I think my free-range nephews could benefit from this kind of discipline!
Hahahaha!
(Sorry, I just hadda get that out of my system!)
Friars last blog post..Friar’s Tips to Seniors: How to Annoy the Younger Generation
And then sometimes your characters start telling you what to do! Aaaah! That’s when you get into trouble.
(image: Early dominatrix; nice! Angelina Jolie and her brother when they were kids. Smak!)
For me, as a writer, it took a long long long time before my characters started blossoming on their own. One must let go of one’s ego completely, and that can be hard.
One of the most complete and fact filled synopsis’s I’ve read on on character, Melissa.
The only thing I would add is don’t spill in much back story, let it flavor the story as a whole.
Jaden – I totally agree. You HAVE to get out of the way or your story will go nowhere. It’s like Melissa said, we are just the vessel for something much larger than us. The STORY. So, I guess we don’t create it as much as get out of the way and let it roll. Yes, it can be very hard. Especially when you feel “oh no, this is very weird and kind of scary to my logically mind”
Great post Melissa. Thanks! E
Ellen Wilsons last blog post..The Magic Forest
@Rebecca, For me, it was one of those things I’ve heard about — how characters and plot take on a life of their own but I hadn’t gotten far enough into a longer work to really see it in action. It’s cool though. Very cool.
@Karen, Exactly! It’s like getting to know a new friend!
@Friar, Want to know something even funnier? The kid on the leash looks EXACTLY like a child I know. I kept looking at it thinking, “nah, couldn’t be.” But it truly is a spitting image. Tripped me out for sure.
@Jaden, Yes, there is definitely some letting go involved. I just wrote a scene and I tried to be the boss lady because I was aiming for a particular outcome and it totally backfired. I ended up disliking the scene and the way my character behaved. I should have let her have her way.
@Ellen, I’m trying hard not to overdo the backstory but it’s there and it squeezes its way in sometimes. I hope I can weave it in seamlessly
@Melissa
It just occurred to me….the kid reminds me of a Howler Monkey I saw in a zoo, once!
The resemblance is uncanny.
Friars last blog post..Friar’s Tips to Seniors: How to Annoy the Younger Generation
Melissa,
Well, maybe I shouldn’t say that. Sometimes back story IS everything. There are no hard and fast rules for how a novel is spun out. Essentially characters are all driven by back story. They have to have a past to move into the future. Think of Citizen Kane and that damn rosebud sled. The whole thing is backstory.
I suppose the time to talk about it is when the project is over. And then you and the critique people can decide. The main thing is to get it all down in one big fat chunky piece. And then trim the fat. Too many cooks can’t cook the chicken!
Anyway, rock on with your writing.
Ellen Wilsons last blog post..The Magic Forest
@Friar, Hahee! I think that kid is adorable and funny. That’s why I picked him to represent this post
@Ellen, Ah — Rosebud (love that movie)! Yes, that’s true, sometimes backstory is everything. I guess if you take the time to develop a backstory, you just have to wait and see it if becomes relevant to the story you’re telling. That makes it all the more fun!
Back in high school and college in my acting classes I was asked to come up with a backstory for a character I was playing on stage. Sometimes it was a great help to do that, others, it didn’t really matter. I am wondering now if maybe that is the key to me getting back into writing my stories and at the same time, getting better at writing them.
Great stuff to think about! Thanks!
Jennys last blog post..It Is My Life
@Jenny, That’s interesting — it never occurred to me that a backstory would be used in other ways but since you mentioned using it in your acting classes, I think it might be useful in a number of different situations. Thanks for reading and commenting! You’ve given me something new to think about today.
thank you! I need help. I have that burning desire to write but Idon’t know how I should start
Just pick up a pen and paper and start writing. There are lots of writing exercises on this site that you can use if you need a little push, and of course, there are plenty of writing resources both on the web and in your local bookstore. New writers are often intimidated and spend more time thinking about writing than actually doing it. The first hurdle is to start typing and stop worrying about it how good your work is. Just write, then review, write again, review. You’ll find it gets better and easier over time. Oh, and be sure to read. A lot.