In Lesson 1 we saw that one of the easiest ways to kick off a story is by starting with a character. Of course, it can’t be a random background character unless they’ll play a key role in the ending. Really, you need to focus on the main character, because he or she will be what influences the journey which the reader will go on. A lot of people really enjoy creating characters, but I’ve found that with novice writers, they can’t fully grasp everything that goes into creating a character. A few adjectives isn’t enough for the writer to know his or her own character, so the reader can’t be expected to understand the character either.
To make this easier to comprehend, I will quickly design a character for you.
Some people will tell you to start with a name, but that’s not the method I’m giving you. Actually, to start, we’re going back to those adjectives I told you about before. I’ve found that description words best build a foundation. Do you know the “rule of threes?” Now is the perfect time to use it. For adjectives, you want to give yourself three physical descriptors, three personality flaws, and three positive personality traits. Think of building a character like building a home. You want the foundation to be good, so start off with strong characteristics, and you should have to go back and fix anything later.
- Physical: typical feminine shape, fair skin, sky blue eyes
- Flaws: naive, can’t say no, quickly jumps to conclusions
- Strengths: is a friend until the end, fairly trustworthy, can get what she wants
At this point, you have a basic idea of who your character is. There is a general idea of how he or she looks and feels. From here, you can continue to branch. The easiest route may be physical appearance. Use the background of the flaws and strengths to aid you in building the physical outline of the character. It’s in this portion you would begin to add little (but possibly major) things like scars, tattoos, piercings, clothing style, etc.
***I should also tell you that if you are starting with a general idea of what you want your plot to be, you need to design the character to fit the plot. I will continue building as if I have no idea of a plot.
- Long, slightly wavy, light brown hair
- Almond shaped eyes
- Average sized lips, no too lush but not too thin
- Smaller waist and slightly larger hips
- Average bust
- A scar on her left collar bone
Keep building! I can’t stress it enough. For time’s sake, however, I will stop here. If your character has something like a scar, tattoo, or piercing, now would be the time to explain it. It may not be very important, but simple ideas such as “the time I got my scar” can be easily used as character development within the story. You will need to do the same with his or her flaws and strengths, however it is up to the author as to whether he or she does this now or in this next step.
In order to develop a character for the reader, the author is going to have to know the character’s history. There are two parts a character’s history.
- Personal history
- Family history
The personal history is, as it sound, the history of the character. This would be anything from the time he or she was born to the present story. Here is where you can start developing a plot, as well, but I’ll save that for another lesson. In the personal history, you would have things such as “got a butterfly tattoo with his friends as a dare,” “lost her parents in a house fire when she was five,” “graduated with high honors,” and anything else pertaining specifically to the character.
Family history, however, is anything significant that happened before the character was born. For this portion, you need to have a basic idea of the character’s family. Parents tend to play a major role in the family history, but grandparents not only add on a generation, but they tend to hold the most secrets. This is another great place to start developing plot. You can get creative here, more than you have with anything else! This is the time where you decide if the family has led a normal life, paying bills and working full time jobs, or if the family was involved in a secret underground society or waged war with another family back in distant era.
I can’t stress enough how much of a opportunity you have to start developing plot with the family history. Everything you put into the past is going to effect the outcome of the story in some way whether it be the character taking a wrong turn or character’s ultimate demise. There must be a background to every foreground.
If you have any questions on this or other topics, feel free to leave a comment. I’ll reply when I can or possibly may turn it into it’s own Lesson.
Look out for Writing 101 | Lesson 3 | Plot Development
-Annie
Reaching Venus 