Where do you get your
characters? They can come from many sources. Characters can be based on someone
you know or a composite of people you know. You write from your experience. You
might base a character on a name you’ve picked out or someone you’ve read about
in the newspaper. Or you decide on a theme or a situation you want to write
about and then decide what kind of characters would fit into that idea.
How do you introduce
your characters?
Here’s a great four-sentence
exercise:
1. Introduce
a character (age, sex).
2. Bring
character home to dwelling place
3. Greet
someone in the home, tell something about the mood of the character.
4. Move
character out of room (off camera).
You’ll be surprised how much you will learn about your
character from such a short exercise! Start out each character like this to
find out about him/her. Fill in the information and find the emotional
connection.
Some writers like to create an entire character profile even before they start writing. I
don’t necessarily recommend that, although some people need a skeleton to flesh
out before they can start writing. It’s probably a good idea to at least fill
one out as you write (especially if you’re writing a book) just to keep the
facts straight. You don’t want your hero to have blue eyes in chapter one and
turn up with brown eyes in chapter 20. And you want him to act and re-act consistent
with his personality as you write. Or fill in a character sketch if you have a character that seems flat
and needs fleshing out.
How do you come up
with your characters?A native Montanan, Heidi M. Thomas now lives in North-central Arizona where she blogs, teaches
5 comments:
Heidi, useful tips on how to introduce your characters. I usually have the very basics in place for the characters then watch then develop as I write the story. But, as you mentioned, you need to keep track of the characteristics as they come into play. Keeping the details in a Word doc file or notebook or index cards is a good way to do this.
Heidi, your ideas sound like a great way to stay consistent. I will save this post and refer to it as I work, thank you. I believe it's true that our main characters are always part of us so that's where I start after I think up the story idea. I think about some of my own traits (which I'm keeping track of on paper/computer) and branch out from there. I find myself wanting to add characteristics that would make me a better person (maybe to better myself?) so I pick characteristics that I admire in others and apply them to my characters. Same goes for others' faults/sticky points/traits, good and bad.
Thanks for a useful exercise Heidi. I draw up a chart of each person and their interactions. Perhaps I'll share it sometime, so I won't say any more now. :-)
I think it's important to keep track of everything. Fill out profiles, a story bible, things like that.
Just where I'm at too. Jotting down everything from Book 1 that I may need later in the series. Thanks Heidi. Love the short exercise and shall most certainly use it.
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