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My characters aren't really all that developed YET. What do you guys look for and/or like in a good character? I kind of need an idea. I've read a checklist for what information to consider but some of the information's a bit unclear. I created the main character for the short story I've been working on recently but as I kept writing about her the character metamorfosed into something completely different than I'd initially intended. Would that be a GOOD thing or something to try to avoid? Seeing as how I'd like the character to stay more or less the way I invisioned him/her, I dislike digressing. But, if that's what the story needs, that's what the story needs. How would I tell whether it's a good idea to change the character or not?
Posts: 62 | Registered: Jan 2006
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Sometimes they're meant to do that. Phyllis A. Whitney mentioned this happening to characters of hers, she was happy with the results, and she's one of the best.
Posts: 283 | Registered: Feb 2006
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I have written about 5 different stories with the same character but with each story the plot was different. His growth was profoundly different in all of them as well which at first did not seem right with me, but in the end I accepted that your main character will always differ from story to story. I know what you're getting at with your character Constipatron. They change to something entirely different, possibly from a peace loving priest to a war hungry warlock (just examples I've used before ).
Posts: 384 | Registered: Oct 2005
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If your characters are overly mutable, it's a problem. If they seem like someone else in every situation they're in, it simply means that you are letting the plot determine their characteristics. BUT, if you start writing and your character changes (I don't mean evolves, which is always a good thing), it probably means that your original conception of the character was wrong for the story, and your subconscious realized it and made the change as you went along--or that you didn't conceive of the character clearly enough in the first place. Neither of these are insurmountable difficulties, and they both have the same solution: go back to the beginning and rewrite with the new character (or the character as you now know him/her to be) in place.
For what it's worth, I never outline my characters, just like some people never outline their stories. Some people can't write about a character until they know all about them, just as some people can't put a word down until they have all the plot details hammered out. So do whatever works for you. I often find myself with a character who starts out as practically no more than a spear-holder, and grows into someone real. That works for me, but it does require that rewriting I mentioned. Of course, other times the character springs to life with the first words they say, and they won't budge no matter what I thought the story was going to be like.
[This message has been edited by rickfisher (edited February 11, 2006).]
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For me -- and I think this is good practice -- it starts with a stereotype. A sensible little girl (Alice). A reluctant hero (Frodo). A curmudgeon (Scrooge).
But it doesn't end there. As they go through their scenes, doing their actions, a deeper character is revealed. (At least, it is if I work really hard at making it. Daydreaming, turning things over in my mind, wouldn't it be cool if this happened.)
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I've been really focusing on characters lately, and something has recently sunk in that I have heard before, but am now beginning to put into practice.
This may apply more to people who come up with a situation first, and then need characters. I normally work that way.
Your character needs to be the one with the highest personal stakes; the most to lose if the conflict of the story doesn't go their way.
Let me give you an example from a recent story: I had my MC be an investigator because it was an excuse to get her into the home of the antagonist. This worked . . . okay . . . but wasn't the best, and I got some comments that the character seemed a little shallow, or not quite right for the part somehow.
I sat back and considered: if I replaced her with any other investigator, would the story change? No. AHA! That was my problem. So how could I make sure SHE had to be the MC, and not someone else? I realized she had to be the sister of the missing employee. Now all of a sudden she has personal stakes. Her beloved brother, who has always taken care of her, is gone.
So all of that to say: make sure your character is the right one, by making sure they have personal (internal) stakes as well as public (external) in the story.
I bet if your character starts changing a lot from what you originally thought, it is probably because the original character wasn't quite right for the job.
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I can't create characters out of nothing. I have to have the setting, the idea, and then I meet the characters in them as I write. Right now, in a novel that's progressing, I have two characters walking down a street...I needed another...so I had one join them from some point before the walk began. How this character develops, I can't say...much as I can't say where the novel will go, or even if I'll finish it...
Posts: 8809 | Registered: Aug 2005
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Lagos Egri, author of THE ART OF DRAMATIC WRITING said that if a character doesn't do what you want it to, you should fire that character and get one who will do what you want.
I offer that as a possible way of dealing with the situation, but also recommend that if you do fire a character, do it nicely because you might want to hire that character for a different story (or you could just offer to let such characters go off on their own, telling them that you will write the story they seem to be wanting you to write later).
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I know my characters like I know the rooms they walk into. I usually write out an independent description of each, a description full of things about them that will not necessarily appear in the story. Sometimes I do draw upon that information unexpectedly. Of course, spear carriers and other walk-ons don't get the same treatment. Corridors and minor locations, do.
Posts: 1580 | Registered: Dec 2005
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You know, character profiles never work for me. Maybe it's because I often write of aliens or at least very different cultures than most fiction. I also find that I don't seem to have a problem with finding details. When I need them in the story, the character always whips them out. Often I have no idea before I write the sentence what the character's opinion on something is, but I trust my subconscious to come up with what is needed. That's never failed yet.
But I understand that profiles can be helpful for a large number of writers, and I don't want to say I'll never use one. I just haven't yet.
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I sketch out my characters based on what I need, and what I think, logically, will have affected them: physical characteristics, psychologically, family history, backstory, etc.
But I ALWAYS give them room to change, because they always do.
I had a minor character with a walk-on part. I ended up expanding his role, and when I did, I needed more "personality" from him. What affected his decisions? Why does he make the choices he does? What was his childhood like? I had to contemplate all these things. Some of the traits I'd given him fell away because they didn't fit his developing personality. Other traits came to the forefront.
He filled the role I needed him for, but by allowing the character to develop and take on a more "real" presence in the story, and in my mind, I gave him the space to grow into one of the main protagonists, and one of my favorite characters.
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I really don't think it matters if you spend a ton of time setting up your characters. If any of your writing is like mine, then characters seem to grow by themselves. I spend all this time setting up a character and then, like magic, he's something else. Its almost as if they are REAL and take their own path through the stories. Does anyone else feel like this is the case or am I just getting a little to personal with my characters (i mean...I am kind a running short on friends...lol)
Posts: 131 | Registered: Feb 2006
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