Building characters in 3 simple steps

By Liz Matthews

“A writer should know how much change a character has in his pocket.” – James Joyce

Step One:
Your goal is to create a three-dimensional or “round character” rather than a stereotype. Keep in mind that your character should be complex and flawed. Here is what you should know about your character: physical appearance, background, beliefs, fears, dreams, religion, hobbies, secrets, favorite foods, and education, to name a few. You should know more details about this character than you will use in the story. You will decide which of these details to use when you consider how they could serve your story. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, for example, Juliet Capulet is described as fair and angelic because she is more innocent than Romeo. Her physical description helps us understand her psychological traits, which affects her actions and ultimately, her fate. Everything is connected. After you’ve made these decisions, remember to show rather than tell these traits. A girl who stands alone in the corner at party, twirling her hair in her fingers is obviously shy and maybe insecure. So you don’t have to say she’s shy and insecure. We understand these character traits through the details.

If you have trouble creating a character, start by describing someone you know. Then, to make this person fictional, change something about this person—for instance their job or even their gender. This exercise will automatically force you to create a unique person. Remember that you will know more about your character than you do about the real people in your life. So use them as a jumping-off point, but then let go, and use your imagination to create fully developed, believable characters. Here are three tools for characterization. The most developed character descriptions address all three; it takes time to get to know someone.

1) Use dialogue. What does the character say? What do other characters say about the character? What does his or her voice sound like?
2) Action. Set your character in motion. How does he or she act in a scene? Describe the way they move — their gait, gestures and habits.
3) Interior thinking. What does your character think about? Here is where you can get at his or her fears and hopes. Use a monologue. What do they keep returning to? Repetition can be very effective in fiction writing.

Step Two: Create context
After you’ve sketched out the biographical details of your characters, decide why you are telling their story now. How is their life different today? Decide how your character will deal with the consequences of his or her actions. And, yes, make sure that your character acts. Resist the urge to create a character who sits back and watches a scene passively. Your character needs to desire something and they must act as a result of that desire in a way that will change their lives — even if it is subtle. How is this desire made clear to the reader?

Step Three: Monologue exercise
This is a good exercise for developing characters. Write a monologue from your character’s perspective. Monologues are written in the first person point of view. It may be a character thinking aloud to him or herself — for example, “I am so blue because my best friend just left for the summer”— or to another person or a group of people. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch delivers a monologue in front of the jury during Tom Robinson’s trial. This is the end of his closing argument: “Gentleman, a court is no better than each man of you sitting before me on this jury. A court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make it up.” Monologues help you develop your character, and encourage you to think from his or her point of view. Think about what your character would write in a diary or a very private letter. Here are some more questions to ask yourself:

• Begin with the basics: what’s your character’s name, age, and job? Where are they from and what is their family like? Try to hear your character’s voice. Think about how they speak. Where do they live and what is the time period?

• Next zoom out and look at your character. How does he or she walk and talk? What do they wear? Do they have any distinguishing physical characteristics?
• Put your character in a specific scene, and talk about where they are. Be specific. How do they feel about being there? What does this place look like through their eyes?
• Why is your character thinking aloud or talking to us? What is on their mind that they feel they need to get out? Are they frustrated about something? Do they want something really badly? What is standing in their way? Who is their audience or who do they wish was their audience?