Best and Worst ways to create characters

They Fight Crime. I don't know if this is the best or the worst way.

Best--whatever way works for you.

Worst--whatever doesn't.

I don't know if this is the "best" way, but I have a detailed description of the signs of the horoscope, and sometimes I use it to give me some characteristics to hang on a character.

Sometimes I have a person I know in real life in mind and think about that person when I write that character's reactions.

I think a character has to be realistic to be likable, so I try to make my characters real. Mostly, I just try to internalize that character, to "know" him or her and and how he or she would react in a given situation.

Worst: Write a character who does no wrong, who's perfect in every way, always reacts the right way...that's boring.

--Q

For the worst: Grab a character you like, take off the name and add another and make a simpler version of it. Even worst, search for a random adjective describing the character and write him around it

Character creation is not really a one-time thing that you can get really right or really wrong. Character creation is something that happens constantly as you are writing or editing any part of the story that mentions that character.

First thing is that a character doesn't come up, spot on, perfect, balanced, in one hit of the imagination, as you stroll around the streets.
It takes time. As it takes time, it's clear that the same method is not being used, otherwise you'd finish it in way less time.

So you have different methods.
I usually come up with a name, and that to me immediately, gives me a personality. I don't know if this is a weird form of synesthesia, because along with the names I get colors based on the vowels.
But anyway, I often start with a name, and that gives me one or two personality attributes.
After that I just add to them whatever feels right.
I adjust and hone this based on the history of the characters themselves, and start wondering why they have this personality and I try to come up with actual specific moments, scenes, where I can see this personality trait forming, often containing only kids and teenagers.
From there it just grows. One day I have this idea, inspired by having a dinner with some family friends. Then another day I get another insight into a person's personality through some film or actual conversation.
And I put that still-to-be-known character in a weird situation, like in a speeding carousel, and see how it develops in my head.

Worst ways to create a character?....why should I bother with that? Aren't you, by not using them or thinking about them, avoiding them, which is what you should do in the first place?
Don't bother with the "worst ways".
You're bound to have people consider other people's best ways, their own worst ways.

Gillhoughly said:

Best--whatever way works for you.

Worst--whatever doesn't.

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Agreed.

I love people. I love watching them, I love studying them, I love everything about them, even the horrible icky repulsive parts. I love figuring out what makes people tick.

When I create characters, I try to think of people I would like to meet. Not like "I want to meet Superman," but like "I want to meet that quirky guy who keeps looking at that girl but can't seem to work up the courage to ask her out. What's his story?" or "I want to meet the loud-mouth bossy girl who scares the crap out of men and won't let anyone get close to her. What would I find if I were in her head?"

Sometimes I take people from real life and sometimes I take people from fiction and change them. One of the most fascinating people I ever knew was a guy I worked with at a used book store. He was in his forties, lived in a VW bug, carried all of his money around as a huge roll of $100's, and was the cleanest, nicest, most chivalric gentleman you could ever know. He was also painfully, painfully shy. (He worked stocking, not with customers.) I use him a lot. Not in the sense that I write stories about a homeless dude working in a bookstore. I take HIM and make him, say, the captain's assistant on a spaceship. How would this guy react in that situation?

Best way: Think about fictional (or real) characters that have had a major and lasting impact on you and break down what it is you love about them, then use those qualities in your own characters. Which is why I write about snarky, sexy men with shaky morals and steady hands, a la Spike the vampire, Han Solo, Dexter, Ironman, and so on and so forth, for example.

Worst way: Use your relatives as characters and just change their names.

My best way. Find out what has happened to my characters before the story starts. What their history is. Work out how this affects their behaviour, what quirks / fears / needs / goals it gives them.

My worst way -- Have stock character, add a flaw.

snarky, sexy men with shaky morals and steady hands

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I need to read your stuff so I can swoon! I've got one or two of those too....

One of the best ways I've found to develop characters is to write the story. Put the characters into first contact with the story and introduce conflict and problems that will force him to do things he wouldn't ordinarily do.

As for the worst ways, I think anything that feels productive but is actually time waster that keeps you from writing. There was a writer who thought it would help her with character development to handmake each of the clothes they wore. It sounded productive on the surface, but while she was designing and sewing, she wasn't writing at all. I also ran across a software program that catered to the "quick fix" crowd. It had modules for building characters that included Myers-Brigg, zodiacs, and extremely detailed timelines. All things you could spend days with doing all the characters while the book languishes.

The best way to create a character--in a way that makes them realistic and loveable (or detestable, if they're a bad guy) to you personally.

The worst way to create a character--in a way that makes the character dull or unlikeable to you personally. If you create a character you can't even like yourself, then you've already failed.

Whether anyone else will love the character or not is something you can't really predict. All you can do is your best. *shrug*

If you're the same person whose other posts I've seen, I notice that you seem to ask lots of questions about the basics of writing and the "best" or "right" way of doing things. There's really no one correct answer for such questions. The only thing you can do is try.

If you're not that user, then I sincerely apologize!

Gillhoughly said:

Best--whatever way works for you.

Worst--whatever doesn't.

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Lock thread.


Do people actually sit there considering such questions? The mind boggles. I just grab them out of my head and sit back and watch them evolve. I don't consider my characters...I don't plan them or think, 'maybe they should be this', 'maybe they should be that'. I just pick them up off the floor of my mind and put them into action. How bizarre to ponder such a thing??????

IdiotsRUs said:

...
My worst way -- Have stock character, add a flaw

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Using "templates" without taking into account where you want your story to go is one of the (IMO) worst ways to develop a character.

For instance. "Sea-faring captain with a strong jaw"

Ick! Sound's like a Harlequin. You end up with cardboard characters that way.

OK, maybe I want my sea-faring captain to be obsessive. I want him to sacrifice everything he has because he can't catch this monster whale who has been haunting his ship. Then, when everything is all said and done, he can't live with himself because he doesn't have a goal anymore. Ha! (Oh wait...that's been used, right?)

It seems like the more I write, the more my characters tell me what they are going to do next. I was having difficulty pinning down the whats and the whys of a particular Mary Jane type character until I figured out that she wasn't as crazy as I'd pegged her to be. Once I let her in (Hard to do because then she starts taking over my subconscious personality, and I was firmly convinced she should be crazy) I began to empathize with her, understand the motivations, etc.

Melenka has the Hemingway quote in their sig line, but I'm awed by the accuracy of it...(how characters start to take over you're thoughts)

A novel goes on too long and I don't know anything else while I'm doing it and it raises too much hell. - Ernest Hemingway to Ernest Walsh (4/7/26)

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When I finish a book, I take away a bit of each character I have written. It usually is something good. (what makes them "succeed" at the end.) When I wrote about an honorable man, his single mindedness and struggle to do what is right stuck. When I wrote about a criminal, his ability to open up and embrace what he couldn't change stuck. I hope the crazy lady's strength to go on sticks rather than something else....lol.

Amy

I think the best way is to write characters as you want them to be to best tell your story.

Worst way is to try and copy someone else's style.

Albedo said:

They Fight Crime. I don't know if this is the best or the worst way.

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I got:

He's a globe-trotting albino gangster moving from town to town, helping folk in trouble. She's a time-travelling impetuous nun from Mars. They fight crime!

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Now that's hilarious.

Must be Nun Day at TFC. I got:

He's an old-fashioned flyboy waffle chef possessed of the uncanny powers of an insect. She's a supernatural snooty nun from aristocratic European stock. They fight crime!

Sounds like a winner to me!

My characters slowly emerge as I write my initial outline. They keep emerging during the first draft. I try to nail them in the second draft outline, based on what's gone before and what's working hardest. There always comes a time, a certain unexpected passage, when the character declares herself. I just have to recognize it.

He's a fast talking day-dreaming vampire hunter who believes he can never love again. She's a transdimensional wisecracking mermaid who inherited a spooky stately manor from her late maiden aunt. They fight crime!

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my life is complete.

well I have my MC first (they are sometimes just there, hanging out in my head, having a cup of coffee waiting for their number to be called)
and then based on who he/she is I try and figure out who their friends would be (based on the personality they'd probably hang out with guys who like to sit around drink beer, be obnoxious and throw dart...i dunno, something like that!)
then I figure out who their enemies would be (same idea)

hope that helped!

I just let the story dictate the characters. What I mean is I let the story idea breed the character types . From there I screw around with them until they are what I need.

He's a scarfaced bohemian dwarf with a secret. She's a high-kicking foul-mouthed mercenary with the power to bend men's minds. They fight crime!

OMG best way.

Best. Way. Ever.

MelodyO said:

He's a scarfaced bohemian dwarf with a secret. She's a high-kicking foul-mouthed mercenary with the power to bend men's minds. They fight crime!

OMG best way.

Best. Way. Ever.

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You ain't kidding!

[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][SIZE=-1]He's a superhumanly strong one-eyed dog-catcher with no name. She's a foxy snooty snake charmer from beyond the grave They fight crime!

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Try emptying their pockets to see what they carry with them. It's surprising what this reveals about your story folks. It's fun, too.

Also, give them something they really care about, then take it away. How do they react?

The worst way to create a character is by using a stereotype. Zzzzzzzz... So boring. And predictable. Blech.

Characters are the heart of good fiction. Good luck to you!

I'll bite...

He's a fast-talking, smooth bodied lizard out for a good time. She's a liberal puma with an agenda...they fight crime.




This should be a thread of its own! Office party?