Unique Help With Characterization

Tell Me a Story

Not only do characters have to overcome major and minor obstacles throughout a story, they have to grow in some way. Shortcomings are what make our central characters seem human; however, readers want those shortcomings made virtuous by the end of the book.

Each central character has to surmount some part of their personality in order for them to develop during the course of the story. In order to achieve this, writers need to understand what a character’s significant flaws might be. Sometimes it’s difficult to think of, and to balance these shortcomings.

It is convenient that enneagram philosophers have classified nine personality types, each with a distinctive strength, and flaw.  These strengths and flaws can build trouble for personality types and those around, especially if a strength or flaw is taken to extremes.

As writers, we can exploit those nine types to generate conflict between our central characters and use them as internal struggles they have to conquer.

• Type One is principled, purposeful, self-controlled, and perfectionistic.
• Type Two is demonstrative, generous, people-pleasing, and possessive.
• Type Three is adaptive, excelling, driven, and image-conscious.
• Type Four is expressive, dramatic, self-absorbed, and temperamental.
• Type Five is perceptive, innovative, secretive, and isolated.
• Type Six is engaging, responsible, anxious, and suspicious.
• Type Seven is spontaneous, versatile, distractible, and scattered.
• Type Eight is self-confident, decisive, wilful, and confrontational.
• Type Nine is receptive, reassuring, agreeable, and complacent.

So there you are. Someone else has done it for you. Keep this list in front of you as you build your character’s profile, and use it to advantage. It will serve you well.

12 Important Points For Creating Story Characters

Tell Me a Story

Characters are central to your story and you must get them right or your story will never work.

1. In my early days I received advice from an established writer that stood me in good stead - cut out magazine pictures of people who suit your story and build characters around them. I followed it ever since. I stick mine above my workspace so I never forget who they are and what they look like. Be warned, never tell readers who your characters might look like - use your descriptive powers instead.
2. I spend a fair bit of time developing a complete profile of all the physical qualities, mental traits, mannerisms, education, backgrounds, friends and family, for each of my main characters before I start to write. I know what music they like, what food, what drink, what taste in clothes, what makes them laugh, smile, and cry. My characters become people, before they hit the page.
3. In order for readers to believe in your characters, you must believe in them first. You must know everything about them in order to understand how they will react in a given situation.
4. To capture reader’s attention, it is essential your characters come across as real people.
5. In a novel, ‘real’ is not tantamount to run of the mill. We're all run of the mill. Run of the mill is boring. However, bear in mind the most mundane person can turn out to be exceptional under pressure.
6. Your readers should always empathize with your main characters.
7. You should always empathize with your main characters.
8. Actions and situations influence people. Your characters must develop with the story, and should be different at the end than the beginning; they must have ‘grown’ in some way.
9. You must never allow protagonist to behave out of character just to fit in with the plot. Nothing in your story should feel contrived.
10. You must demonstrate all attributes of your central people by showing not by telling, and this includes aptitude, looks, strengths, intellect, and emotional qualities.
11. Eccentric personalities can help differentiate characters, but keep it low key or it will seem out of place. Remember, Less Is More.
12. Create unforgettable characters, and readers will think it is an unforgettable story.

Dialogue, characters, and the novel

Tell Me a Story - writing advice

Principal element

I’ve said in earlier posts that characters are the principal element of any novel.

Part and parcel of any character development, and of the novel in general, is the manner in which people speak - their dialogue.

• Dialogue can impart an enormous amount of information in a seamless way
• Dialogue offers clues to a character’s personality and social class
• Dialogue offer clues to a characters frame of mind.

As part of characterization creation, dialogue is crucial.

Fifty percent of your novel

• Up to 50% of your novel will probably be dialogue - it needs to be. Dialogue keeps your story dynamic.
• Modern books steer clear of long pieces of narrative, modern readers want things to move - narrative slows things down.
• Modern readers are brought up on a diet of TV and films - loads of dialogue - little narrative. They expect their literature to be the same. Confirm this in popular published books. Study in particularly, those in your genre.
• Acceptance or rejection of your novel can hang on the balance and quality of your dialogue.
• If dialogue is going to compose half the novel, it better be good.
  
  
  
  At it’s best; dialogue advances the story and depicts characters far more plainly than descriptive writing. Let’s face it, plain old narrative can be quite boring. Who wants their character or story to be thought of as boring?

Toss that descriptive narrative aside and concentrate on dialogue. That descriptive narrative might be your pride and joy - it might be full of wonderful flowing passages - but it can also weary the pants off people.

Show don't tell

Instead of saying someone was angry, let that character yell and scream. Show what's happening by the tone of words, the staccato remarks, or conversely the gentle exchanges of love.

Vary the tempo

• Use a verbal exchange of ideas and repartee to infuse buoyancy into a heavy scene
• Use dialogue to separate long passages of descriptive work
• Use speech to vary the tempo of your writing.

Don’t assume though, that you can merely pop up with a smattering of any-old dialogue to perk up a dreary section. Speech should fulfil an objective. If it doesn’t, if it’s only chitchat, scrub it out, find something else for your character to do. Every word in your novel should count, whether it be dialogue or narrative there is no excess baggage allowed.

Every word, every piece of dialogue, every character in your novel should fulfil an exact purpose. There should be no hangers on in this game.

• Next post on 'Tell Me A Story', Writing Scholarship.
• Related post, Stock words.

End of post - Dialogue, characters, and the novel

More on characters

Tell Me a Story - advice

"AJ can you help, please. I'm trying to come to terms with characterization. Is there any advice you can offer?"

Hi Sarah, thanks for the email. Here's a summary of things you should keep in mind. Hope it helps.

Characterization
Characters are extremely important to your story and you must get them right.

1. A good approach is to cut out magazine pictures of people who suit your characters. I pin mine above my desk so I never forget who they are and what they look like. Don't tell people who they might look like - use your own descriptive powers.
2. Spend time developing a complete dossier of all physical traits, mental traits, education, backgrounds, friends and family, for each of your main characters before you start to write. Know what music they like, what food, what drink, what taste in clothes, what makes them laugh, smile, and cry.
3. You must know everything about your characters to understand how they're going to react in a given situation.
4. To capture reader’s attention, it is essential your people seem like real people.
5. In a novel, ‘real’ is not tantamount to run of the mill. We're all run of the mill. Run of the mill is boring. However, bear in mind the most mundane person can turn out to be exceptional under pressure.
6. Your readers should always empathize with your main characters.
7. You should always empathize with your main characters.
8. Proceedings influence people. Your people must develop with the story, they should be different at the end than the beginning, they must have ‘grown’ in some way.
9. Don’t allow any protagonist to behave out of character just to fit in with the plot. Nothing should be contrived.
10. You must illustrate all attributes of your main people, including, aptitude, looks, strengths, intellect, and emotional qualities - by showing not telling.
11. Quirky characteristics can help distinguish a character, but keep it low key or it will seem out of place.
12. Create unforgettable characters, so when your reader reaches the end of your novel they’ll be anxious about what happens to them.

Do all this, and your story will be well on its way to being a success.

• Next post on Tell Me a Story - Oprah Winfrey.
  
  
  

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  Short Moments - collection of 10 short stories

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  Past Sins - Contemporary fiction