Character

Your characters are the actors in your story. They could be humans, animals, robots, cars, tornadoes, whatever.

There are different classifications of characters. The main character on whom most of the action is focused. A supporting character is essential to the story but does not provide as much of a focus. A minor actor, such as maybe a waiter in a restaurant who serves brings dinner but plays no other role in the story. There can also be a semi-major character, somewhere between main and supporting character. You should not worry about the kind of character your character is until after you’ve written at least a draft.

A character is a set of assets and limitations in a box, a set of limitations that the character has to struggle to break through, assets being those qualities he or she possesses that allows for the possibility for success. If your story runs over a period of years, those assets may change over time. Maybe character is very intelligent, but emotionally limited. Very handsome but not very bright. Had a leg taken off by and IED in Iraq, but is determined to walk again. You want your main characters to struggle in your story. You want to show that struggle, and have the reader rooting for him or her.  

I once was in a writing group with a woman who wrote vampire stories. Lots of vampire stories, just not good vampire stories. Whenever her main character met a new challenge it turned out she already had the skills to do it. She wrote well, but her plotting left a lot to be desired.

Many people are confused where writers get their characters. The best strategy is to base your character on a real person. You father, mother, sister, brother, kids. Grandparents, etc. Or, make a composite character, maybe Gandhi and your uncle. But don’t just write them in. Change them a little. Hemingway used to write his friends into his stories but got in real trouble when he said nasty things about them. They were smart enough to figure out whom he was writing about.

There are a limited number of plots, but characters are infinite in number. Go to a public place, like a park, and study somebody. What might the person like to do? What is his or her favorite food? Is he or she married? Are they old or young? Athletic? What are their assets, foibles?

You can find character questionnaires on the internet. Fill one out for each of your characters. It will help you understand your character better. What does your character want out of life?

One useful way to help you think about your story is, if you were casting your story, and you could have any character you wanted, what actor, living or dead, would you want to play that person? Dustin Hoffman? A young Clark Gable? Katherine Hepburn? Kathy Bates?

These days when I start a play, I figure out what characters I need, then their name, gender, age, occupation, and three things that define them. And what above all does the character want? To be rich? To be famous? To be loved? Then, as I write, the characters tell me what they are like.

 Next: subtext