on writing: characters

#1

Creating compelling characters is the backbone of any great story, in my opinion. Characters make or break a story. I do not care for the plot, no matter how enticing and crazy, if the characters are clones of each other. If they have the depth of a sheet of paper. If the romantic chemistry feels robotic and instant. If the motivations are nowhere to be found, so the character walks and I stay behind, unable to understand them.

I can read books with no plot at all, if the characters were written well. I fall in love with all kinds of characters, no matter how evil they can get, as long as they feel real, engaging and memorable.

Here is some advice, slightly randomised, but effective, that will help you bring your cherished characters to life so that the readers fall in love with them as much as you did creating them.

• Exercise: If you’re starting out, try the 3 layer method:

  • 1. Who are the characters at first glance?

  • 2. Who are they when you get to know them a bit more?

  • 3. What about them do you discover only after years of knowing them? 

• The characters are solely messengers of our feelings while writing, and the feelings we want to invoke in the reader.

• Our most vivid memories are tied to other people, the same applies to characters when readers experiencing them while reading your story.

• Exercise: Figure out why you're really writing the story. Have you chosen the right characters and scenes in which they act? How would other characters act in the same scenes? What would happen if the characters reacted differently than you intended?

• Most of the time the description of the protagonist isn't actually important, but more so the interactions and relationships with other characters.

• All characters are strangers to the reader - it's the author's job that the reader gets to know them, and in the end feels like they have been there with them. We have to know the characters as if they're real celebrities or people from our lives to care about them.

• Exercise: Find what is most important for them. Describe your favourite fictional character without their appearance, job or name. Whatever is left is what they're really about.

• Good characters come to life by consistent details and empathetic observations of their feelings, conflicts and peculiarities, by their dialogues in which their voices shine, by scenes that show us if their self-image matches their actions. 

• Keep at eye-level with the characters, suffer and find joy along with them.

• The characters have had lives before the plot: hopes, experiences, fears, which have to be tastefully mentioned or shown throughout the story to make them feel real.

• We don't have to like the characters but we have to understand them.

• Don't assume their feelings, but live their feelings as you write. 

• When you know your characters well enough, you can predict their moves, because you know how they'll act in certain situations. You’ll know them like a close sibling that you had no choice of knowing but can predict their every move and thought, what sets them off, what brings them joy, etc.

• Give them contradictions. A fearless warrior could have an irrational fear of pigeons. A calculating detective might secretly cry at romantic films. The contradictions can be so random, as their quirks and habits.

• Avoid reducing your characters to a single trait. The strong female lead has vulnerabilities. The bad boy has a moral code. People are complex, so characters should be too.

• What are their hands like? Are they calloused from years of hard work? Do they fidget when they’re nervous? Do they crack their knuckles before making a decision? This is just an example of what to pay attention to physically, but details like this can make a character feel real.

• Every character sounds different. If you remove dialogue tags, could a reader still tell who’s speaking? Consider their background, education, personality, mannerisms when crafting their speech. Adapt the language to the characters, e.g. a teenager who knows no routine and is easily thrilled wouldn't recount events in a chronological order, he would speak in 1.5x speed, out of breath in excitement.

• How does your character deal with stress? Some people chew nails, others clean their house, some retreat into silence and ghost everyone around them. These habits make characters feel lived-in.

• Perfect characters are boring. Give them flaws and allow them to mess up. Make them act impulsively, trust the wrong person, do something despite better judgment, say something they will regret. Create conflict and growth.

• What was the character doing before they entered the scene? Thinking about this adds a sense of movement and reality. They don’t just exist like a picture when the reader is looking at them.

• Give them something useless they love, like collecting buttons or coins, or memorising obscure trivia. Quirks make characters memorable and endearing, because all people start out being kids.

• Characters can take on a life of their own. If you feel like a character wouldn’t logically do what you originally planned, don’t force them to, and follow their lead. This will happen sometimes without you intending to, but if you want to try things out, you could play out different scenarios.

• Put your character in a situation where both choices have serious consequences. How they choose will reveal their true nature more than any amount of description.

• Give them a favourite lie. Maybe they convince themselves they don’t care about love when it is all they crave. Maybe they think they’re a good person, but their actions and decisions say otherwise. Give them little self-delusions.

• Make their fears specific. They’re not just scared of the dark, they’re scared of the dark because when they were six years old, they got locked in a basement for hours and couldn’t find the light switch. Specifics feel more real, and also show the characters’ coping.

• Even the kindest, most heroic and angelic characters are a little bit petty. Maybe they hold grudges over tiny things, like someone taking their favourite seat at the dinner table.

• People misjudge others all the time. Your character might think their enemy is cruel, when in reality, they’re misunderstood. Maybe they trust someone who will betray them.

• Give them a moment they’ll never forgive themselves for. Even a character who goes through life not regretting anything will have one thing they will regret forever, that will replay over and over. Guilt is a powerful force. Maybe they let someone down, made a selfish choice, or hesitated when they shouldn’t have. The lingering regret shapes who they are. Maybe for good, if it is never resolved. Maybe it doesn’t have to get resolved, but it’s about the journey to acceptance.

• How do they change under pressure? Do they get snappy, do they get quiet? Some become hyper-focused and don’t mind the rush, while others shut down completely from anxiety. Stress reveals who we are, so consider how your characters might handle it.

• What do they smell like? It’s an overlooked detail, but scent is a strong part of identity. I’m not talking perfume–I’m thinking laundry detergent, cigarette smoke, saltwater, bread, motor oil.

• Wislawa Szymborska: ‘From the outside, everybody seems the same. The author has to look at them closely... he has to eavesdrop at the door, secretly watch when they're alone, open their letters, talk about whatever we are keeping to ourselves.’

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There are many more random bits I’ll share with you another time. For the meantime, here are some character flaws to consider.

What helps me generally is consuming media like films or TV series and making note of why I dislike or like a character, why I find them hilarious, what I wonder about them. Why they are intriguing to me–what do they say but don’t mean, what do they do that makes me suspect or believe them? Anything that comes to mind as I watch, I write down to study. Recently, I did this with The White Lotus, Succession and Severance.