How do you get to know your characters?
Do you use a character profile sheet?
Do you interview them?
Do they just pop into your mind so you go for it, hoping they'll just "speak" to you as you type?
Do you base them on people you've known in your own life?
How do you get inside their head?
What process do you use to pull every little bit of your character's personality out so you can put their story into print?
I've tried the profile sheets, the interviews, the waiting, and using people I've known. At this point, I have no idea which method I like the best. I'm very curious to know what works for you though.
Also, I couldn't think of a darn thing to blog about this week and having to blog on the day I'm taking off for the coast just sucks.
So think about it and let's discuss how we get to know our characters so well.
Have a great weekend everybody and those of us who are at the beach without internet access expect those of you to make up the difference on this blog for the next few days! ;)
7 comments:
All of the above depending on circumstance.
Secondary Characters: Often a composite of people I know in real life, movie characters, archtypes, stories I've heard from others etc. I usually don't interview secondary characters, but I will do a sketch. When I edit, I try to make sure the secondary character acts consistently with their profile. For me, a lot of the secondary character personality comes across in dialogue and little details--and I add more in the editing stage.
Main characters: I don't base these on people I know. I don't use archtypes--although they may end fitting into a block. I interview them. I use the chart Karen used at our winter retreat, and I use some others I have to make a profile.
Weird stuff: I draw the floorplan of houses/neighborhoods. I've been known to sketch characters. For the first draft, I try to let the characters speak through me--hearing their voice. I have conversations with my characters. When I get stuck, I do things my MC would do--certain TV shows, movies, maybe a hobby. When my main character was a public defender, I tried to get in that mindset. The hero in that book is a true steak and potatoes guy. When my teenage MC liked to cook, I got into her head by making complex stuff. My teen hero wants to be an EMT. I figure him to be an ER and action movie fan.
Wavybrains--Interesting way of going about things.
I don't use any firm process. My characters tend to grow as I write them and perhaps that is why I am always rewriting as I hone their personality traits. WHat I started a few years ago when I committed myself to writing mysteries and suspense was to write up what happened from the main characters' viewpoints. THis helped a lot as I figured out who knew what and who thought they knew something, and how that influenced what they did and said.
Can't imagine using forms and though at times I have tried the interview stuff, it works better for me if it all simmers in the back of my mind and makes its way onto the page in that manner.
Hope the coast was fun and productive.
Alice
I've done a variety of things, but I never really feel like I *know* my characters. I, too, am trying to figure out a good method. I've heard a lot of people say they don't get to know their characters until they reach at least their halfway point in writing their book. Then they have to fix the first part with their new knowledge.
Some of the things I've done are profile sheets. I used a 45 master achetype book that I love, it helped me a lot. Talking it out with someone else helps.
I think one of my problems is a write a book based on a plot/situation I thought of. The characters are secondary to it at the beginning.
I like Alice's idea of writing events from the character's POV for notes to get to know them. I might try that some time since our characters all perceive events differently.
I'm more like Alice. I don't do character sheets or interviews. I don't usually start writing until I've gotten to know a character in my head pretty well, and I always have more editing at the beginning of a book than the end because my characters come to life as the book progresses.
I don't base characters on anyone in my real life, but I think all of my heroines have some small part of me in them somewhere. I have to be able to identify them in some way otherwise I'm not interested in them.
Mmmm...Hw do I get to know my characters...let me count the ways:
1) I cut out pictures in magazines that look like them, glue them to an index card and file them.
2) I think about what they like -- their musical taste, their choice of clothing, jewelry, pets, friends and of course, men.
3) I go shopping and find something my main character would love. Once it was a bracelet. Not my taste, but my character had to have it. When I put it on, I became her. Another time it was a journal. When I wrote in it, her voice came through.
4) I make a list of her catch phrases. What she says when she's exasperated. What she says when she's elated. And then I use those words often in dialog.
5) I write a ton of back story. Because I am a pantster, I start out writing the back story as though it is the book. Of course I have to cut most all of it in the second draft, but it is a learning journey and I still get to use it as word count, which keeps me going forward, and makes me feel productive. Yes, writing involves a lot of self-psychology.
The thought of charts or other formal, non-panster ways of getting to know a character makes me want to scream. It would be too restrictive to me, like wearing underwear two sizes too small. I really get to know the character as I go.
This weekend was very invigorating. I needed it. Sorry to just now be getting to your post, Becks.
I love Danita's ideas.
Lisa what's the title of that book???
I have tried all the things you stated. And I always come back to just sitting down and writing everything I know about the character, who has been fermenting in my head, on a piece of paper and add to it as I learn new things about them.
Usually I learn these new things either as I am writing the book or as I think about the next scene and see how the character is reacting. I consider myself a plantster. I do a little plotting, mostly knowing where I start and stop and a little about the inbetween, then I write and get to know my characters. When I start a book, I know my Hero and Heroine and a couple main secondary characters. The rest are born as I write the story and their characteristics come out as I write.
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