Character Planning

I interview my characters, always looking for where they offer some energy.

Dale

2006: Jeremy Comes Home (winner)
2007: Many Happy Returns (winner)
2008: The Three Faces of Magic (tentative title)

I probably won't be much help - I just think about my characters a lot. I start playing a game that it takes no effort or brainpower to play, and think about my plot and characters instead. It works for me, but I guess it's not that useful a technique.

Watch this signature gain some marginally more useful content come November!

Kewl Dale. Thanks for sharing.
jade

I made a checklist of things to know about my characters and usually let them tackle them at their own pace, own angle. Much like in a job interview. The more stuff you toss on to know, and the more you go into detail about these things, the more they seem to come alive. Only did this for my protagonist in 2006 and he terrified me because he seemed so real.
Bringing him back this year for a more of a supporting role.

The logic I use for these things is that almost everyone has these things. I'm not too fond of the Hopes and Dreams question because so many have that but will rarely or never really strive for them, in my experience, except maybe early on in life. Regrets, frustration and desires tend to out themselves with most characters anyway. At least mine.

Where he/she has lived
Friends, Foes and Family
Romantic Past and Present
Sexual Identity
Academic career
Hobbies
Job history
Favorite band / musical genre
Fear
Relationships with animals
Most treasured memory
Least treasured memory
Other miscellenia

Here is a page of questions to consider:

http://www.writingclasses.com/InformationPages/index.php/PageID/106

They waltz into my head fully formed and refuse to go away no matter what I do.

Which isn't very useful, I suppose. ;) Of course, just because they're there doesn't mean that they're willing to just tell me everything on the spot, or that some things aren't malleable. Sometimes I have to coax it out of them, and often wind up with some great idea that leaves me going "Oooooh" and suddenly the plot actually _works_...

Title: Breaking Light
Goal: Finishing this novel. (Probably be 100k-120k at this rate.)
Sanity level: Do you even need to ask?

Brainstorming in general is always good... Personally I think that even more important than knowing the personalities of your characters is to understand how each character interacts with every other character. AKA - everyone acts differently depending on who they're interacting with.
Often I get a better feel for the characters as I work on the actual story. I don't see anything wrong with doing "interviews" and "character bibles" or things like that, but it's something I don't use much. I mainly like to just try to create characters that aren't well-established "types."

Hermes: He's not normal, either.
Kino: Normal people don't become authors to begin with, Hermes.

My ML gave us this list as a handout last year and it was very helpful: http://www.eclectics.com/articles/character.html

(If you're interested in this as a ready-to-print doc file, shoot me a PM.)

I pick out the flaws of the character first, then pick their virtues second. The physical stuff I put in as the characters dictate them to me.

Through this method I get pretty strong characterizations with stronger voices for the narration. Most people are able to pick up on the flaws of the character first when they read, so right off they know this person is not a Mary Sue or a Gary Stu. If I get that, I can get snappy dialogue.

I dislike the lists, because often my characters disagree with what's on there and I have to scrap them. Also I am personally prone to making "perfect" characters with those lists. But perfect protagonists are boring to read.

That's why I choose out the most annoying trait of the character, let them breathe it and then find out their pluses from their flaws later. For enemies, I believe one should do the reverse. What are their virtues?

This year's Nanowrimo I'm starting the whole novel with a booty call with the main character's boss, which shows lots and lots of potential for flaws in the main character. Of course you'll see the flaws in the character, but you'll also ask why is she doing this? Is she ugly and so on.

I only revisit the characterization when I get stuck and something isn't clicking.

Telling someone you're a writer is like telling them you're an obsessive compulsive bipolar schizophrenic that goes to AA meetings once a week.

Generally what I find the most useful is just talking to someone about them. Discuss their motivations, background, relationships, whatever you think is necessary with a fellow writer, making things up as you go, not worrying about what you had originally planned. You'd be surprised how fully-formed your characters are even now, before they exist. Also, do this dialogue in e-mail, so you can refer back to it later.

2008: 3:38 AM
2007: The Fallacy of Isaac Brenner (Winner)
2006: Lab Rats (winner)

Hopefully this year, it won't suck so bad. (my motto)

Can you give an example or two of the kinds of flaws you choose?

And the virtues? Do you choose virtues that relate somehow to the flaws, or are they completely independent?

Thanks,
Dale

2006: Jeremy Comes Home (winner)
2007: Many Happy Returns (winner)
2008: The Three Faces of Magic (tentative title)

Everyone does it differently. For me, what works best, is trying to form a clear mental image of them first. I get down their physical appearance - either through a bare bones description of by finding a picture I like and saying, "That is what [character] looks like." When I have enough characters, I'll throw them into a situation and see how everyone reacts.

With the ones I'm using for this year's novel, that situation was just: "it's time to get up and get ready for school". I found out that one of them doesn't like getting up in the morning and that he wears glasses. I found out that the other is a morning person. I found out that they like to tease each other. I found out that one of the characters doesn't like bacon and eggs for breakfast, but he likes pancakes, cereal and fruit - usually not all together, though.

I don't sit down and list out their flaws and virtue any more than I would do so for myself or my friends. When I try to do that, the character rebels and whatever flaw I've decided they have, they turn around and do the opposite. If I think they should be afraid of everything, they turn into these tough guys that fear nothing. Instead of doing that, I try to figure out their personality - both the one the show people and the side they keep hidden. I find the hidden side by writing a scene from their viewpoint and the side they show through how other character percieve them.

My typical outline is: Name, age, physical appearance, clothing, personality and notes. Sometimes, I'll add things like what their special powers are, if they have them, or a codename/nickname or (for my school kids) what their extracurricular activities are and what classes are their favorites.

___

With Main Characters I typically tailor them to fit their roles. For secondary characters I use a couple generators (appearance, personality, etc.) and tarot (past, present, future)--works well with MCs too, when you can't think of anything. Take the random info, meld it together into a coherent character, talk to them or visualize them in situations to understand them, then fit their role to them. I enjoy throwing as much randomness as possible into it, allows the creation of characters I'd likely never have otherwise.