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Believable Characters...The Responses from you
First of all I want to apologize for the length of this editorial, but each one of the responses that I got from my last newsletter brought out some valued points of character creations. For the most part I have copy and pasted their comments below with some of my thoughts in between… may each one of these help you to create your next protagonist.
I believe character description is extremely important, especially in fantasy - even secondary characters. I believe it gives the reader more understanding to the story at hand. I know that some character traits should be left to the reader's own imagination, but facial expressions (in dialogue especially) I find is very important.
Heroes (in my opinion) should be described more in depth (emotions, facial, physical, etc.) as it gives a reader clearer clarity to the plot.
In making characters believable (human or non) I find it is the underlying "emotional" aspects that specify the particular character. Depending on how they are written, and how the reader's mind imagines them, they can come away as being quite human, even when they are not. J. R. Tolkien did this with the Ents. In this way, I find it is extremely important how you describe them, as well as their "emotional" contributions to the story.
dusktildawn
I agree with you on the description of your heroes being beneficial to your story but I would like to add that a good description of the antagonist is just as important. You have to make your readers feel the same hatred, evil, dread as the hero otherwise your hero may not get the empathy you think he should have, or worse, your readers might label him as the evildoer.
a)I just have to know they are there. I figure them out as the story/plot progresses.
b)NO, I do not use composite characters. Takes all the fun out of it though no one can quite get away from the bits of their own personality that drift into the characters.
c)Unless I'm introducing a character through another character's eyes, physicality isn't an issue. People don't think of themselves in that sense. Eye color, hair color and height seem to be the most defining characteristics. Other details get worked in as the scenes progress.
d) for non-human characters, I simply write them as "real": feelings, a sense of humor, their own pain/angst. No matter how many arms and legs they have, they are "real"
Raine 
I used to think a good character sketch was one that defined eye color, hair color and height. This brief character description is from The Diamond Throne (Book One of The Elenium) by David Eddings…
The man inside was burly and he had iron-gray hair and a coarse, short-trimmed beard. His hose were of black leather, and his long vest was of the same material. A heavy dagger hung from his belt, steel cuffs encircled his wrists, and his heavily muscled arms and shoulders were bare. He was not a handsome man, and his eyes were as hard as agates.
This brief paragraph answers some questions while making you ponder more…in my opinion this is a great description.
How to make characters believable, is certainly a hard task. Many writers try to create the "best" characters but that only leads to perfect ones. And who may I ask really wants to root for the beautiful, smart, popular character? I write characters with flaws.
scribbler
I, myself, have never met the perfect person or the perfect character…it is our flaws that makes us unique and our characters, whether written from our personalities or those of people we meet, should all reflect their differences.
--I try to become the character and then they come to life for me in my mind. It makes my stories more believable if I ask myself, 'what would I do?'
Today, I tried it. I watched a small group of moms and dads as they waited to pick up their children from school. I wrote down their mannerisms, their gestures, how they carried themselves. I found that I was like Sherlock Holmes: I could tell that one man was a salesman. One lady was overweight and was obviously insecure about her appearance. She kept her hands and arms in front of her body as if she were trying to hide behind them. I realized then, that I was looking for clues.
Protagonist? Usually, the bad guy does, or says something really bad, defining who he is. But physical descriptions can really bring your characters alive. I like to use nervous mannerisms too. Like a twitch, or someone who picks their nose all the time. All of that helps identify who the person is.
billwilcox
Physical descriptions and mannerisms are by far two of the best ways to, not only introduce your character, but to keep them in the forefront of the story. Another good attribute to bring to your character descriptions, which Bill touched on lightly, is what a character might say to define himself. One of the best examples that I can think of off the top of my head is “My precious” and I’m sure every one of you can identify the character I’m talking about without any more hints.
Plan characters? Create a character sketch? I admit I have never done any planning. I get to know my characters as I write. Do I wind up with interesting characters, chock full of 'sketchiness'? Probably not. In fact, I first stumbled on this very WDC website while searching the internet for some how-to advice on character creation, because I know this is a weak area for me.
Specifically concerning physical descriptions, I rarely give them and rarely pay attention to them when I read them. The voice and personality of a character creates an image in my mind and nothing the author writes to the contrary seems to have much influence.
nomlet
Thanks for verifying my earlier point about the importance of voice.
1)In order to write their story, I have to know the characters inside and out, know their reactions and moods. They have to feel real to me. Then I can build their story and history.
2) My friends appear often as minor characters, like Kris and the Baron in Hidden Fire. Male main characters are a composite of many things I find admirable in men that I know. Kai in Hidden Fire, and Lark in Fallen Angel especially. And idealized bits of myself creep into the female main characters. Villians are usually based around character traits I dislike, rather than people.
3) I try to avoid an infodump paragraph listing everything about a character's appearance. Instead, I drop bits and pieces throughout the story. I use views from other character's eyes and dialogue to get the physical aspects across.
4) My characters have all been humanoid. In theory, I'd say approach the non-human just as you would a human--build them a strong personality.
Midnight Dawn
Before I introduce characters, I need to know their ages (approximately for older ones and more exactly for younger ones, particularly children), which 'side' they're on (if any), their personalities, strengths and flaws. Their appearance may be important if they're major characters, but I often begin writing before I know what they look like.
A person (or someone else's character) may inspire me, but my characters aren't composites and I make them somewhat different to my source of inspiration.
Physical descriptions are important if they affect how a character acts or thinks and moves the plot (eg. X feels like he doesn’t belong and leaves because he looks different from everyone else). Personality is more important than appearance in creating believable characters, so I often leave out physical descriptions. If I do, having a character gaze at another one or comment on someone's appearance are my usual methods for describing a character physically.
Ariadne
I lumped the last two comments together because they basically say the same thing. In the article I read leading up to this editorial there was a sample questionnaire/fact finding sheet that you could copy and then fill out for each of your characters. For me, this is too much like an outline and I feel that an outline really hampers my creativity because I find myself using the same character traits in all of my characters, and I already mentioned that we are all different in one way or another.
I hope this editorial, and these fine comments have helped you in writing your next character or helped you add some more believability to an existing character…see you next month. |
This Month I've selected these poems or stories about some of my favorite fantasy items.
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Fantasy: September 28, 2005 Issue [#637]
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