Characterization: Part II

So, if you've read the last Characterization post, you've got your character's appearance under your belt!
You know what he looks like, what he likes to wear, his quirks, and his bad habits. Now, it's time to tackle his personality.

Personality (obviously) plays an important part in your story. If you are creating your main character, you definitely want to think about some traits that you would find interesting to write about. i.e., if you find sarcastic, smart people intriguing, I would aim for that type of person. Or if you like writing funny things but you're going to try and tackle a bigger project like a serious novel, you might want to consider making your main character a bit of a goofball.

I made the mistake of creating characters that I didn't "connect" with back in the day. I always made my characters inhibit personalities that I found extremely boring, so that writing about them/in their point of view was extremely hard and uninteresting to me. DON'T MAKE THIS MISTAKE. It's so much easier when you love your character to death!


1. What is your character like?

This is the big question. What's your character like? What does he act like? How does he interact with others? Sometimes your character will sort of inhibit a personality of his own as you create him, which is great! Saves you some trouble. But other times after you decide what your character looks like, he sort of stays limp and hollow. That's when you really have to dig deep to figure out what you want your hero to be like. If you're the type to just "go with the flow" and see what kind of personality your hero takes on his own, try some of these characterization exercises:

• Have a short interview with your hero. Ask him open questions like, "What's your family like?" "What are you friends like?" "Do you like chocolate or vanilla ice cream?" and sort of prod him to go off on a rant. It'll really help develop speech style and personality.
• Read a magazine or newspaper article and put your character in the situation described. How would he react?
• Write some random scenes with your character, from first day of school to being mugged by thugs. Go crazy.

If you are more of a "figure it out myself" type, there are other options. There are so many personality types and character traits out there, you couldn't possibly sit and write them all down. Still, I've found several sheets of common character traits that are great reference and inspiration. Some common traits just to give you an idea:

• cheerful
• friendly
• quiet
• somber
• serious
• glum
• kind
• compassionate
• responsible
• fiery
• stubborn

Another note to take is that you want to make sure that your characters have both positive and negative qualities.

2. What motivates your character?

Now this could or could not apply directly to the story. Of course, you want at least one of your character's motivations to drive the story, but there can be other side notes to take into account, as well. For starters, choose one motivation that pushes the hero into the story. Example, say your character's family is kidnapped. Something that motivates your character could be his love for his family, or revenge. With this in mind, choose one big motivation to keep at the front of your head while planning your story out.

3. What does your character fear?

If you are creating your hero, I would suggest making his fear something that the villain embodies. This can be a little challenging to figure out, but I wouldn't freak out too badly. Sometimes stuff like this just falls into place while you're writing, and you never want to "overplan" anything. So, this being said, stop for a moment and think about your main character and your villain. Try to come up with something the villain symbolizes that the hero fears.

On the easy side, characters also have many different, often irrational, fears. I have a character who is claustrophobic, another who is afraid of hospitals, one who fears power, and one who fears death. These are all very believable fears, and easy to work into story lines (to ahem torture your characters ahem ahem). Here are some more common fears:

• needles
• the dark
• bugs
• the dentist
• himself/herself
• a particular person
• loneliness
• crowds
• knives

Small fears like these will help flesh out your character and put some meat on his bones. Plus, it's fun to make your character have these unique little quirks!

4. Flaws

This might be the most important part of a character. Every character must have flaws, or they will come across and un-relatable and everyone will hate them. Like, Disney princesses of old? Cinderella, Aurora, Snow White? I cannot think of a flaw that they have. And I don't like any one of them. Sure, they had bad situations, but they were always smiling, always perfect, always had a good attitude.

Don't be afraid to make your character imperfect. Imperfection is what makes humankind beautiful and sympathetic. We want to see characters with flaws like our own, and we want to see them overcome these flaws, so we have hope that perhaps we can overcome our own negativities. If you do nothing else, create some experimental flaws for your hero and see which ones stick.

I hope this series is helping you get a better grip on your characters. I'm actually discovering some things myself! If you have any questions on creating characters, I humbly consider myself somewhat of an expert. ;) Please feel free to leave a comment or a question, and I will always answer!

Disclaimer

OVER-CHARACTERIZING

While it's great to get to know your character before you start writing, don't get so wrapped up in him that you can't stop developing him and get bored prematurely. It's also good to discover some things about your character as you write; it's just part of the development of your hero. And keep in mind that come things about your character will end up just not working out. Sometimes my characters rebel against their given personalities altogether, and that's fine, as long as it doesn't interfere with your storyline. If it does, then they might need a little punishment. But beware of Character Limpage when forcing characters to do your will!