Charater
CHARACTER
As writers, we must know our created characters as if they were real people. We have to know everything about them in order to make them ‘live’ in the world of our fiction. The more real we can make them in our imagination, then the more real they will be on the written page, and so for our readers.
- How old are they?
- What is their height/weight?
- Where were they born?
- What was the childhood home like?
- Describe their Parents
- Describe their school building
- Did they like or dislike school
- What is their favourite food/colour/holiday location/song etc (This list is endless)
- What is their medical history?
- Financial status
- Sexual orientation
- Do they have a criminal record?
- What work do they do?
- Do they enjoy/hate their job?
- Any Brothers/Sisters?
- What’s their best friend’s name
- Their first pets name
- Their Partners name
- How long with present partner/how long alone?
All of this stuff you simply make a decision on. But, as your decisions increase then your choices will begin to form themselves based on past choices. The character will begin to grow organically. You must step into the shoes of your character to find out what they would do, or how they would react in any given situation.
Unless your work is autobiographical, try not to base your characters on yourself or you are in danger of making every character that you create, a self portrait. However, if you create a character, then your time alone at your typewriter, in the wee small hours, will be more interesting, and as you build your ‘Golem’, you may find that it takes on a sort of life of it’s own, and may well surprise you with what it says and does. SCAREY isn’t it? You have now contacted the inner creative YOU, and your work will flow freely, and easily.
You almost certainly will not actually use all of this stuff that you have ‘created’ for your character, but this detail is the ‘bedrock’ on which your character is based.
The reader sees the part of the character that we choose to reveal in the context of the story, but you as the writer knows much more.
