Are you participating in NaNoWriMo this year? If so, the best way to set yourself up to be successful for it is to do as much planning as you can now so that when you sit down to write 50K in 30 Days, you can just go go go. One thing we can plan in advance are our Main Characters (MCs).
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All it takes is the outline of glasses and a lightning bolt for someone to think “Harry Potter” (using HP because it’s so widely read/watched – this is not an endorsement of the author). This is an example of characterization. When we create our characters, we want them to be recognizable – when they speak or when they act or when they think. There needs to be something about them that distinguishes them from the other folks walking around in our story. We also want them to be realistic (for their world).
The things we do to characterize our fictional folks need to make sense for who they are. This requires us to get to know our characters really well. Whether you are a planner or a pantser, character questionaries are a great tool to have in our toolbox. For one, it can help cut down on writer’s block. If you know your characters well enough, you’ll know how they would react in any given situation. I highly recommend K.M. Weiland’s questionnaire (linked below), though there are a lot of options out there. Feel free to make it your own – add questions as you see need.
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“My theory of characterization is basically this: put some dirt on the hero and put some sunshine on the villain.” ~ Justin Cronin
In other words, no hero is 100% good, and no villain is 100% evil. Both are human, and those “human” pieces are what we call characterization. We reveal our characterization in two ways:
- Direct characterization. This is where we as the writer just flat out tell the reader something about the character(s). For example, in Harry Potter, the author flat out tells us, “The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it.”
- Indirect characterization. This is where we show something about our character:
He’d forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker’s. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn’t know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn’t see a single colleting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.
“The Potters, that’s right, that’s what I heard-”
“-yes, their son, Harry-”
Mr. Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him.
^In the above instance, we get to see a physical reaction to the mention of the Potters, the Dursley’s deer dark secret. We feel it. We experience it with the character.
- When it comes to indirect characterization, there are five methods to use:
- Speech – What does the character say? How do they speak? Do they have any overused phrases or quirks?
- Thoughts – What is revealed through the character’s private thoughts and feelings?
- Effect – What is revealed through the character’s effect on other people? How do other characters feel or behave in reaction to this character?
- Action – What does the character do? How does the character behave?
- Looks – What does the character look like? How does the character dress?
Whether direct or indirect, we just need to make sure we are being true to who this character is. As you are writing your story, every time you put your character into a situation, ask yourself, “What would they do? How would they do it? What would happen next?” Then trust the answers. Never try to force a character to act in a way that’s not natural for them. If you cheat, your readers will know it. The character and the story will feel false. If you do things right, your deep knowledge of your character will be transmitted to your readers, who will feel like they’re reading about a real person.
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Everything they do has to come back to serving your character’s spine (I encourage you to view the video – “The Clues to a Great Story” by Andrew Stanton – there are captions and script available with the video). This is their motivation for absolutely everything they do. (This doesn’t mean that they won’t be tempted or pressured away from it, of course.)
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Last, remember to fight the urge to tell your reader “everything they need to know about this character” in the first few pages. Character can be revealed as you go, too. Let these pieces come out when it feels natural to do so.
Ami Maxine 