Getting to know your characters

[Shanster]

I dearly hope I've posted this in the right forum. I honestly hadn't a clue which forum best fitted my question.

Anyway, this is something that's been bothering me for awhile now.
How do you get to know your characters?

When I write, all my characters tend to be pretty similar, because I've never sat and worked out what each ones individual personality is like. Tonight, I've been going around survey sites and filling them in, trying to imagine myself as my main character, but I'm not convinced that's the best way to do it.

So how do you get to know them?

[Stew21]

I write scenes in their points of view - just scratch - to get an idea of who they are. Some writers do diary entries for their characters. Some do character profiles - finding out a great deal more information than they will ever use in the book.
Really, whatever exercise it is that makes you comfortable with you characters enough to write them is what you should do.
I am lucky in that many of my characters seem to already exist and don't need this.
The ones that do need it - I write poetry as if they wrote it, write scenes as if they wrote it, etc.
Diary entries, profiles, biographies, etc all work if that is what works for you.

[dpaterso]

If it's a genre story, I start off with stereotypes. Known, familiar characters. From books, films, TV, anywhere.

Then I twist 'em. Add stuff they didn't have before, and/or take away other stuff that makes them too familiar and predictable. It's like a Queer Eye makeover session. Not just a new haircut and new clothes. A new personality with its own unique quirks, goals and desires. And there's probably also a sprinkling of me in there too, which makes them even more unique.

So I knew them, kind of, to start with -- but I know them a lot better now. And they know they'd better cooperate and do what I tell them, or else.

-Derek

[IdiotsRUs]

I plop them in a situation, and see what they do.

I.e. There's a bar brawl going on. Do they hide, join in, place bets on who's going to win, hit people surreptitiously with a bottle before pretending they didn't do a thing, try and calm everyone down, or maybe use the oppurtunity to pinch everyone's beer / steal everything that isn't nailed down.

If they are stood in front of a mirror, what do they say to themselves?

'God I'm a handsome devil'
'I wish I was taller / blonder / had bigger boobs'
Stick their tongue out



Then I figure out why they do it. The more I write about them, the better I know them.

[Dale Emery]

I interview them. Not a predefined set of questions, but an interview about what's important to them.

Here are interviews of two of Amy (http://dalefiction.dale.emery.name/2007/11/mhr-int-amy/) and Frank (http://dalefiction.dale.emery.name/2007/11/mhr-int-frank/) Anderson, a married couple.

Some background: I did these interviews after writing the first draft of four scenes of their storyline. In the first scene, Amy is at a pond (http://www.dale.emery.name/nano/2007/11/mhr-c01-s02) with their two sons, and one of them (Zack) wanders off a dropoff into deep water. Amy barely saves him from drowning.

The next day Frank discovers (http://dalefiction.dale.emery.name/2007/11/mhr-c2-s2/) that Amy had been drinking at the pond. Enraged, he swings his hand to knock a glass out of Amy's hand. The glass smashes two of her teeth.

That night, as Amy tries to fall asleep (http://dalefiction.dale.emery.name/2007/11/mhr-c3-s2/), time loops back on itself. Amy inexplicably finds herself back at the pond, and her son is in deep water...

Cut to Zack's point of view (http://dalefiction.dale.emery.name/2007/11/mhr-c4-s2/). This time, Amy is unable to rescue Zack.

That's the background. At that point I needed to know more about my characters, so I interviewed them.

Dale

[KikiteNeko]

I get to know my characters the same way I get to know anyone: by spending time with them.

I usually draft a lot of pages that I don't use in my story. While I'm doing the dishes, I wonder how my character would diffuse a car bomb or react to a nuclear holocaust--things my character will never face but that somehow help me figure out the little things... like how she's going to tell her parents she's pregnant.

[Mumut]

I write a short biography of the main characters before I start writing. Then I imagine a lot more about them than goes into the story. I think of what the characters would do when I come across some activity during my everyday life.

[DoctorShade]

I'm glad you asked this question Shanster, because I wanted to know the same thing and I enjoyed reading the answers. I usually try to write a mini biography on them like someone else also mentioned, but everyone has so many different good ideas, lol

[sunna]

My process for pre-writing a novel is always to write a scene, do character bios, and then start the outlining. My characters usually show up fully formed before I even have a story to put them in, but on the occasion when I've needed a deeper insight into them, I always refer back to that bio, which is pretty much the blueprint for my character. If I'm running into trouble, that will get me back on track.

Sometimes I'll also pull a particular character(s) out of the story and drop him/her/them into a new place - say, my apartment - as an exercise, just to see what they do and how they react, and that can also help quite a bit, aside from being fairly entertaining.

[Daimeera]

I tend to have a very vague idea of my characters (as in first name and sometimes last, general appearance--in most cases, a few details about personality) but I mostly flesh them out through my first draft. This holds true for short stories and novels (although admittedly, I've written few of the latter).

For my novels (well, the one I've actually cared about), after my first draft, I make major character notes, decide what works and if anything doesn't, such as details early on in the story that I know don't fit, and then figure out any background or other details that I feel might be of use--or that come to mind and fit.

But most of it for me is the act of actually writing the characters--that's how I meet them.

[Feathers]

Take what you have with your character - maybe a snippet of a scene or some background or a plotline that needs a person to drop on the slot - and start asking questions. Start working at refining pieces. Find something specific to them and start figuring it out.

For example. I wrote a short story about this girl on her first day of college, and for some reason, she chose not to talk. I was like "oh that's interesting." I knew she wasn't deaf or dumb but her parents were. And I wondered, was she too shy to talk, was she intimidated by college, was she sick of being the interpreter for her family? And then I took those options and tried weaving them into a scene to see which one stuck, eventually discovering that this girl was trying so hard to find herself that she needed to be quiet a while until she figured out why she needed to speak.

What Stew21 said about the excercises is true. I've tried following some specific excercise and gotten stonewalled because it just didn't stimulate me. Try different stuff, and see which ones make you most responsive. One thing I will suggest: Try acting out a scene. I know that sounds dumb, but if you play it out in your head and then speak for the characters, you really get a feel for them.

I hope that helped :)

-Feathers

[JacobWorld]

Do you know this game 'find a killer' where everyone has a role and has to become this character . You can do it with your friends . Give them a description of the character and talk about any topic for a start and than slowly move to the topic of your book , once your friends get used to the new roles .

Its a great game and will let you get to know them .

[Mela]

Write their histories in first person, as if they're reflecting on their past: where they've been, what they've done, things that have been important to them. It helps to get into their heads.

[PiggyGirl]

I start off with a character and focus on her and her life and the mess she's about to make of it. So, I have a story. I build on it by listing the people she interacts with, some major some minor. This is a very rough outline. It then fleshes out more during the first draft. I add and substract characters as needed. I know from the beginning what roles I need so just make sure the characters fill them. While I try to start off with some identifying characteristics many aren't truly individualized until that 3rd or 4th draft.

[Mel]

Generally I get to know my characters as I write the story. If I have a problem I'll interview them. Sometimes surprising issues come through in an interview if they're cooperative, and even if they aren't so willing to give information about themselves tells me something more about them.

[Doug Johnson]

Many good tips. You can also think about their child hood and how they got from there to where they are now. For example, deciding that one character has been married four times and the other married for 25 years will make them become different. Think about the four divorces. Did the character learn anything etc.?

Think about how characters speak. That's crucial for good dialog and will make you ask things like, "how come he's so quiet?"

Think about the situation they're in. What about their personality landed these characters in this particular conflict?

[DWSTXS]

If you have a favorite TV show that has a large ensemble cast, like The Wire, LOST, The Shield, The Sopranos, you can study those characters to see how diverse they are. Most of these programs have web sites where every chatacter is listed with a bio. LOSTPEDIA does this for all LOST characters.

Look at these characters and how different they are. If you want, you can even pick some characteristic from thsoe caharacters to give you ideas about your own.

You can also write bios for each of your characters to help you flesh them out.
Write a short story about each character...

Assign each character ONE 'mission in life' that they want, above and beyond all others.