Guide: Characters, A Brief Overview

[Sunshine Temple]

Characters: A Brief Overview

I'm sure all the established writers here have their own methods for handling characterization, but this may help some newer writers.

My own writing style is character centric. This is where the story focuses on character interaction and development, as opposed to a more plot centric style where the cast moves through a sequence of goals and tasks.

Being character-centric requires a different approach to plotting events. I only maintain a rough outline for the arcs of my own stories. I have a more detailed outline that is a couple chapters ahead, but that is only on a scene by scene basis.

Flexibility is key here because this method avoids forcing characters to do certain events to conform to a plot. Instead, their choices are grounded in their characterization. This is not to say that a detailed outline cannot accomplish believable character choices, but that is not the method I use. Sometimes characters will surprise the writer.

Story-writing is a form of simulation. Via text, the writer endeavors to present a world, a group of characters, a sequence of events, all with the goal of telling a story, and perhaps telling more (like a moral). Knowing that this is a simulation, keeping the reader in a suspension of disbelief is important.

Research is important. This increases accuracy of cultures, historical and current events, weapons, and anything else important to the story.

Consistency is required to keep the world whole. This has the simulation held as a coherent entity. This includes such things as a cohesive magical or technological background.

Technical accuracy. Spelling and grammar errors are sure to halt the reader and snap them right out of the story. Such mistakes should be taken care of too.

Characters are the most dynamic and complex part of a story, as they are simulations of sentient, sapient people. I would argue that this complexity results in them being the most important part. They are certainly the ones that the reader will relate to the most.

Knowledge is vital here. To know what a character will do in a given situation one must know the character. This applies for any character you use, be it original, canon, primary, secondary, background. One must treat all their characters as living beings, people with their own histories, personalities, quirks, strengths weaknesses.

As said before, writing is a simulation. One of the ways to get a handle on a character is to write practice scenes with them. This can be them doing something completely mundane, like getting dressed or chatting with a friend over dinner. What these scenes do is allow you to translate a list of abstract details and history into an interacting person.

Fan-fiction has already existing characters. Fitting with the research angle, the source material is always, always to be used and watched. This is because you are working with an existing character. The source material gives examples of what that character is like.

Original character creation is different and has more flexibility. What is important is making sure you, as the writer, can write them believably.

As said before, practice scenes are useful. I have also found that they can often translate into real scenes within the story.

When writing a scene, I find that events unfold almost like a movie. To continue the simulation theme, various characters are set in a scene and time is then started, then the writer records what they do.

They key part is that a characters reactions should be based entirely on how that person would react to the situation they are in. Why a person did something should not be an immediate issue: they did what they did because of who they are. Now the why they are the person they are is the critical question.

This makes for more complicated plots, because you cannot have a character do something they would not do without a reason. The writer is forced to have explanations for their characters' actions.

I am not implying that the story should be populated by calculating simulations that always do what is in their exact best interest after rationally considering all the actions. They should make their decisions on the spot and make judgment calls based on the time and information available to them, like someone in the real world would.

To recap the writer should have a cast of characters that are understood well enough to know how they will interact with others and what they will do in many imagined situations. More specifically the writer should have the ability to write the character in a given situation, and have it fit their given characterization.

Next comes the interesting part: Character Development.

Most simply stated there is a feedback loop between two elements. There is the character and then there is the plot. Any action the character has affects the plot, and events in the plot affect the character.

It forms a loop. This is how character growth happens. Some external stimuli can result in changes in the personality of a character. Nailing down the pacing and time for these changes is a challenge. We all know that people change over time. The ways they change are dependant on what they experience and what their personalities are like.

One can see that if each character has their own feedback loop with the plot, and the plot is the interaction of all of the characters. A very intricate web results. This is expected as a person would interact with multiple people, and the experiences with each person would have their own results.

It becomes important to see how a character is changed by their experiences. This often requires subtle and careful work. Character study simulations are a useful tool here as well, and can help give detail to how they can change

It is also readily apparent that by changing the stimulus one can change the character. This is an indirect process as the internal changes to the character are not an immediate consequence of what they are exposed to, but their choices and beings can be guided in the desired direction.

Gradual changes allow one to have the characters shift and adapt as the story progresses. The desires of the characters are what drives conflicts and interactions. To repeat, every character should have this treatment, so the motivations of the antagonists are as vital as those of the protagonists.

Obviously, the characters with more space given to them on the page will be fleshed out more, and will be given more space to grow and change. Especially if more impacting and dramatic events happen to them.

For example, take how a character would react to a death (be it of a friend, lover, child, parent, enemy, or combination). That event would have some impact on them.

Back to the story as a simulation analogy. One is writing to show certain things, and the writer is exposing the character to get certain results and growth. Similarly, the whole story is an attempt to show certain things to the reader, to influence them through their exposure. The character development and interaction is a major vehicle for this influence on the reader.

One must always remember that their story is going to be read by someone else. This person is not you, and only has the story itself to guide them through the experience. Arguably, everything in the story falls under this. Which scenes and events are emphasized, which characters are more sympathetic, anything.

I feel it is best to remember that you are writing for someone else, even if it is a nebulous Platonic-ideal-reader. This grounds the writer and reminds them that they are not merely babbling to their own voices. It reinforces that what they are doing is a form of communication. It also keeps the writer from devolving into a self indulgent fantasy impenetrable to any outsider.

Too much faith in ones own ability has the writer become the one entwined in a fictional world. Without an external gauge of ability and skill then the writer is lost and has no idea how good, appealing, or readable their work really is. This is why having outside support is so vital. See my essay on how to get prereaders and editors for advice on that subject.

Personally, I am irritated by stories where the characters remain static. I have read stories where a couple has gone through a near literal hell, has made horrible sacrifices for each other. Despite going through all these experiences including, getting married, they are the same petty squabbling teens that they were when they had been engaged.

I had talked with the writer as to why she wrote it that way, and why she insisted on retarding their maturity and growth. Her reasoning was that she wanted to keep the characters as canon as possible.

The problem was that she had the characters exposed to events that did not happen during their canon lives. They got older; they got married; they fought demonic invaders from another dimension; they experienced the apocalypse together.

It made the story very... strained to read. There were only the most token changes in the characters.

Conversely, some stories have hideously rapid changes that have no support by events. These are ones when the character suddenly wakes up and decides to change everything about them. Events where the main character wakes up and suddenly decides to change everything about himself: temperament, gender, skills, interests, ect.

If one wanted a radically different character, then the writer should simply have started with a character that had those qualities. The whole point of changing a character from A to B is the process where they make the transition.

I'm not certain how helpful this all is, but it details my own style for supporting and characterization methods.

Again one should research their subject, understand their characters, and practice writing them. Writing is a skill and it does improve with use.

I'd like to thank DCG and P. H. Wise for their help while writing this.

[Spokavriel]

I guess even on this it doesn't hurt to have a few extra pairs of eyes. If you want I can make a list of the bugs/typos I spotted. It's great advice.

[Kimina]

Interesting piece of information. Thank you.

[Sunshine Temple]

I guess even on this it doesn't hurt to have a few extra pairs of eyes. If you want I can make a list of the bugs/typos I spotted. It's great advice.

Sure that would be great. Would like this thing to be cleaned up more.

[Kimina]

2 minds are better than 1. Either way thank you for posting this informative.... post >.>

[lwf58]

There are more conversations like this in the Lost Library forum.

[Sunshine Temple]

There are more conversations like this in the Lost Library forum.

Yes, as I mentioned in the opening post. This is cross-posted on that forum.

I would also like to see more people over there to get the posting more lively. That'll help get these conversations built up, and some more weathered advice get posted.

[Kimina]

It's called Lost Library for a reason

[borgrabbit]

I'm gonna be a real bastard. I'll harp on the technical end of it

character you use, be it original, cannon, primary, secondary, background.

Use canon when discussing dogma rather than a tube shaped device used to hurl volkswagen sized chunks of metal at an enemy. {Rather Volkswagen 'weighted' chunks plus high explosives. I think that the battleship New Jersey had 16 inch i.d. guns and could fire at targets well beyond the horizon.}
Wes

[Spokavriel]

You know I never saw a cannon large enough to toss Volkswaggons. Trebuchet but not cannon.

I always miss that one myself. I would have made a post with things I did catch already but my brain took a holliday on me last night as the appartment heated up.

[Sunshine Temple]

Thanks Borg. Got them corrected.

It's okay Spok. I know what head can do.

[Spokavriel]

Thanks Borg. Got them corrected.

It's okay Spok. I know what head can do.

I really hope that is a typo for heat. Um isn't there a XXX Euphamism related to head? Well I'm about halfway through looking closer for other things to point out.

Edit: Deleting the post this start was in originaly and combining it with the comments.

I started this before Wes' suggestions. So a couple things might have been changed already.

Via text, the writer endeavors to present a world, a series of characters, a sequence of events, all with the goal of telling a story, and perhaps telling more (like a moral). Knowing that this is a simulation, keeping the reader in a suspension of disbelieve is important.

Personal call Via tends to stand in for Through but it's up to you if you want to put it there. Also in this case a group of characters tends to fit better. Series of characters comes across to me like the last episode of Evangellion. You also typoed on disbelief.

Spelling and grammar errors are a sure trick to halting the reader and snapping them right out of the story. Such mistakes should be taken care of too.

Did you go out of your way to make this thought a bit unclear? Calling it a trick makes it seem like it might be something to intentionaly use to halt a reader for a scene instead of taking away the enjoyment of the story.

Wes' comment kinda fits for every time you used cannon instead of canon The word appears 3 times and has the extra N in each of them.

Original characters creation is different and has more flexibility.

Characters should really be singular here. Unless you want to rephrase it as Creating original characters.

I am not implying that the story would be populated by calculating simulations that always do and way what is in their exact best interest after rationally considering all the actions.

This statment is a bit muddled. Are you saying that you aren't suggesting that the story should be all calculated situations where a character stops and works out what is best all the time? the place where you have "do and way what" really makes it hard to keep even thinking when reading this.

I have read stories where a couple has gone through a near literal hell and has made horrible sacrifices for each other, and despite going through that experience and even getting married, they are the same petty squabbles that they were when they had been engaged.

This is a bit of a run-on And are they having the same petty squables or are they the same petty squablers. I think it could use another word in there.

Ooh a canon example of a character not changed by events, Tatewaki Kuno. No matter how many times he sees Ranma change or how extreme the proof of either Akane or his Pigtailed Goddess not liking much less loving him he always remains the same. Would anyone want to read a story where every character is that unchanging?

They got older; they got married; they fought demonic invaders from another dimension; they experiences the apocalypse together.

Experienced experience? Experiences just doesn't fit that well.

It made the story very... strained to read. There was only the most token changes in the characters.

I know it's a seperate sentence but it wouldn't hurt to maintain the tence making was were.

[Sunshine Temple]

Thanks Borg. Got them corrected.

It's okay Spok. I know what head can do.

I really hope that is a typo for heat. Um isn't there a XXX Euphamism related to head? Well I'm about halfway through looking closer for other things to point out.

Edit: Deleting the post this start was in originaly and combining it with the comments.

I started this before Wes' suggestions. So a couple things might have been changed already.

Via text, the writer endeavors to present a world, a series of characters, a sequence of events, all with the goal of telling a story, and perhaps telling more (like a moral). Knowing that this is a simulation, keeping the reader in a suspension of disbelieve is important.

Personal call Via tends to stand in for Through but it's up to you if you want to put it there. Also in this case a group of characters tends to fit better. Series of characters comes across to me like the last episode of Evangellion. You also typoed on disbelief.

[Got the group and typo

Spelling and grammar errors are a sure trick to halting the reader and snapping them right out of the story. Such mistakes should be taken care of too.

Did you go out of your way to make this thought a bit unclear? Calling it a trick makes it seem like it might be something to intentionaly use to halt a reader for a scene instead of taking away the enjoyment of the story.

Wes' comment kinda fits for every time you used cannon instead of canon The word appears 3 times and has the extra N in each of them.

["sure trick" is a colloquialism
[yes, that's why I did a search to get rid of it.

[[
Technical accuracy. Spelling and grammar errors are sure to halt the reader and snap them right out of the story. Such mistakes should be taken care of too.
]]

Original characters creation is different and has more flexibility.

Characters should really be singular here. Unless you want to rephrase it as Creating original characters.

[got it

I am not implying that the story would be populated by calculating simulations that always do and way what is in their exact best interest after rationally considering all the actions.

This statment is a bit muddled. Are you saying that you aren't suggesting that the story should be all calculated situations where a character stops and works out what is best all the time? the place where you have "do and way what" really makes it hard to keep even thinking when reading this.

[Ironically, your comments here is too muddled for me to see what you think it wrong. Rereading that section I did make changes to make it more clear, and removed typos.

[[
I am not implying that the story should be populated by calculating simulations that always do what is in their exact best interest after rationally considering all the actions. They should make their decisions on the spot and make judgment calls based on the time and information available to them, like someone in the real world would.
]]

I have read stories where a couple has gone through a near literal hell and has made horrible sacrifices for each other, and despite going through that experience and even getting married, they are the same petty squabbles that they were when they had been engaged.

This is a bit of a run-on And are they having the same petty squables or are they the same petty squablers. I think it could use another word in there.

[Try this

[[
Personally, I am irritated by stories where the characters remain static. I have read stories where a couple has gone through a near literal hell, has made horrible sacrifices for each other. Despite going through all these experiences including, getting married, they are the same petty squabbling teens that they were when they had been engaged.
]]

Ooh a canon example of a character not changed by events, Tatewaki Kuno. No matter how many times he sees Ranma change or how extreme the proof of either Akane or his Pigtailed Goddess not liking much less loving him he always remains the same. Would anyone want to read a story where every character is that unchanging?

[Yes, having one character not change is fine, especially when it's used for humor, but if it's everyone, it can get very tedious.

They got older; they got married; they fought demonic invaders from another dimension; they experiences the apocalypse together.

Experienced experience? Experiences just doesn't fit that well.

[experienced

It made the story very... strained to read. There was only the most token changes in the characters.

I know it's a seperate sentence but it wouldn't hurt to maintain the tence making was were.

[Agreed. Thank you for the corrections

[Spokavriel]

You're welcome happy to help.