Look at your right sidebar and you’ll that see a new poll, “How Do Your Create Your Characters?” has replaced the old one. Everyone has techniques they turn to for building story people. Which ways do you find most productive?
The old poll–“What Would You Like to See on Write a Better Novel?”–is now closed, and here are the results.
• “Techniques for structuring my story” came in 1st place, with 28%.
• “Ways to make my characters more memorable” followed closely, with 26%.
I can now say I’m officially delighted: those are my two favorite subjects. Character, in particular, I could write about all night long.
My last post was about character consistency: don’t make a smart character go dumb for a scene just to accommodate a particular plot move. Commenting on this, Mark Welker widened the focus to character-building in general, and in particular, the amount of time it takes him before his characters start to be convincing.
That makes sense. It takes a while to get to know a person in life, doesn’t it?
• First you think you know them, but you only know the persona they want you to know.
• Next, you start hearing conflicting things about that person.
• Finally one day, under stress, they reveal what appears to be a completely other self.
Persona and counter-persona have melded, and a thematic pattern comes into focus. You find yourself able to say: “I know Jim. He won’t go for that.” Or: “It doesn’t surprise me to hear that about Jan. I predict she’ll declare for the governor’s race,” and it happens. Only when you reach this point can you can say you really know a person–and it doesn’t happen overnight.
Similarly, with fictional characters, it takes a while before a full, intuitive picture comes into focus. The only difference is that now, you’re making it up.
A side principle: As the “creator” of your story’s world and its people, you’re free to design them any way you want, and outfit them with the capabilities or failings your story needs.
But once having done the creating, you then have to be true to the character pattern you’ve brought into being. You can’t cheat, because one of the pillars holding up the world of your story is Consistency. This is why, if you make a character “stupid” for a scene or two, the effect could be weakening, even fatal to your story.
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