Skip to main content

Developing Fictional Characters

I’m in the process of developing three new fictional characters for Fabian. I use a combination of methods when creating new people. There’s no right and wrong way to do these things. It’s more a case of experimenting to discover what works for you.

For example, with one of these new characters I used a rather direct method. He appears very briefly in Rowan, so I already had his first name and the fact that he’s a musician. I wanted physical contrast with my other main male characters, so choices about looks were easily arrived at.

I also wanted a personality which would provide a strong contrast to my other main characters, and so he was given a big, bombastic name to match his loud, exuberant traits and the plot role he plays. For a middle name, I thought of those marvellous Victorian names, heavy with pomp. The surname had been floating around in my mind for a while, and I liked the feel of it and it sounded right.

Then I encountered a touch of serendipity. As his is a very old British family name, I ran a quick Google search and discovered that it perfectly fits the role he plays in the novel, as the name partially derives from an ancient Viking word for snake or dragon--and he has a strong protective/defensive role. The name also derives from a term for someone who had lived in a forest clearing, which segues smoothly with my infusions of certain ancient philosophies into the stories; (think of Druidic Groves, although the philosophy I use wanders some distance from contemporary Druidry.)

The second of my new characters is evolving via a much more intuitive approach. First came the name, or rather his abbreviated name. It floated into my head and stayed there. That probably sounds weird to many people, but such is the nature of my invisible friends. They turn up and do whatever they do on the cinema screen inside my head, and I just write it all down. It’s akin to taking dictation.

For this character, I have a mental impression of what he looks like. I’ll either sketch him or co-incidentally come across a picture of someone who looks just like him, (something which has happened several times before.) The character then builds slowly around what they do; more of a plot-based discovery process which I don’t even know until it’s written down. I currently have an idea of how they’ll arrive in the story, but beyond that it’s a mystery. It’ll come together as I write.

My third new character requires a different approach again. With her, it’s very important that she fits into the pre-existing selkie mythology as described in Rowan, Bethany Rose and also in a few of my published short stories. This dictates, to an extent, both her appearance and personality--but also her role within the plot. She brings a lot of plot possibilities with her, even beyond the scope of the current novel.

It is always important for all characters to do things, rather than merely be there. They have to add to the plot. Otherwise they’re taking up page space for no purpose, and slowing down the pace. The best solution is to kill them. This adds drama and frees up space for someone more interesting.

I use character charts for all my characters. Minor characters don’t need as much detail as main ones but if they’re going to stick around for a while, and be used in more than one story, then it’s easier to keep track of little details about them if you use a chart. It’s quicker to check their file than it is to wade through page upon page of MS to find the right fragment of information such as eye colour, preferred blend of coffee, catch phrase, etc.

For main characters, I keep a detailed file which will include drawings and photos of them, room plans, a photo of their car, list of likes/dislikes, habits, phrases, favourite clothing styles, books they’d read, family members, and importantly their life history in note form.

I also have a time line, which gets updated when necessary, showing main events for the whole series. The novels can be read in any order, but it’s easier for me to keep track of everything by maintaining a time line. This will become steadily more useful as the series progresses, of course.
If you’re interested in learning more about character charts, or would like a FREE chart for your own use, then visit my Hubpage here:- http://hubpages.com/hub/Character-Charts-a-Writers-Aid

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Cure for Aging?

"All that we profess to do is but this, - to find out the secrets of the human frame; to know why the parts ossify and the blood stagnates, and to apply continual preventatives to the effort of time.  This is not magic; it is the art of medicine rightly understood.  In our order we hold most noble -, first, that knowledge which elevates the intellect; secondly, that which preserves the body.  But the mere art (extracted from the juices and simples) which recruits the animal vigour and arrests the progress of decay, or that more noble secret which I will only hint to thee at present, by which heat or calorific, as ye call it, being, as Heraclitus wisely taught, the primordial principle of life, can be made its perpectual renovator...." Zanoni, book IV, chapter II, by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, first published in 1842. Oroboros keyring - Spooky Cute Designs The idea of being able to achieve an immortal life is probably as old as human life itself.  Folklore and mythology ab

Remembering Richie Tattoo Artist's Studio

Richard in the street entrance to his tattoo studio in Liverpool. The vertical sign next to Richard is now in the Liverpool Tattoo Museum. Yesterday, my sister Evelyn, Richard and myself stood outside Richard's old tattoo studio and looked up at the few remaining signs, whose paint has now mostly flacked away to reveal bare wood. On the studio's window are stick-on letters which read, "Art", where once it boldly announced his presence as the city's only "Tattoo Artist".  I can remember him buying that simple plastic lettering from an old-fashioned printer's shop. This was in 1993, not long after he'd opened the studio and before he could afford better signs. After he'd patiently stuck them onto the glass we realised that from the outside the sign read "Artist Tattoo", so we had to carefully peel the letters off the window and have another go, laughing over having made such an obvious error yet worried in case we spoiled the letteri

Ancient Rock Carving in Stapledon Woods, Wirral.

Richard on top of the rock, to give an idea of its size.  This strange carving can be found on the Caldy side of Stapledon Woods, facing farm fields which are separated from the wood by a low sandstone wall with a castellated top.  In summer, the rock face is hidden from casual view by trees covering the slope which leads up to it from the path running alongside the sandstone wall. Has anyone got any information about this carving - what it is, its age and purpose?  I've been given several theories; one that it was made for shelter, (which seems dubious as it wouldn't work very well); or that it was somekind of ancient relinquary relating to pre-Xtian religious beliefs.  Any further ideas or documented evidence would be most welcome.