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Sometimes a character comes to you full blown and developed. You know who he is, what he wants, where he's been, how he thinks and what is internal conflict is right out of the gate. It's not that he writes himself, but, in a way, he does. You're just the channeler.
Unfortunately, this doesn't happen all the time and with every character. When it doesn't you have to role up your sleeves and play God. You have to figure out who this guy is.
Coming up with "stuff" to build a character isn't easy, but if you have a good sense of who the characters around him are and the situation he's in, it's as good a starting point as any.
Let's say you need a roommate for your character. And this person will be the one your main character will talk to and confide in. He'll be the one that the audience will receive information from.
You can't just identify him as your main character's roommate. You need to come up with a reality, depth and problems for him as well.
Where do you start? Let's say your protagonist is a neat freak. You can go two ways: make your roommate a slob, which we've seen a million times, or you can make him a neat freak too. This gives them something in common. Where will the conflict come from between these two? Wouldn't it be easier if one was neat and one sloppy? They could argue all the time.
Yes. But, as I said, we've seen that before. Instead, you can have them argue about the types of cleaning products they use. Or one can be an ultra neat freak.
Whatever you decide, you at least have a start in creating the persona of the roommate. Maybe he's a womanizer. Maybe he's gay. Maybe he's pathologically shy. Maybe he never stops talking or he's an expert on everything.
You have to figure it out. It's basically making a list of possible personality traits and character quirks, then picking a bunch of them to create your character.
The problem is picking the most interesting traits and quirks.
I offer this only as an example. Let's say it's a romantic comedy. You have the girl down, but you can't get handle on who the guy is. You have to do the same thing: figure out who this guy IS.
Smart, dumb, educated, a slacker, cultured, rough around the edges. There are many things to choose from.
If you don't have a grip on a character (or more than one), sometimes you can find out who he is as you write. One day, on Page 50 it hits you. You figured out his person. But sometimes you can get through a first draft and still not know who somebody is and they he wants.
Making a list of traits and quirks is a good way to avoid writing aimlessly. You might surprise yourself with what you can come up with. |
